Storytelling as ‘unorthodox’ agency: Negotiating the 2012 family immigration rules (United Kingdom)
| Published date | 01 August 2017 |
| Date | 01 August 2017 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0263395716686599 |
| Subject Matter | Special Issue Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0263395716686599
Politics
2017, Vol. 37(3) 302 –316
© The Author(s) 2017
Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0263395716686599
journals.sagepub.com/home/pol
Storytelling as ‘unorthodox’
agency: Negotiating the 2012
family immigration rules
(United Kingdom)
Amanda Russell Beattie
Aston University, UK
Abstract
This article attends to the lived experience of binational families subject to the 2012 family
immigration rules (FIR). It seeks to enrich the pre-existing discussions of family migration within
the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom, focusing on the ‘micro-political’ experiences of
those whose lives have been adversely affected by their introduction. It draws on the life writings
of binational families, suggesting that a micro-political focus reveals an ongoing neuropolitical
experience that traditional accounts of moral agency are ill-equipped to negotiate. The article
suggests an unorthodox interpretation of agency premised on storytelling, while probing the
tensions that emerge when this lived experience is framed in such a manner. It concludes by
positing a series of questions relating to the value of a neuropolitical labelling of the subject and
suggests a need to further engage with traumatic interpretations of harm at the intersection of
citizenship rights and mobility rights.
Keywords
agency, family migration, international relations, storytelling
Received: 15th November 2015; Revised version received: 7th October 2016; Accepted: 20th October 2016
Introduction
In July 2012, the UK Government announced changes to the rules surrounding family
migration for non-European Economic Area (EEA) nationals into the country. This article
attends to the lived experience of binational families subject to the 2012 family immigra-
tion rules (FIR). It seeks to enrich the pre-existing discussions of family migration within
the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom, focusing on the ‘micro-political’
Corresponding author:
Amanda Russell Beattie, Politics and International Relations, School of Languages & Social Sciences, Aston
University, Birmingham B17 0SP, UK.
Email: a.r.beattie@aston.ac.uk
686599POL0010.1177/0263395716686599PoliticsBeattie
research-article2017
Special Issue Article
To continue reading
Request your trial