This 2023 article from Dr María López and Professor Louise Ryan discusses the narratives of border crossings of Afghan migrants coming to the UK. Set against the ‘hostile environment’ and ‘taking back control’ agenda promoted by Conservative administration, this study looks at how migrants from the same origin country may be constructed differently within shifting immigration regimes.
The authors drawn from the interviews with 30 newly-arrived and long-established Afghan migrants in London to present very different narratives of border crossing of those who arrived via official, legal routes such as evacuees from Kabul airport and those who came via illegal routes such as those arriving in small boats. In so doing, using journey narratives as an interpretative device, the authors demonstrated the stigmatisation of those who travel via illegal routes, despite the same country of origin.
This is an Open Access article and you can read it in full on Frontiers in Sociology webpage.
Photo credit: Omer Unlu via Pexels
This article was published as a part of a Transformation Fund at London Metroopolitan University.