Calendar

Jan
15
Tue
IMER Lunch Seminar 15.01: Crimmigration: Criminal Justice and Border Control @ CMI
Jan 15 @ 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm

‘Crimmigration’ has become a critical “catch all” concept for legal scholars, criminologists, and sociologists alike. The concept describes the way two previously separate state control spheres – border control and crime control – influence each other and are part of the same control mechanism experiences and developments. This concept, for example, helps understand Trump’s effort to legitimize the tightening of immigration policy. It refers to both the protection of American economy and jobs and the explicit intent to protect American citizens from terrorists, rapists, and gang members. For this IMER lunch seminar, Synnøve Jahnsen from Rokkansenteret will talk about the usefulness of crimmigration as a concept in other settings. She will draw on empirical examples from her research on prostitution and human trafficking, Norwegian labour market crime policies, and the policing of outlaw motorcycle clubs and youth gangs in Australia and Europe. She will also use the opportunity to promote her new co-edited book “Criminal Justice in the Era of Mass Mobility” and highlight some of the methodological challenges faced by researchers in her field.

A light lunch will be served. All welcome!

 Synnøve Jahnsen is a postdoctoral research fellow at Rokkansenteret where she specializes in the sociology of law and criminal justice.

Feb
19
Tue
IMER Lunch Seminar 19.02: The Cosmopolitan Critique: The Case of Climate Refugees @ Bergen Global/CMI
Feb 19 @ 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm

As the UN declared over 70 years ago, all human beings are entitled to certain inalienable rights. These rights are contested from numerous political and theoretical perspectives. There appears to be a general consensus that these rights, and perhaps especially the right to seek asylum, are not fit for our times and evolving circumstances.This perspective represents a duality. On the one hand, it is connected to anti-globalist movements and right-wing populism. On the other hand, it reflects a progressive impatience with global challenges, such as climate change which threatens the living environment of millions of people.

For this IMER seminar, Johannes Servan, an associate professor in philosophy, will present us with the cosmopolitan critique of human rights regime. What is the cosmopolitan critique, and what are the implications of this critique? How does this perspective alter the character of the moral and political claims of foreigners? The case of global climate change will be used as an example of a morally relevant circumstantial change where it is impossible to deny that we are all to blame – some more than others – for the damaging consequences of a changing climate. Does this change of circumstances require the recognition of new cosmopolitan rights?

A light lunch will be served!

  Johannes Servan is an assistant professor at Department of Philosophy, UiB. He is currently working on a post-doc proposal on climate refugees.

Mar
12
Tue
IMER Lunch Seminar 12.03: Migratory Horizons: Expectations of Migration in Senegal and Beyond @ Global Bergen/CMI
Mar 12 @ 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm

The question of migration is a multifaceted one. It impacts upon individual and social life long before a person’s departure or the crossing of borders. Tuning in with pre- and post-departure perspectives from the African-European border zone, this seminar will argue that migration cannot be understood if addressed as a series of events or movements in the here and now. On the contrary, it must be seen in relation to the experiences and ideas that predate and at the same time reach beyond the temporal settings in which they unfold. For this IMER seminar, Knut Graw from the Institute for Anthropological Research in Africa at the Kathlieke Universiteit Leuven will elaborate on this argument in relation to Senegal as a case study.

  Knut Graw (PhD) works at the Institute for Anthropological Research in Africa (IARA) and the Interculturalism, Minorities and Migration Research Centre (IMMRC) of the University of Leuven and, as associated researcher, at Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO), Berlin. His current research focuses on the situation of Senegalese migrants in Southern Europe and the cultural dynamics and transfers in the African-European borderzone.

Apr
11
Thu
IMER Lunch Seminar 11.04: NGOs in Refugee Camps: Accountability for Human Rights Violations @ Bergen Global/CMI
Apr 11 @ 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) work closely with refugees by providing services and assistance. However, refugees might also be subjected to misconduct by NGOs. In such a scenario, how can NGOs be held accountable for wrongful acts?

