Francesco Vacchiano
Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Antropologia, Department Member
- Psychological Anthropology, Maghreb studies, Migration Studies, Medical Anthropology, Anthropology of Borders, Refugee Studies, and 26 moreYouth Studies, Mediterranean Studies, Medical Anthropology/ antropología médica, Critical Medical Anthropology, Antropología, Refugees, Anthropology of Children and Childhood, Morocco, Ethnopsychiatry, Ethnopsychology, Circulation of Minors, Migration of minors, Anthropology, Cultural Studies, Anthropology of Mobility, Antropologia, Gender Studies, Gender, Human Rights, Middle East & North Africa, Unaccompanied Children, Political Anthropology, Migration, Mobility/Mobilities, Arab Spring (Arab Revolts), and Anthropology of migrationedit
- Francesco Vacchiano obtained is PhD in Anthropology at the University of Turin in 2008. Originally trained in clinica... moreFrancesco Vacchiano obtained is PhD in Anthropology at the University of Turin in 2008. Originally trained in clinical psychology (and later specialized in family therapy), since 1997 he has been member of the Frantz Fanon Centre of Turin (an outpatient clinic for the mental health of refugees and immigrants), where he intervened as a therapist, researcher and trainer. He is currently research associate at the ICS-UL (Instituto de Ciências Sociais - Universidade de Lisboa) and member of the IMEDES (Instituto Universitario de Investigación sobre Migraciones, Etnicidad y Desarrollo Social) of the Universidad Autónoma of Madrid. His multidisciplinary approach encompasses the fields of anthropology and ethnopsychology and his research interests focus on migration, medical and psychological anthropology, European borders and boundaries (particularly in the Mediterranean area), institutions and politics of citizenship and social transformations related to globalization. His areas of ethnographic interest are Southern Europe, the Mediterranean and Noth Africa. He has also intervened as a consultant in projects of social and community intervention in Italy, Spain, Morocco, Tunisia and Portugal.edit
This chapter begins with three emblematic stories, going on to analyze the motivations and feelings that underlie young North African adolescents’ decisions to emigrate. Based on a 15-year-long field study carried out in Morocco and... more
This chapter begins with three emblematic stories, going on to analyze the motivations and feelings that underlie young North African adolescents’ decisions to emigrate. Based on a 15-year-long field study carried out in Morocco and Europe, this contribution aims to discuss the entanglement of social conditions, feelings, and beliefs that defines mobility and the ‘elsewhere’ as offering the compensatory possibility of success and fulfilment. I argue that, although young people and families are ‘global subjects,’ their experience is deeply marked by a sense of disappointment deriving from the combination of their exposure to normative benchmarks of the good life and self-improvement with their simultaneous exclusion from the actual means of achieving either.
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Among the most urgent measures envisaged in the European Agenda on Migration (the EU Commission plan to face the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ in Europe) one finds a “scheme to relocate 40,000 people from Italy, Greece and other Member... more
Among the most urgent measures envisaged in the European Agenda on Migration (the EU Commission plan to face the so-called ‘refugee crisis’ in Europe) one finds a “scheme to relocate 40,000 people from Italy, Greece and other Member States” (a number later increased to 160,000) and a “scheme to resettle over 20,000 people from outside the EU”. Whereas some countries resolutely refused the plan, the Portuguese government promptly endorsed the initiative and agreed to receive 4,700 people (a number later resized to 2,951). As a consequence, an issue that had gone almost unnoticed in the country (Portugal registered only 477 asylum requests in 2014), took centre stage and became a matter of public debate. As time passed, however, the asylum seekers, and particularly the awaited Syrians, were not arriving. Greek and Italian authorities were occasionally blamed for their supposed lack of organization, while some started to insinuate that asylum seekers might not want to come to Portugal. After some months of uncertainty, ‘relocated’ people became to flow in in March 2016 and Portugal has officially received 1,507 people. They have been hosted in collective facilities or private apartments predisposed by receiving organizations (public institutions and NGOs), which were also designated to provide services expected to include language tuition, vocational training, legal counselling, and, whenever necessary, medical and psychological support. Although, one year after, the official narrative tells mainly a success story, almost half of these asylum seekers have already fled the country, many beneficiaries complain of the distinctive treatment put in place by different bodies and point to the lack of actual possibilities of social inclusion, mainly through work and family reunification.
Based on my ethnographic work in this field, my contribution aims at following the process of social insertion of a group of refugees who arrived in Portugal throughout the last year. The objective is taking stock of the initiatives and discussing the problems that remain unaddressed. As I will show, reception works frequently as a process of marginal inclusion into the most fragile strata of society due to a process in which scarcity is paradoxically justified by the idea of having to do with people in extreme needs.
Based on my ethnographic work in this field, my contribution aims at following the process of social insertion of a group of refugees who arrived in Portugal throughout the last year. The objective is taking stock of the initiatives and discussing the problems that remain unaddressed. As I will show, reception works frequently as a process of marginal inclusion into the most fragile strata of society due to a process in which scarcity is paradoxically justified by the idea of having to do with people in extreme needs.
