Sans Papiers

Roger Zetter, Nando Sigona, Alice Bloch

Description

Undocumented migration is a huge global phenomenon, yet little is known about the reality of life for those involved. Sans Papiers combines a contemporary account of the theoretical and policy debates with an in-depth exploration of the lived experiences of undocumented migrants in the UK from Zimbabwe, China, Brazil, Ukraine and Turkish Kurdistan.



Built around their voices, the book provides the reader with a unique understanding of migratory processes, gendered experiences and migrant aspirations. Moving between the uniqueness of individual experience and the search for commonalities, the book explores the ambiguities and contradictions of being an undocumented migrant.



With its insights into personal experiences alongside analysis of wider policy issues, Sans Papiers will have wide appeal for students, academics, policy-makers and practitioners.
List of Figures and Tables

Acknowledgements

1. Researching Everyday ‘Illegality’: An Introduction

2. Migration Dynamics, Irregular Migration and the Governance of 'Illegality'

3. Migrant Agency, Youth and Legal Status

4. Visibility and Invisibility: Arrival, Settlement and Socialisation into Irregularity

5. Legal Status and the Labour Market

6. Fragile Communities: Social Networks and Geographies of Undocumentedness

7. Intersecting Youth and Legal Status

8. Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Emigration
• Union européenne
• Migration
• Immigration
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 20 juin 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781849649049
• Langue: English

Extrait

Sans Papiers
Sans Papiers
The Social and Economic Lives of Young Undocumented Migrants
Alice Bloch, Nando Sigona and Roger Zetter

Pluto Press
www.plutobooks.com
First published 2014 by Pluto Press
345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Distributed in the United States of America exclusively by
Palgrave Macmillan, a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
Copyright © Alice Bloch, Nando Sigona and Roger Zetter 2014
Some parts of Chapter 6 have appeared in an earlier version in Sigona, N. (2012) ‘“I have too much baggage”: the impact of legal status on the social worlds of irregular migrants’, Social Anthropology , 20(1): 50–65, © 2012 European Association of Social Anthropologists, reproduced by permission.
The right of Alice Bloch, Nando Sigona and Roger Zetter to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN   978 0 7453 3261 1   Hardback
ISBN   978 0 7453 3390 8   Paperback
ISBN   978 1 8496 4903 2   PDF eBook
ISBN   978 1 8496 4905 6   Kindle eBook
ISBN   978 1 8496 4904 9   EPUB eBook
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data applied for
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Typeset by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England
Text design by Melanie Patrick
Simultaneously printed digitally by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, UK and Edwards Bros in the United States of America
Contents
List of Figures and Tables
Acknowledgements
1
Researching Everyday ‘Illegality’: An Introduction
 
The Scale of Undocumented Migration: Counting the Uncountable
 
Methods and Methodology
 
How the Book is Organised
2
Migration Dynamics, Irregular Migration and the Governance of ‘Illegality’
 
Globalisation and Re-Bordering: Migrating Into Irregularity
 
Who is Undocumented? The Governance of Migration and the Vocabulary of Irregularity
 
Official Status and Categories: Policy and Practice in the UK
 
Status Mobility: Undocumentedness as a Process
 
A Constructed and Criminalised Identity
 
Conclusion
3
Migrant Agency, Youth and Legal Status
 
Immigration Status and Everyday Lives
 
Migration and Youth
 
Migration, Destinations and Youth
 
Integration and Identity
 
Migrant Agency
 
Agency in Migration Decision-Making
 
Migrant Agency in Destination Countries
 
Conclusion
4
Visibility and Invisibility: Arrival, Settlement and Socialisation into Irregularity
 
Confronting the Reality
 
Undocumentedness in Everyday Life: Encounters and Consequences
 
Accommodation
 
Education
 
Health Care
 
Finance
 
Sexual Exploitation
 
Coping in the Public Realm: Mobility and Communication
 
Conclusion
5
Legal Status and the Labour Market
 
Situating Experiences of Employment
 
The Wider Economic Context
 
Precariousness: The Case of Undocumented Migrants
 
Migrant Agency
 
Employment: An Overview of Labour-Market Experiences
 
Finding Employment: Social Networks, Agencies, ‘Middle-Men’ and Paying for Jobs
 
Employment and Individual Agency
 
Managing Without Work
 
Conclusion
6
Fragile Communities: Social Networks and Geographies of Undocumentedness
 
‘Here in England, You Need Other People’: Family, Friends and Acquaintances
 
Language and Time
 
Negotiating the Boundaries of the Community of Trust and Reciprocity
 
Social Activities and Where People Socialise
 
Remittances and Undocumented Migrants’ Transnationalism
 
Conclusion
7
Intersecting Youth and Legal Status
 
Myself as a Young Person
 
Youth as a Driver of Migration
 
Youth and the Risk of ‘Illegality’
 
Being Young and Undocumented in Britain
 
No Right to Dream
 
Making (And Not Making) Plans for the Future
 
Was it Worthwhile?
 
