Migration and Mobile Rights - (Global Migration and Social Change) by Marco Perolini (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Migrant activism is key in today's world, where countries in the Global North employ border regimes to reinforce racial hierarchies, limit freedom of movement, and exploit migrant labour. But how do migrant-led movements engage with human rights - do they see them as limited tools, or as frameworks that can be reimagined in the fight for border justice?

In this compelling study, Perolini critically examines the various ways migrants challenge these border regimes and highlights the transformative potential of constructing human rights from below, moving beyond the state and legal norms.

Drawing on rich ethnographic research in Berlin, the book offers a fresh and provocative perspective on the intersections of migrant activism, human rights, and racial and border justice

Review Quotes

'This thought-provoking book paves the ground for developing an abolitionist approach to borders that, instead of just dismantling and tearing down, enacts world making practices through a tactical use of human rights and the law. By introducing the notion of "mobile rights", the book poignantly shows how a radical critique of state-based norms and racialized border mechanisms might hold together with mobilisations grounded in emancipatory and non-legal notions of human rights. In a time of socio-political fragmentation, it is paramount to interrogate how to re-compose and build up, without falling back into the trap of methodological nationalism. Perolini invites us to look at migrants' constituent struggles, escaping the binary between reform and revolution. This is an invaluable book for critical migration and border scholars who are interested in interrogating what a transformative critique of the border regime today should look like.' Martina Tazzioli, University of Bologna

'Based on thorough ethnographic research he carried out with migrants and their allies in Germany, Perolini shows how grassroots organizations and collective mobilizations construct human rights beyond the state-centric framework of international and national human rights law, beyond spectacular violations of rights reported in the media, and beyond the more visible claims made by NGOs. This lively and engaging book is a significant contribution to the political sociology of human rights. It demonstrates how migrants' rights are constructed at different scales and for different purposes. This includes mobilising resources, raising awareness of structural racism, and migrants themselves learning about the 'right to rights', both legal and non-legal. It is an invaluable resource for students and researchers interested in migrant mobilizations and rights.' Kate Nash, London School of Economics and Political Science

About the Author

Marco Perolini is a human rights research and policy specialist and Visiting Fellow with LSE Human Rights at the London School of Economics and Political Science.