Statelessness, Governance, and the Problem of Citizenship which we must pay attention and seek to better understand. ‘Solving’ statelessness by ensuring citizenship does not help us address the underlying history and context that produced and maintained the statelessness, nor to better understand the problems faced by those affected. 11 Seen in lived context, there are much messier realities with which to grapple. The novel and significant contribution of Statelessness, Governance, and the Problem of Citizenship is precisely its consideration of both the past, the ongoing ‘meantime’ and the future, post-conferral of citizenship. To do so, the volume reflects specifically upon citizenship’s governance — how citizenship has been/is governed and how it has been/is used as a governance tool. We are forced to consider the function of citizenship and whether it does what it promises. Governance is described in this volume as ‘the activity of institutions, policies, and norms that maintain order, stability, and well-functioning societies’. 12 Within the contributions, it is viewed broadly and on multiple levels — from the seemingly mundane day-to-day interactions with local administrative functionaries who process paperwork, to the state and citizenship-centric foundations of United Nations governance structures. 13 Once we accept the call to shift our gaze from statelessness to citizenship and its governance, we see that as well as citizenship and legal identity documentation more broadly being emancipatory, their governance can also sort, order, control, threaten, relegate, ignore and punish. Citizenship might therefore be considered undesirable, unhelpful, insincere or insulting. It might degrade an individual’s rights further or entrench discrimination and abuse. Seeking a broader view both temporally and phenomenologically becomes particularly important because part of the histories and discourses surrounding citizenship and statelessness are ‘tied to larger logics of colonialism, decolonisation, security, and migration control’. 14 In consideration of these ambitious questions, this volume offers 28 chapters, a poem and seven artworks from 42 contributors from around the world, including academics, practitioners and artists, several with experience of statelessness. Although there are many chapters, they are often relatively short and focused. Structurally, the volume is organised into three parts. Part I: ‘Producing and Maintaining Statelessness’ explores the problem of citizenship as an underlying cause of statelessness and considers how governance structures at various levels can facilitate statelessness. Part II: ‘Living with the Problem of Citizenship’ turns to lived experiences of statelessness and governance, from conception to birth, youth and old age, and of persons with different ways of life, such as so-called ‘nomadic’ populations. Documents that mark, prove or regulate these life moments, such as a birth certificate, become central objects. Part III: ‘Governance’, considers today’s efforts to solve the problem of statelessness, reminding the reader once again of the importance of ‘new directions’ for the ‘overlooked problem of citizenship’. 15 Contributions raise, for example, the 11 12 13 14 15 Bloom and Kingston (n 1) 6. ibid 4. See Jamie Chai Yun Liew, ‘Statelessness and the Administrative State: The Legal Prowess of the First-Line Bureaucrat in Malaysia’ in Tendayi Bloom and Lindsey N Kingston (eds), Statelessness, Governance, and the Problem of Citizenship (Manchester University Press 2021) 76; Tendayi Bloom, ‘The Problem of Citizenship in Global Governance’ in Tendayi Bloom and Lindsey N Kingston (eds), Statelessness, Governance, and the Problem of Citizenship (Manchester University Press 2021) 19. Bloom and Kingston (n 1) 2. Bloom and Kingston (n 1) 6, 10. 361