"Dr. Alexander-Nathani is paving the way for a new generation of human rights activists. She has spent her career on the frontlines, willing to sacrifice her life in the fight to advance human rights in unseen corners of the world. Her work lifts the voices of the most vulnerable to the global stage and has convinced world leaders that we can no longer talk about human rights without talking about race. It is thanks to her that we now know the untold story of Africa’s migrant and refugee crisis. She is a true freedom fighter, and this book is poised to lead her legacy." 

— Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Civil & Human Rights Activist

“Alexander-Nathani has access to an impressive population of people who are risking their lives to cross the borders into Europe. There is much ethnographic and narrative richness in the stories that she shares.”

— Asale Angel-Ajani, City University of New York, Author of Parasitic States and Penal Colonies: Gender, Migration and the Carceral World Order

“Bearing witness to the hopes and dreams of some of the most desperate and vulnerable migrants of our time, Alexander-Nathani creates a refuge for their stories in this stunning book. An ethnography written with heart and deep knowledge gained from immersive fieldwork, it is essential reading for understanding the global migrant crisis.”

— Ruth Behar, University of Michigan, Author of The Vulnerable Observer: Anthropology That Breaks Your Heart

“Burning at Europe’s Borders has exquisitely readable prose, intelligent global analysis, and compelling ethnographic vignettes. In reading it, I was reminded of a former graduate advisor’s summation of good ethnographic writing: good ethnography affords the reader the joy of getting lost. This has all the makings of a fabulous cross-over book: it is exciting, timely, and well-written.”

— Madeline Campbell, Worcester State University, Author of Interpreters of Occupation: Gender and the Politics of Belonging in an Iraqi Refugee Network

"Burning at Europe's Borders is a breathtakingly ambitious and bold account of the travails of migration across an extended geography encompassing much of Central and Western Africa and the cruel racialized severities of border enforcement across Morocco, Algeria, and Libya. It is a multifaceted study of Morocco as a country profoundly shaped by a history of emigration to Europe, as a postcolonial junior partner in the brutal policing of Europe’s externalized borders, and as a premier destination and pivotal crossroads for the diverse migrant and refugee movements seeking to transgress the ever more fortified and deadly borders of Europe. Alexander-Nathani’s debut book is a rich ethnographic work of compelling description, sensitive narration, and deeply empathetic storytelling – an outstanding achievement”.

— Nicholas de Genova, University of Houston, Editor of The Borders of "Europe": Autonomy of Migration, Tactics of Bordering

"An important and innovative contribution to our anthropological understanding of Europe's migration crisis. Alexander-Nathani's moving prose coupled with her nuanced analytical insights shine a much needed ethnographic light on the difficult and complicated lives of African migrants and refugees who struggle to find freedom and happiness in a world of increasing inequality and violence."

— Jason de Leon, University of California, Los Angeles, Author of The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail

“I’m most impressed by the deep ethnographic fieldwork that went into the project—the long-term, sustained interaction with Africans in Morocco—as well as with Moroccans who have migrated. This is the kind of work that anthropologists should be doing. I would assign it in a heartbeat.”

— John Schaefer, Miami University of Ohio, Author of The Black Sahara: Gnawa Identity and Spiritual Work in Morocco

“In this rich and ;poignant ;ethnography, scholar, activist, ;and storyteller Alexander-Nathani invites us to listen to the voices and attend to the wounds of the hundreds of thousands of individuals who remind us that what we call a migration “crisis” is, in fact, a reception crisis on the part of the European Union. These are the individuals who remind us that today’s migrations enact the unfinished histories of colonialism and the mass colonization of the ;African continent. This book is at once a courageous ethnography, an act of solidarity, and an insightful piece of scholarship that meticulously traces the externalization of European borders, exposing its racial undertones and revealing its catastrophic effects. It bows to the resilience, courage, and determination of those whose movement is changing the face of our world—those who are being ;sacrificed and burned, not only for the sake of the loved ones they leave behind, but for all our sakes. Ignore them at our peril.”

— Yannis Hamilakis, Brown University, Editor of ;The New Nomadic Age: Archaeologies of Forced and Undocumented Migration

“Burning at Europe’s Borders brings to life the untold story of the African migrant and refugee crisis currently unfolding at Europe’s southern doorstep. In a skillful balance of solid research and first-hand accounts, Alexander-Nathani weaves a captivating story of humanitarian crisis, communicated in a style that is both theoretically grounded and highly readable. Layering the text with case studies opens up windows onto real lives and puts readers in direct conversation with the “sustained liminality” that defines the African migrant’s story. The author’s vivid accounts of struggle and joy in her own fieldwork are offered as respite from the deafening silence of so many lives now lost. The real heroic effort here is that the words of the migrants themselves stand alongside and equal to the words of scholars and theorists. As such, Alexander-Nathani has redefined the art of academic storytelling, asserting these human truths through her work and moving subtly beyond scholarship to activism.”

—Ann Shafer, Harvard University, Director of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Art and Architecture