Introduction

This opening chapter set the scene for this study in London and introduces the main themes of the book. It argues that a generation of young people are experiencing unprecedented levels of mobility and connectedness. Yet, at the same time, migrants are encountering division and regulation in a city that orders and ranks the life chances of this globally mobile generation. This chapter introduces the concept of divided connectedness as a way of describing this paradox. This chapter also introduces the way we have used collaborative ethnographic methods to document the lives of thirty adult migrants all living through a period of tumultuous political change including the so-called migrant crisis and Brexit. The chapter ends with a chapter summary of the book.