Nothing Personal: Geographies of Governing and Activism in the British Asylum System

In this groundbreaking new study, Nick Gill provides a conceptually innovative account of the ways in which indifference to the desperation and hardship faced by thousands of migrants fleeing persecution and exploitation comes about. Features original, unpublished empirical material from four Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded projects Challenges the consensus that border controls are necessary or desirable in contemporary society Demonstrates how immigration decision makers are immersed in a suffocating web of institutionalized processes that greatly hinder their objectivity and limit their access to alternative perspectives Theoretically informed throughout, drawing on the work of a range of social theorists, including Max Weber, Zygmunt Bauman, Emmanuel Levinas, and Georg Simmel INDICE: List of Figures 4 .List of Acronyms 5 .Chapter 1 – Introduction 6 .Migrant Deaths 6 .Moral Distance and Encounters 11 .Enriching Accounts of Moral Distance 15 .Violence and Asylum Seekers in the UK 18 .Approaching Immigration Control: Spaces and Settings 25 .Plan of the Book 29 .Chapter 2 – Moral Distance and Bureaucracy 34 .The Status of Proximity in Moral Theory and Practice 37 .Keeping People Apart 46 .Re–reading the Modern State in Terms of Moral Distance 54 .Moral Distance and Immigration Control 62 .Conclusion 69 .Chapter 3 – Distant Bureaucrats 72 .The National Asylum Support Service 78 .Insulation 84 .The Phonelines 87 .Regionalisation 92 .Buffering 97 .Competition 102 . Find Your Local Asylum Support Team 106 .Conclusion 109 .Chapter 4 – Distance at Close Quarters 112 .The Conditions of Contact 118 .Inside Lunar House 123 .Asylum Interviews 131 .Appeals 146 .Conclusion: On the Arts of Averting Encounters 153 .Chapter 5 – Indifference towards Suffering Others During Sustained Contact 156 .Immigration Detention in the UK 161 .Empathy in Immigration Detention 169 .Making Insensitivity Imperative 174 .Making Insensitivity Easier 182 .The Cruel Consequences of Insensitivity 188 .Conclusion 193 .Chapter 6 – Indifference and Emotions 197 .Emotions versus Indifference? 201 .The Interplay of Emotions in Immigration Control 204 .The softer side of British Immigration Control 214 .Conclusion 225 .Chapter 7 – Examining Compassion 228 .Closing Moral Distance through the Media 232 .Nurturing Positive Interaction 237 .The Distinctiveness of Seeking Compassion 245 .Against Compassion 250 .Mitigating Considerations 255 .Conclusion: The Recourse to Compassion 259 .Chapter 8 – Conclusion 261 .Encounter–Aversion 269 .Remaining Oppositional 272 .Generalised Indifference 275 .Methodological Appendix 278 .Sampling and Access 279 .Ethics 282 .Analysis 284 .List of References 285

• ISBN: 978-1-4443-6705-8
• Editorial: Wiley–Blackwell
• Encuadernacion: Rústica
• Páginas: 320
• Fecha Publicación: 29/01/2016
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Inglés