ABSTRACT
Movement is only possible in reference to place. Boundaries can only be crossed if boundaries exist. Mobility ontologically implies its twin, stasis. Local Lives: Migration and the Politics of Place goes against the current anthropological grain in a field dominated by transnational studies, by refocusing attention toward emplaced belonging. This volume thus explores the micropolitics and everyday rituals of place-making and shows how, in a fluid world of movement, place remains a deeply contested and symbolically rich site in which to constitute the self, even for those on the move. Despite burgeoning research on transmigrant practices, most people still become mobile with the intention of settling once more and of making the new locality a meaningful site for daily life. This volume focuses on migrant relationships with places and place-attachment and also examines what occurs when mobile migrants settle among groups of people who invoke notions of ‘localness’ and engage in contested politics of belonging. Our focus is, as Nigel Rapport points out, ‘on localisation as cultural technique: here is how migrants utilise and engage diversely with ideas of locality’ (this volume: 184).
