1st Edition

Forced Migration in Transit Migrant Experiences of Organized Violence in Mexico and Turkey

    238 Pages 27 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    This book compares the life courses of forced migrants in two of the world’s most important transit countries: Turkey and Mexico. It examines the local, regional, and global contexts of their experiences, trajectories, and biographical projects, caught between return, stay, and forward movement.

    Forced migration has increased rapidly around the world in recent years, with Mexico and Turkey experiencing particularly high numbers of migrants, as conflict, violence, authoritarian regimes, environmental disasters, economic instability, lack of opportunity, and generalized violence have driven people to leave their homes in search of a better life. With a special focus on organized violence, this book analyzes the specific impact of organized violence on the trajectories and biographies of forced migrants, situating these life courses in the political, economic, cultural, and social contexts of the countries of origin (Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria; El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras) and in the country of transit (Turkey and Mexico). Using extensive original empirical data and analysis, it argues that forced migration is a long-lasting social process based on everyday actions and social practices throughout the migration trajectory.

    Systematically comparing two of the world’s most important transit countries, this book will be of interest to researchers in the fields of migration, politics, international relations, and sociology.

    1. Introduction: forced migration in transit and organized violence – a research agenda  2. Guiding questions, design of research and methodology  3. Migration regimes and forced migration in Mexico and Turkey  4. Biographical narratives of forced migrants in the context of organized violence  5. Life worlds, biographies and experiences with violence of forced migrants in comparison  6. Profiles and socio-demographics of forced migrants in comparison  7. Organized violence within (im)mobilities: situations and perceptions of forced migrants in comparison  8. Integrating quantitative and qualitative analysis in the study of forced migration  9. Conclusion

     

    Biography

    Ludger Pries is Senior-Professor of Sociology at the Department of Social Science, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany.

    Stephanie Schütze is Professor for Cultural and Social Anthropology with a specialization in gender and migration studies at the Lateinamerika-Institut of Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.

    Ximena Alba Villalever is an anthropologist at the Lateinamerika-Institut of Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, where she is coordinator of the Gender Studies profile of the Master’s program.

    Berna Safak Zülfikar Savci is a a demographer and postdoctoral Researcher in Sociology, Department of Social Science, Ruhr University of Bochum, Germany.