Inside, outside, and in-between : Shifting borders in British immigration and disease control

This chapter reviews some of the literature that has spoken to migrant public health from the nineteenth century, and explores the interdependence of and interfacing between disease control and immigration control in the defining of national space and those who could enter it. For European immigrants at the centre of the Brexit vote, the borders of Britain that were once open to them have begun to close, shrinking the frontiers of inclusion back towards the island littoral. Economic screening is the primary tool of border control in both external and internal border control. Border flexibility has perhaps been most clearly displayed in the ways that prevention and management strategies have been applied to the importation of infectious disease, among immigrant communities. UK border and health controls continue to reach beyond the English Channel, with pre-entry tuberculosis screening required for residents of 101 countries applying for visas of more than six months, and all other passengers pre-screened by airlines before departure.

© 2018 selection and editorial matter, Jennifer Craig- Norton, Christhard Hoffmann and Tony Kushner; individual chapters, the contributors.