This important book traces the impact of the movement of people, ideas and capital across the globe. The identity and experience of the migrant have changed dramatically through history, from the forced migration of slaves under colonialism and the displacement of the peasantry during industrialization to the recent victims of ethnic cleansing. Today there are more people on the move, their destination more uncertain and their journeys more complex than ever before. This book provides a clear mapping of earlier patterns of global migration and presents an account of new 'chaotic' forms of movement around the world.
The mobility that is a key feature of contemporary life has led to fundamental changes in our understanding of culture, identity and community. Drawing on a wide range of debates in sociology, anthropology, geography, political economy and cultural studies, Papastergiadis outlines current trends in cultural analysis, re-examines the relationship between the stranger and migrant, and offers a critique of globalization. The work of key theorists such as Stuart Hall, Gayatri Spivak, Homi Bhabha, Nestor Garcia Canclini, Stephen Castles and Arjun Appadurai is situated in the broad theoretical debates on identity and modern culture. The author discusses the latest theoretical concepts of deterritorialization and hybridity to suggest a new vocabulary and an alternative framework for understanding the relationship between cultural difference and modernity.

This book will be of interest to advanced second-year undergraduate students and above in sociology, philosophy, cultural studies, geography and anthropology, especially those interested in migration.