Migration Stories

Connecting Activism, Policy, and Scholarship

Author: Edited by Benjamin Gatling

Removing the borders between research and advocacy in studies of immigration

Cloth – $110

978-0-252-04675-9

Paper – $28

978-0-252-08885-8

eBook – $19.95

978-0-252-04828-9

Publication Date

Paperback: 09/09/2025
Cloth: 09/09/2025

Series: Studies of World Migrations

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About the Book

Migrants' and refugees' stories have become an essential part of the public debate around immigration. Benjamin Gatling edits interdisciplinary essays that bring together the distinct perspectives of researchers, activists, and policymakers to emphasize how these often-siloed communities can use stories as social science data and advocacy tools.

Ranging from oral history projects to the asylum process to calls for decolonial justice, the contributors' analyses illuminate how migrants' and refugees' personal narratives influence both perceptions and policies. Their merger of perspectives provides a nuanced understanding of migration and emphasizes the importance of how storytelling can foster empathy, challenge stereotypes, and drive social change. At the same time, the essays center migrants' and refugees' voices within public debates and in work done to humanize the reality they face.

Original and multifaceted, Migration Stories provides a vital addition to how we study and frame immigration.

About the Author

Benjamin Gatling is an associate professor of English at George Mason University. He is the author of Expressions of Sufi Culture in Tajikistan.

Reviews

“A joy to read. Gatling creates a dialogue between scholarship on migrants’ stories and examples of stories used in advocacy while taking seriously often-overlooked aspects of migrant narratives”
—Ida Tolgensbakk, Norwegian Museum of Cultural History