Refugees are vilified for using illegal practices. But illegality is deeply embedded in Europe’s asylum system: hotspots formalize smuggling routes as a precondition for asylum; illegal ‘push-backs’ push migrants to destroy papers; and overburdened states pressure refugees to move to more prosperous ones, illegally. There is a clear shift in
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Family responsibilities do not disappear with geographical distance. The possibility to provide care across national borders may therefore affect people’s decisions to move. However, the social policies framing care are still predominantly national. How are the everyday care practices from the point of view of Estonian families, whose members live
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The interplay between informality and mobility has remained so far a virtually unexplored subject. It is difficult to predict how a world without cars would impact people for whom a private vehicle is vital for economic survival, as well as for geographical and social mobility. Understanding how cars are used
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In recent academic literature, transnational migrant entrepreneurs are represented as active agents capable of mobilizing resources situated in different countries to develop businesses. Mobility, however, is an unequally distributed resource, and restrictive migration regimes limit the possibilities of individuals to become entrepreneurs. An ethnographic study in Barcelona highlights the obstacles
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People worldwide rely on informal practices to resist, survive, care, and relate to each other beyond the control and coercive presence of states and formal institutions. This blog series introduces a recently published special issue of Migration Letters that ethnographically explores how mobilities and informality are entangled in responding to
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