
Material Culture and (Forced) Migration, Materializing the transient
The book "Material Culture and (Forced) Migration" argues that objects and materiality are important aspects of migration. People bring things with them, lose or find them during their journey, and encounter objects that frame their movements, such as borders, passports, and tents. The book contains chapters based on research into various forms of migration, from forced displacement to retirement migration. The book focuses on four themes: the relationship between temporality and materiality, object-based research methods, the emotional impact of objects, and the role of objects in place-making practices. It offers a material culture perspective for migration scholars across different disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, archaeology, curatorial studies, history, and geography. The book's ethnographic approach and focus on everyday objects and practices make it appealing to anyone interested in the tangible experiences of migration.


Table of Contents:
List of figures
List of contributors
Preface
Introduction: From ʻbare lifeʼ to ʻmoving thingsʼ: On the materiality of (forced) migration
Andrea Lauser, Antonie Fuhse, Peter Bräunlein and Friedemann Yi-Neumann
Part I – Transient foundations: on temporality and materiality
Introduction
Antonie Fuhse
1. Materializing transformative futures
Georgina Ramsay
2. Camps as vessels of hope
Simon Turner
Part II – Materialising methods: applying things in (forced) migration research
Introduction
Friedemann Yi-Neumann
3. Why should(n’t) refugees be asked about their possessions? A research-ethical and methodological reflection on my fieldwork in a refugee shelter
Elena Höpfner
4. From biographies to biographical horizons: on life courses and things in forced migrations
Friedemann Yi-Neumann
5. The Dzhangal Archaeology Project and 'Lande': two archaeological approaches to the study of forced migration
Sarah Mallet and Louise Fowler
6. Undocumented migration and the multiplicity of object lives
Ayşe Şanlı
Part III – Moving things: objects, emotions and relatedness in (forced) migration
Peter Bräunlein
7. Rakı table conversations of post-Gezi migration from Turkey: emotion, intimacy and politics
Özlem Savaş
8. Cooking ‘pocket money’: how young unaccompanied refugees create a sense of community and familiarity at a Danish asylum centre
Andrea Verdasco
9. Circulating things, circulating knowledge: why popular culture matters in exhibitions on migration
Maike Suhr
10. Lockdown routines: im/mobility, materiality and mediated support at the time of the pandemic
Maruška Svašek
11. The pram, the notebook and the plastic bag: mothering practices among migrants living in legal precarity in Berlin
Magdalena Suerbaum
Part IV – Taking and making place: engaging things
Introduction
Andrea Lauser
12. Materiality, agency and temporariness in refugee camps in Greece
Nada Ghandour-Demiri and Petros Passas
13. A retouched relationship: North American retirees’ quest for connection through popular art in Mexico
Rachel Barber
14. Place-making in the transient: things that matter in everyday life of Honduran refugees at the La 72 shelter
Yaatsil Guevara González
Index