About the author Imogen Tyler is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology and co- director of the Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies at Lancaster University. She specializes in the area of marginal social identities, a topic which brings together research on asylum and migration, borders, sexual poli- tics, motherhood, race and ethnicity, disability, social class and poverty. Her work focuses on representation and mediation and the relationship between social theory and activism. Other recent publications include a special issue of Feminist Review (with C. Gatrell) on the theme of ‘Birth’, a special issue of Studies in the Maternal (with T. Jensen) on the theme of ‘Austerity Parenting’, a special issue of Citizenship Studies on the theme of ‘Immigrant Protest’ (2013) and a book (with K. Marciniak), Immigrant Protest: Politics, Aesthetics, and Everyday Dissent (SUNY, forthcoming).