Deportation Regime: Sovereignty, Space, and the Freedom of Movement

by Nicholas De Genova (Editor), Nathalie Peutz (Editor)

This important collection examines deportation as an increasingly global mechanism of state control. Anthropologists, historians, legal scholars, and sociologists consider not only the physical expulsion of noncitizens but also the social discipline and labor subordination resulting from deportability, the threat of forced removal. They explore practices and experiences of deportation in regional and national settings from the U.S.-Mexico border to Israel, and from Somalia to Switzerland. They also address broader questions, including the ontological significance of freedom of movement; the historical antecedents of deportation, such as banishment and exile; and the development, entrenchment, and consequences of organizing sovereign power and framing individual rights by territory.Whether investigating the power that individual and corporate sponsors have over the fate of foreign laborers in Bahrain, the implications of Germany's temporary suspension of deportation orders for pregnant and ill migrants, or the significance of the detention camp, the contributors reveal how deportation reflects and reproduces notions about public health, racial purity, and class privilege. They also provide insight into how deportation and deportability are experienced by individuals, including Arabs, South Asians, and Muslims in the United States. One contributor looks at asylum claims in light of an unusual anti-deportation campaign mounted by Algerian refugees in Montreal; others analyze the European Union as an entity specifically dedicated to governing mobility inside and across its official borders. "The Deportation Regime" addresses urgent issues related to human rights, international migration, and the extensive security measures implemented by nation-states since September 11, 2001.

"Contributors" Rutvica Andrijasevic, Aashti Bhartia, Heide Castaneda, Galina Cornelisse, Susan Bibler Coutin, Nicholas De Genova, Andrew M. Gardner, Josiah Heyman, Serhat Karakayali, Sunaina Marr Maira, Guillermina Gina Nunez, Peter Nyers, Nathalie Peutz, Enrica Rigo, Victor Talavera, William Walters, Hans-Rudolf Wicker, Sarah S. Willen

Genres: Politics

507 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Nicholas De Genova has taught anthropology, migration studies, and Latino studies at Columbia University, Stanford University, and the University of Bern, and has held research positions at the University of Warwick and the University of Amsterdam. He is the author of Working the Boundaries: Race, Space, and “Illegality” in Mexican Chicago and the editor of Racial Transformations: Latinos and Asians Remaking the United States and co-editor (with Nathalie Peutz) of The Deportation Regime: Sovereignty, Space, and the Freedom of Movement.

Reviews

[Sara Salem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent comparative volume that looks at the mechanics of deportation across the world. Some chapters are more critical than others but generally very informative and the editors make a point of showing how deportation is constitutive of modern citizenship and state sovereignty.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

We actually didn't read all of the articles in this book for class, but I will be reading the rest in my own time. I enjoyed this book primarily because it highlights immigration issues worldwide, not just in the U.S. It's eye opening to see that some of the struggles we face in the United States are not unique to our immigration system or the perspectives of the citizens. What I've read so far is written in a very academic way, so it can be a bit tedious at times, but worth it.

[Sabrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Read for academic purposes.

[Leif · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the double-barrelled introduction and onward into the volume's depths, this book is a vociferous attempt to carve out concepts from the as-yet nascent deportation studies --- and it greatly succeeds. A couple of reprinted essays rounds out a collection of new work, and methodologies range from full theoretical assemblages to qualitative ethnography, but not much statistics or quantitative work (reflecting the authors' shared suspicion of the nation-state container). Great stuff here!