Transnational Mobility and Externalization of EU Borders: Social Work, Migration Management and Resistance addresses the topics of social work and international migration, with specific focus on the consequences of EU border externalization policies. The increasingly authoritarian character of EU border management raises a number of issues related to the role of social work within a context that is heavily charged, both ideologically and politically. After theoretically and historically contextualizing externalization with explicit attention to (neo)colonial genealogies of the current migration regimes, this book examines the complex inter-relations of social workers with key actors, namely mobile people, policy makers or funders. Particular attention is paid to the socio-economic and political impacts of the global Covid-19 pandemic on social work with variously categorized people moving across borders or immobilized incamps. Finally, the book explores how social workers and refugees resist violent migration controls and increasing criminalization of cross-border movements. This volume brings together contributions located in the so-called countries of origin and transit targeted by EU externalization interventions, as well as EU countries, in which social workers deal with the effects of border externalization and internalization.
Petra Dankova is PhD candidate at the University of Bayreuth and at the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wuerzburg - Schweinfurt. Robel Afeworki Abay is sociologist and guest professor of participatory approaches in social and health sciences at Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin. Nikos Xypolytas is assistant professor at the University of the Aegean, Greece. Tanja Kleibl holds a research chair in Participatory Action Research at the Technical University of Wuerzburg-Schweinfurt (THWS), she is also a Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg.
This book is overdue and an indispensable read for any migration researchers, lecturers or social workers involved into working with refugees or migrants. The different chapters in this book highlight the urgent need to resist when institutional policies and regulations endanger human rights of people on the move. --Ronald Lutz, University of Applied Sciences Erfurt This very timely reading sheds light on some of the most pressing human rights abuses people on the move experience on their search for a better, secure and save life for themselves and their loved ones. Drawing on a variety of cases, the chapters address border externalization not only in specific geographical, economic and social contexts but also delve into the interwoven global postcolonial legacy along with the continuous racism and oppression. The critical contributions in this volume are relevant to scholars, students, policymakers, and practitioners alike. --Ulrike Krause, Osnabrueck University This wide-ranging - both historically and geographically - co-edited volume places attention on the myriad ambiguities of social work with in the context of the EU migration regime. With detailed case studies including Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration programmes in The Gambia, anti-trafficking initiatives in Nigeria and refugee camps in Berlin and Lesvos, the book draws out and deconstructs some of the overly Eurocentric framings of externalisation policies. This book will be of great interest to social work students and all those looking to enhance their understanding of the complexities of social work in the grey area of migration management and the potential for practices of resistance to emerge. This book offers valuable critical insight into the complexities of social work with migrants in a variety of settings within an increasingly hostile socio-political landscape. This is particularly valid at a time of increasing EU border militarization and externalisation policies. --Sarah Walker, University of Bologna