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Cette contribution analyse une forme particulière d’expérience de subalternité citadine – la vie dans un bidonville au Maroc. Je propose d’observer comment, depuis cet espace marginalisé, la migration « à tout prix » est conçue en tant... more
Cette contribution analyse une forme particulière d’expérience de subalternité citadine – la vie dans un bidonville au Maroc. Je propose d’observer comment, depuis cet espace marginalisé, la migration « à tout prix » est conçue en tant que possibilité de rédemption sociale et de franchissement des limites imposées. Pour ce faire, j’examine notamment comment le bidonville, nommé en langue vernaculaire kariān (surtout, mais non exclusivement, à Casablanca), est devenu un des espaces emblématiques de la modernité marocaine et comment beaucoup de ses habitants, à partir des années 1990, ont partagé les imaginaires et les espoirs liés à la migration internationale bien répandus au niveau des classes populaires du pays. Parmi les habitants du kariān, le désir migratoire s’apparente à une façon de sortir d’une double marginalisation, l’une créée par les politiques urbaines de la ville coloniale et post-coloniale, et l’autre par les politiques migratoires contemporaines.
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At the harbor of Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos in the summer of 2014, I was struck by an emblematic scene: a party of tourists debarked from a cruise ship and, heading toward the custom house, walked past a group of immigrants... more
At the harbor of Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos in the summer of 2014, I was struck by an emblematic scene: a party of tourists debarked from a cruise ship and, heading toward the custom house, walked past a group of immigrants just apprehended at sea. The tourists did not seem to notice the immigrants, despite the fact that their visibility was accentuated by the surgical masks they had been provided—most likely to protect autochthones from some imagined contagion.
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This report analyzes the various forms of interaction, conflation and distinction between the concepts of culture, tradition, civilization and religion in a selection of the principle documents produced on these topics within the UN... more
This report analyzes the various forms of interaction, conflation and distinction between the concepts of culture, tradition, civilization and religion in a selection of the principle documents produced on these topics within the UN community. Documents elaborated by UN General Assembly, UNESCO and UNAOC after 2001 are examined. The analysis shows that, although the concepts of “dialogue” and “alliance” are meant to counter contemporary representations of “Western” and “Islamic” societies as distant and incompatible wholes, the debate remains often conditioned by a static and a-historical view of cultural and religious traditions. Particularly, the frequent overlapping of terms such as ‘culture’, ‘religion’, ‘identity’ and ‘tradition’ and the use of the general notion of ‘civilization’ contribute to reproducing a view of culture and religion as closed entities, making the effort to overtake divisions harder.
The «European Agenda on Migration», whose objective is the unification of the different measures that the European Union will adopt to develop a coherent and integrated approach to migrations and border policy, is paradigmatic of how the... more
The «European Agenda on Migration», whose objective is the unification of the different measures
that the European Union will adopt to develop a coherent and integrated approach to migrations and
border policy, is paradigmatic of how the European Commission imagines de Mediterranean as a space
of migratory flows. This agenda has three main characteristics: usefulness, planning and stratification,
and points to a new European mobility governance. This paper explores the implications and
consequences of this agenda, including the critical analysis of the so-called «Hotspot approach» and
other measures such as the «refugee relocation system». Confirming the trends in the last few years,
the main tools in the European border management and control strategy are cooperation, policing,
new control and identification technologies for the newcomers, and the «border extended bureaucracies».
As a consequence, the most advanced border posts are pushed towards the South and militarized.
This paper discusses the underlying racist utilitarianism contained in these European policies. Thus,
Mediterranean’s governmentality crystallizes in a series of mechanisms generating new forms of violence,
symbolic and direct. In this context, the paper explores the parallel logics of the «will to mobility» of
young migrants from the Global South who, in spite of the security web established in European policies
wish and try to be part of a transnational cosmopolitan imaginary.
that the European Union will adopt to develop a coherent and integrated approach to migrations and
border policy, is paradigmatic of how the European Commission imagines de Mediterranean as a space
of migratory flows. This agenda has three main characteristics: usefulness, planning and stratification,
and points to a new European mobility governance. This paper explores the implications and
consequences of this agenda, including the critical analysis of the so-called «Hotspot approach» and
other measures such as the «refugee relocation system». Confirming the trends in the last few years,
the main tools in the European border management and control strategy are cooperation, policing,
new control and identification technologies for the newcomers, and the «border extended bureaucracies».
As a consequence, the most advanced border posts are pushed towards the South and militarized.
This paper discusses the underlying racist utilitarianism contained in these European policies. Thus,
Mediterranean’s governmentality crystallizes in a series of mechanisms generating new forms of violence,
symbolic and direct. In this context, the paper explores the parallel logics of the «will to mobility» of
young migrants from the Global South who, in spite of the security web established in European policies
wish and try to be part of a transnational cosmopolitan imaginary.
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The idea of studying migration from an applied standpoint is certainly not new, but it brings to light the added value of considering daily practice as a source of new questions that challenge the common disciplinary views. This... more
The idea of studying migration from an applied standpoint is certainly not new, but it brings to light the added value of considering daily practice as a source of new questions that challenge the common disciplinary views. This contribution proceeds from this premise (and from a pragmatic idea of interdisciplinarity), justifying and summarising my itinerary of research and intervention as a psychologist and anthropologist at the Frantz Fanon Centre, an outpatient clinic for the mental health of immigrants in Northern Italy. In this unit, ‘ethnopsychiatry’ is intended as a way of approaching suffering taking into account, not just symptoms and biographies, but also the multiple forms whereby power relations impact on the individual experience. Drawing from the clinical stories of three women treated at the Centre, I attempt to demonstrate that the experiences of the immigrants – and the dynamics related to their suffering – help to illuminate the existential challenges and emerging forms of subjectivity that characterise the contemporary historical condition. As a result of this discussion, I aim to bring forward a perspective in which ‘intellectual hybridity’ – a concept that seems more suitable for a new emancipatory social research – arises from the need to engage with the profuse variety of problems and elaborate responses presented to us.
