Displacement, Belonging, and Migrant Agency in the Face of Power

Description

This book centres the voices and agency of migrants by refocusing attention on the diversity and complexity of human mobility when seen from the perspective of people on the move; in doing so, the volume disrupts the binary logics of migrant/refugee, push/pull, and places of origin/destination that have informed the bulk of migration research. Drawn from a range of disciplines and methodologies, this anthology links disparate theories, approaches, and geographical foci to better understand the spectrum of the migratory experience from the viewpoint of migrants themselves. The book explores the causes and consequences of human displacement at different scales (both individual and community-level) and across different time points (from antiquity to the present) and geographies (not just the Global North but also the Global South). Transnational scholars across a range of knowledge cultures advance a broader global discourse on mobility and migration that centres on the direct experiences and narratives of migrants themselves. Both interdisciplinary and accessible, this book will be useful for scholars and students in Migration Studies, Global Studies, Sociology, Geography, and Anthropology. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of illustrations Editors List of contributors Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Displacement, belonging, and migrant agency in the face of power: Challenging paradigms in migration studies Migrants’ representation Challenging migration paradigms Push / pull Forced / voluntary Places of origin / destination Regimes of belonging Drivers of displacement Re-creating home away from home Sentimentalizing home and communities of belonging Community as home Where is home? Here, there, or nowhere? Gender, sexuality, age, and belonging Gender Children Sexuality Researching people with trauma: a critique Notes References Part I: Regimes of belonging Chapter 2: Out of place in antiquity Introduction Shaping place through asylum in the ancient Greek polis The tragedies of power and hospitality Late antique place, status, mobility, and the captive body The great redeemer—Bishop Caesarius of Arles Conclusion Notes References Chapter 3: Reimagining “refugee” protection: Beyond improving the status quo Introduction Setting the stage Unpacking the global compacts Legal orientalism meets refugee studies Adat: A silver lining ? Thinking beyond international law and state-led protection Conclusion References Chapter 4: Governance of migration in South Asia: The need for a decolonial approach Introduction Colonial legacy in South Asia Evicted people The rejected Rohingya Partitioned lives Inadequacies of (post)colonial approaches Conclusion: examining the “global” in global compacts References Chapter 5: Lives on the move: Experiences of exclusion, vulnerability, and resilience of Venezuelan forced migrants in Peru Introduction On voices, narratives, and qualitative research On exclusion, vulnerability, and resilience Uprooting, danger, and resilience Socioeconomic exclusion and resilience Sexual discrimination, assault, and resilience Covid-19 and resilience Conclusion Notes References Part II: Drivers of displacement Chapter 6: War and forced migration in medieval Iberia (1085–1266): Between al-Andalus and the feudal world Introduction Feudal conquest of al-Andalus: stay or emigrate The emigrants al-Andalus: lost paradise and homeland Conclusions References Chapter 7: Migration and modern slavery: Perspectives in Africa to Europe migration Introduction Narratives of international migration and modern slavery International migration: experiences in modern-day slavery Information technologies, social media, international migration, and modern slavery Conclusion References Chapter 8: The anxious integration of former enclave or “new” citizens in North Bengal, India Introduction Enclave dwellers and their im/mobility Belonging and the choice of citizenship Conclusion References Chapter 9: Climate and non-climatic stressors, internal migration, and belonging in Ghana Introduction North–south migration in Ghana: The role of colonial marginalization and contemporary socioecological stressors The migration process, initial integration, and fulfilling aspirations Economic exploitation and the politics of belonging Conclusion Acknowledgments References Chapter 10: Henancun in Beijing, a parallel society in the making Introduction Rural-to-urban migration in China Never belonged An identity divided A formal businessman in recycling A celery controversy Connect to disconnect Belonging under construction Constructing a migrant community in Henancun Working and living with a migrant schedule Nurturing an exclusive migrant space Building a better “home” Conclusion Notes References Part III: Re-creating home away from home Chapter 11: Uprooted: living between two worlds—German postwar refugee: Narratives on displacement and exile Introduction German refugees after 1945 Living between two worlds: narratives on displacement and exile Is there a successful integration? Reflections on refugees and sedentary societies Conclusion Note References Chapter 12: Palestine in exile: Blurring the boundaries and re-creating the homeland Introduction The origins of Palestinian exile Structural statelessness and continual displacement Home and exile in the Palestinian refugee camps Conclusion Notes References Chapter 13: Displacement, diaspora, and statelessness: Framing the Kurdish case Introduction: dissent and displacement Cases of displacements in recent history Diaspora, collective action, and its discontents Belonging and identity in the diaspora Understanding the conundrum of statelessness Conclusion Notes References Chapter 14: What makes a place a home?: Syrian refugees’ narratives on belonging in Turkey Introduction The questions of home and belonging Research methods “Home is in our memories” Home as a community Home as a space of freedom Home is where I earn money Conclusion Notes References Chapter 15: “This is about making family”: Creating communities of belonging in schools serving refugee-background students Introduction Discourse, exclusion, and (un)belonging in literature on RB students Context and methods Findings How deficit discourse creates a culture of unbelonging What communities of belonging look like Conclusion Notes References Part IV: Gender, sexuality, age, and belonging Chapter 16: “I am not alone”: Rohingya women negotiating home and belonging in Bangladesh’s refugee camps Introduction Gender and belonging in forced migration Feminist ethnographic fieldwork in the refugee camp Fleeing from Myanmar, settling in the camps Re-creating home, re-creating community Negotiating belonging, feeling at home Taleem : a sanctuary of belonging Conclusion References Chapter 17: Journeys of belonging: Latina migrant lesbians in Long Beach, California Introduction Intersecting violence in the lives of the narrators “And that’s where my world opened up”: gay clubs as sites of belonging When the home becomes home Beyond comfort: challenging violence Notes References Chapter 18: The welfare state and women’s citizenship in Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen The bonds of motherhood Women’s support networks and alternative forms of belonging Notes References Chapter 19: Navigating the regime of illegality : Experiences of migration and racialization among 1.5-generation Mexican migrant women Introduction Examining the literature How life cycle shapes migration experiences Diverse migratory experiences Institutions of socialization and developing a sense of belonging Methods: 1.5-generation women in two contexts Pennsylvania California Data analysis Findings of the Pennsylvania and California interview data Circumstances of migration: diverse experiences leaving Mexico Context of reception: Common experiences at the intersection of illegality and racialization Undocumented: belonging under the regime of illegality Conclusion Notes References Part V: Challenges to migration research Chapter 20: Refusal and migration research: New possibilities for feminist social science Introduction Refusal as a research intervention Feminist social science research, trauma, and imperial entanglements Refusal, trauma, and empire in research Refusal in research design Refusal in the field Refusal in writing and publishing Conclusion References Index