Being Human, Being Migrant : Senses of Self and Well-Being

This volume explores migrant's movements not only as geographical movements from here to there but also as movements that constitute an embodied, cognitive, and existential experience of living "in between" or on the "borderlands" between differently figured life-worlds.

"It is refreshing to find a volume that both shows commitment to ethnographic detail and aspires to lift consideration to a broader level, reaching back to the nihil humani a me alienum puto perspective, but with new and nuanced narratives to give that perspective a special appeal." · Pamela Stewart and Andrew Strathern, University of Pittsburgh"This is an original and persuasively argued volume on the everyday lives of contemporary migrants in Europe. Living up to its title, the edited volume makes us aware of the fact that narratives of ''migrancy'' and movement tell us much about the human condition more generally." · Claudia Liebelt, Universität BayreuthMigrant experiences accentuate general aspects of the human condition. Therefore, this volume explores migrant''s movements not only as geographical movements from here to there but also as movements that constitute an embodied, cognitive, and existential experience of living "in between" or on the "borderlands" between differently figured life-worlds. Focusing on memories, nostalgia, the here-and-now social experiences of daily living, and the hopes and dreams for the future, the volume demonstrates how all interact in migrants'' and refugees'' experience of identity and quest for well-being.Anne Sigfrid Grønseth is an Associate Professor in Social Anthropology at the University College of Lillehammer, Norway, where she directs the Research Unit of Health, Culture, and Identity. Her recent publications include Lost Selves and Lonely Persons: Experiences of Illness and Well-Being among Tamil Refugees in Norway (Carolina Academic Press, 2010) and Mutuality and Empathy: Self and Other in the Ethnographic Encounter (co-edited with Dona Lee Davis, Wantage: Sean Kingston Publishing, 2010).