Full Description
Nationalists and nativists often blame the figure of the immigrant 'other' for society's ills, contrasting this with the 'local' or 'native' whose livelihood and way of life are seen as under threat from immigration. Being at ease with difference is seen as the worldview of a cosmopolitan elite.
Stories from a migrant city argues for an urgent transformation of how such terms are understood and deployed. Drawing on eight years of research in an English provincial city and a biographical approach to oral history, this book challenges the ways in which people have come to be seen as 'migrants' or 'locals' and understood to have opposing interests. Non-elite cosmopolitanism is shown to be alive and well, in spite of racism, the legacies of empire and the devastating effects of four decades of neoliberalism.
Contents
1 Introduction: Non-elite cosmopolitanism in the Brexit era
2 'India's my heart, and I know I'm an Indian': histories of mobility and fixity
3 'If not you, they can get ten different workers in your place': racial capitalism and workplace resistance
4 'We're not just guardians of the area but of the whole city': urban citizenship struggles and the racialised outsider
5 'And then we just let our creativity take over': cultural production in a provincial city
6 Conclusion: the immigration debate and common anger in dangerous times
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
