Representation, Aspirations, Advocacy

The final chapter summarizes findings and offers a discussion of the main topics addressed and questions raised throughout this book. Representation, aspirations, and advocacy emerge as central themes in the material examined, and they are arguably also at the heart of many debates on migration concerning borders, citizenship, the asylum system, and many more contested issues. The balancing between personal and societal stories and narratives of migration is central to much of the primary material analysed, and several texts hope to make a difference and to transform how migrants are talked about. The contemporary migration story leaves the reader with responsibility to tie up any loose ends, to make the moral judgment themselves. The author presents the facts, or the fiction, and the reader connects the dots. This makes contemporary migration writing interactive, demanding participation from readers and encouraging reading practices that go beyond feelings of empathy or outrage.