Island of Hope and Solidarity in the Mediterranean

Megan A. Carney, Ph.D.

Island of Hope: Migration and Solidarity in the Mediterranean (University of California Press, May 2021) is now available for pre-order. UC Press offers a 30% discount when you order directly through their website using the code 17M6662. 

Description:

With thousands of migrants attempting the perilous maritime journey from North Africa to Europe each year, transnational migration is a defining feature of social life in the Mediterranean today. On the island of Sicily, where many migrants first arrive and ultimately remain, the contours of migrant reception and integration are frequently animated by broader concerns for human rights and social justice. Island of Hope sheds light on the emergence of social solidarity initiatives and networks forged between citizens and noncitizens who work together to improve local livelihoods and mobilize for radical political change. Basing her argument on years of ethnographic fieldwork with frontline communities in Sicily, anthropologist Megan Carney asserts that such mobilizations hold significance not only for the rights of migrants, but for the material and affective well-being of society at large.

Chapter titles and central questions of each:

Introduction

Chapter 1: Austerity and Migration as Mediterranean "Questions" - How have experiences of austerity in the European context - and particularly Sicily - articulated with political and economic transformations in both Italy's welfare state and globally over the past few decades?

Chapter 2: "There Is a Lot of Creativity on This Island" - What is the significance of Sicily being on the front lines of migration to Europe? 

Chapter 3: The Reception Apparatus - What are the contours of Italy's migrant reception system as it takes shape at various scales?

Chapter 4: Migrant Solidarity Work - How might we theorize migrant solidarity as a site of radical, caring labor? 

Chapter 5: Edible Solidarities - How is food, and particularly the meanings and practices surrounding fusion food, an emergent site of migrant solidarity?

Chapter 6: Caring for the Future: The Case of Migrant Youth - What are the experiences of migrant youth in Italy's reception apparatus and migrant solidarity efforts?

Conclusion

About the author: 

Megan A. Carney is a sociocultural and medical anthropologist with specializations in migration and health, food insecurity, and the politics of care. She is an assistant professor of Anthropology and director of the Center for Regional Food Studies at the University of Arizona. She is the author of two books, the award-winning “The Unending Hunger: Tracing Women and Food Insecurity Across Borders” (University of California Press, 2015) and the forthcoming “Island of Hope: Migration and Solidarity in the Mediterranean” (University of California Press). She is a fellow with the Fulbright Schuman European Union Affairs Program and was previously a Public Voices Fellow with The OpEd Project. Follow her on Twitter @megan_a_carney

Article about the book: https://sbs.arizona.edu/news/uarizona-anthropologist%E2%80%99s-new-book-critically-examines-migration-crisis-sicily

Megan A. Carney, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, School of Anthropology
Director, Center for Regional Food Studies
Affiliate Faculty, Latin American Studies, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern and North African Studies, Food Studies
University of Arizona