Manchester University Press - Reclaiming migration

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.

Reviews

'In placing the voices of people on the move at the centre of its narrative, Reclaiming migration embodies a much-needed human-rights-based approach to scholarship on migration. Where far too often "migrant voices" appear as bystanders to the analysis of their plight, in this excellent book the authors enable migrants to speak as the experts of their own migration experience, and to articulate their own demands to policy-makers for equality and justice in migration governance.'
Pia Oberoi, Senior Advisor on Migration, UN Human Rights Office

'In this brilliant book of rich and nuanced scholarship Vicki Squire, Nina Perkowski, Dallal Stevens and Nick Vaughan-Williams share with us a formidable counter-archive of migratory testimonies. This counter-archive is powerfully mobilised in critically analysing European narratives of "migration crisis" in and around 2015-16. Reclaiming migration is at the cutting edge of the field and is essential reading for scholars of (forced) migration and border studies.'
Lucy Mayblin, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Sheffield

'Seeing things through the eyes of people on the move, as this book allows us to do, is an enlightening and much needed change of perspective on migration, crises and Europe.'
Paolo Cuttitta, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research Fellow, IDPS - Université Sorbonne Paris Nord

'Reclaiming migration centres the experiences, knowledge and testimonies of people moving across the Mediterranean as migration experts and theorists. In creating this counter-archive, the book incisively interrogates the politics of crisis that permeates the twenty-first century and frames understandings of migration. The authors unravel the crisis narrative one thread at a time and reveal how it silences people, produces suffering and precarity, and is intimately tied to deadly deterrent policies. They uncover the sharp limits of the international protection regime and provide a damning postcolonial critique of Europe's image as a place for human rights, humanitarianism, peace and safety. This urgent and important book is essential reading for anyone interested in justice, migration and a better world.'
Cetta Mainwaring, University of Glasgow

Introduction: Reclaiming migration: voices from Europe's so-called 'migrant crisis'
1 Narratives of 'crisis'
2 Reclaiming voice
3 Rejecting deterrence
4 Contesting protection
5 Questioning Europe
6 Demanding justice
Conclusion: Precarity, justice, postcoloniality
Index

Authors

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