Front and Back Covers, Volume 31, Number 1. February 2015

Abstract

Anthropology TodayVolume 31, Issue 1 p. i-ii Covers Front and Back Covers, Volume 31, Number 1. February 2015 First published: 26 January 2015 https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12149AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Abstract Front and back cover caption, volume 31 issue 1 Front cover CHINESE DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE The front cover shows a Chinese foreman, a migrant worker from Anhui province, and two Ethiopian labourers, working on a ditch along a road under construction in southeastern Tigray, northern Ethiopia, 2 December 2011. China's engagement with Africa is based on ‘win-win cooperation’, Chinese diplomats claim, and is therefore fundamentally different from Western initiatives on the African continent. However, the situation on the ground tells another story. In this issue, Miriam Driessen offers a glance at daily life on Chinese road building sites in Ethiopia, revealing the striking parallels between Chinese development activities in Ethiopia and Western aid. Central to these parallels is the profound discrepancy between the expectations of Chinese workers prior to migration and the much less rosy realities faced on the construction site. Convinced of the goodwill nature of their activities, Chinese migrants were puzzled by the apparent ingratitude of local Ethiopians, their lack of cooperation, and, worse, repeated attempts to sabotage the building work. In this regard, Chinese struggles with development assistance in Ethiopia strike a familiar chord when we consider the reception of Western aid projects in Africa and elsewhere. Not new is the hiatus between optimistic and sometimes presumptuous development narratives and the frustration that follows in the face of the realities on the ground. Chinese struggles with development assistance in Ethiopia prove, once again, that development aid projects often do not work out as anticipated, because abstract and simplistic development policies may fail to fit complex realities. Back cover UNDOCUMENTED, UNACCOMPANIED MINORS IN US CUSTODY A rescue from the Rio Grande River: US Customs and Border Protection provide assistance to unaccompanied children after they have crossed the border into the United States. Until recently, news stories on immigration have exposed the appalling conditions of adult immigration detention facilities and chronicled the massive enforcement machinery that has resulted in record numbers of deportations since 2008. However, they have largely ignored the plight of unaccompanied Mexican and Central American children who cross the border alone, are apprehended by immigration authorities, and land in federal custody. The frenzied media coverage of desperate young migrants crossing the border in the summer of 2014 has galvanized the public but also created powerful myths about who these children are, why they are coming to ‘El Norte’, and what we need to do with them after their apprehension. In this issue, Susan Terrio tells the story of the Central American and Mexican migrants who are driven from home by violence and deprivation and embark alone, risking their lives on the perilous journey north. They suffer coercive arrests at the US border, land in detention, and wage an uphill battle to obtain legal status. It sheds light on a shadowy juvenile detention system run by the US government that has escaped public scrutiny for years. It shows how the government got into the business of detaining children and what we can learn from this troubled history. Volume31, Issue1February 2015Pages i-ii RelatedInformation