Edited by: Laura Merla, Sarah Murru, Giacomo Orsini , Tanja Vuckovic Juros 

This open access book critically examines how discourses and policies target and exclude migrants and their families in Europe and North America along racial, gender and sexuality lines, and how these exclusions are experienced and resisted. Building on the influential notion of intersectional borderings, it delves deep into how these discourses converge and diverge, highlighting the underlying normative constructs of family, gender, and sexuality. First, it examines how radical-right and conservative political movements perpetuate exclusionary practices and how they become institutionalized in migration, welfare, and family policies. Second, it examines the dynamic responses they provoke—both resistance and reinforcement—among those affected in their everyday lives. Bringing together studies from political and social sciences, it offers a vital contribution to the expanding field of migrant family governance and exclusion and is essential for understanding the complex processes of exclusion and the movements that challenge and sustain them. It expands academic discussions on populism and the politics of exclusion by linking them to the politicization of intimacy and family life. With diverse case studies from Europe, North, and Central America, it appeals to students, academics, and policymakers, informing future mobilizations against discriminatory and exclusionary tendencies in politics and society.

IMISCOE Research Series Cham: Springer Nature, 2024. 183p.

By Simone Drake, James Phelan, Robyn Warhol, and Lisa Zunshine

Black Women’s Stories of Everyday Racism puts literary narrative theory to work on an urgent real-world problem. The book calls attention to African American women’s everyday experiences with systemic racism and demonstrates how four types of narrative theory can help generate strategies to explain and dismantle that racism. This volume presents fifteen stories told by eight midwestern African American women about their own experiences with casual and structural racism, followed by four detailed narratological analyses of the stories, each representing a different approach to narrative interpretation. The book makes a case for the need to hear the personal stories of these women and others like them as part of a larger effort to counter the systemic racism that prevails in the United States today. Readers will find that the women’s stories offer powerful evidence that African Americans experience racism as an inescapable part of their day-to-day lives—and sometimes as a force that radically changes their lives. The stories provide experience-based demonstrations of how pervasive systemic racism is and how it perpetuates power differentials that are baked into institutions such as schools, law enforcement, the health care system, and business. Containing countless signs of the stress and trauma that accompany and follow from experiences of racism, the stories reveal evidence of the women’s resilience as well as their unending need for it, as they continue to feel the negative effects of experiences that occurred many years ago. The four interpretive chapters note the complex skill involved in the women’s storytelling. The analyses also point to the overall value of telling these stories: how they are sometimes cathartic for the tellers; how they highlight the importance of listening—and the likelihood of misunderstanding—and how, if they and other stories like them were heard more often, they would be a force to counteract the structural racism they so graphically expose.

London; New York: Routledge, 2024. 137p

By Simon P. Newman

Freedom Seekers: Escaping from Slavery in Restoration London reveals the hidden stories of enslaved and bound people who attempted to escape from captivity in England’s capital. In 1655 White Londoners began advertising in the English-speaking world’s first newspapers for enslaved people who had escaped. Based on the advertisements placed in these newspapers by masters and enslavers offering rewards for so-called runaways, this book brings to light for the first time the history of slavery in England as revealed in the stories of resistance by enslaved workers. Featuring a series of case-studies of individual "freedom-seekers", this book explores the nature and significance of escape attempts as well as detailing the likely routes and networks they would take to gain their freedom. The book demonstrates that not only were enslaved people present in Restoration London but that White Londoners of this era were intimately involved in the construction of the system of racial slavery, a process that traditionally has been regarded as happening in the colonies rather than the British Isles. An unmissable and important book that seeks to delve into Britain’s colonial past.

London: University of London Press, 2022.

Editors: Heaven Crawley, Joseph Kofi Teye

This open access handbook examines the phenomenon of South-South migration and its relationship to inequality in the Global South, where at least a third of all international migration takes place. Drawing on contributions from nearly 70 leading migration scholars, mainly from the Global South, the handbook challenges dominant conceptualisations of migration, offering new perspectives and insights that can inform theoretical and policy understandings and unlock migration’s development potential. The handbook is divided into four parts, each highlighting often overlooked mobility patterns within and between regions of the Global South, as well as the inequalities faced by those who move. Key cross-cutting themes include gender, race, poverty and income inequality, migration decision making, intermediaries, remittances, technology, climate change, food security and migration governance. The handbook is an indispensable resource on South-South migration and inequality for academics, researchers, postgraduates and development practitioners.

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (Dec 28 2023), 749p.

