Models of Citizenship
am i a citizen yet?
What makes a citizen a citizen? Is it a formal document that states that they are part of a specific country or city? Is it by how well they know a location? Is it by living there for a certain amount of time? In my mind, becoming a citizen is a multi-step process during which you have to get to know and accept the city and it has to get to know and accept you. Just like learning a language fluently, one does not automatically know a location right from the start. It takes time to become familiar with a city or country. One of the steps in familiarizing oneself with a location, and thus one of the steps in becoming a citizen is the “space or place” test. In our citizenship class we have learned that many times people assign titles to certain locations as either a space or a place. A space is just a simple geographic location. For example, Wyoming is a randomly chosen state that has no significance to me. I have never been there, I don’t know anyone from there, and therefore, it is just a space to me. However, if you were to ask someone from Wyoming if that state was a place or a space to them, they would probably say a place because it is more than a mere geographic location to that individual. In this way a place is a geographic location that has meaning to someone. Geographic locations can be countries, states, cities, regions, or even buildings. My home address, for example, would be a place to me but just a space to anyone else.
So what does this have to do with me and my citizenship? I have been living in Venice now for two months and my time spent here has been unlike anything I have ever experienced. Each time I leave Venice and return again to our home on the Grand Canal, I truly feel like I am coming home. Slowly but surely Venice has become a place to me, and not just a space. It has passed the test and thus I am closer to being a citizen of this beautiful city. If you had asked me a year ago, or two months ago even, the significance that Venice had to me, I’d probably say something about Italian food or the history of Venice. But now I can tell you that there is so much more to Venice than its famous history and its food. Venice is a vibrant city full of all sorts of people: tourists and locals, waiters and gondoliers, students and professors etc. It is a city rich in history and information. And I have barely scratched the surface. But each day, as I get to know my ‘home’ better, I feel like this place that I live in gets to know me a little better too. And slowly but surely I am becoming a Venetian citizen.
It is the small victories that happen every day that make me feel more like a citizen and give me the feeling like I really know where I am. Yesterday several tourists came up to me and asked me the directions to the train station and without even thinking I was able to tell them exactly where to go. Last week, a friend visited and asked “the best” spots to go to in Venice. Of course this is a subjective question, but I immediately told her about Campo Santa Stefano and Campo Santa Margherita. These two locations have also become places to me. I feel like I know them well. And I don’t just know the locations, I know the people. I know their faces. I know the store owner at Rizo e Panne in Campo Santa Stefano. I know the Spanish bartender that works in the Skilla Bar in Campo Santa Margherita.
It is interesting to think that just because a city as a whole is a place to someone, it does not mean that every part of the city is a place. For example, there are many Campos and Campiellos in Venice that I have yet to see or to explore thoroughly. However, one can still be a citizen of a city, and have it be a place to them even if they do not know it like the back of their hand. Someone who is from the Upper East Side of New York City, for example, probably does not go to the Bronx or Harlem very often. They probably do not know these areas as well as a student who goes to Fordham and thus attends to school in these areas of New York. However, New York City may still be a place to them as a whole and they probably still consider themselves New Yorkers.
I think that there are varying degrees of citizens and not all are the same. Some people are only temporary citizens, while others remain citizens for the rest of their lives. It all depends on the amount of effort that people invest in a specific place and vice versa. This is what makes a space or a place so diverse and interesting. If everyone was the same, with identical citizens then every location would be extremely boring. As stated previously, citizenship relies on people experiencing and accepting a certain location, as well as that location accepting and experiencing them. It’s a give and take relationship. And some people are willing to give more to a place than others. Unfortunately for me, I only have three months to give to Venice right now. I wish I had more time than that. Therefore although I may feel like a citizen, I am not nearly on the same level as someone like Agnese Chiari or Paolo Venerando who have lived here for many years and who are Italian. However, my experiences that I bring to and have had in Venice are certainly significant enough to make Venice an important place to me, and to make me a temporary citizen of this beautiful city that I call my temporary home.
So what does this have to do with me and my citizenship? I have been living in Venice now for two months and my time spent here has been unlike anything I have ever experienced. Each time I leave Venice and return again to our home on the Grand Canal, I truly feel like I am coming home. Slowly but surely Venice has become a place to me, and not just a space. It has passed the test and thus I am closer to being a citizen of this beautiful city. If you had asked me a year ago, or two months ago even, the significance that Venice had to me, I’d probably say something about Italian food or the history of Venice. But now I can tell you that there is so much more to Venice than its famous history and its food. Venice is a vibrant city full of all sorts of people: tourists and locals, waiters and gondoliers, students and professors etc. It is a city rich in history and information. And I have barely scratched the surface. But each day, as I get to know my ‘home’ better, I feel like this place that I live in gets to know me a little better too. And slowly but surely I am becoming a Venetian citizen.
It is the small victories that happen every day that make me feel more like a citizen and give me the feeling like I really know where I am. Yesterday several tourists came up to me and asked me the directions to the train station and without even thinking I was able to tell them exactly where to go. Last week, a friend visited and asked “the best” spots to go to in Venice. Of course this is a subjective question, but I immediately told her about Campo Santa Stefano and Campo Santa Margherita. These two locations have also become places to me. I feel like I know them well. And I don’t just know the locations, I know the people. I know their faces. I know the store owner at Rizo e Panne in Campo Santa Stefano. I know the Spanish bartender that works in the Skilla Bar in Campo Santa Margherita.
It is interesting to think that just because a city as a whole is a place to someone, it does not mean that every part of the city is a place. For example, there are many Campos and Campiellos in Venice that I have yet to see or to explore thoroughly. However, one can still be a citizen of a city, and have it be a place to them even if they do not know it like the back of their hand. Someone who is from the Upper East Side of New York City, for example, probably does not go to the Bronx or Harlem very often. They probably do not know these areas as well as a student who goes to Fordham and thus attends to school in these areas of New York. However, New York City may still be a place to them as a whole and they probably still consider themselves New Yorkers.
I think that there are varying degrees of citizens and not all are the same. Some people are only temporary citizens, while others remain citizens for the rest of their lives. It all depends on the amount of effort that people invest in a specific place and vice versa. This is what makes a space or a place so diverse and interesting. If everyone was the same, with identical citizens then every location would be extremely boring. As stated previously, citizenship relies on people experiencing and accepting a certain location, as well as that location accepting and experiencing them. It’s a give and take relationship. And some people are willing to give more to a place than others. Unfortunately for me, I only have three months to give to Venice right now. I wish I had more time than that. Therefore although I may feel like a citizen, I am not nearly on the same level as someone like Agnese Chiari or Paolo Venerando who have lived here for many years and who are Italian. However, my experiences that I bring to and have had in Venice are certainly significant enough to make Venice an important place to me, and to make me a temporary citizen of this beautiful city that I call my temporary home.