The Criminalisation of People Smuggling in Indonesia and Australia
Asylum out of reach
Antje Missbach
The Criminalisation of People Smuggling in Indonesia and Australia
Asylum out of reach
Antje Missbach
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Description
This book offers an ethnographically-informed critique on the facilitation of irregularised migration for asylum-seekers between Indonesia & Australia. It will be of interest to researchers of anthropology, sociology, law, criminology, Asia-Pacific/SEA Studies & international migration.
The Criminalisation of People Smuggling is the first comprehensive analysis of the smuggling of transit migrants from Indonesia to Australia and shows how this activity influences the relationship of the two countries. […] Written in a readable narrative style supported by rich empirical data, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the complex nature of refugee issues in both countries. […] The main strength of this book is the author's analytical framework, which allows Missbach to identify the actors and their roles in unsanctioned passages as well as the infrastructure. […] Because of its unique perspective, this book can be a useful reflection for states such as Australia and Indonesia and might serve as an incentive to humanise their measures towards migrants. It is also a call for migration scholars to pay more attention to the human consequences of each specific measure imposed by states around the world through micro-level empirical work. - Bilal Dewansyah, Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs
In an era where words such as ‘migration’ and ‘smuggling’ spark fierce political debates, public responses and, more often than not, negative media attention, Missbach brings a timely perspective to heated debates in a work that goes behind simplistic labels such as ‘smuggler’ to put names and stories to the many characters present along irregular migration routes. Her unique positionality, having worked on this subject for a significant period in Indonesia and Australia, adds a historical dimension as to how asylum has become ever more difficult for people in need of protection. Of note are the ways in which invasion angst is contextualised in this book, situated within a historical legacy of structural violence and her reflections on the broader political environment for people seeking asylum. The focus this text brings to the polarising topic of migration is a welcome rejoinder to assumptions about the financial benefits of smuggling and the notion of smugglers as ‘big fish’ who face no risks for their actions. [...] Perhaps the greatest impact of this book is to call into question the continual way in which smuggling is framed and offer methodologies for similar accounts in other contexts. By humanising the people behind the smuggling label and showing how this system operates in a country of transit, Missbach provides a timely and rich analysis of a feature of migration that regretfully shows no trend of abating in the near future. - Melissa Phillips, Journal of Intercultural Studies 2023
Antje Missbach is Professor of Sociology at Bielefeld University, Germany, specialising in global and transnational migration and mobility. She is the author of Separatist conflict in Indonesia: The long-distance politics of the Acehnese diaspora (Routledge 2012) and Troubled Transit: Asylum seekers stuck in Indonesia (2015) and co-author of Indonesia: State and Society in Transition (2019).