Politics of the Temporary

One in four workers in major cities like Kuala Lumpur is thought to be a migrant worker. They power our economic growth, but many are undocumented, work in harsh conditions and are vulnerable to arrest and deportation. A new book titled “Politics of the Temporary: An Ethnography of Migrant Life in Urban Malaysia” offers a glimpse into the lived experiences of migrant workers and the difficult realities they face. It is written by Parthiban Muniandy, a researcher in the Department of Sociology at the University of Illinois.