Fear of the Family

The best historians make the past urgent. Lauren Stokes's Fear of the Family does just this. She shows how Germany's so-called migration crisis has been underway for over half a century, and its most relevant figure has not been the isolated laborer but the family. An illuminating book with high stakes in a world where kinship networks are forced to carry ever more of the burden of the welfare state. * Quinn Slobodian, author of Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism *
While the history of the Federal Republic of Germany has often been written as centering on the reconstruction of the German family, this book highlights how fear of the foreign family structured West German immigration policies from the 1970s to the present. Deeply researched and beautifully written, this pioneering book inserts the category of 'race' and racialization into the history of postwar Germany. It provides an indispensable historical perspective on current debates about immigration and multiculturalism in Europe. * Frank Biess, University of California, San Diego *
This is a powerful, illuminating, and tragically timely book. Based on a wealth of fascinating and original archival materials, it teaches us much about the deeply material practices, routines, and policies that have structured the lives of migrant families in Germany. Stokes deftly and effectively moves between a deep treatment of the laws and experiences of migration within the German state and a larger story of families on the move that is all too universal. * Jordanna Bailkin, University of Washington *
Lauren Stokes astutely analyzes the intersection of race, immigrant status, gender, and family in the Federal Republic of Germany. Brilliantly researched and full of revealing anecdotes, Fear of the Family shows us the gap between the West German state's 'family values' and its fear of the (immigrant) family—as well as the injurious policies that often resulted. This book should be required reading for anyone concerned with social policy, immigration, and the family in the twentieth century. * Elizabeth Heineman, University of Iowa *
Masterful...This book is a major achievement. It is rigorous, well-written, features energetic, almost prosecutorial argumentation, and is teeming with insights not just about the history of migration in the Federal Republic of Germany, but also about the history of the family, race, memory, gender, and, above all, on the often devastating impact of neoliberal policies on the lives of foreign workers and their families….This book deserves a wide readership. It should be a mainstay on graduate readings lists, and its readability and manageable length also make it suitable for the undergraduate classroom. * Christopher A. Molnar, University of Michigan-Flint *
Lauren Stokes has produced an outstanding study that is a prime example of an intersectional history of migration. Both with its comprehensive documentation and with its innovative analysis, it goes far beyond the current state of research. The work is indispensable for students and researchers. Due to the everyday historical approach, it is also easily accessible to a non-academic audience. * Florian Wagner, H-Soz-Kult *
There are...few stones unturned in this brilliant book about the politics of family reunification in the FRG. Stokes masterfully weaves together analysis of local concerns, state- and federal-level policies, and bilateral contracts between countries in the European Economic Community, demonstrating how migrants and their families had to navigate these different levels of governance to simply stay in Germany. To this end, her narrative also serves the important function of giving agency to migrant families, who protested, fought court cases, and found creative workarounds for uniting their families in the FRG.... Stokes has provided an elegantly written narrative that captures the intricacy and difficulty of decades of debate over family migration. This book deserves to join its peers as part of the canon of modern German history. * Alexandria Ruble, H-Diplo, H-Net Reviews *
In her book, Lauren Stokes describes how a political culture of fear of the foreign family became the basis of family policy in general in the Federal Republic of Germany. The seven chapters of her book take seriously German fears of foreign families, which in turn created fear within immigrant families. * Özkan Ezli, German Historical Institute London Bulletin *