By addressing the question of how migrants legally and symbolically lay claim to owning and belonging to place, this title refocuses our attention on the micro-politics and everyday rituals of place-making, that are central to the construction of migrant identities.

Contents: Introduction: local migrants and the politics of being in place, Brigitte Bönisch-Brednich and Catherine Trundle; Part I Migrants and the Politics of Land Ownership: Migrant routes and local roots: negotiating property in Dhërmi/Drimades in Southern Albania, NataÅ¡a Gregoriè Bon; Against the gated community: contesting the 'ugly American dream' through rural New Zealand dreams, Catherine Trundle; Past imperfect: displacing Hawaiians as hosts in a 'drop out' community in Hawai'i, Lucy Pickering. Part II Landscapes of Belonging: 'We are not expats; we are not migrants; we are Sauliacoise': laying claim to belonging in rural France, Michaela Benson; Ambiguous foreigners: neighbours share more than geographical space, Jacqueline Waldren. Part III Houses and Homes: Intimate Migrant Place: A reluctant locality: the politics of place and progress in Santo Domingo, Erin B. Taylor; Little Anglo-India: making Australia 'local' at St Joseph's hostel, Robyn Andrews. Part IV Contesting Urban Place: Invoking a community of engagement; mobility and place in a small English town, Karen O'Reilly; Negotiating religious expression and citizenry belonging: Bosnian experiences in suburban Melbourne, Lejler Voloder; Migrants on campus: becoming a local foreign academic, Brigitte Bönisch-Brednich; Epilogue: the cosmopolitan justice of a direction home, Nigel Rapport; Index.

'This timely volume presents a set of compelling ethnographic accounts that refocus our attention on processes of place-making in studies of movement. Tracing the means by which people make the places where they have settled matter to them, Local Lives underlines the importance of fully recognizing a fundamental dimension of migration that is too often elided in contemporary transnational studies.' Vered Amit, Concordia University, USA 'Opening up new perspectives on the topic of migration, one of today's most challenging social issues, what is particularly important is the comparative view this book contains through concrete studies of a wide variety of migrant experiences. Dealing with attachment to place, but reflecting on what it means to break up and move, it is a book that has important interdisciplinary implications.' Helge Rønning, University of Oslo, Norway ’This edited volume [...] constitutes a timely and precious contribution to the emerging field of mobility studies.’ Anthropological Forum