Rules, Paper, Status: Migrants and Precarious Bureaucracy in Contemporary Italy

193 Pages·2018·2.689 MB·English

by  Anna Tuckett

Rules, Paper, Status
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Rules, Paper, Status
Migrants and Precarious Bureaucracy
in Contemporary Italy
Anna Tuckett
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
© 2018 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
Names: Tuckett, Anna, author.
Title: Rules, paper, status : migrants and precarious bureaucracy in contemporary Italy /
Anna Tuckett.
Description: Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2018. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018003994 (print) | LCCN 2018005224 (ebook) | ISBN 9781503606500 | ISBN
9781503605404 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781503606494 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Immigrants—Italy—Social conditions. | Emigration and immigration law—Italy.
| Italy—Emigration and immigration—Government policy. | Bureaucracy—Italy.
Classification: LCC JV8132 (ebook) | LCC JV8132 .T84 2018 (print) | DDC 325.45—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018003994
Cover design: George Kirkpatrick
To Ibrahim and the next generation
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Glossary ix
Introduction 1
1 The Center 27
2 Working the Gap: Migrants’ Navigation
of the Immigration Bureaucracy 43
3 The Rules of Rule- Bending 70
4 Becoming an Immigration Adviser: Self-F ashioning
through Bureaucratic Practice 92
5 Disjuncture in the Documentation Regime: The Second
Generation’s Challenge to Citizenship Law 110
6 Stepping-S tone Destinations: Migration and
Disappointment 128
Conclusion 147
Notes 159
References 163
Index 175
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Acknowledgments
Without the generosity, openness, and support of many people in both Italy
and London, this project would not have been possible. I regret that I cannot
name them all. I am deeply indebted to staff members and regular clients at
the advice center who shared their stories with me and tolerated my endless
questions. Outside of the center I am very grateful to Manuela Alfieri, Chiara
Candini, Angela Giancristofaro, and Claudio Negri for welcoming me into
their lives and sharing them with me. Thank you also to Ledia Andoni and
Valmir Dibra.
The project on which this book is based was funded by a U.K. Economic
and Social Research Council Studentship, and by further research studentships
from the Newby Trust and the London School of Economics. I am very grateful
for this generous assistance. Sections of revised material in this book appeared
in articles published in Focaal and Critique of Anthropology.
At the London School of Economics (LSE) I am indebted to many
people. I am extraordinarily grateful to my supervisors, Deborah James and
Mathijs Pelkmans. I thank Deborah not only for her meticulous attention
to my chapters (and patience with my writing), but for always pushing me
in the direction I want to go and helping me get there. Mathijs supported
this project since its beginning, and I am grateful for his challenging advice,
which both guided and inspired me throughout. I also thank the conveners
and participants in the LSE writing seminars 2011– 13. Thanks to my current
colleagues on the Ethnography of Advice team for their useful comments
during our book writing workshop.
The feedback of many friends and colleagues both at LSE and beyond was
invaluable at various stages of this book’s development. I am grateful to Tony