Governing Migration Through Paperwork - (Lifeworlds: Knowledges, Politics, Histories) by Sophie Andreetta & Lisa Marie Borrelli (Hardcover)

About the Book

"To better understand migration governance and the concrete, daily practices of civil servants tasked with enforcing state laws and policies, it is important to focus on documents, which are core artefacts of bureaucratic work. These can include certificates, letters, reports, case files, decisions, internal guidelines and judgements, in both digital and paper form. Based on ethnographic studies in various geographical and bureaucratic contexts, this collection shows how civil servants produce statehood, restrict migrants' movements and engage with migrants' strategies to make themselves legible. It contributes to the study of the state as documentary practice and highlights the role of paperwork as a powerful practice of migration control"--

Book Synopsis

To better understand migration governance and the concrete, daily practices of civil servants tasked with enforcing state laws and policies, it is important to focus on documents, which are core artefacts of bureaucratic work. These can include certificates, letters, reports, case files, decisions, internal guidelines and judgements, in both digital and paper form. Based on ethnographic studies in various geographical and bureaucratic contexts, this collection shows how civil servants produce statehood, restrict migrants' movements and engage with migrants' strategies to make themselves legible. It contributes to the study of the state as documentary practice and highlights the role of paperwork as a powerful practice of migration control.

Review Quotes

"Well documented and well argued, with complementary approaches on a topical subject, addressed from an original angle that has recently emerged in the anthropology of the state and bureaucracies." - Jean-Pierre Olivier De Sardan, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales

About the Author

Lisa Marie Borrelli is Associate Professor at the University of Applied Science - HES-SO Valais, Institute of Social Work, Switzerland.