Migrations in Jordan - by Jalal Al Husseini & Valentina Napolitano & Norig Neveu (Paperback)

About the Book

"Jordan sheds important light on key issues around forced migration in the Middle East. This book is the first to study the long-term impact of multiple immigration flows on Jordanian society from 1948 to the present day. Part One investigates the criteria for integration and exclusion imposed by Jordan and international humanitarian organisations on different groups of refugees. Part Two analyses how state policy impacts the solidarity networks between different migrant communities and the different political, social, religious and family networks that are set up in camps and urban settings. Part Three turns to how migrants shape the Jordanian cityscape and geography themselves"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

Jordan currently hosts the second largest percentage of registered refugees in the world: three million out of its eleven million inhabitants. Its experience in hosting migrants and refugees precedes its independence in 1946, with the arrival of Circassians, Chechens, and Armenians from the late 19th century. Jordan thus constitutes a unique observatory for reception policies and long-term settlement of different migrant groups.

Based on original empirical and archival material, this volume focuses on migrations caused by conflicts, wars, and crises underscoring their articulation with longstanding human mobility. It sheds light on the cumulative and processual dimensions of Jordan's reception policies and migrants' settlement strategies. It identifies the multiple actors involved in the management of migrants and, conversely, the latter's contribution to the Jordanian social, economic, political, and urban fabric.

The first part of the volume examines the policies adopted by the Jordanian authorities and international organizations to regulate access to basic services and to the labour market, and explores the economic and political factors underlying them. The second part analyzes the effects of Jordan's policies on the territorial distribution and settlement of migrants. How have these policies, combined with the adaptation strategies of migrants contributed to shaping new urban spaces? The third part focuses on capacity of the migrants to activate, establish, (re)build, and intersect different kinds of solidarity networks within the context of protracted displacement.

Review Quotes

Migrations in Jordan is an outstanding contribution to the Refugee Studies literature. Localising the transnational, this groundbreaking collection of interdisciplinary essays provides invaluable insights not only into processes of refugee-making, but also into the ways refugees have shaped, and continue to do so, Jordan's urban and social environment over time and space.
Jordi Tejel, Professor, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland

This volume is an exciting contribution to understanding the extent to which migration - largely forced - has become integral to the evolving nature of the state in the Levant. Focussing on Jordan, the authors of this edited book historicize, excavate, and (re)construct the way in which movements of people from the Caucuses to North Africa engage with the state, with each other, and with their networks in places of origin. Grounded in disciplines as diverse as anthropology, architecture, geography, history, political science and sociology, this volume, made up of contributions largely of European and Jordanian scholars, showcases the interactive relations developed between the migrant and the host society in a contexts of crisis or conflict.
Dawn Chatty, Professor, University of Oxford, UK

With multiple contributors casting a long historic light on the capacities of the state to manage each wave of refugees, the resulting exposé of policies expands readers' understanding of the complexities of constant adjustment.
Choice

About the Author

Jalal Al Husseini is an associate research fellow at the French Institute of the Near East (Ifpo) in Amman, Jordan.

Valentina Napolitano is a research fellow at the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD) in Marseille, France.

Norig Neveu is a research fellow at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Aix-en-Provence, France.