MJHR Special Issue of Migration and Refugees

Mediterranean Journal of Human Rights – Special Issue on Migration and Refugees

Call for papers

In recent years, the countries of the Mediterranean have seen significant influxes in migration. Countries in the region have responded in ways that reveal regional tensions and fault-lines, such as that between the countries of the Northern and Southern shores of the sea, the differential impact of ED policy stances and various and distinct political, social, and economic realities. These regional reactions are playing out against a global background marked by increased geo-political tensions on the one hand, and the movement toward globalization and the market state on the other. As more and more migrants transit through and settle in the region, the countries of the region – as sending, transit, and receiving countries – have had to respond to the influx in many ways, from reception and detention of migrants, to adjudication of refugee claims, to the provision of social services and efforts to integrate the newcomers into the host communities, to efforts to deal with the “brain drain” such as through remittances and other benefits that can derive from nationals living abroad. Human rights are impacted at each stage of the migration process and this special issue will explore those implications in some detail.

 

We solicit proposals for papers that will focus on issues involving migration and human rights in the Mediterranean region. We welcome

Refugee month is starting early…: What makes a refugee?

What makes a refugee?
Manchester UK 19th-21st June 2008

An international conference during Refugee Week 2008 bringing together Human Rights and Refugee Practitioners, Researching Academics, Policy Makers and Activists from the different parts of the world to explore, advance and share understanding about the range of factors that can explain why, where and how refugees exist.

Contact for more information:
Dr.Rhetta Mora, admin [AT] rapar.org.uk

Working with young refugees, their rights and entitlements

Starting on the Refugee Week 2007, we are coming to a city close to you to deliver training on “Working with young refugees, their rights and entitlement”.

Target audiences:
Social workers, youth workers, teachers, LEA staff and anyone working or wanting to work with refugee children in voluntary and private sector

Trainer:
Zuhra Bahman has worked on children’s rights and child protection issues in the UK and abroad as community activist, trainer and adviser with organisations such as British Red Cross, STAR, UK Youth, AFRUCA and ECPAT UK. Zuhra has also written extensively on refugee issues and have been involved as a trustee and volunteer with various refugee organisations. Zuhra has been delivering training to statutory sector on refugee issues on freelance basis since 2004.

At the end of the training day you will:

• Understand causes and process of migration and relevant terminology
• Understand rights and entitlements of young asylum seekers in the UK
• Develop an understanding of best practice with regards to work with asylum seeking children including child protection issues
• Gain access to further resources for future reference

Dates and Venues:

19 Princelet Street

To mark Refugee Week here in London, seize the chance to visit 19 Princelet Street and explore issues of immigration, inclusion and identity in one of Europe’s most extraordinary spaces.

An international historic site of civic engagement, the only one of its kind in Europe, 19 Princelet Street in London’s Spitalfields will open FREE every day 17-24 June (and Sunday 27 May) from 12-5 pm.

‘One of the most charismatic buildings in our city – it tells the tale of arrival, of moving in and moving on’
Robert Elms, BBC London

Discover shared human stories of incomers, over hundreds of years, who have shaped and continue to shape not only this city but our society.

Explore SUITCASES AND SANCTUARY, a ‘hauntingly beautiful’ show created by children, with powerful lessons for how we think about asylum seekers, for political debate, for community relations and human rights. Take a wry look at asylum in Britain today through LEAVE TO REMAIN, installed by three contemporary artists in exile.

‘Goes right to the heart of who we are today’
The Guardian

Founded by refugees, the charity is run by volunteers of all ages, cultures, religions and backgrounds working together to preserve this special kind of museum as a place where cultures meet, and raising a target of £3 million so it can be open to everyone on a regular basis in future.

‘Our visit to 19 Princelet Street was a revelation’
International Banker

Find more at www.19princeletstreet.org.uk

To arrange group visits at other times of year www.19princeletstreet.org.uk/groupVisits.html

19 Princelet Street
London  E1 Tubes: Aldgate East, Liverpool Street
Open FREE
Sunday 17 – Sunday 24 June, every day, 12-5pm (last entry 4.15pm)

Terrorism and Migration

A Two-Day Interdisciplinary Conference at the School of Humanities,
University of Southampton, UK.
Saturday November 17th-Sunday November 18th, 2007

Contemporary anxieties about terrorism in the mainstream media and politics have clearly articulated the war against terrorism and the struggle for global security to the control of immigration, as well as the criminalisation of Islam. As A. Sivanandan has argued in a recent article, ‘the war on asylum and the war on terror […] have converged to produce a racism which cannot tell a settler from an immigrant, an immigrant from an asylum speaker, an asylum speaker from a Muslim, a Muslim from a terrorist’.

Commentary Roundup

For those of you who are just joining us, here’s a sampling of some of the ‘vox populi‘ submissions we have received since we went live a few short weeks ago:

Sadza and Muriwo
Habits and Hijabs
Placeless People

And if you are interested in submitting something yourself, have a look at our Current CFP.

