Rethinking Migration in the Context of Precarity: The Case of Turkey

Abstract

Migrants with undocumented/irregular statuses constitute one of the most vulnerable groups in terms of living and working conditions. This paper critically engages with the discussions on precarity in relation to irregular migrant labour in Turkey. It addresses the living and working conditions of migrant workers as a particular form of work and life, who can be seen as representing the new precariat of Turkey. The number of immigrants has grown in Turkey since the late 1980s, and with the mass influx of Syrian migrants since 2011 the public visibility of migration and associated precarity has increased as well. Deriving from such a context, the article adopts a theoretical and empirical analysis of the relationship between precarity and migration in the Turkish context by critically evaluating migrant workers' work and life experiences (including migrants' contestations of their everyday life).