Moving Matters is a richly nuanced portrait of the serial migrant: a person who has lived in several countries, calling each one at some point "home." The stories told here are both extraordinary and increasingly common. Serial migrants rarely travel freely-they must negotiate a world of territorial borders and legal restrictions-yet as they move from one country to another, they can use border-crossings as moments of self-clarification. They often become masters of settlement as they turn each country into a life chapter. Susan Ossman follows this diverse and growing population not only to understand how paths of serial movement produce certain ways of life, but also to illuminate an ongoing tension between global fluidity and the power of nation-states. Ultimately, her lyrical reflection on migration and social diversity offers an illustration of how taking mobility as a starting point fundamentally alters our understanding of subjectivity, politics, and social life.
"This deeply personal and subtle work both critiques and transcends the key concepts of writing about identity in recent decades. It instead invests itself in the experience of serial migration as the focus for working through the unresolvable binds of existence that permanent resettlement in a foreign society engenders. The precision and originality of Ossman's exploration owe much to the richnes
Irvine
"[A]n extended essay that tries to weave together her own experiences moving among countries, her interviews with other serial migrants, and her engagement with a theoretical literature, mostly on migration and identity. . . . Recommended."
Choice
"Susan Ossman's most recently published book entitled Moving Matters: Paths of Serial Migration offers its readers a welcomed change as she presents her analysis in an original manner that makes this book a joy to read. At the same time, by maneuvering skillfully between her ethnographic data and her thought-provoking analysis of it, she succeeds to add new insights concerning the topic she set ou