A hint about our next topic: Refugee Week will have something to do with it.

Literary Representations of Moroccan Immigration in Spain

A Look at Moroccan Immigration in Spain from a Literary Perspective

by Nasima Akaloo (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain)

 

This paper approaches Moroccan immigration in Spain using a hybrid, border/ frontier literature as explained by Homi Bhabha and Nieves García Benito respectively. It maps Spain’s reaction towards this migrant population taking into account the long and conflicting Arab presence in the Peninsula as well as the ambivalent, often negative and paternalistic attitude towards Morocco, stemming principally from the period of the Spanish Protectorate (1912-1956 roughly). It also considers Spain´s recent past of emigration (there were about seven million emigrants who left Spain in the twentieth century) and draws several parallels between the treatment meted out to Spanish emigrants in Europe and the attitude adopted by Spain towards its own immigrants in recent times, especially those from the Magreb, which constitute the largest migrant group.
The profile of the emigrant/ immigrant, the circumstances which push him to migrate, the travails and deceptions experienced while waiting or planning, the illegal, corrupt world which feeds on the desperation and vulnerability of the individual, the illusory, idealistic representations of Europe as the Promised Land etc. are all briefly treated as a preamble to the encounter between the emigrant and the local.
I have chosen to focus primarily on the illegal side of immigration mainly through “pateras”, underlining firmly the challenges and dangers of this approach in view of the media and political attention this phenomenon has received in recent times. I have therefore highlighted its misuse and manipulation by authors and have sought to question the posture and intentionality of the writer when treating this sensitive issue whose reality has been practically eclipsed by the media and other sources alike. Comparing the elements of the “literature de patera” from both sides- Moroccan and Spanish- and relying on comments by authors and researchers such as Marco Kunz and Juan Goytisolo, I have sought to show as well that the Spanish representation of the immigrant is seen more as a critique of the Spanish society than as a “true” reflection of the immigrant´s posture and plight.

Jewish consumption and material culture in the early modern period

Call to advanced graduate students to participate in a workshop   “Jewish Consumption and Material Culture in the Early Modern Period”
Location:     Connecticut, United States

Advanced Graduate students are invited to apply to participate in the fourth annual Early Modern Workshop in Jewish History, tentatively entitled “Jewish Consumption and Material Culture in the Early Modern Period,” which will take place at the University of Maryland at College Park beginning on the evening of Sunday, August 19, 2007 and will conclude on Tuesday evening on August 22, 2006.
The topic of material culture within Jewish historiography has only been explored in the context of ancient Jewish history.
Unlike early modern European history, or early American history, both of which have been studied from the perspective of material culture and consumption, Jewish history has been predominantly based on texts.  Scholars of early modern Jewish history have tended to see the minhagim (customs) and responsa literatures as a particularly valuable source of
information about daily life, but have tended to focus on specific data rather than to explore the significance of Jewish material culture. There are of course well known sources such as memoirs (see the recently published edition of Gluckel of Hameln’s memoir by Chava Turniansky), travel accounts, and the “ethnographic” descriptions of non-Jewish observers such as the Buxtorfs  (father and son) and converts from Judaism such as Samuel Nahmias (Giulio Morosini, Via della Fede). It is only recently that questions of the transformation of Jewish culture through consumption and material  culture have been raised, by scholars such as  Elliott Horowitz, Zeev Gris,  Shifra Baruchson, Shalom Sabar, or in art history Vivian Mann and Richard Cohen. 

Migration Matters in Europe and the Americas

6th MESEA Conference

June 25–28,  2008, Leiden University, The Netherlands
Call for Papers
The Society for Multi-Ethnic Studies: Europe and the America

MIGRATION MATTERS: IMMIGRATION, HOMELANDS, AND BORDER CROSSINGS IN EUROPE AND THE AMERICAS

Largely driven by economics,  migration today is a global and globalizing phenomenon that renders , national borders obsolete and calls into question the viability of nation states and national identities. Yet , precisely because it undermines national structures,  migration also has contributed to the reinvention of, the historically highly problematic concept of “homelands” and the reconstruction of increasingly , impenetrable borders. It is, moreover,  in local situations and contexts that the impact of global migration is , experienced,  debated,  and contested most directly and urgently. This conference,  then,  aims to focus on , the ways in which migration matters locally as well as transnationally and globally,  in the realms of , politics and culture,  history and sociology,  economics and law,  language,  literature and the arts in Europe , and the Americas.

Conference-Festival on ‘Writing Resistance: The Literature of Exile’

21 June 2007, The Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA

An full day of discussion, debate, and performances organised by Exiled Writers Ink! in association with English Pen and Amnesty International.

For a detailed programme and registration see www.exiledwriters.co.uk