{"product_id":"the-fixer-9781478003045","title":"The Fixer","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the West African nation of Togo, applying for the U.S. Diversity Visa Lottery is a national obsession, with hundreds of thousands of Togolese entering each year. From the street frenzy of the lottery sign-up period and the scramble to raise money for the embassy interviewto the gamesmanship of those adding spouses and dependents to their dossiers, the application process is complicated, expensive, and unpredictable. In The Fixer Charles Piot follows Kodjo Nicolas Batema, a Togolese visa broker-known as a fixer-as he shepherds his clients through the application and interview process. Relaying the experiences of the fixer, his clients, and embassy officials, Piot captures the ever-evolving cat-and-mouse game between the embassy and the hopeful Togoleseas well as the disappointments and successes of lottery winners in the United States. These detailed and compelling stories uniquely illustrate the desire and savviness of migrants as they work to find what they hope will be a better life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Extremely well written, \u003ci\u003eThe Fixer\u003c\/i\u003e is a must-read for those striving for a more equitable world: their advocacy efforts around global mobility and migration cannot be understood divorced from global inequalities. \u003ci\u003eThe Fixer \u003c\/i\u003ewould be a great read for general readers, migration experts, policymakers, folks involved in advocacy for immigrants and displaced people, and students of immigration and transnational studies, as well as in courses on the challenges and ethics of ethnographic field research. Just a gentle warning — once you start the book, it is hard to put down.\" -- Faranak Miraftab * International Migration Review *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Scholars of Africa will appreciate how Piot combines his deep regional knowledge of Togo and his ethnographic expertise to highlight the larger global forces that shape the lives of migrant-refugees.”\u003c\/p\u003e -- Marius Kothor * African Studies Review *\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Fixer \u003c\/i\u003edemonstrates how skillful ethnography can help us better grasp the current political, economic, and cultural dynamics of migration as impacted by understandings of kinship, legitimacy, and local improvisation.\" -- Dubie Toa-Kwapong * Transforming Anthropology *\u003cbr\u003e\"While the key theoretical interventions of the book are spelt out in the introduction, the rest of the book is written in clear prose accessible to academic and non-academic audiences. The book makes a fine contribution to migration studies, economic and legal anthropology, African studies, and US studies; it would be a great case study for graduate and undergraduate courses in these fields.\" -- Smoki Musaraj * Anthropological Notebooks *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments  ix\u003cbr\u003e Introduction. Business of Dreams  1\u003cbr\u003e 1. Border Practice  27\u003cbr\u003e 2. The Interview  45\u003cbr\u003e 3. Kinship by Other Means  63\u003cbr\u003e 4. Trading Futures  85\u003cbr\u003e 5. Embassy Indiscretions  109\u003cbr\u003e 6. Protest  124\u003cbr\u003e 7. Prison  134\u003cbr\u003e 8. America, Here We Come  148\u003cbr\u003e 9. Lomé 2018  171\u003cbr\u003e Notes  179\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography  195\u003cbr\u003e Index  207","brand":"Duke University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49408973242711,"sku":"9781478003045","price":22.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781478003045.jpg?v=1730504921","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-fixer-9781478003045","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}