Migrants' Participation in Exclusionary Contexts (PDF)

Katia Pilati is Assistant Professor at the Department of Sociology and Social Research (DSRS) at the University of Trento, Italy. Her research interests include political participation and immigration, social movements, and political engagement in repressive contexts.

"This theoretically-informed comprehensive study by Katia Pilati provides a high quality 'blue print' for empirical research on the political engagement of migrants in cities. By examining Filipino, Egyptian and Ecuadorian communities who face a relatively restrictive political environment in Milan, Pilati unpacks the important story about how organizational networks can 'work' to find a place for migrants on the city-level political landscape. It is a definitive study of the mechanisms through which networks can locate migrant communities within city politics, but goes further and identifies 'outcomes' for their political action: inward group social closure; cooperating with mainstream actors; or radicalization." - Paul Statham, University of Sussex, UK
 
"The civic and political engagement of migrants has long been a neglected topic in migration studies. This shortcoming has started to be redressed in recent years. Migrants' Political Participation in Exclusionary Contexts skilfully contributes to this growing literature. Katia Pilati shows us in a concise but effective and persuasive way that the effect of an exclusionary context on the political engagement of migrants is moderated by organizational engagement and networks. While the book focuses on the specific case of Milan, Italy, it offers broader insights on the complex interplay between political context, organizational dynamics, and political participation." - Marco Giugni, University of Geneva, Switzerland