|
|
|||
|
||||
OverviewIn the West African nation of Togo, applying for the U.S. Diversity Visa Lottery is a national obsession, with hundreds of thousands of Togolese entering each year. From the street frenzy of the lottery sign-up period and the scramble to raise money for the embassy interview to the gamesmanship of those adding spouses and dependents to their dossiers, the application process is complicated, expensive, and unpredictable. In The Fixer Charles Piot follows Kodjo Nicolas Batema, a Togolese visa broker-known as a ""fixer""-as he shepherds his clients through the application and interview process. Relaying the experiences of the fixer, his clients, and embassy officials, Piot captures the ever-evolving cat-and-mouse game between the embassy and the hopeful Togolese as well as the disappointments and successes of lottery winners in the United States. These detailed and compelling stories uniquely illustrate the desire and savviness of migrants as they work to find what they hope will be a better life. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Charles PiotPublisher: Duke University Press Imprint: Duke University Press Weight: 0.318kg ISBN: 9781478003045ISBN 10: 1478003049 Pages: 224 Publication Date: 28 June 2019 Audience: Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: In Print This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us. Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction. Business of Dreams 1 1. Border Practice 27 2. The Interview 45 3. Kinship by Other Means 63 4. Trading Futures 85 5. Embassy Indiscretions 109 6. Protest 124 7. Prison 134 8. America, Here We Come 148 9. Lomé 2018 171 Notes 179 Bibliography 195 Index 207ReviewsExtremely well written, The Fixer is a must-read for those striving for a more equitable world: their advocacy efforts around global mobility and migration cannot be understood divorced from global inequalities. The Fixer would be a great read for general readers, migration experts, policymakers, folks involved in advocacy for immigrants and displaced people, and students of immigration and transnational studies, as well as in courses on the challenges and ethics of ethnographic field research. Just a gentle warning - once you start the book, it is hard to put down. -- Faranak Miraftab * International Migration Review * Scholars of Africa will appreciate how Piot combines his deep regional knowledge of Togo and his ethnographic expertise to highlight the larger global forces that shape the lives of migrant-refugees. -- Marius Kothor * African Studies Review * The Fixer demonstrates how skillful ethnography can help us better grasp the current political, economic, and cultural dynamics of migration as impacted by understandings of kinship, legitimacy, and local improvisation. -- Dubie Toa-Kwapong * Transforming Anthropology * Extremely well written, The Fixer is a must-read for those striving for a more equitable world: their advocacy efforts around global mobility and migration cannot be understood divorced from global inequalities. The Fixer would be a great read for general readers, migration experts, policymakers, folks involved in advocacy for immigrants and displaced people, and students of immigration and transnational studies, as well as in courses on the challenges and ethics of ethnographic field research. Just a gentle warning - once you start the book, it is hard to put down. -- Faranak Miraftab * International Migration Review * Author InformationCharles Piot is Professor of Cultural Anthropology and African and African American Studies at Duke University; editor of Doing Development in West Africa: A Reader by and for Undergraduates, also published by Duke University Press; and author of Nostalgia for the Future: West Africa after the Cold War. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |