Questions of what it means to be related pervade all sibling relationships in some way. Whether ‘close’ or distant, linked by shared genes, upbringing or neither, siblings bring to the fore some of the conundrums of relationality. This chapter contemplates the meanings of relatedness between siblings, reflecting upon how people make sense of who is and isn’t a sibling, considering the uncanny role of resemblance between siblings and exploring the role of ethereal or otherworldly connections. The chapter contemplates how siblingship is done and enacted in different contexts such as school, home, the local area and holiday clubs, and explores the ups and downs of everyday life as a sibling as well as how siblings care for one another. The chapter also explores the significance of material and embodied aspects of the sibling relationship as well as the meaning of resemblances and affinities that can feel magical or otherworldly.

Chapter 3 focuses in detail on the challenge migratory testimonies pose to the EU’s preventative policy agenda, specifically by highlighting the ineffectiveness of the deterrence paradigm and by situating it within long-standing histories of racialised violence. Problematising the assumption that prevention or deterrence stymies unauthorised movement at source and changes the behaviour of those on the move, the chapter shows how knowledge of deterrent policies is often lacking. It also shows how migration drivers remain critical in understanding the continued movements of people across the Mediterranean. In this context, the chapter argues that the EU’s emphasis on anti-smuggling ultimately contributes to the lived experience of precarity by forcing people into increasingly perilous journeys to the EU. The analysis shows how people face a continuum of violence en route, including by authorities, as people on the move become increasingly dependent on smugglers and as migratory journeys become longer and more risky.

This chapter focuses on Gevgelija’s transformation from a small town previously known only as the last point on a freeway (once called Bratstvo i Edinstvo “Brotherhood and Unity”) linking the former Yugoslav capitals of Skopje, Belgrade, Zagreb, and Ljubljana with Thessaloniki. Gevgelija is now called the “Balkan Las Vegas,” where Greek citizens cross the border on a regular basis to obtain cheap beauty and health services, and also to shop for everyday produce and groceries. This surge of visitors from Greece who come to shop and gamble has transformed the face of the town. The presence of several large, luxurious casino-hotels has enabled Gevgelija to become one of the most economically successful places in the region with one of the lowest unemployment rates.

Using Ghana as a case study, this chapter demonstrates the importance of contextualising African football migration geographically and historically. This approach enables us to highlight a range of actors, networks, institutions and processes that influence opportunities to produce football-related mobility in and from the African continent. The chapter outlines they ways in which the shift from a socialist developmental philosophy to an era where the meta narrative for economic development is neoliberal marketisation, has transformed how the Ghanaian football industry and actors within it function. Football is now a business, driven primarily by the profit motive. Ghana’s success in the 1991 FIFA youth championships is considered a watershed moment in the positioning of player migration as a means to generate surplus value. This is shown to have resulted in the rapid growth of an export-oriented infrastructure for Ghanaian football and intense competition over playing talent involving a multitude of actors, ranging from the players themselves, to clubs, football associations, ‘card dealers’, managers and recruitment agents. Consequently, the movement and migration of players within Ghana and beyond is argued to be actively encouraged as part of speculative strategies.

The concluding chapter summarises the main arguments of the book, before reflecting on three key themes emerging from the analysis of a counter-archive of migratory testimonies: precarity, justice and postcoloniality. First, it emphasises precarity as a multidimensional condition, which is not only manifest in the lived experiences of those who escape to Europe but also in the experiences of those who refuse or are unable to flee. Second, it highlights how claims to justice are not simply oriented towards movement, but also need to be appreciated as claims to settlement that reject the EU’s positionality as ‘host’ to newly arriving migrants. Finally, it emphasises the recurring colonial dynamics of the contemporary policy agenda, to suggest that the voices of people on the move who speak out against a postcolonial present can no longer be ignored.

Based on extensive empirical evidence from labour market outcomes of migrants in Ireland and analysis of semi-structured interviews, this chapter presents racial stratification as a ‘default’ starting position assigned to newcomers on arrival. It shows how the interaction of class and race produce a classed race to influence this default positioning of group members. The key features of racial stratification discussed within this chapter include its homogenising attributes, inter- and intra-group layering of group members, the available hierarchies and how migrants fit into them as members of racial groups. The chapter provides insight on how immigrants know and occupy their place on the racial strata. It concludes with a discussion of the implications of racial stratification on the socio-economic outcomes of Black and White workers and how it differs along colour lines.

This chapter introduces the themes of this book, pointing to the unexplored research question of how cross-border mobility features in regional competition for political power and, more particularly, in the foreign policy strategies of migrant and refugee sending, transit- and host-states. It provides an overview of relevant work in the field of migration politics, before introducing the concept of migration diplomacy. It continues to discuss the book’s methodology and data collection strategies, as well providing an overview of the chapters to follow.

During the 1950s successive Conservative governments found themselves confronted by a complex policy problem: how to combine full employment with low inflation. Within this, union wage demands and the growth of industrial, especially unofficial, action loomed large. Central to government strategy was exploiting the traditional consultative relationship with the unions and the TUC to endorse and promote wage moderation and curb unofficial strikes. This was, however, opposed by rank-and-file union members and their leaders, and the result was an increase in internal conflict in the unions that undermined the State’s relationship with the unions. As efforts to enmesh the unions in a tighter relationship failed, increasing numbers of Conservatives were attracted to the radical reform of trade union and industrial relations law.

In keeping with our commitment to foregrounding the aspirations, experiences and trajectories of male African football migrants and to challenging tropes that depict them as helpless, passive victims of wider macro-structural currents both within the football industry and beyond, we turn much of the introductory chapter over to a ‘thick’ description of the personal biography of former Ghanaian football migrant Nii Odartey Lamptey. In particular, we focus on how the game featured in his youthful future-making imaginaries before outlining how he was able to enact transnational mobility. We account for his experiences as a football migrant, the routes and nodes he traversed and the nature of his encounters along the way, including those on his post-playing-career return to Ghana. Treated in isolation, his eventful career constitutes a fascinating insight into how professional migrant athletes produce and reproduce transnational mobility. However, the purpose of our exposition here is to contextualise and animate the core questions at the centre of this book.