Description

(B)ordering Britain provides a race critical reading of British immigration and asylum law, arguing that it must be understood in the context of Britain's colonial identity and history. Britain's relationship and fluctuating commitment to its empire was a major driving force behind legal change in the field of immigration and asylum. Immigration law serves to cordon off Britain, the place where colonial spoils are located, from the historically dispossessed. Law is also the primary means of recognition for those seeking legal status. (B)ordering Britain thus offers a critique of law and the politics of recognition in the context migration. It considers the lasting effects of Britain's colonial history, from its shaping of immigration and asylum law, to the impact on people seeking entry to Britain and on its fraught relationship with the European Union.