In this dissertation, I draw on twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork with Egyptians in Amsterdam to study how the nationalization of our imagination and social-legal and material infrastructures... Show moreIn this dissertation, I draw on twelve months of ethnographic fieldwork with Egyptians in Amsterdam to study how the nationalization of our imagination and social-legal and material infrastructures mediates social life. I describe how, just like the group of people categorized as Egyptian in Amsterdam is diverse, the Dutch state is too, consisting of a a range of images, laws, organizations, and people that embody them. I argue that this Dutch state multiple structures almost all aspects of life, but ultimately cannot define who we are, or what we do. Show less