By Pilatowsky, Eynel; Ruiz Contreras, Juanita

This document analyses public perception regarding migration in the region for 2023, using data collected by the Public Perceptions Laboratory on Migration. Social media monitoring shows a slight decrease in the conversation about migration compared to the previous year, but security remains the most relevant topic for the public. Concerns about crime and unemployment continue to be common, influencing the perceptions of host societies. Additionally, xenophobia remains present in public discourse, with an increase in xenophobic responses to institutional tweets. The report focuses on two dynamics of continental mobility: the arrival of Venezuelan population in specific countries and changes in public opinion regarding new migratory flows in El Darién and the Central American corridor towards the United States. The Laboratory aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of perceptions in the region to support decision-making and grasp the overall state of public opinion on regional migration dynamics.

023 Inter-American Development Bank.IDB , 2023. 20p.

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By Edwin S. Newman

Purpose: The book aims to provide an objective picture of the role of freedom in contemporary American society, focusing on civil rights and liberties.

Content: It includes excerpts from Supreme Court decisions and commentary from various experts, such as judges, lawyers, and political scientists.

Themes: Major themes include freedom and national security,censorship,academic freedom, and civil rights.

References: The document contains numerous references to works by notable authors and institutions, highlighting the breadth of perspectives included.

Oceana Publications, 1955, 256 pages

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By Joesph R. Gusfield

Focus on Temperance Movement: The book examines the American Temperance Movement as a significant moral reform effort, analyzing its political and social implications.

Status Politics: It explores how status conflicts and cultural differences influence the movement, highlighting the role of social status in political tensions.

Cultural Symbols: The document discusses how drinking and abstinence served as symbols of social status, reflecting broader cultural and religious divides.

Historical Context: It provides a historical analysis of theTemperanceMovement's evolution, including its impact on American politics and society.

University of Illinois Press, 1986, 226 pages

By J. Harry Bennett Jr.

Codrington Plantations: The Codrington Plantations in Barbados were bequeathed to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 1710, employing about 300 slaves.

Slavery and Apprenticeship: The document explores the conditions of slavery and apprenticeship on these plantations from 1710 to 1838, highlighting the Society's efforts to manage and convert the slaves.

Humanitarian Efforts: The Society's attempts to improve the lives of the slaves included religious instruction and amelioration policies, though these efforts were often limited and met with resistance.

Historical Context: The document provides a comprehensive historical account of the British West Indies, emphasizing the significance of the Codrington estates in the broader context of slavery and colonialism.

University of California Press, 1958, 176 pages

By A. Meredith John

Historical Context: The book explores the history of Trinidad from 1498 to 1813, focusing on the introduction and role of slavery in the island's economic and political development.

Demographic Analysis: It provides a detailed demographic and mathematical analysis of the plantation slave population in Trinidad,using data from the Trinidad Slave Registers of 1813, 1815, and 1816.

Mortality and Fertility: The study examines plantation slave mortality and fertility, aiming to estimate plausible upper and lower bounds for these rates.

Unique Position: Trinidad's unique historical position as a frontier colony with fertile lands and a relatively recent introduction of slaves is highlighted, contrasting it with more established colonies like Jamaica And Barbados.

Cambridge University Press, 1988, 259 pages

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By Elsa V. Goveia

Scope of Study: The book examines the political, economic, and social organization of the British Leeward Islands' slave society in the late 18th century, focusing on the relationships between masters,freedmen, and slaves.

Economic Dependence: The economy of the British West Indian Colonies, including the Leeward Islands, was heavily dependent on trade in tropical staples like sugar, molasses, and rum, as well as theAfricanslave trade.

Christian Missions: TheChristian missions played a significant role in the slave society, aiming to instill moral obligations in slaves to accept their status and improve their productivity and obedience.

References: The document includes a detailed list of sources and references used in the study, highlighting the extensive research conducted.

Greenwood Press, 1980, 370 pages

By Harry Fleischman

Legislative Advances: TheCivil Rights Act of 1964 and theVotingRights Act of 1965 marked significant legislative progress, with historian C. Vann Woodward noted their impact as comparable to theReconstruction era.

Economic Gains and Disparities: Despite economic improvements forAfrican Americans, such as increased median family income and job growth, significant disparities remained, particularly in housing and unemployment rates.

Challenges in Civil Rights Movement: The civil rights movement faced challenges in addressing issues in Northern urban ghettos, with organizations like CORE and SNCC struggling to establish strong roots and mobilize communities.

Watts Riots: TheWatts riots in Los Angeles highlighted deep-seated issues of unemployment, inadequate schooling, and police-community relations, leading to significant property damage and loss of life.

