Introduction

This chapter attempts to destabilize the idea of citizenship by foregrounding the gap between discursive and performative aspects of citizenship while depicting how Dalits and Indigenous Australians have been granted discursive citizenship and denied performative citizenship. It introduces the concept of universal citizenship and how this concept has eluded Dalits and Indigenous Australians. The chapter also elucidates the concept of the transnational counterpublic, an idea that enables these two disenfranchised groups to defy the boundaries of the Westphalian imaginary so as to be united by the oppression that they face at the hands of the dominant group of people in their respective countries. It does so by comparing two different literatures and highlighting their distinctiveness from the mainstream literatures of their respective countries. The chapter also elucidates the manner in which this comparative study attempts to contribute to an ongoing dialogue between racism and casteism.