After two years of excellent collaboration with Russell King and 24 brilliant contributing authors, we are delighted to share the Handbook of Return Migration! Thanks to everyone involved for your hard work and diligence through COVID lock-downs and various challenges to result in these 24 stimulating chapters on various aspects of return migration.
Thomas Faist’s amazing review says it best: ‘The contributions convincingly employ insights from various branches of migration and mobility studies, and establish new ground in topics ranging from assisted return and deportations to reintegration and engagement in local development. The individual chapters draw a differentiated portrait of a crucial but so far underappreciated dimension of migration. We have waited a long time for such a truly stimulating Handbook.’
Structured into four parts, the Handbook maps the contemporary field of return migration, examining the effects and politicisation of return migration, before moving on to explore the theme of reintegration and the impact of return migration on development in the migrants’ countries of origin. Taking an intersectional approach, expert contributors delve into the economics of return migration, deportation, the psychological wellbeing of migrants, student mobility and second-generation ‘return’ migration. The Handbook opens up new avenues for research, including new theories and conceptualisations of return migration, and articulates key issues that should be considered, both for research and for policy and practice.
We hope you find the handbook useful in your work and study! Our introduction Chapter is available open access!