Conclusion
8
Conclusion
 
Current Policy and Political Climates
 
Looking Forward or Looking Back? The Immigration Bill
 
Rights, Segregation and Marginalisation
 
Concluding Reflections
Bibliography
Index
List of Figures and Tables
Figures
1.1
Entry routes into the UK by country of origin (N=75)
1.2
Age on arrival in Britain by country of origin (N=75)
Tables
1.1
Main characteristics of the sample (N=75)
1.2
Regional profile of the sample by country of origin (N=75)
1.3
Contact routes for Zimbabwean interviewees by UK region
2.1
Official typologies of unauthorised migrants in the UK
5.1
Main characteristics by employment status, frequencies (N=75)
5.2
Type of work by country of origin and gender (N=75)
7.1
Participants by age at time of interview and by country of origin
Acknowledgements
Thank you to the Paul Hamlyn Foundation which commissioned the research that forms the background to this book and was published in a report, ‘No Right to Dream: The social and economic lives of young undocumented migrants in Britain’ (Bloch, Sigona and Zetter 2009). The research led the Foundation to develop and fund a programme to support young people with irregular immigration status – the Supported Options Initiative, see www.phf.org.uk for details.
A number of people and organisations contributed their work, ideas and enthusiasm to the completion of the research project on which this book is based. First of all, we wish to thank the five researchers – who carried out, transcribed and translated the interviews with the young undocumented migrants – for their outstanding work: Janroj Keles, Tom Lam, Thoko Mazura, Oleg Pasichnyi and Ana Souza. A sincere thank you also goes to the partner organisations – the Evelyn Oldfield Unit, the Wai Yin Chinese Women’s Society, the African Community Council for the Regions, the Chinese Community Centre Birmingham, ABRAS, the Zimbabwe Association and Halkevi – for their help and advice at all stages of the research as well as facilitating access to potential interviewees.
We would also like to thank the members of the project steering committee for their inputs and advice and the staff of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, especially in the Social Justice Programme, for their support, encouragement and enthusiasm throughout the study. In particular we would like to thank Rob Bell, Robert Dufton and Kirsteen Tait. Thank you also to the organisations and individuals who assisted us during the research project and in the preparation of the manuscript, especially Dogus Simsek, Cetta Mainwaring, Maknun Gamaledin-Ashami and Jenny Money.
Alice would like to thank colleagues at the University of Manchester, particularly Claire Alexander, Wendy Bottero and Brian Heaphy. Thanks also to Suki Ali, Leah Bassel, Rachel Bloch, Paul Bloch, Kirsten Campbell, Giorgia Dona, Leena Kumarappan, Sonia McKay, Kate Nash, Sarah Neal, Liza Schuster, John Solomos, Fran Tonkiss, Amal Treacher, Judy Wajcman, Frank Webster and Dawn Williamson.
Nando would like to thank Julia, Matilda and Robin for all their encouragement and patience – especially for the occasional weekends and nights spent working; colleagues at the Institute for Research into Superdiversity at the University of Birmingham for stimulating conversations and support; and the Birmingham Fellowship Scheme for giving him the time he needed to work on this book. Thanks also to Jenny Allsopp, Bridget Anderson, Mette Berg, Elaine Chase, Robin Cohen, Matthew Gibney, Ben Gidley, Roberto G. Gonzales, Jenny Phillimore and Vanessa Hughes for support and intellectual engagement, and to the Bodleian Social Science Library for providing an excellent environment for writing.
Roger would like to thank Elizabeth for her support and encouragement, and many colleagues and friends at the RSC for their intellectual stimulus over many years.
Finally, we wish to extend our sincere thanks to all our interviewees, whose experiences, insights and views of the world have informed our analysis and fill every page of this book.
Some material presented in the empirical chapters, particularly in Chapters 6 and 7 , has previously appeared in: ‘No Right to Dream: The social and economic lives of young undocumented migrants in Britain’ (Bloch, Sigona and Zetter 2009). Nando Sigona would like to thank Wiley for permission to reproduce, in Chapters 6 , some previously published material from the article ‘“I have too much baggage”: the impact of legal status on the social worlds of irregular migrants’, Social Anthropology , 20(1): 50–65.
1
Researching Everyday ‘Illegality’: An Introduction
On 15 June 2012, standing in the garden of the White House in front of a crowd of journalists, the US President Barack Obama announced that he had signed an executive order to suspend deportations with immediate effect and to grant renewable two-year residence permits to young undocumented migrants brought up in the United States. The executive order benefited undocumented migrants under 30 who arrived in the US before the age of 16, lived in the US continuously for five years, had no criminal record and had graduated from high school or served in the US military. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme is an interim solution which came at a strategic time in the run-up to the presidential election and after over ten years of unsuccessful attempts by the legislators to find a compromise, firstly on the DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education of Alien Minors) Act and, more recently, on a comprehensive immigration reform. With all its limitations – including the underlining politics of deservingness that excludes a large segment of the undocumented youth population – the measure, in it