Reclaiming Migration: Voices from Europe's 'Migrant Crisis' - Paperback

by Vicki Squire (Author), Nina Perkowski (Author), Dallal Stevens (Author)

Reclaiming migration critically assesses the EU's migration policy by presenting the unheard voices of the so-called migrant crisis. It undertakes an extensive analysis of a counter-archive of migratory testimonies, co-produced with people on the move across the Mediterranean during 2015 and 2016, to document how EU policy developments create precarity on the part of those migrating under perilous conditions. The book draws attention to the flawed assumptions embedded within the policy agenda, while also exploring the claims and demands for justice that are advanced by people on the move. Written collectively by a team of esteemed scholars from across multiple disciplines, Reclaiming migration makes an important contribution to debates surrounding migration, borders, postcolonialism and the politics of knowledge production.

Front Jacket

Reclaiming migration critically assesses the European Union's migration policy agenda by engaging voices from the so-called migrant crisis that usually remain unheard: those of people on the move. It analyses a counter-archive of testimonies co-produced with people migrating across the Mediterranean in 2015 and 2016 to document how EU policy both produces and maintains precarity. Testimonies based on lived experiences of travelling to and arriving in the EU draw attention to the flawed assumptions embedded within the deterrence paradigm and policies of anti-smuggling, within protection mechanisms and asylum procedures that rely on simplistic understandings of the migratory journey and within the EU's self-projection as a place of human rights and humanitarianism. But the book goes further, revealing how the experiences of precarity to which such policies give rise are inseparable from the claims for justice advanced by people on the move, who collectively provide a damning critique of the EU policy agenda. Reclaiming migration develops a distinctive 'anti-crisis' approach to migratory politics and shows how migration forms part of a broader movement that challenges the injustices of Europe's 'postcolonial present'. Written by a team of esteemed scholars from across multiple disciplines, the book makes an important contribution to debates within migration, border and refugee studies, as well as wider discussions about postcolonialism and the politics of knowledge production.

Back Jacket

Reclaiming migration critically assesses the European Union's migration policy agenda by engaging voices from the so-called migrant crisis that usually remain unheard: those of people on the move. It analyses a counter-archive of testimonies co-produced with people migrating across the Mediterranean in 2015 and 2016 to document how EU policy both produces and maintains precarity.

Testimonies based on lived experiences of travelling to and arriving in the EU draw attention to the flawed assumptions embedded within the deterrence paradigm and policies of anti-smuggling, within protection mechanisms and asylum procedures that rely on simplistic understandings of the migratory journey and within the EU's self-projection as a place of human rights and humanitarianism. But the book goes further, revealing how the experiences of precarity to which such policies give rise are inseparable from the claims for justice advanced by people on the move, who collectively provide a damning critique of the EU policy agenda.

Reclaiming migration develops a distinctive 'anti-crisis' approach to migratory politics and shows how migration forms part of a broader movement that challenges the injustices of Europe's 'postcolonial present'. Written by a team of esteemed scholars from across multiple disciplines, the book makes an important contribution to debates within migration, border and refugee studies, as well as wider discussions about postcolonialism and the politics of knowledge production.

Author Biography

Vicki Squire is Professor of International Politics at the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick
Nina Perkowski is Researcher at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg
Dallal Stevens is Professor of Law at the School of Law, University of Warwick
Nick Vaughan-Williams is Professor of International Security at the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick