Bordering Britain: Law, race and empire Hardcover -

From the rear cover

"Immigration law teaches white British people that Britain and everything within it is rightfully theirs. 'Others' are here as their guests. Yet Britain would not be the wealthy, plentiful place that it is without its colonial history. We should not wait for the law to rule on our entitlement to colonial spoils..." (B)ordering Britain charts the evolution of British immigration, asylum and nationality law from the 1900s to the present, arguing that it must be understood in the context of Britain's imperial history. Against the all-too-familiar mythological narratives of Britain's colonial past, it shows how a retreating imperial power resorted to immigration laws to cut itself off physically and symbolically from its colonies and the Commonwealth, taking with it what it had plundered. British immigration laws are acts of colonial seizure and violence, obstructing the vast majority of racialised people from accessing the spoils of empire. (B)ordering Britain makes clear, regardless of what the law, media and politicians dictate, people with personal, ancestral or geographical links to colonialism, or those existing under the weight of its legacy of race and racism, have every right to come to Britain and take back what is theirs. 'One of our best hopes for intervening in colonialism as an ongoing project is to identify how that project has shaped and continues to shape our world. This book does just that. It is powerful and necessary, timely and urgent, clear and cogent. Highly recommended to anyone interested in unlearning colonial legacies.'
Sara Ahmed, author of What's the use and Living a feminist life 'Powerfully written and knowledgeable, (B)ordering Britain brilliantly illuminates the links between colonialism, dispossession, poverty, racism, immigration and law, challenging familiar assumptions and complacent narratives about British imperial history. Essential reading for anyone interested in how imperial history shapes the present.'
Priyamvada Gopal, author of Insurgent Empire: Anticolonial resistance and British dissent 'El-Enany fearlessly tracks the imperial line in law from the first immigration and asylum laws to the Windrush Affair and Brexit. A timely and compelling book.'
Sherene H. Razack, author of Casting out: The eviction of Muslims from Western law and politics 'A hugely important contribution to understanding the relation between immigration and race, and a must read for students and scholars of migration.'
Bridget Anderson, author of Us and them: The dangerous politics of immigration controls 'El-Enany's erudite account of the colonial divisions and violence which contemporary immigration laws enact sets a new bar for future research on Britain's immigration and nationality laws.'
Patricia Tuitt, author of Race, law, resistance