Border watch : cultures of immigration, detention and control / Alexandra Hall.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hall, Alexandra.

Series:

Anthropology, culture, and society

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Immigration enforcement--Great Britain.

Immigration enforcement.

Noncitizen detention centers--Great Britain.

Noncitizen detention centers.

Noncitizens--Great Britain.

Noncitizens.

Illegal immigration.

Great Britain--Emigration and immigration--Government policy--History--21st century.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

vii, 199 p.

Place of Publication:

London : Pluto Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Questions over immigration and asylum face almost all Western countries. Should only economically useful immigrants be allowed? What should be done with unwanted or 'illegal' immigrants? In this bold intervention, Alexandra Hall shows that immigration detention centres offer a window onto society's broader attitudes towards immigrants. Despite periodic media scandals, remarkably little has been written about the everyday workings of this system, or about the people responsible for setting immigration policy. Detention, particularly, is a hidden side of border politics, despite its growing international importance as a tool of control and security. This book also looks at the social life and the relationships between officers and immigrants to explore broad social trends, as well as resistance within the system, and provides rare insights into the treatment of the 'other'.

Contents:

Introduction : going inside

Visual practice and the secure regime

Being there : social life in the centre

Compliance and defiance : contesting the regime

Drawing the line : discretion and power

Ethics and encounters

Conclusion.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 173-194) and index.

ISBN:

9781849647175

1849647178

OCLC:

813928913