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The recent increase of migratory flows that have children and adolescents as the main protagonists highlights the transformations, on a social and subjective level, in the contexts from where they are issued and which they cross. Basing... more
The recent increase of migratory flows that have children and adolescents as the main protagonists highlights the transformations, on a social and subjective level, in the contexts from where they are issued and which they cross. Basing the reflection on a research across the Maghreb and Europe, the author propose to understand the independent migration of children and adolescents as an expression of the contemporary, globally hegemonic forms of “being-in the-world”. Such forms are moulded upon the achievement, by an autonomous subject, of the power of consumption, communication and movement.
Through their desire of “being modern”, specifically expressed through mobility, “separated” minors put across a request of participation to the contemporary world and a claim for global citizenship that project them beyond the historically imposed boundaries.
Through their desire of “being modern”, specifically expressed through mobility, “separated” minors put across a request of participation to the contemporary world and a claim for global citizenship that project them beyond the historically imposed boundaries.
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Over the last years the Mediterranean has turned into one of the main sites of implementation of the new European ‘border regime’. The manufacture of the new ‘southern frontier’ in Europe is shaping economic, social and political... more
Over the last years the Mediterranean has turned into one of the main sites of implementation of the new European ‘border regime’. The manufacture of the new ‘southern frontier’ in Europe is shaping economic, social and political processes in new ways for the area. Through the ethnography of the transformations in the social and physical landscape around the Strait of Gibraltar (particularly at the Moroccan-Spanish border), this contribution put forward a reflection upon the multiple levels of action of the contemporary border.
Building on the debate on the new European ‘border regime’ and its fallouts, I propose a framework to analyse the different devices (legislative, bureaucratic, securitarian and conceptual) that compose the ‘border apparatus’ and how they are functioning at the Spain-Morocco border. My aim is to give an anthropological contribution to reflect on the ways the Mediterranean is currently being set up as a new borderland, but also to propose a framework to study bordering processes in other sites.
Building on the debate on the new European ‘border regime’ and its fallouts, I propose a framework to analyse the different devices (legislative, bureaucratic, securitarian and conceptual) that compose the ‘border apparatus’ and how they are functioning at the Spain-Morocco border. My aim is to give an anthropological contribution to reflect on the ways the Mediterranean is currently being set up as a new borderland, but also to propose a framework to study bordering processes in other sites.
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This contribution analyzes and discusses the case of the migration of “unaccompanied” children and adolescents between Morocco and Europe. This analysis was originally presented as a contribution to the Project “Anthropology of... more
This contribution analyzes and discusses the case
of the migration of “unaccompanied” children and
adolescents between Morocco and Europe. This
analysis was originally presented as a contribution
to the Project “Anthropology of Interfaces” (FCT/
CAPES). The article examines the ways in which
young migrants give meaning to the world and to
the experience of mobility, in an attempt to explore
the construction of the youth’s experience between
contemporary global and (g)local worlds of expe-
rience and meaning. The theoretical perspective
inspiring the study lies at the intersection of an-
thropology, psychology and migration studies and
is based on the concept of subjectivity, understood
as a form of orientation to the world and embodi-
ment of historically and politically defined norms,
values and meaning. This orientation influences the
imagination and defines specific forms of thinking,
acting, speaking, suffering and giving meaning to
existence. The article shows that the subjective cons-
truction of postcolonial youth and their families is
moulded upon a globally-fashioned “desire for mo-
dernity and participation”, which clashes with the
normative process imposed by the new “discipline
of the borders” in Europe, manifested through the
bureaucratic and administrative procedures of the
so-called “reception”. The combination of these two
dynamics concurs in producing the experience of
marginality and the following risk also in terms of
“disposition to be sanctioned”. Conclusions delve
into the paradox of a process in which young mi-
grants are pushed back to the prescribed marginal
place in the world which the infringement of the
border had tried to subvert.
of the migration of “unaccompanied” children and
adolescents between Morocco and Europe. This
analysis was originally presented as a contribution
to the Project “Anthropology of Interfaces” (FCT/
CAPES). The article examines the ways in which
young migrants give meaning to the world and to
the experience of mobility, in an attempt to explore
the construction of the youth’s experience between
contemporary global and (g)local worlds of expe-
rience and meaning. The theoretical perspective
inspiring the study lies at the intersection of an-
thropology, psychology and migration studies and
is based on the concept of subjectivity, understood
as a form of orientation to the world and embodi-
ment of historically and politically defined norms,
values and meaning. This orientation influences the
imagination and defines specific forms of thinking,
acting, speaking, suffering and giving meaning to
existence. The article shows that the subjective cons-
truction of postcolonial youth and their families is
moulded upon a globally-fashioned “desire for mo-
dernity and participation”, which clashes with the
normative process imposed by the new “discipline
of the borders” in Europe, manifested through the
bureaucratic and administrative procedures of the
so-called “reception”. The combination of these two
dynamics concurs in producing the experience of
marginality and the following risk also in terms of
“disposition to be sanctioned”. Conclusions delve
into the paradox of a process in which young mi-
grants are pushed back to the prescribed marginal
place in the world which the infringement of the
border had tried to subvert.
