Surviving the politics of illegality

Francesco Vecchio, Alison Gerard

Research output: A Conference proceeding or a Chapter in BookChapterpeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This chapter examines the socio-legal and economic consequences of the politics of illegality based on extensive empirical research. It also examines how asylum seekers negotiate and survive the politics of illegality and resultant criminalization. The chapter focuses on extensive ethnographic research comprising over 100 asylum seekers, non-governmental organization workers and segments of the local population in Hong Kong who normally interact with asylum seekers. In the New Territories in Hong Kong, a long path from the main road in a rural area led to legally questionable dwellings where a group of asylum seeker participants lived. Hong Kong’s asylum policies are designed to be deliberately harsh on asylum seekers in order to deter other travellers from following in their footsteps. Mathews argues that in a neoliberal economic environment such as Hong Kong, the police largely limit their intervention in order to allow business to grow.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Routledge Handbook on Crime and International Migration
EditorsSharon Pickering, Julie Ham
Place of PublicationUnited Kingdom
PublisherRoutledge
Chapter11
Pages179-192
Number of pages14
Edition1
ISBN (Electronic)9780203385562
ISBN (Print)9780415823944
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Surviving the politics of illegality'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this