Precarity and Parenthood

Catherine Delcroix is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Strasbourg. She is a member of the International Migration, Spaces and Societies (Migrinter) research group (CNRS/University of Poitiers) and a fellow of the Institut Convergences Migrations, and runs the Migreval research project.

"This book is an almost literary socio-anthropological ‘novel’ taken from real life. It is both complex and accessible to a broad interdisciplinary audience with an interest in migration issues, including sociologists, anthropologists, legal scholars, psychologists, teachers, social workers and decision-makers. It tells and analyses the story of the Nour family: of Djamila and Amin who emigrated from Morocco to France in 1974 and over time raised eight children, one of whom, Djamel, died tragically in adulthood. It has become a classic in France because of the valuable lessons it has to offer society, and for its insight into the forms of mutual assistance and resistance used by the members of the Nour family, the capital of subjective resources and life experiences on which the children draw, their sources of support and their agency in situations where they find themselves discredited." François Héran, Professor, Collège de France, ‘Migrations et sociétés’ research chair

• Foreword: Ann PhoenixIntroductionPart 1: Memories of childhoodChapter 1: From one generation to the nextChapter 2: Childhood from different perspectivesChapter 3: Building children’s self-esteemPart 2: Married life and balancing the budgetChapter 4: The end of Amin’s careerChapter 5: Marital strifePart 3: Entering adulthoodChapter 6: Rachid’s battle with psychosisChapter 7: Djamel: the path to offending and life in prisonChapter 8: Leïla finds fulfilment in educationChapter 9: Driss’s search for a jobChapter 10: An urgent situation for both young people and societyChapter 11: The interactive nature of racismConclusionLetter from LeïlaEpilogue: Taking action in a discredited situationPostscript: An update on the family ten years on (2013)Afterword to the 2013 French edition by Françoise Lorcerie – The Nour family: a sociological ‘novel’ taken from real lifeAppendix: Methodological Note