This open access edited book examines return migration as a non-linear, contested and unfinished process through 15 migrant narratives, many co-authored with migrants. Drawing on comparative qualitative research across Europe, the Middle East and beyond, it analyses deportation, pushbacks, assisted voluntary return, circular mobility and reintegration.

The narratives encompass experiences connected to Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Türkiye, Kosovo and Iraq. They show how return migration infrastructures and border regimes shape deportability, irregularisation, uncertainty, stigma and insecure belonging, while migrants navigate constrained choices, family obligations and changing aspirations.

Bringing migrant-centred storytelling into dialogue with migration studies and public sociology, the book treats narrative as a mode of knowledge production rather than simply as illustration. Its analytical framework connects return migration infrastructures, trajectories and agency, while dignity provides a normative lens for considering recognition, security and viable futures. The volume contributes a collaborative, public-facing account of how return is lived, narrated and negotiated across differing legal and political contexts. It will be of interest to researchers and postgraduate students in migration studies, sociology, anthropology, politics and refugee studies.

Susan Beth Rottmann is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Özyeğin University, Türkiye. Her research examines migration, gender, belonging and citizenship. She is author of In Pursuit of Belonging (2019) and has published in leading migration and sociology journals.

Soner Barthoma is Project Coordinator at the Centre for Multidisciplinary Research on Religion and Society, Uppsala University, Sweden. His research focuses on migration governance, migrant return and displacement.

Zeynep Şahin-Mencütek is Professor of Global Migration and Politics at Osnabrück University, Germany. She is author of Refugee Governance, State and Politics in the Middle East (2018) and co-author of Syrian Refugees in Turkey (2023).