For this IMER lunch seminar, Marianne Nerland from the Faculty of Law at UiB will present preliminary findings from her PhD project which explores recourses available to refugees seeking justice against NGOs. By drawing on interviews conducted with refugees as well as aid workers in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, Marianne will argue that there are serious legal obstacles that refugees face when wanting to file complaints against NGOs. This case highlights the need for an enhanced structure for NGO accountability in refugee camps.

A light lunch will be served! All welcome!

 Marianne Nerland is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Law, UiB

May
15
Wed
IMER Seminar 15.05: The Design Politics of the Passport @ SKOK
May 15 @ 10:00 am – 11:30 am

In this seminar, Mahmoud Keshavarz will present his recently published book, The Design of the Passport: Materiality, Immobility and Dissent. It is an interdisciplinary study of the passport and practices as a means of uncovering the workings of what he calls ‘design politics’. It traces the histories, technologies, power relations and contestations around this small but powerful artefact to establish a framework for understanding how design is always enmeshed in the political and how politics can be understood in terms of material objects.

Combining design studies with critical border studies, alongside ethnographic work among undocumented migrants, border transgressors and passport forgers, this book shows how a world made and designed as open and hospitable to some is strictly enclosed, confined and demarcated for many others – and how those affected by such injustices dissent from the immobilities imposed on them through the same capacity of design and artifice.

 Mahmoud Keshavarz is a postdoctoral researcher at the Engaging Vulnerability Research Program, Department of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology, Uppsala University. He is the co-founder of Decolonizing Design group and co-editor-in-chief of Design and Cultural Journal.

This seminar is organized by IMER in cooperation with the at the WAIT-project at the Centre for Women’s and Gender Research (SKOK).

May
23
Thu
IMER Lunch Seminar 23.05: Home Accommodation of Asylum Seekers in Finland: Solidarity and Resistance @ Bergen Global/CMI
May 23 @ 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm

In Finland, like in other European countries, civic mobilization for supporting migrants and defending the right to asylum have proliferated since the so-called asylum ‘crisis’. Since the autumn of 2015, home accommodation of asylum seekers has become a popular way to assist asylum seekers and express solidarity amongst Finnish people.

For this IMER lunch seminar, Paula Merikoski from the University of Helsinki, examines this form of hospitality as a way for people to contest tightening asylum policies. By drawing on interviews with hosts, she argues that this phenomenon blurs the boundaries between public and private, and consolidates the understanding of the private home as a political site. She will present findings focusing on what motivated people to open their homes, and show how hosting can be a politicising experience for hosts. By opening their doors to asylum seekers, citizens take part in the debate over who is welcome to the country. 

 

A light lunch will be served!

 

  Paula Merikoski is a PhD candidate in sociology at University of Helsinki. In her PhD project she is investigating the hospitable social movement of home accommodation of asylum seekers in Finland. Paula is part of the research project Struggles over Home and Citizenship. Neighborhood Solidarities as a response to Asylum ‘Crisis’ (University of Helsinki) and the NORDHOST research project (University of Oslo).

Sep
10
Tue
IMER/DIGSSCORE Lunch Seminar 10.09: Immigrant Narratives from a Psychological Strength Perspective: The Use of a Survey as a Tool for voicing and humanizing Experiences @ DIGSSCORE
Sep 10 @ 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

Torreiro-Casal will describe findings from an online survey developed by UC Davis students using a psychological strength-based perspective. Monica will describe cultural constructs, migration experiences and immigrant’s perceptions on current anti-migrant rhetoric. The rational for using this survey will be discussed as well as the relevance of collecting qualitative data. Further, Monica will describe the current analysis of data and purpose of codifying themes from those narratives. The analysis of these narratives so far has helped to identify immigrant’s strengths and psychological protective factors. These findings contribute to voice counter narratives to the current political climate in the USA. 

Lunch will be served on first-come first-served basis.

 

 Dr. Monica Torreiro-Casal holds a PhD in counseling psychology from Northeastern University, Boston, MA. Currently, Monica is affiliated with the Chicano/a studies Department at the University of California in Davis where she teaches and researches on mental health-related issues with vulnerable communities. Her research focuses on collecting narratives (survey, interviews, art/media) and conducting qualitative research to document the undocumented narratives of marginalized individuals.

The event is organized by IMER and DIGSSCORE.

For more info, please click here

Oct
17
Thu
Rebuilding Education in Areas of Armed Conflict: The Case of Syria @ Bergen Global
Oct 17 @ 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm

Since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, more than 45% of the population has been forced into displacement, of which almost half are children. For a large part of the Syrian population, access to education has been interrupted.

In her study, Mirey tries to identify the opportunities that could be offered by information and communications technology to guarantee access to formal and non-formal education to Syrian children affected by the armed conflict. Based on fieldwork in Lebanon between 2013 and 2018, Mirey will present findings on how ICTs can facilitate access to education for Syrian children in different ways, both physically and remotely. She will also highlight the role of these technologies in improving and facilitating communication between different actors including teachers, parents, and formal educational administrations. In addition, she will explain how ICTs is used in emergency situations to share information on the safety of children.

These findings can offer a pathway to find more stable and long-term solutions for children with limited access to education due to armed conflicts and in other emergency situations.

A light lunch will be served! All welcome!

 

 

Mirey is a PhD candidate at the Autonumus University of Barcelona and her research focuses on the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in education in emergencies.

Nov
11
Mon
IMER Lunch Seminar 11.11: Urban Landscapes: The Multicultural Inner City in Postwar Britain @ Bergen Global
Nov 11 @ 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm

In recent years, sociologists have called attention to the everyday dynamics of ‘lived’ multiculture – the ‘local negotiations’ and ‘processes of cohabitation’ that have, it has been argued, made ethnic diversity an ‘ordinary feature’ of urban life – in Britain, and across mainland Europe.  In this seminar, Kieran Connell from Queen’s University Belfast will explore how we might interrogate the historical dimensions of these themes by focusing on Balsall Heath, an inner-city area of Birmingham, Britain’s second city.  As part of a wider project to examine the multicultural inner-city, Kieran makes the case for the importance of space in relation to what the cultural theorist Stuart Hall has called the process of multicultural ‘drift’. In this respect, sources such as photography offer a particularly useful way of getting at the topographical changes to the inner-city landscape brought about in the context of mass migration.

A light lunch will be served! All welcome!

Kieran Connell is Lecturer in Contemporary British History at Queen’s University Belfast.  He is a Fulbright Scholar and the co-editor of Cultural Studies 50 Years On.  His first monograph, Black Handsworth: race in 1980s Britain, was published by the University of California Press in February 2019.

Dec
3
Tue
IMER Lunch Seminar 03.12: 50 Years of Immigration Debate in the Scandinavian Press @ Bergen Global CMI/UiB
Dec 3 @ 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm

How has the Scandinavian press covered immigration over the years? What themes, framings and agents have been emphasized in the media coverage of immigration in the last 50 years, and how this has changed? What differences are there across Scandinavian countries? As part of the SCANPUB project at UiB, Jan Fredrik Hovden and Hilmar Mjelde have studied and analyzed the immigration debate in 7 Scandinavian newspapers. While the results support the general claims about national differences in Scandinavian immigration debate including Danish press as more critical of immigration in contrast to Sweden which focuses more on racism, they also suggest some major developments, in particular the rise of immigration as an increasingly contentious issue debated by politicians. In his presentation, Jan will also discuss how the “immigration crisis” has been covered in Scandinavian and European press, highlighting the similarities and differences between the different cases 

 Jan Fredrik Hovden is a professor at the Department Information Science and Media Studies at UiB.