Moving Matters: Paths of Serial Migration

201 Pages·2013·1.135 MB·English

by  Susan Ossman

Moving Matters

Mov ing M at ter s
Paths of Serial Migration
susan ossman
stanford University Press
Stanford, California
© 2013 by the Board of trustees of the Leland stanford Junior University.
all rights reserved.
no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission
of stanford University Press.
Printed in the United states of america on acid-free, archival-quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
ossman, susan, author.
Moving matters : paths of serial migration / susan ossman.
pages cm.
includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8047-7028-6 (cloth : alk. paper) —
isbn 978-0-8047-7029-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. emigration and immigration—social aspects. 2. emigration and
immigration—Psychological aspects. 3. immigrants—social life and customs.
4. Cosmopolitanism. i. title.
jv6225o77 2013
304.8—dc23
2012033971
typeset at stanford University Press in 10.5/15 adobe garamond
For those who are forced to move
and those held in place against their will.

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 Cosmopolitan Content 19
2 Nomadic Action 36
3 Moving Through Immigration 58
4 Pulling Oneself Together 78
5 Present Continuities 102
6 A Poetics of Attachment 125
Conclusion 141
Notes 149
References 169
Index 181

aCknowLeDgMents
G rants from the John simon guggenheim Foun-
dation and the British academy made this book
possible. the hospitality of Fatima Badry Zalami, alexandru Balesescu,
kathleen Chevalier, Jean-noël Ferrié and souad radi, nabiha Jerad,
Bayan kanoo, shannon Mcnulty, susan Perry, Hassan and rachida
rachik and the ouadahi family made it utterly pleasurable. their gen-
erosity often extended to identifying potential interviewees and traveling
with me to distant cities. i am especially grateful to Leila abouhouraira
and Jamal ouadahi for follow-up interviews in Quebec and to Yasmine
ouadahi for transcribing them. elizabeth shlala recorded four life his-
tories in London. Leila, Jamal and elizabeth make appearances in the
coming pages. other friends do not. Yet, each of them, like the dozens
of serial migrants i met in the course of research contributed to the
general description i propose.
the idea of serial migration was sparked in a conversation with
todd gitlin. the concept took form through conversations with
susan terrio while i was teaching at georgetown University from
2001 to 2004. elzbieta gozdziak encouraged me to write about it and