Navigating Uncertainty: Illegibility, Rumours and Hope

Author(s) : Anna Wyss

Source : https://doi.org/10.51952/9781529219623.ch005

“Migrants experience law implementation as highly unpredictable, arbitrary and as a matter of ‘luck’. This chapter draws on concept of ‘illegibility’ to explain that the power the state holds partially lies in the difficulty for people to anticipate when and how state authorities strike. Such unpredictability is a result of the complex entanglement of actors and the always provisional and messy nature of migration law implementation and has a highly disempowering effect on migrants. The chapter argues that the unpredictability of law implementation forces migrants to resort to unreliable ‘rumours of rights’ (), which help them make decisions and which play a significant role in migrants’ navigation of the uncertainties they encounter within the European migration regime. These rumours transmit relevant information about law implementation or ways to improve their living situation and influence the course of migrants’ journeys. They also hold a subversive force as they produce new hopes and opportunities that help people endure the challenges resulting from their social and legal marginalisation.