The Jungle

Calais's camps and migrants

Bibliographic Data

ID9895945
AuthorsKelsey P Norman (0000-0001-5044-0280, Rice University, corresponding author), Kelsey Norman (Rice University's Baker Institute, USA)
Year2020
Volume96
Issue2
Pages537-538
Publication date2020-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-5850 • E-ISSN: 1468-2346
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/ia/iiaa028
OpenAlexW3010642253
LanguageEN
Citations received6

The Jungle: Calais's camps and migrants by Michael Agier and co-authors provides a multidimensional view of the history, establishment and destruction of the migrant encampment near Calais, France. Referred to as the Calais Jungle, the camp—at least at one point—contained 10,000 inhabitants. The book's interdisciplinary approach will appeal to geographers, anthropologists, sociologists, political scientists and others, and its inclusion of non-academic voices—the study was conducted by a team of researchers, students and members of voluntary organizations—makes it a unique and timely intervention. The authors describe their approach to constructing a history and evaluation of the encampment near Calais as an exercise in ‘forensic anthropology’ and a ‘diagnosis of the causes, process and effects of the life and death of the Calais Jungle’ (p. 21). The Jungle only officially existed for a year and a half, but as the book makes clear, there were encampments near the French city of Calais both before and after the Jungle's erection in April 2015 and its demolition in October 2016. In addition to a chronological history, the book is divided into thematic chapters that detail the ‘parallel movements of hostility and solidarity’ that arose in response to the presence of migrants along the northern coast of France. The camp's story begins in 1991, with the signing of the Sangatte protocol as part of the UK's border externalization effort. In conjunction with bigger fences and enhanced surveillance methods, the UK sought to prevent the arrival of migrants across the English Channel. Hiding in trucks or rail shuttles became the only feasible ways for migrants to cross to the UK, but as these methods proved dangerous and difficult, many migrants and asylum-seekers were forced to remain in Calais for increasing periods of time

Archaeology · Calais · Criminology · Ethnology · Genealogy · Geography · Jungle · Sociology · French Urban and Social Studies · History · Migration and Exile Studies · Migration, Refugees, and Integration

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