Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"The book is a sophisticated and detailed account of the social aspects of African migrants’ lives in precarious contexts. The stories of the different protagonists enable us to look anew at the meaning of kinship and its importance for personhood and social identity formation in contemporary Europe. They advance our understanding of the usefulness of theories on kinship, the family and friendship in the context of migration. As such, the book is a very valuable resource for students, researchers, and policymakers who are interested to learn about migration, kinship and social inequality." * Ethnic and Racial Studies *
“In this sophisticated, original, and wonderfully detailed ethnography of migrants’ lives, Andrikopoulos shows how the creative possibilities of kinship provide a highly flexible resource for migrants to ‘craft’ documented selves and settle in Europe. In so doing, he illuminates both the expansive and generative possibilities of kinship and its continued pertinence as a means of resisting state efforts to control migration and citizenship.” * Janet Carsten, University of Edinburgh *
“A lively account of how undocumented migrants in Amsterdam use kinship as they seek to establish themselves in the context of the Dutch state’s efforts to control immigration and increasing migrant precarity. With its detailed narratives, fresh perspectives, and important research,
Argonauts of West Africa will be of interest to scholars of Africa, Europe, and migration—and, of course, kinship.” * Jennifer Cole, coeditor of Affective Circuits: African Migrations to Europe and the Pursuit of Social Regeneration *
“This is a fascinating ethnography of West African nimble-footedness. It explores and explains ties and thirsts that defy the European logic and practice of containment of mobility and the incompleteness that fuels it.” * Francis B. Nyamnjoh, University of Cape Town *
Table of Contents1 Navigating Kinship
2 Unauthorized Identity Craft
3 “Working with My Sister’s Papers”
4 Dying Relations?
5 Marriage, Love, and Inequality
Conclusion Unpredictable Dynamics of Kinship
Acknowledgments
Appendix: Trust and Ethics
Notes
Bibliography
Index
