Synopses & Reviews
and#147;Luchtand#8217;s engaging prose style and keen ethnographic eye provide for a captivating narrative on a form of population movement often in the news but rarely if ever really understood.and#8221; --Jeffrey E. Cole, author with Sally Booth of
Dirty Work: Immigrants in Domestic Service, Agriculture, and Prostitution in Sicily.and#147;Few ethnographers manage to integrate in-depth multi-sited fieldwork, enthralling narrative and innovative theory as well as Hans Lucht does in this study of existential reciprocity among Ghanaian fishermen forced by dwindling catches to embark on hazardous migrations to Europe in search of the wherewithall of life. In Lucht's capable hands, these stories become an allegory of our times.and#8221; --Michael Jackson, author of Life Within Limits: Well-Being in a World of Want.
"An original, comprehensive, and skilled study, Darkness before Daybreak provides the reader with a real sense of the quality and meaning of existence in Ghana and in Naples, while providing enough historical and political/economic context to permit a nuanced critical analysis of globalization theory." --Peter Schneider, Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Anthropology, Fordham University, and author with Jane Schneider of Reversible Destiny: Mafia, Antimafia, and the Struggle for Palermo.
Synopsis
This riveting book chronicles the lives of a group of fishermen from Ghana who took the long and dangerous journey to Southern Italy in search of work in a cutthroat underground economy. A story that illuminates the nature of high-risk migration around the world, Darkness before Daybreak reveals the challenges and experiences of these international migrants who, like countless others, are often in the news but are rarely understood. Hans Lucht tells how these men live on the fringes of society in Naples, what the often deadly journey across the Sahara Desert and Mediterranean Sea involved, and what their lives in the fishing village of Senya Berakuand#151;where there are no more fishand#151;were like. Asking how these men find meaning in their experiences, Lucht addresses broader existential questions surrounding the lives of economic refugees and their death-defying struggle for a life worth living. He also considers the ramifications of the many deaths that occur in the desert and the sea for those who are left behind.
About the Author
Hans Lucht is a Danish journalist, writer, and anthropologist at the University of Copenhagen.
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I. Losses and Gains in Naples
1. Clandestino
2. Migrant Work Situations
3. Suffering in a Globalized World
Part II. The Journey to Europe
4. The Mediterranean Passage
5. The Maghreb Connection: Libya and a Desert to Cross
Part III. In the Village of the Lost Captains
6. The Guan of Senya Beraku
7. The Body Stays, but the Soul Returns
Conclusion
Epilogue: Living on the Moon
References