First published in Great Britain in 2018 by
Bristol University Press 1-9 Old Park Hill Bristol BS2 8BB UK Tel +44 (0)117 954 5940 www.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk
North American office: Policy Press c/o The University of Chicago Press 1427 East 60th Street Chicago, IL 60637, USA t: +1 773 702 7700 f: +1 773-702-9756 e:
Bristol University Press 2018
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ISBN 978-1-5292-0042-3 hardcover
ISBN 978-1-5292-0045-4 ePub
ISBN 978-1-5292-0046-1 Mobi
ISBN 978-1-5292-0043-0 ePdf
The right of Ala Sirriyeh to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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Cover design by Andrew Corbett
Front cover image: Mahmoud Salameh
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For my lovely dad, Hussein Sirriyeh
(19462018)
GLOBAL MIGRATION AND SOCIAL CHANGE
This series showcases ground-breaking research that looks at the nexus between migration, citizenship and social change. It advances new scholarship in migration and refugee studies and fosters cross- and interdisciplinary dialogue in this field. The series includes research-based monographs and edited collections, informed by a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods.
Series Editors:
Nando Sigona, Institute of Research into Superdiversity, University of Birmingham, UK:
Alan Gamlen, School of Social Sciences, Monash University, Australia:
Forthcoming titles:
Time, migration and forced immobility: Sub-Saharan African migrants in Morocco by Inka Stock (2018)
Home-Land: Romanian Roma, domestic spaces and the state by Rachel Humphris (2018)
Contents
I began writing this book in 2015, in the summer before the tragic death of Alan Kurdi. I took some time out as I tried to process what the unprecedented outpouring of sentiments of compassion in response to his death meant. While (sadly) this did not lead me to substantially revise my analysis, it did have a strong impact on the way I have chosen to write and order my analysis and argument. Since then there have been so many seemingly game-changing migration events (the election of Trump, the vote for Brexit, the closure of Manus Island detention centre, and so on), that it has been, to say the least, a challenging process writing this book. I was very fortunate to have had such valuable guidance and support from the editorial team at Policy Press, especially Victoria Pittman and Shannon Kneis, during the editing process. Many thanks also to the anonymous reviewer who gave such helpful and encouraging feedback and suggestions on the final draft.
I am deeply grateful to all those people who took part in the interviews that I have drawn on in this book, particularly the undocumented activists in California who engaged in this research at such a challenging time in their lives.
I was very fortunate to receive funding from the Leverhulme Trust and from Santander Bank, which enabled me to conduct the research in California. I would also like to thank the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Keele University for funding me to travel to Australia for data collection for this study in 2016, and to the School of Social Science and Public Policy at Keele for granting me research leave for a semester during that same year, which gave me much needed writing time. While conducting fieldwork and writing this book in the US and Australia I also had the privilege of being hosted as a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University, and the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues at University of California, Berkeley. I am indebted to these institutes and the colleagues who facilitated my enjoyable and productive visits there.
There are many colleagues and friends who I would like to thank for the support they gave me through: suggestions and advice during fieldwork; reading chapters; providing very helpful and insightful critical engagements with the topics explored in the book; and by giving me encouragement, confidence boosts and comfort. I would particularly like to thank: Kim Adams, Andrew Dawson, Nadena Doherty, Esmee Hanna, Emma Head, Hannah Lewis, Katherine Ludwin, Nathan Manning, Lydia Martens, Ian Martin, Kirsteen Paton, Michelle Peterie, Shanthi Robertson, Amy Russell and Kate Smith. While writing this book I had the privilege of being hosted as an invited speaker and being given the opportunity to present and discuss some of the issues explored in this book at: the Sociology departments at the University of Warwick and the University of Newcastle; the Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies at SOAS; Professor Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelos PhD migration studies class at the University of Southern California; the Institute for Culture and Society at the Western Sydney University; the Sydney Asia Pacific Migration Centre at the University of Sydney; and as part of a plenary at the ISA RC21 conference in 2017.
Most of all I am grateful, as always, to my lovely family. Thanks Elizabeth, Hussein, Matthew, Reema, Steve, Jesse and all the family pets for your love, warmth both physical (Splash) and emotional, wonderful humour and somewhat delusional belief in my capabilities. Thanks Mum for the proof reading. This is the last time I promise!
The book you are holding, or reading on your screen, is the first in a new series with Bristol University Press, entitled Global Migration and Social Change . The series aims to open up new interdisciplinary terrain and to develop new scholarship in migration and refugee studies that is theoretically insightful and innovative, empirically rich, and policy engaged. We envisage commissioning at least 15 books over a period of 5 years, with the expectation that a higher proportion will emerge towards the end of this period, as the series gains momentum.
The idea for this new book series took shape in early 2016, as a refugee crisis within a wider European crisis was vividly revealing the intimate nexus between migration, citizenship and social change around the world. At that time, the EUs struggle to offer an answer to the arrival of a million forced migrants over a relatively short period of time ignited the interests of researchers from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds.
