The Last Page
Urbinati, Nadia
DO AMERICANS "by nature" know how one becomes a "naturalized" American? To become a citizen is far from ordinary in today's Western countries. Democratic founding is a privilege of the first...
...Once we were re-made as "unencumbered" individuals, the judge gave us a new identity by making us promise to support and defend the Constitution and the laws of the United States, and to serve the country when required in noncombatant service as well as in the Armed Forces (sovereignty is demanding as well as jealous...
...But naturalization had not improved my linguistic ability...
...She would seal our covenant...
...Name the amendments that guarantee or address voting rights...
...How many amendments are there to the Constitution...
...its procedures represent the political identity of the existing demos, the deeply republican character of the Constitution...
...After a welcoming civics lecture, the ceremonies of the civil religion began...
...Catholic identity should appear natural...
...The public officers on the platform were dressed in ordinary clothes except one, who wore a judge's robe...
...Easy questions except for the last two: "Who helped the Pilgrims in America...
...My examiner laughed at my inability and tried in vain to help me...
...As with religious baptism, the citizenship oath annuls all previous loyalties...
...I still could not sing the "Star-Spangled Banner...
...In Italy or Germany, naturalization is a bureaucratic fact: new citizens don't take a "civics exam...
...Who has the power to enforce the law...
...What do the stripes on the flag represent...
...We were arranged in Roman fashion: nine centuriae, each a perfect square of two hundred applicants...
...Almost two thousand candidates convened at the Jacob Javits Center early in the morning, before work...
...De facto, many people can, like me, hold dual citizenship...
...Name some countries that were our enemies during World War II...
...The act of "naturalization" is a reminder of the founding moment...
...Then, the day of the Oath came...
...It is a Catholic rule that parents baptize their children just after they are born, before they can choose for themselves, before they can remember...
...To the first I was supposed to answer, "The American Indians or Native Americans...
...After that, people are citizens by nature...
...In ancient Athens, citizenship was autochthonia, "sprung from the land," and as eternal as the land itself...
...The Oath of Allegiance is composed of several promises...
...We were asked first to "absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiances and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty...
...This is something unique...
...and "What is the national anthem of the United 112 n DISSENT / Fall 2002 States...
...Actually I did, but the tone of my voice was enough to make my examiner remind me that we were not having a "political discussion...
...And I could not answer the second question...
...I studied the "Sample of Civics Questions" in a Naturalization Study Guide, and was interviewed by a gentle Indian-American woman whose English made me feel at ease...
...Several volunteers distributed voting registration forms, reminding us that citizenship means the right to vote...
...Of course I knew the title of the anthem, but I have never been able to pronounce it: too many hard consonants in succession for my Latin vocal cords...
...What is the Bill of Rights...
...Religions too seek continuity over time...
...Democratic founding is a privilege of the first generation, which binds the next and establishes the political identity of the demos...
...The applicant for citizenship is given the chance to experience something the citizen "by nature" cannot experience...
...But this is a contingent fact...
...Of course, this does not prevent recruiting new believers or new citizens...
...At this point, we were declared American citizens and asked to sing the national anthem...
...In principle, sovereignty is jealous and monogamous...
...I became a naturalized American this spring, after I passed the exam and took the Oath of Allegiance, a simple but psychologically entangling procedure (and the reason why several European friends criticized my decision...
...NADIA URBINATI...
Vol. 49 • September 2002 • No. 4
