Performative state presence shapes citizenship in the China-North Korea borderland

This article provides building blocks toward a theory of borderland citizenship by introducing the notion of performative state presence. Drawing on the ‘acts of citizenship’ and the Chinese home-grow ‘state presence’ (guojia zaichang) scholarship, the concept of performative state presence captures everyday practices of citizenship in the markedly different political and legal context of China where open protests against the state are rare and rejected as unlawful. Rather, individuals seek to legitimize their claims by incorporating state symbols in their struggles over citizens’ rights; and vice versa, the state performs gestures of caring to legitimize its governance over ethnic minorities and seeks to cultivate loyal subjects. This study examines these processes in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, based on fieldwork in a rural ethnic Korean village along the North Korean border. Borderland residents and grassroot governors artfully navigate distinct layers of the state, redefine rights and obligations to reach their goals, and use state symbols and elements of ethnic minority culture to carve out spaces for themselves within the Chinese nation.