22 Dec Migrant Stories

We are proud to have been involved (through Impress Creative & Editorial) as the editors of this important new book – Politics of the Temporary: An Ethnography of Migrant Life in Urban Malaysia. For more than three decades Malaysia’s economic growth has been driven in part by the skills and sweat of large numbers of migrant workers. The country has become the ‘temporary’ home for more than two million documented migrants. Many more than that are undocumented, living precarious lives on the margins of society. But very little is known or understood about their everyday lives. Their voices have been silent. For the first time, Parthiban Muniandy details the rich, complex and often difficult realities of the lives of ‘temporary’ migrants. He provides an intimate examination of the many ways that migrants adapt to life in the city, their innovative strategies for coping with pressures of work and discrimination, and their capacity to forge new networks and build informal communities. This book should be read by all those interested in the harsh realities of contemporary labour migration and social inequalities in a developing economy. The striking cover photograph is by KG Krishnan.

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