The Culture of Migration: Politics, Aesthetics and Histories (International Library of Migration Studies) - Hardcover

Grounded in both the historical longevity of cultural migration and its particular qualities in contemporary society, the essays that comprise The Culture of Migration: Politics, Aesthetics and Histories, take a broad view of the negotiations between subjects in movement and the geopolitical terrains they traverse. The volume never forgets the politicised dimensions of migration and the sometimes difficult experiences of individual migrants, yet the essays are wonderfully hopeful of the power of the arts to provide spaces in which identities and meanings can coalesce and be understood across differences. This is an empowering book that brings a range of voices and practices together to rethink the legacies of the past and the possibilities of our futures. In this careful orchestration of ideas and images, the editors of The Culture of Migration have managed to redraw the lines of politicised aesthetics in new and nuanced configurations. --Marsha Meskimmon, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History & Theory, Loughborough University

Migration has been a phenomenon throughout human history but today, as a result of economic hardship, conflict and globalization, a higher percentage of people than ever before live outside their country of birth. Increased international migration has resulted in more movement of information, traditions and cultures. Migration acts as a catalyst: not only for social change, but also for the generation of new aesthetic phenomena. The Culture of Migration explores the ways in which culture and the arts have been transformed by migration in recent decades--and, in turn, how these cultural and aesthetic transformations have contributed to shaping our identities, politics and societies.Making an important contribution to the emerging cross-disciplinary field of migration studies, this book examines contemporary cultural and artistic representations of migration and gathers new perspectives on the subject from across the disciplines of the arts and humanities. Renowned and emerging scholars in the field of migration, culture and aesthetics--among them the distinguished theorists Mieke Bal, Nikos Papastergiadis, Roger Bromley and Edward Casey--address the broader themes and underlying discourses of recent studies in migration and culture.