The Never-Ending Journey? Exclusive jurisdictions and migrant mobility in Europe

Innes, Alexandria (2015) The Never-Ending Journey? Exclusive jurisdictions and migrant mobility in Europe. Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 23 (4). pp. 500-513. ISSN 1478-2790

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Abstract

Migrant journeys are often conceived as linear movement from a sending country to a receiving country. However, recent work suggests that the notion of linear migrant journeys is a misrepresentation. I argue that European regulations that standardize immigration policy around a common goal of “burden-sharing” such as the Dublin II Regulation interact with the journeys of migrants to create paths that are not linear, circular or guided solely by intent. Rather migrant journeys can be conceived as a series of negotiations with state policies that shape experiences, choices and destinations through constructions of illegality. Mobility becomes an on-going condition rather than a temporary one. Borders then are reproduced as phenomenological rather than physical. I illustrate my argument through an ethnographic case study of a Sudanese man seeking to join his wife and child who had filed an asylum application in France. He interacts with the borders of Europe throughout his journey; however, as he becomes known as an undocumented migrant he moves further from the possibility of entering Europe with immigration status despite being within the territorial boundaries. Conversely, as his physical proximity to Europe increases and is established, his legal proximity decreases.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Special Issue: Where Are Europe's New Borders?
Uncontrolled Keywords:	migration,borders,europe,dublin regulation,asylum-seeker,sdg 10 - reduced inequalities ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/reduced_inequalities
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Critical Global Politics Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Migration Research Network Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Political, Social and International Studies Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Cultural Politics, Communications & Media
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	17 Mar 2016 12:42
Last Modified:	21 Jul 2023 09:38
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/57539
DOI:	10.1080/14782804.2015.1056114

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