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Este contributo analisa e discute o caso da migração de crianças e adolescentes“não acompanhados” entre Marrocos e Europa, aprofundado e utilizado como caso de estudo no projeto “Antropologia de interfaces” (FCT/CAPES). O trabalho... more
Este contributo analisa e discute o caso da migração de crianças e adolescentes“não acompanhados” entre Marrocos e Europa, aprofundado e utilizado como caso de estudo no projeto “Antropologia de interfaces” (FCT/CAPES). O trabalho prendese em particular à análise das formas de atribuir sentido ao mundo e à mobilidade,na tentativa de explorar a construção da vivência dos jovens migrantes na relação entre mundo global e mundos (g)locais de experiência e significado. A perspetiva teórica que inspira esta análise situa-se na interseção entre antropologia, psicologia e estudos migratórios e fundamenta-se no conceito de subjetividade, entendida como forma de orientação ao mundo e incorporação de normas, estruturas de valor e de significado, histórica e politicamente definidas, que influenciam o imaginário e a representação, definindo as maneiras especificas de pensar, agir, falar, sofrer e dar sentido à existência. O estudo salienta como a construção subjetiva dos jovens pós-coloniais e das suas famílias é orientada por um “desejo de modernidade e participação” de matriz global que choca-se com os processos normativos impostos pela nova disciplinadas fronteiras europeia, manifesta nos procedimentos burocráticos e administrativos do chamado “acolhimento”. A combinação dessas duas dinâmicas concorre para produzir a experiência de marginalidade e o risco consequente,também em termos de “disponibilidade para ser sancionados”. Nas conclusões enfrenta-se o paradoxo de um processo em que os jovens migrantes são reenviado ao lugar marginal prescrito e que a infração da fronteira tinha tentado transformar. Palavras-Chave: Jovens; Migração; Marrocos; Instituições; Fronteira; Vulnerabilidade
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In this article we analyze the independent migration of Moroccan children and youth to Southern Europe. The key issue is represented not just by the appearance of the minor as a new migratory actor, but by the process of institutional... more
In this article we analyze the independent migration of Moroccan children and youth to Southern Europe. The key issue is represented not just by the appearance of the minor as a new migratory actor, but by the process of institutional manipulation of images and narratives related to them. We argue that this process is new for its way of shaping the public narrative of the migrant in Europe. This contribution aims at demonstrating how the process of derogatory classification set up for these migrants is influencing the representations of childhood in Morocco. We argue that this process is coherent with the ‘outsourcing’ of the management of European borders. We claim that the transnational alliance in category (re)production hinders the social change and keeps lower class youth in their assigned social rank and space. In this sense, independent migration represents a breach of the confinement and an investment in an ‘elsewhere’ which contrasts with the prescribed social stillness of the contexts of origin.
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This chaptes presents the results of field research carried out in Morocco and Italy on the experience of "minors" migrating alone (i.e. without a family member). The condition of being youth and the impossibility to think to the home... more
This chaptes presents the results of field research carried out in Morocco and Italy on the experience of "minors" migrating alone (i.e. without a family member). The condition of being youth and the impossibility to think to the home country as a place of self-fulfilling represents the main propulsory factor, deeply related to the social condition of families and the representation of the parents. The article analyzes the experience of "migrating alone" and the contradictions of an itinerary where agency and self-projection often combine with marginality and exploitation.
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‘Migration’ constitutes one of the pivotal sites of production of the contemporary experience of the body. Through this concept I resume a multifarious field populated by diverse actors who perform, and are performed by, the experiences... more
‘Migration’ constitutes one of the pivotal sites of production of the contemporary experience of the body. Through this concept I resume a multifarious field populated by diverse actors who perform, and are performed by, the experiences of moving across borders and regulating/limiting such a movement. Out of this antagonistic articulation of imaginaries and events (among which policies and their outcomes have a paramount role), the body emerges in its twofold potentiality: on the one hand the (bio)product of structural/historic relations, but also, on the other hand, the ‘first and fundamental instrument of the human being’ (Mauss). Aspirations and desires are specific articulations of this complementarity of ‘structured and structuring’.
I discuss three aspects of the experience of the body in migration – desire, borders and pain – in attempting to articulate a reflection on the body of the ‘foreigner’ as an object of political experimentation, one which has at its stake the definition of the rules of contemporary rebordered citizenship and subjectivity. At the same time, the body is always a site of uncertain inscription, leaving open the possibility of unexpected results.
I discuss three aspects of the experience of the body in migration – desire, borders and pain – in attempting to articulate a reflection on the body of the ‘foreigner’ as an object of political experimentation, one which has at its stake the definition of the rules of contemporary rebordered citizenship and subjectivity. At the same time, the body is always a site of uncertain inscription, leaving open the possibility of unexpected results.