American Jewish Committee, 1966 , 29 pages

By Lydia Morris

This book explores the concept of civic stratification and examines its contemporary relevance for analysis and understanding of the functioning of rights in society. David Lockwood’s (1996) concept of civic stratification outlines how the rights associated with citizenship can be a source of inequality by their formal granting or denial by the state, or by informal impediments to their full realization. The purpose of this book is to explore the meaning and significance of this concept and elaborate on its potential to offer a framework for understanding the dynamic nature of rights. Lockwood’s model reverses Marshall’s (1950) view of citizenship as guaranteed inclusion in society and is linked to the way that the differential entitlement and the qualifying conditions associated with certain rights can be harnessed as a means of control. While both Marshall and Lockwood were principally concerned with the rights attached to citizenship, this book extends the insights of these two authors to show how such controls apply in various ways to both citizens and non-citizens alike. Building on Lockwood’s conception of ‘moral resources’ the book sets out a theoretical framework and empirical illustration of how the position of different groups within society is subject to shifting perceptions of social worth and is engaged both in claims to fuller access to rights and in justifications of their denial or removal. This book will appeal to scholars and higher-level students with relevant interests in sociolegal studies, sociology, social policy, and politics. 

Abingdon, Oxon, UK: New York: Routledge, 2025. 125p.

Edited by Vishanthie Sewpaul, Linda Kreitzer, and Tanusha Raniga   

Cultural practices have the potential to cause human suffering. The Tensions between Culture and Human Rights critically interrogates the relationship between culture and human rights across Africa and offers strategies for pedagogy and practice that social workers and educators may use. Drawing on Afrocentricity and emancipatory social work as antidotes to colonial power and dehumanization, this collection challenges cultural practices that violate human rights, and the dichotomous and taken-for-granted assumptions in the cultural representations between the West and the Rest of the world. Engaging critically with cultural traditions while affirming Indigenous knowledge and practices, it is unafraid to deal frankly with uncomfortable truths. Each chapter explores a specific aspect of African cultural norms and practices and their impacts on human rights and human dignity, paying special attention to the intersections of politics, economics, race, class, gender, and cultural expression. Going beyond analysis, this collection offers a range of practical approaches to understanding and intervention rooted in emancipatory social work. It offers a pathway to develop critical reflexivity and to reframe epistemologies for education and practice. This is essential reading not only for students and practitioners of social work, but for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of African cultures and practices.

Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2021. 323p.

By Sylvia Walby and Karen A. Shire

The book offers a theory of trafficking and modern slavery with implications for policy through an analysis of evidence, data, and law. Despite economic development, modern slavery persists all around the world. The book challenges the current fragmentation of theory and develops a synthesis of the root causes of trafficking chains. Trafficking concerns not only situations of vulnerability but their exploitation is driven by profit-taking. The policy solution is not merely to treat the issue as one of crime but also concerns the regulation of the economy, better welfare, and social protection. Although data is incomplete, methods are improving to indicate its scale and distribution. Traditional assumptions of nation-state sovereignty are challenged by the significance of international law historically. Going beyond the polarization of the debates on sexual exploitation in the sex trade, the book offers an original empirical analysis that shows the importance of a focus on profit-taking. Although individual experience matters, the root causes of trafficking/modern slavery lie in intersecting regimes of inequality of gender regimes, capitalism, and the legacies of colonialism. The book shows the importance of coercion and theorizing society as a complex system.

Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press, 2024. 

By  Ariel G. Ruiz Soto and Andrew Selee

Increasingly, research suggests that providing legal pathways for migration may reduce unauthorized migration pressures, especially when coupled with targeted enforcement. As policymakers across the Americas assess whether and how to expand legal mobility pathways, understanding the pathways that exist currently and how they are used is a vital starting point. This fact sheet examines the U.S. legal pathways that exist for nationals of Mexico and the northern Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, which have long been among the top sources of unauthorized migration to the United States. By analyzing U.S. government data, the fact sheet provides an overview of the extent to which migrants from these countries are issued immigrant visas, for those who intend to live permanently in the country; nonimmigrant visas, for those who seek to enter temporarily for seasonal work, study, or business; and humanitarian forms of admission, including refugee resettlement and humanitarian parole.

Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute, 2024. 15p.

By Physicians for Human Rights

Survivor-centered, trauma-informed, and rigorous medico-legal documentation is essential to offer survivors a pathway to justice, with standardized forensic medical evaluations playing a key role in documenting and corroborating accounts of sexual violence and torture. To support Ukrainian government officials, civil society, and international partners in building systems to support survivors, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) assessed the medico-legal documentation pathway in Ukraine to identify opportunities to strengthen systems to center survivors’ well-being, autonomy, and access to remedies.

