The concept of citizenship is a relatively new contraption in the annals of human history. We had family, we had communities, we had tribes, and overtime we developed states. The original concept of citizenship was an extension of the concept of family. Communities were built on families, everyone was related by blood. With wars and migration came the concept of state based citizenship. A conquering group define a boundary, and people where either granted access or not. Citizenship was created as a tool of inclusion. Allowing people with no family connection a construct for induction into a community. As conquering people grew the size of their territories, they introduced a tool for membership into their elite categories by inducting desirable from the conquered groups. Their tool of choice was citizenship. Empires granted citizenship to conquered people, reshaping the concept again. Today, citizenship is mostly defined within the confines of nation states, although that is increasing...
Musings of a Black Man