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La intervención afrontará la migración infantil como estrategia utilizada por los adolescentes y sus familias para romper con la marginalidad histórica y espacial en el país de origen y acceder a un mundo de posibilidades “globales”. El... more
La intervención afrontará la migración infantil como estrategia utilizada por los adolescentes y sus familias para romper con la marginalidad histórica y espacial en el país de origen y acceder a un mundo de posibilidades “globales”. El “deseo de otro lugar” se construye en relación estricta con las condiciones del día a día, pero también en la comparación con un escenario más amplio de valores en el que consumo, movilidad, comunicación e individualidad constituyen por un lado modelos hegemónicos globales y por el otro poderosas posibilidades de auto-construcción. La presentación pretende contextualizar la experiencia y los objetivos migratorios dentro del sistema de categorías y formas del poder contemporáneo, describiendo las tensiones que los jóvenes migrantes enfrentan en su itinerario y los desafíos para los sistemas de protección.
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In a recent article on migration and social transformation, Stephen Castles argued for “the need to embed migration research in a more general understanding of contemporary societies”. This call seems to be relevant well beyond the... more
In a recent article on migration and social transformation, Stephen Castles argued for “the need to embed migration research in a more general understanding of contemporary societies”. This call seems to be relevant well beyond the unquestionable need to theorize contemporary human mobilities. If migration has been a normal aspect of social life throughout history, every epoch may have configured some peculiar patterns of mobility, based upon time-related forms and reasons. Observed from the so-called “sending countries”, contemporary reasons seem to take up some specific features, which are representative of a sort of “global form of life” with hegemonic traits. Whereas people have normally explained their desire to move as a search for a better life, criteria against which ‘better life’ is defined today are influenced by standards whose origin is situated in a wider field of models and values. In countries like Morocco and Tunisia, for instance, young people frequently associate their desire to migrate to the possibility to live a “normal life” (ma‘īsha ‘adiyya), described through a series of “life conditions” (shurūţ dyal ‘aīsh) that configure a truly “modern” (‘aşryy) social and personal status. If material achievement through consumption is conceived as the primary source of visible success – a sort of “material citizenship” that enables to think to oneself (and to be deemed) as different – circulation across borders is regarded as the primary way to “become first class” (Ferguson) in a world in which movement represents one of the clearest forms of social power.
Drawing from a fifteen-year research in anthropology and psychology between the Maghreb and Europe, this contribution analyses the impact of hegemonic global values in Morocco and Tunisia, transforming mobility from a “way to have” into a “way to be”. In this sense, alongside the structural factors normally evoked to explain migration, I propose to consider global expectations (that is: the desire to be “modern” through movement, consumption and self-construction) as important determinants to understand the contemporary migration drive.
Drawing from a fifteen-year research in anthropology and psychology between the Maghreb and Europe, this contribution analyses the impact of hegemonic global values in Morocco and Tunisia, transforming mobility from a “way to have” into a “way to be”. In this sense, alongside the structural factors normally evoked to explain migration, I propose to consider global expectations (that is: the desire to be “modern” through movement, consumption and self-construction) as important determinants to understand the contemporary migration drive.
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In quite a recent article, Olivier Bakewell stressed the need to study forced migration ‘beyond the categories”, in order to avoid the “confusion between categories of policy and analysis” (Bakewell 2008). His claim, which should be... more
In quite a recent article, Olivier Bakewell stressed the need to study forced migration ‘beyond the categories”, in order to avoid the “confusion between categories of policy and analysis” (Bakewell 2008). His claim, which should be extended to human mobilities altogether, seems particularly appropriate since bureaucratic categories constitute powerful tools of social ordering “through movement”. For some authors, their deployment represents one of the main aspects of contemporary “border regime” throughout the world. Besides producing a deep patterning effect on mobility and on the migrants’ experience, categories work as “performatives” which crystallize the complexity of movement into few recognizable administrative profiles, moulded upon the binary distinction between “regular” and “irregular”. Nonetheless, contemporary migration widely exceed the motives and causes made visible by the bureaucratic reason and described through classes such as “refugee”, “unaccompanied minor”, “victim of trafficking”, “economic migrant” and so forth. I will argue that human mobility is often undertaken “at any cost”, since it is underpinned by a strong desire of being “modern”, channelled through expectations of material citizenship in a framework of hegemonic global values.
This paper aims at discussing how migrant’s expectations (factors often disregarded in structural analyses of mobility) come up against the bureaucratic taxonomic system in the receiving countries. Drawing on my research in countries of origin, transit and destination, I will discuss how the classification of mobility works in accordance with a general “bordering” process, aimed at channelling the migration drive into economically productive profiles for the receiving countries.
This paper aims at discussing how migrant’s expectations (factors often disregarded in structural analyses of mobility) come up against the bureaucratic taxonomic system in the receiving countries. Drawing on my research in countries of origin, transit and destination, I will discuss how the classification of mobility works in accordance with a general “bordering” process, aimed at channelling the migration drive into economically productive profiles for the receiving countries.
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Many authors meet in considering lone migrating minors (i.e. children and adolescents “unaccompanied by an adult responsible by law of custom”) as “new migratory actors” in the Mediterranean scenery of migration. Although the concept of... more
Many authors meet in considering lone migrating minors (i.e. children and adolescents “unaccompanied by an adult responsible by law of custom”) as “new migratory actors” in the Mediterranean scenery of migration. Although the concept of “minor” represents largely a bureaucratic notion – particularly strengthen through the contemporary procedures of migrants' classification – the phenomenon represents an important viewpoint on some of the main contemporary issues of global youth expectations and subjectivities. The present contribution aims at presenting a specific case of juvenile migration (the migration of separated Moroccan children) as an example of this global dynamic. Joining interdisciplinary insights from anthropology and psychology, the author will present his ten years fieldwork between North Africa and Europe, in order to discuss some of the most prominent subjective challenges of the experience of “migrating alone” in contemporary times.
