Illegality, Inc.: Clandestine Migration and the Business of Bordering Europe – Ruben Andersson

Illegality, Inc.: Clandestine Migration and the Business of Bordering Europe

Author: Ruben Andersson

Publisher: University of California Press

Print Length: 360 pages

Genre: Non-Fiction / Anthropology, Sociology, Social Science

Area: Europe, Southern Europe, Spain, Africa, The Sahel, North Africa, West Africa, Senegal, Mali

Topic: Borders, Migration, Security, Sovereignty, Racism, Legality & Illegality, Immigration Control, Immigration System

In this groundbreaking ethnography, Ruben Andersson, a gifted anthropologist and journalist, travels along the clandestine migration trail from Senegal and Mali to the Spanish North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. Through the voices of his informants, Andersson explores, viscerally and emphatically, how Europe’s increasingly powerful border regime meets and interacts with its target–the clandestine migrant. This vivid, rich work examines the subterranean migration flow from Africa to Europe, and shifts the focus from the “illegal immigrants” themselves to the vast industry built around their movements. This fascinating and accessible book is a must-read for anyone interested in the politics of international migration and the changing texture of global culture.

List of illustrations

Acknowledgments

Author’s Note

Selected Abbreviations

Timeline

Introduction

Scene 1

Part One: Borderlands

1. Mohammadou and the Migrant-Eaters

2. A Game of Risk

3. Hunter and Prey

Part Two: Crossings

Scene 2

4. The Border Spectacle

Part Three: Confrontations

5. White Mother, Black Sons

Scene 3

6. Stranded in Time

Scene 4

7. Marchers without Borders

Conclusion

Appendix: A Note on Method

Notes

Selected Glossary

Bibliography

Index

Ruben Andersson is a Professor of Social Anthropology at Oxford University’s Department of International Development, working on migration, borders and security with a focus on the West African Sahel and southern Europe. His first book Illegality, Inc.: Clandestine migration and the business of bordering Europe (University of California Press 2014), an ethnographic account of European efforts to halt irregular migration, accompanies border agencies, aid organisations and migrants along the Spanish-African borders. The book shows how the ‘fight against irregular migration’ has fuelled distress and drama at the borders, which in turns has led to the expansion of a self-reinforcing industry of controls.

Source: http://rubenandersson.com/

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