Physicians for Human Rights assessed the medico-legal documentation pathway in Ukraine to identify opportunities to strengthen systems to center survivors’ well-being, autonomy, and access to remedies.

Building on the numerous efforts by Ukrainian authorities and their partners to address challenges to medico-legal documentation, this policy brief outlines current obstacles that impede justice and healing for survivors and sets forth actionable opportunities for the Ukrainian government and other stakeholders for reform. The recommendations put forward in the brief emphasize the need to expand the pool of qualified professionals authorized to conduct forensic medical evaluations in cases of conflict-related sexual violence and torture. They also call for legislative reforms to empower survivors in the justice process, the development of standardized medico-legal documentation tools, and the implementation of capacity-building initiatives to ensure trauma-informed, survivor-centered approaches. Together, these efforts can transform the experience of survivors as they seek remedy and reparation and ultimately facilitate greater accountability and healing.

New York: Physicians for Human Rights, 2024. 10p.

By International Organization for Migration Regional Office for Central America, North America and the Caribbean San Jose, Costa Rica

The increase in irregular migration in the Central American and Mexican routes has generated an increase in the flow of migrants through dangerous zones, exposing migrants to various risks, from the use of dangerous means of transportation to situations of exploitation, violence and disappearances. In recent years, hundreds of migrants have been reported missing or dead in these zones. Protection services face challenges and limitations in providing comprehensive care to the large number of migrants passing through the region. These risks are increased for vulnerable populations such as unaccompanied minors, women and LGBTIQA+ persons. In response, governments recognize the need to ensure the physical, legal and emotional safety of migrants in transit through the region. This study, developed by the IOM Regional Program on Migration with the support of the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration of the United States Department of State, provides crucial information and lines of action to protect migrants in transit, contributing to the fulfillment of international commitments and the strengthening of coordination among member countries for the assistance and protection of migrants.

International Organization for Migration Regional Office for Central America, North America and the Caribbean San Jose, Costa Rica, 2024. 50p.   

By Magdalena Moorthy Kloss

This first detailed study of slavery in medieval Yemen examines the lives of women and men who were enslaved as children and then placed in various subaltern positions - from domestic servant to royal concubine, from quarryman to army commander.

Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2024.

By Daniel Drewski and Jürgen Gerhards

Across the world, the number of people forcibly displaced from their homes has more than doubled during the last decade. Although international law does not allow states to turn back refugees, some countries close their borders to refugees, some open their borders and grant extensive protection, while others admit some groups of refugees while excluding others. How can we make sense of these different responses to admitting refugees? In this book, Daniel Drewski and Jürgen Gerhards show that governments' refugee policy, as well as the stance adopted by opposition parties on the issue, is heavily dependent on how they frame their country's collective identity on the one hand and the identity and characteristics of the refugees on the other. By defining the "we" and the "others", politicians draw on collectively shared cultural repertoires, which vary by country and by political constituency within a country. The book is based on a discourse analysis of parliamentary debates. It explores the specific framing of nations' identities and the corresponding perceptions of otherness by focusing on six countries that have been confronted with large numbers of refugees: Germany, Poland, and Turkey, all responding to the exodus of Syrian and Middle Eastern refugees; Chile's reaction to the Venezuelan displacement; Singapore and its stance towards Rohingya refugees; and Uganda's response to the displacement from South Sudan. The study explores not only differences between governments of different countries but also the conflicting views of different political parties within the same country.

Oxford, UK; New York: Oxford University Press,  2024.  321p.

Edited by Angela Di Stasi, Ida Caracciolo, Giovanni Cellamare, Pietro Gargiulo

This book discusses existing and future trends concerning the development of migratory policies between local and global levels, to understand the challenges and gaps in the protection of migrants. The collection explores international migration and its impact on sovereignty, international cooperation, security, and human rights. In particular, it takes into account the composite framework of international and national rules, and the role of judicial and monitoring bodies in protecting the rights of migrants, with the aim of assessing the state of the art, identifying the gaps, and formulating possible remedies. The work of some international organizations such as the UN and its specialized agencies and the European Union is investigated, together with a set of regional practices such as those of Latin America and South-East Asia, and countries, such as Mexico, Georgia, Tunisia, Italy, and the United States. The issues of the fundamental rights of migrants in the European legal order are also addressed, including the emerging scenarios related to recent crises like the one generated by the war in Ukraine. This timely collection will be essential reading for academics, researchers, and policy-makers working in the areas of Migration Law, Asylum and Refugee Law, International Law, International Organizations, EU Law, International Human Rights Law, International Humanitarian Law, Comparative Law and Socio-Legal Studies.

London; New York: Routledge, 2025. 705p.