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The Mediterranean represents today one of the main sites where European “border regime” is being implemented. The building up of the new “southern frontier” of Europe is shaping economic, social and political processes in quite new ways... more
The Mediterranean represents today one of the main sites where European “border regime” is being implemented. The building up of the new “southern frontier” of Europe is shaping economic, social and political processes in quite new ways for the area. Through a photographic analysis of the transformations in the social landscape around the area of Gibraltar, we propose a reflection upon the multiple levels of action of the contemporary Mediterranean border.
The events that shook the Arab-majority countries in 2011 have been scrutinized under a variety of angles: as a result of economic stagnation and authoritarianism, as an outcome of youth bulge, unemployment and frustration, as a response... more
The events that shook the Arab-majority countries in 2011 have been scrutinized under a variety of angles: as a result of economic stagnation and authoritarianism, as an outcome of youth bulge, unemployment and frustration, as a response to old and new neoliberal experiments, as an effect of the new web-based social media, as a new cycle in a series of recurring revolutionary moments, as the cumulative upshot of a patient grassroots construction, and more. While such perspectives are certainly relevant, each of them spotlighting some specific feature of the events, they focus mostly on social, economic and political dynamics, being individual motivation and choice often treated as mere consequences of structural factors. Far from dismissing the significance of historical and political dynamics, we aim to explore also the forms in which people understand the events and decide to step in and commit for a change. This is relevant to introduce a reflection on freedom and choice within a theorization often marked by social determinism. Our panel welcomes contributions that illuminate the individual experience of activism, social and political participation and personal commitment in North Africa and the Middle East during and after the revolts of 2011. We are particularly interested in exploring people's motivations and decisions, continuities and discontinuities in their life experience, as well as their own understanding of activism, resistance, rebellion, engagement and politics. We ask in particular what are the events that trigger a change on a personal level, what are their consequences on a longer term and, more generally, how a new political subjectivity can emerge within a specific social context. A complete list of the open and closed panels is available at: http://www.sesamoitalia.it/convegno-2019-torino-2019-conference-turin/call-for-panels/ Paper proposals must specify the open panel for which they are intended and must be submitted by email to torino2019@sesamoitalia.it by 31 October 2018 (please email also convenors in CC). Proposals must include a title, a 250-word abstract and a 50-word profile of the proponent/s. The application is required in Word format.
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Short Abstract This panel aims at bringing together contributions which combine ethnography and analysis in order to discuss the ongoing 'migration crisis' - its categories and outcomes - and, in general, the European border regimes.... more
Short Abstract
This panel aims at bringing together contributions which combine ethnography and analysis in order to discuss the ongoing 'migration crisis' - its categories and outcomes - and, in general, the European border regimes.
Long Abstract
The interest for boundaries is not new in anthropology, but has taken on a new relevance due to the propagation of confines in the daily experience of people around the world. Anthropologists have contributed to investigate contemporary 'border regimes' by mobilizing their research traditions in the analysis of structures of power, forms of agency, narratives of race and identity, explanatory categories associated to borders. Nonetheless, borders are stronger than ever, due also to the narratives of crisis that pervade the European societies and increasingly include mobility in their descriptions. Particularly, the recent 'refugee crisis' and the set of institutional responses put in place to deal with it (see the European Agenda on Migration) show the consequences of thinking mobility as an emergency. Is this umpteenth 'crisis' really unprecedented? What are the moral and political consequences of figuring it as such? How is similar or different to others? Is this narrative functional to a new project of domination? What are the legacies/continuities with the past? What could we, as anthropologists and citizens, reasonably advocate for? These questions are even more compelling since 'border regimes' are ways of shaping social and political futures.
This panel aims at bringing together contributions which analyse the ongoing 'migration crisis' - its categories and outcomes - and, in general, the European border regimes. We welcome proposals which combine ethnography and analysis in order to explore the notion of crisis, the consequences on people, the legacies of the past and the possible futures.
Deadline: 15 February 2016
To propose a paper:
http://nomadit.co.uk/easa/easa2016/panels.php5?PanelID=4308
General instructions
http://www.easaonline.org/conferences/easa2016/cfp.shtml
Conference page
http://www.easaonline.org/conferences/easa2016/
This panel aims at bringing together contributions which combine ethnography and analysis in order to discuss the ongoing 'migration crisis' - its categories and outcomes - and, in general, the European border regimes.
Long Abstract
The interest for boundaries is not new in anthropology, but has taken on a new relevance due to the propagation of confines in the daily experience of people around the world. Anthropologists have contributed to investigate contemporary 'border regimes' by mobilizing their research traditions in the analysis of structures of power, forms of agency, narratives of race and identity, explanatory categories associated to borders. Nonetheless, borders are stronger than ever, due also to the narratives of crisis that pervade the European societies and increasingly include mobility in their descriptions. Particularly, the recent 'refugee crisis' and the set of institutional responses put in place to deal with it (see the European Agenda on Migration) show the consequences of thinking mobility as an emergency. Is this umpteenth 'crisis' really unprecedented? What are the moral and political consequences of figuring it as such? How is similar or different to others? Is this narrative functional to a new project of domination? What are the legacies/continuities with the past? What could we, as anthropologists and citizens, reasonably advocate for? These questions are even more compelling since 'border regimes' are ways of shaping social and political futures.
