‘The library is like a mother’: Arrival infrastructures and migrant newcomers in East London

Abstract

AbstractIt is often assumed that migrants settle into contexts populated by national majorities or co-ethnics. Yet, new migrants often move into ‘arrival areas’, sites settled by earlier migrants of various backgrounds. Such arrival areas can typically be found at the margins of ‘arrival cities’ which have seen immigration (and emigration) over many decades. Past movements bequeath a wealth of ‘arrival infrastructures’, consisting of institutions, organisations, social spaces, and actors which specifically facilitate arrival. These include, for example, shops as information hubs, religious sites, language classes, and hairdressers established by people with migration backgrounds. This article looks at the interactions and transfer of knowledge and resources between long-established migrants and more recent newcomers through arrival infrastructures and within a marginalised urban area. By drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in East London (UK) and using the example of two recently arrived female migrants, it investigates how newcomers access settlement information and the role played by arrival infrastructures in this process. It specifically focuses on newcomers who arrive with few social contacts and for whom physically visible arrival infrastructures like libraries and shops are particularly relevant. The article aims to open up debate about arrival infrastructures, their manifestation in different urban contexts, and their relation to both new forms of solidarity and new and ongoing forms of exploitation between long-established residents and newcomers.