‘When I look at this van, it’s not only a van’: symbolic objects in the policing of migration

Lowndes, Vivien and Madziva, Roda (2016) ‘When I look at this van, it’s not only a van’: symbolic objects in the policing of migration. Critical Social Policy, 36 (4). pp. 672-692. ISSN 1461-703X

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Abstract

The ‘Go Home Van’ was the centrepiece of the UK government’s 2013 immigration enforcement campaign. Vehicles were driven around ethnically diverse London neighbourhoods clad with giant posters offering irregular migrants a choice between ‘voluntary departure’ and criminal arrest. Abandoned shortly afterwards in response to complaints, the GHV nonetheless had a significant impact on migrants. Through interviews and focus groups, this article investigates what was conveyed by the van, and the means by which it achieved these effects. We find that the GHV communicated meanings about the illegitimacy and criminality of migrants, with its material characteristics (visibility and mobility) as important as the words and pictures on its surface. Migrants sought to resist the van through hiding, while support organisations rejected dominant meanings and crafted alternatives. The article establishes a research agenda around the wider role of symbolic objects, in the context of the global migration crisis.

Item Type: Article
RIS ID: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/791543
Keywords: Go Home Van, Immigration, Interpretivist policy analysis, Irregular migrants
Schools/Departments: University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Sociology and Social Policy
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1177/0261018316643949
Depositing User: Madziva, Roda
Date Deposited: 11 May 2016 10:42
Last Modified: 04 May 2020 17:53
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/33239

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