“A brilliant synthesis of affect theory and migration studies that describes in compelling detail the intimate life-worlds of Africans seeking various forms of personal transformation in Europe. Particularly edifying are the contributors’ meticulous analyses of the economic, ethical, and emotional connections migrants negotiate and struggle to sustain between home and the global north, and their incisive critiques of current governmental, legal, and media responses to migration in Europe.”

Michael Jackson, author of The Wherewithal of Life

“The notion of ‘affective circuits’ gives this collection a rare coherence. It serves to link the increasing pressure of the law and material remittances—often central in studies of the plight of African migrants in Europe—to the realm of emotions and the emphasis on mobility as a way of life in many African societies. Evoking both shifting flows and dramatic short-circuits, this collection lifts the study of migration from the global South to new levels.”

Peter Geschiere, author of The Perils of Belonging

“A sparkling set of essays that map the intimacies and innovations of migrant kinship and belonging across the Africa-Europe divide. Filled with smart theory and vivid case studies—of transnational marriage, sexual triads, state-sponsored polygyny, agonistic family ordeals, child fostering, drug mules, Congolese sapeurs, and a range of other material-affective circuits—this elegant collection advances migration studies in new and unexpected directions, while also reanimating that old topic—the anthropology of kinship—that never goes away.”

Charles Piot, author of Nostalgia for the Future