This panel aims at bringing together contributions which analyse the ongoing 'migration crisis' - its categories and outcomes - and, in general, the European border regimes. We welcome proposals which combine ethnography and analysis in order to explore the notion of crisis, the consequences on people, the legacies of the past and the possible futures.
Deadline: 15 February 2016
To propose a paper:
http://nomadit.co.uk/easa/easa2016/panels.php5?PanelID=4308
General instructions
http://www.easaonline.org/conferences/easa2016/cfp.shtml
Conference page
http://www.easaonline.org/conferences/easa2016/
Research Interests:
Although the condition of the young people in North Africa and Middle East has been explored in various works throughout the last two decades, the recent events have contributed to generate a growing interest for the topic, which... more
Although the condition of the young people in North Africa and Middle East has been explored
in various works throughout the last two decades, the recent events have contributed to
generate a growing interest for the topic, which seem to be at the core of many processes
concerning the region in the recent times. From the massive investment in international
migration to the engaged activism during the uprisings of 2011 until the latest appeal of armed
jihadism, young people have been considered the most active actors of the (mainly frustrated)
attempts of social change. Despite their manifest difference, behind these strategies lies the
common expectation of subverting the many inequalities which affect the possibilities of
personal development and recognition.
Some works have used the notion of “waithood” to designate the social and moral condition of
the Arab youth in their societies: originally proposed by Diane Singerman in 2007 and
rearticulated by Assaad and al. in 2009 and by Honwana (2013) more recently, the concept is
generally used to describe the suspension due to the deferred access to a recognized social
role through work and marriage. Besides being probably the most significant factor in
generating pessimism and distrust about the future, this “void” (as it is sometimes referred)
works as a cohesive process to produce what Emma Murphy has called “a generational
narrative of systemic failure” (2012), one which contributes to the evidence of a “juvenile
problem” in these societies (for example absorbing all who are not able to find a job within the
category of youth). It is not irrelevant, therefore, to acknowledge that the category of “Arab
youth” is also the product of specific practices, to which neither global values and marketing
nor the same social sciences are extraneous. Moreover, as some critics have pointed out,
discourses and policies regarding “the youth” may also be used to treat the political demands
of social equity as mere problems of “young participation”. As a matter of fact, the research
among different social groups allows to show that, alongside commonalities, many differences
can still be traced across classes, genders, ethnicities and even age cohorts.
This panel welcomes contributions that explore the notion of youth in North Africa and Middle
East, whether by discussing the category or describing its characteristics in different places.
The aim is to investigate the moral and social condition of the young people of the area –
focussing in particular on their expectations, desires, frustrations, and imaginaries (also the
migratory ones) – but also to observe how the same notion of youth is used, manipulated,
constructed or contested by different actors. This will help to consider at once the many level
(social, economic, political, representational) involved in the production of the experience of
“being young” without losing sight of how this experience is actually lived out by the people
and the many consequences that it generates.
The work language is English and the accepted contributions will be considered for publication
in a special issue related to the topics addressed during discussion.
in various works throughout the last two decades, the recent events have contributed to
generate a growing interest for the topic, which seem to be at the core of many processes
concerning the region in the recent times. From the massive investment in international
migration to the engaged activism during the uprisings of 2011 until the latest appeal of armed
jihadism, young people have been considered the most active actors of the (mainly frustrated)
attempts of social change. Despite their manifest difference, behind these strategies lies the
common expectation of subverting the many inequalities which affect the possibilities of
personal development and recognition.
Some works have used the notion of “waithood” to designate the social and moral condition of
the Arab youth in their societies: originally proposed by Diane Singerman in 2007 and
rearticulated by Assaad and al. in 2009 and by Honwana (2013) more recently, the concept is
generally used to describe the suspension due to the deferred access to a recognized social
role through work and marriage. Besides being probably the most significant factor in
generating pessimism and distrust about the future, this “void” (as it is sometimes referred)
works as a cohesive process to produce what Emma Murphy has called “a generational
narrative of systemic failure” (2012), one which contributes to the evidence of a “juvenile
problem” in these societies (for example absorbing all who are not able to find a job within the
category of youth). It is not irrelevant, therefore, to acknowledge that the category of “Arab
youth” is also the product of specific practices, to which neither global values and marketing
nor the same social sciences are extraneous. Moreover, as some critics have pointed out,
discourses and policies regarding “the youth” may also be used to treat the political demands
of social equity as mere problems of “young participation”. As a matter of fact, the research
among different social groups allows to show that, alongside commonalities, many differences
can still be traced across classes, genders, ethnicities and even age cohorts.
This panel welcomes contributions that explore the notion of youth in North Africa and Middle
East, whether by discussing the category or describing its characteristics in different places.
The aim is to investigate the moral and social condition of the young people of the area –
focussing in particular on their expectations, desires, frustrations, and imaginaries (also the
migratory ones) – but also to observe how the same notion of youth is used, manipulated,
constructed or contested by different actors. This will help to consider at once the many level
(social, economic, political, representational) involved in the production of the experience of
“being young” without losing sight of how this experience is actually lived out by the people
and the many consequences that it generates.
The work language is English and the accepted contributions will be considered for publication
in a special issue related to the topics addressed during discussion.
