1st Edition
Local Lives Migration and the Politics of Place
Local Lives contests dominant trends in migration theory, demonstrating that many migrant identities have not become entirely diasporic or cosmopolitan, but remain equally focused on emplaced belonging and the anxieties of being uprooted. By addressing the question of how migrants legally and symbolically lay claim to owning and belonging to place, it refocuses our attention on the micro-politics and everyday rituals of place-making, that are central to the construction of migrant identities. Exploring immigrants' interactions with house spaces, property rights, environmental conservation, landscape, historical knowledge of place, ideas of 'local community' and place-specific 'traditions', this volume shows how, in a fluid world of movement, locality remains a deeply contested and symbolically rich place to situate identity and to constitute the self. Thematically organised and presenting a diverse range of empirical studies dealing with migrant communities in Hawaii, Britain, France, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, the Dominican Republic and Albania, Local Lives reorients research in migration and transnational studies around locality. As such, it will appeal to social scientists working on questions relating to landscape, identity and belonging; race and ethnicity; and migration and transnationalism.
Biography
Brigitte Bönisch-Brednich is Professor of Anthropology in the School of Social and Cultural Studies at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand Catherine Trundle is Lecturer of Anthropology in the School of Social and Cultural Studies at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
'This timely volume presents a set of compelling ethnographic accounts that refocus our attention on processes of place-making in studies of movement. Tracing the means by which people make the places where they have settled matter to them, Local Lives underlines the importance of fully recognizing a fundamental dimension of migration that is too often elided in contemporary transnational studies.' Vered Amit, Concordia University, USA 'Opening up new perspectives on the topic of migration, one of today's most challenging social issues, what is particularly important is the comparative view this book contains through concrete studies of a wide variety of migrant experiences. Dealing with attachment to place, but reflecting on what it means to break up and move, it is a book that has important interdisciplinary implications.' Helge Rønning, University of Oslo, Norway ’This edited volume [...] constitutes a timely and precious contribution to the emerging field of mobility studies.’ Anthropological Forum
