Abstract “Citizenship” is a complex concept. It is usually considered as an individual’s relationship to a nation-state, the duties, obligations and rights that come with residence in a given polity. However, historically, “citizenship” was concerned with the community or city state, the word (from civis) implies this. This paper argues that this local vision of the concept is still vitally important and one’s emotional links to larger institution are usually stronger with the local community than with the nation, especially in countries such as Brazil where national feelings were never strong.