Research Interests:
We invite paper proposals for the panel “Migration desire: Uncovering the global imaginaries and subjectivitites of (im)mobility” To be held at the ASA Conference (Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK and Commonwealth)... more
We invite paper proposals for the panel
“Migration desire: Uncovering the global imaginaries and subjectivitites of
(im)mobility”
To be held at the ASA Conference (Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK and Commonwealth)
University of Exeter, 13th-16th April 2015
Short Abstract
The panel addresses the moralities, aspirations and claims of belonging that underpin migratory aspirations and trajectories, exploring the global imaginaries, subjective orientations, and power dimensions of (im)mobility, and considering the ethnographic demands they place on anthropologists.
Long Abstract
In recent years, mobility has taken on a new centrality in the way people from across the world voice their personal and collective expectations. Doing anthropology today means to increasingly meet this relatively new and generalized "desire of elsewhere" through which hopes of success and search for opportunities are expressed. Whereas local conditions remain essential to understand the widespread wish to leave, these same conditions are increasingly measured against the standards of a paradigmatic "global form of life", one moulded upon a series of hegemonic models shaping the
benchmarks of well-being and happiness on a wide-reaching scale, and which challenges the anthropologist's longstanding fascination with difference. The impact of these models and their role in forging contemporary "expectations of modernity" raises questions about how contemporary forms of power and global imaginaries produce aspirations for change, as expressed, for instance, in the longing for freedom from traditional obligations and claims for membership in a global society (Ferguson 2006; Piot 2010). The panel welcomes contributions that address the moralities, expectations and claims of belonging underpinning people's migratory aspirations and trajectories. The aim is to explore mobility's entanglements with global
images, local values and personal expectations, and to examine how the motivations associated with movement reinforce or subvert hegemonic constructions of power, subjectivity, and inequality in the contemporary world, (re)drawing lines of commonality and exclusion. This, in turn, will help us consider the kinds of theoretical commensalities and methodological mutualisms that people's desires to move- as ethnographic demands placed on anthropologists - call for.
Convenors
Valerio Simoni (The Graduate Institute, Geneva)
Francesco Vacchiano (Institute of Social Sciences, ICS-ULisboa, Lisbon)
To submit a paper in this panel, please follow this link:
http://www.nomadit.co.uk/asa/asa2015/panels.php5?PanelID=3391
The Call for Papers closes on the 1st of December 2014.
We look forward to receiving your proposals,
Francesco Vacchiano & Valerio Simoni
“Migration desire: Uncovering the global imaginaries and subjectivitites of
(im)mobility”
To be held at the ASA Conference (Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK and Commonwealth)
University of Exeter, 13th-16th April 2015
Short Abstract
The panel addresses the moralities, aspirations and claims of belonging that underpin migratory aspirations and trajectories, exploring the global imaginaries, subjective orientations, and power dimensions of (im)mobility, and considering the ethnographic demands they place on anthropologists.
Long Abstract
In recent years, mobility has taken on a new centrality in the way people from across the world voice their personal and collective expectations. Doing anthropology today means to increasingly meet this relatively new and generalized "desire of elsewhere" through which hopes of success and search for opportunities are expressed. Whereas local conditions remain essential to understand the widespread wish to leave, these same conditions are increasingly measured against the standards of a paradigmatic "global form of life", one moulded upon a series of hegemonic models shaping the
benchmarks of well-being and happiness on a wide-reaching scale, and which challenges the anthropologist's longstanding fascination with difference. The impact of these models and their role in forging contemporary "expectations of modernity" raises questions about how contemporary forms of power and global imaginaries produce aspirations for change, as expressed, for instance, in the longing for freedom from traditional obligations and claims for membership in a global society (Ferguson 2006; Piot 2010). The panel welcomes contributions that address the moralities, expectations and claims of belonging underpinning people's migratory aspirations and trajectories. The aim is to explore mobility's entanglements with global
images, local values and personal expectations, and to examine how the motivations associated with movement reinforce or subvert hegemonic constructions of power, subjectivity, and inequality in the contemporary world, (re)drawing lines of commonality and exclusion. This, in turn, will help us consider the kinds of theoretical commensalities and methodological mutualisms that people's desires to move- as ethnographic demands placed on anthropologists - call for.
Convenors
Valerio Simoni (The Graduate Institute, Geneva)
Francesco Vacchiano (Institute of Social Sciences, ICS-ULisboa, Lisbon)
To submit a paper in this panel, please follow this link:
http://www.nomadit.co.uk/asa/asa2015/panels.php5?PanelID=3391
The Call for Papers closes on the 1st of December 2014.
We look forward to receiving your proposals,
Francesco Vacchiano & Valerio Simoni
Research Interests:
Presentation given at the conference:
DEMIG Determinants of International Migration.
Thursday, 25 September 2014
Wolfson College, University of Oxford
DEMIG Determinants of International Migration.
Thursday, 25 September 2014
Wolfson College, University of Oxford
Research Interests:
Review of Cristiana Giordano's book 'Migrants in Translation. Caring and the Logics of Difference in Contemporary Italy. Oakland: University of California Press, 2014. 288 pp. Published in Transcultural Psychiatry, Book reviews section,... more
Review of Cristiana Giordano's book 'Migrants in Translation. Caring and the Logics of Difference in Contemporary Italy. Oakland: University of California Press, 2014. 288 pp. Published in Transcultural Psychiatry, Book reviews section, 2015, Vol. 52(6) NP21–NP23