Unaddressed citizenship: Wet ontologies and mobile citizenship on Britain's waterways

Citizenship is fluid and contested, often dependent on both locality and mobility. Through a focus on liveaboard boaters on the UK's inland waterways, we explore how water matters in the relations, skills, practices, experiences and identities of citizens, and the possibilities offered by the mobility of waterscapes to ‘unearth’ citizenship. We examine how the necessity of a fixed address can exclude those who do not conform to terrestrially informed governance structures. Challenges in accessing healthcare and voting demonstrate the difficulties experienced by such mobile communities, as well as their informal strategies to manage and subvert such socio-structural inequalities. The consequent practiced and connective watery citizenship has implications for support and welfare within this community, as the fluidity of water offers simultaneous opportunities to connect and disconnect. Nonetheless, the leaky potential of water emphasises the surprising porosity of the seemingly immovable borders imposed by the state, and helps map the hidden routes to navigate through them.