Invisible Borders

“In this timely and brilliant book Gargiulo delves into the complexity of residence and sheds light on its deeply political nature. He demonstrates that residency is somehow close to what Hannah Arendt famously called the ‘right to have rights.’ Through the lens of residency Gargiulo explores the multiplication of borders in the contemporary world, mutations of migration management, and the intertwining of processes of inclusion and exclusion.” — Sandro Mezzadra, University of Bologna, Italy
“In an era in which border walls are rising across the globe, Invisible Borders provides an in-depth exploration of ‘status borders’ - internal to the nation-state - that exclude vulnerable individuals from full local membership via the administrative practices of city officials.  Gargiulo’s thorough and important interrogation of Italian municipal registration reverberates beyond Italy to any location in which neoliberal state practices impose regimes of local in/exclusion,further increasing the precarity of those on the margins.”

— Monica W. Varsanyi, City University of New York, USA

This book analyses residency, a form of municipal membership that plays a strategic role in Italy, as well as in other countries. Residency is a two-faced juridical status: it is both a means for exercising rights and moving freely within a state territory and, at the same time, a tool of control which works through identification and registration. Gargiulo investigates residency both historically and theoretically, showing that the status of resident is a special kind of border, namely, a status border, which draws the lines of local citizenship. Due to the strategic role played by this status, central governments and many local authorities have tried to restrict the recognition of residency. By explaining that the mechanisms of exclusion from residency work as administrative barriers, and showing their aims and effects in terms of civic stratification and differential inclusion, this book contributes to the debates on local citizenship, borders, and discretionary power.

Enrico Gargiulo is Associate Professor in Sociology at the Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Italy.