Belonging and Transnational Refugee Settlement: Unsettling the Everyday and the Extraordinary. By Jay Marlowe

This book is a valuable contribution, particularly in light of the current global refugee situation. Not only does it outline a need to rethink the rights and politics of resettlement, it also emphasises settlement as a transnational, connecting practice of belonging. Distinguishing between these two notions, this book stresses that in a refugee situation belonging is contextual, political, and multilayered. Challenging one-sided assumptions that render refugees as victims of the extraordinary, Jay Marlowe highlights the need for bridging and connecting contexts, differences, and distances. He also shows how such connections are continuously flawed by underlying structures and mis-understandings that tend to construct, and keep, refugees at a distance, traumatised, and restrained. He emphasises that these flaws and structures must be addressed in resettlement policy and settlement support practices. A wealth of research and social work practice has informed this book and Marlowe skilfully illustrates his points with narratives, quotes, and case studies.