The Invisible Cage: Syrian Migrant Workers in Lebanon

The Invisible Cage uncovers the hidden history of the cycle of labor migration and return of hundreds of thousands of un- and semi-skilled Syrian workers in Lebanon. It traces how Syrians came to comprise a significant proportion of Lebanon's workforce during the 1950s and 1960s, the ways in which these Syrians lived through Lebanon's civil wars, and their prolonged unsettlement and exile through both the reconstruction of the 1990s and instability since 2005.

Offering both social history and ethnography, John Chalcraft challenges the commonly held view that a more benign form of economic labor migration, one based on personal choice, emerged with the end of slavery and forced labor in the region. Instead, he shows how both coercion and consent, unintended consequences, and hegemonic forms influence the ongoing rotation of migrant workers. This captivating account of the labor market as 'invisible cage' breaks new ground in Middle East and migration studies alike.

Author: John Chalcraft
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 10/29/2008
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 8.80h x 5.90w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9780804758260

Review Citation(s):
Chronicle of Higher Education 12/05/2008 pg. 17
Reference and Research Bk News 05/01/2009 pg. 112

About the Author
John Chalcraft is Lecturer in the History and Politics of Empire and Imperialism at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is the author of The Striking Cabbies of Cairo and Other Stories: Crafts and Guilds in Egypt, 1863-1914 (2004).