Restless Justice

Amid the global migration crisis, the UK has created an increasingly hostile policy environment for asylum seekers that has pushed many into unnecessary hardship and homelessness. Based on several years of ethnographic research in emergency night shelters and on the streets of Manchester, UK, Restless justice draws on the stories and experiences of refused asylum seekers and refugees driven into destitution by an antagonistic immigration system. The book explores how legal and temporal uncertainty shapes the daily lives of those who have had their asylum claims refused, and attends to the experiences of volunteers and activists working on the frontline of the crisis. While the work is rich in detail, it also extends outwards and offers new insights into our understanding of borders and the need to rethink the grand notions of justice and hospitality.

Mark Justin Rainey is a Research Associate in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Irish Studies at the University of Galway.