Mass Migration Research Articles

Pilgrimization of the return and re-acculturation of the returnee: A study of homecoming among Kashmiri Pandits

Return migration is a complex phenomenon of reassessment of one’s place in a supposedly familiar environment that migrants stand removed from often for extended periods of time. The process possibly runs deeper than the physical act of relocation either facilitated though institutionalized schemes or done at an individual level. Post return ‘re-acculturation’ into the host society and a subsequent ‘reacceptance’ by the host community are imperative for the return to take roots. Through an ethnographic study carried out in Kashmiri Valley, Jammu city and Delhi, I explore the particular case of ‘homecoming’ of (a section of) Kashmiri Pandit migrants who have returned to their ‘homeland’ after a claimed ‘exile’ of thirty plus years, following their conflict induced mass migration from Kashmir Valley in 1989 to 1990. The returnee expectations are heavily influenced by the celebratory connotations of a destined and permanent homecoming that have long been a part of the community discourse especially to foster a sense of identity and meaning in the dispersed community. It is challenged by the process of negotiation and adaptation that many migrants, especially the younger generations are faced with on return to their homeland. It often stands in contrast to the one they imagined based on vicarious narrations that tend to romanticize return as a pilgrimage to an unchanged, unaltered ‘center’ or a home immune to temporal dilutions. In doing so, the paper engages with the lacunas in the under- researched field of return migration, that tends to harbor on what counts as a permanent return.

Transformasi Ekologis dan Sosial di Amerika: Dampak Kebijakan Ekonomi terhadap Lingkungan dari Era Kolonial hingga Abad ke-21 M

This research explores ecological and social transformation in the Americas with a focus on the impact of economic policies on the environment from the colonial era to the present. Through historical analysis, this research examines how economic policies implemented by colonial powers, governments, and the private sector have influenced the continent's natural ecosystems and social structures. It found that intensive exploitation of natural resources, the introduction of unsustainable agricultural practices, and rapid industrialization have resulted in significant environmental degradation, including deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and pollution. In addition, economic policies have also triggered profound social changes, such as mass migration, urbanization, and changes in society's work structure. This study highlights the importance of a more sustainable and inclusive economic approach to reduce negative impacts on the environment and society. Thus, this research provides important insights for policy makers in designing economic strategies that are more harmonious with ecological sustainability and social welfare.

Examining socio‐ecological transitions and new human–wildlife relations in farming landscapes of the Nepal Himalaya

AbstractWildlife invasion into farmlands is emerging as an acute problem in the Himalayas, threatening farm‐based livelihood systems of smallholder rural communities. The problem is severe in the areas where successful forest restoration has been achieved by community forestry programmes alongside massive outmigration. Such evolving dynamics have created new conceptual and empirical discourses on conservation, nature‐society relations and human‐wildlife interactions, as some wild animals have become pests for farming communities. Consequently, the historical co‐existence and relationships between subsistence communities and local ecosystems have been destabilized. By mobilizing the concepts of forest transition and agrarian transition, we explore these new and emerging relationships between the growing wildlife problem and deteriorating people's livelihood by examining the nature, extent and drivers of the new human‐wildlife interactions and provide critical insights towards effectiveness of current policies and practical responses.

SWOT ANALYSIS OF THE ACTIVITIES OF ADIDAS-UKRAINE DURING THE ESCALATION OF MILITARY ACTIONS IN UKRAINE

The topicality of the topic lies in determining the perspective of adaptation of enterprises to the challenges dictated by military actions, including the annexation of business territories, destruction of fixed assets, migration of workers, constant risk to life and health. The main idea of the work is to develop recommendations for the private sector to continue working in Ukraine after a full-scale invasion, in order to provide the population with jobs, high-quality goods and services, and faith in the bright future of the state. The war caused troubles and cataclysms in the domestic economy as a whole and in the market of consumer goods, in particular, because a large part of trading points, shops, pavilions was destroyed and cannot be restored. Significant minus factors of the profitable activity of the private sector are the annexation of territories led to the usurpation of the fixed assets of trade enterprises, including; decrease in the number of the workforce – personnel of organizations; decrease in demand for clothes and accessories of popular brands, due to changes in values and financial capabilities; mass migration of potential consumers of the sports goods and services market; the lack of profits causes the predominance of the expense part of the balance sheet and, accordingly, the unprofitability of the activity; withdrawal from the consumer goods market of companies with a higher level of prices and product quality. The war also necessitated the reorientation of production to military lines, and therefore goods and services for civilians are not a priority; forced closure of shops, warehouses, sales points in the aggressor country; growing consumer sensitivity to the enterprise's business policy, the level of its assistance in achieving victory; and increased the global need to help the population, even in the face of the prospect of bankruptcy and withdrawal from the country's consumer market and increased tax pressure. And, in the end, it led to a decrease in the possibilities of receiving state orders, grants, subsidies, quotas.

The transition of eldercare responsibility and traditional filial piety concepts and its urban-rural differences in China: an age-period-cohort analysis from 2006 to 2017

BackgroundWith rapid urbanization, massive migration, and non-family–based eldercare involvement, Chinese concepts of eldercare responsibility and filial piety are shifting. We performed age-period-cohort (APC) analyses to assess the transition of old-age pension coverage, eldercare responsibility, and filial piety concepts and its urban-rural differences among Chinese adults using data from the China General Social Survey (2006–2017).MethodsOld-age pension coverage (yes/no) and primary eldercare responsibility (government/offspring/self/sharing) were investigated in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2017. Filial piety was evaluated using customized questionnaires in 2006 and 2017. The APC effects were estimated using mixed effects and generalized additive models.ResultsAmong 66,182 eligible participants (mean age: 48.8 years, females: 51.7%) in the six waves, APC analyses indicated that old-age pension coverage increased with aging and over time. Across cohort groups, it grew as the cohort was younger in urban residents but decreased in rural residents. The concept of offspring-based (> 50%) and government/self/offspring-shared eldercare (> 30%) predominated. APC analyses revealed that the offspring-based concept declined with aging (OR = 0.81, 95% CI: 0.79–0.84), whereas the government-based (OR = 1.37, 95% CI: 1.33–1.41) and self-based (OR = 1.55, 95% CI: 1.47–1.63) concepts increased with aging. People born around the 1940s have a comparatively higher possibility to perceive that the primary eldercare responsibility should be undertaken by the government and elder parents. In contrast, people born in the younger cohort were more likely to perceive that adult children are responsible for their parents’ primary eldercare. Filial piety score slightly increased with aging (β = 0.18, SD: 0.05) but decreased as the birth cohort was younger. In addition, rural participants were more likely to perceive offspring-based eldercare and maintain filial piety, and the related urban-rural difference was intensified by aging.ConclusionsThe traditional concept that eldercare solely relies on offspring has changed to relying on multiple entities, including the government and self-reliance. Diluted filial piety in people born in the young cohort requires reinforcement. Moreover, future healthy aging policies need to focus more on urban-rural disparities to promote equity in social well-being.

Образ будущего России с позиций гражданской идентификации населения приграничных регионов

Ideas about the future of Russia are an important category of modern social knowledge as they tend to correlate with civic identity. This sociological study was conducted in 2021 in four border regions, i.e., Altai Territory, Kaliningrad Region, Voronezh Region, and Khabarovsk Territory. The online survey (n = 1736) involved various social networks and other Internet resources. The survey covered such aspects as attitudes to Russia’s future and foreign policy, characteristics of modern Russia and the Russia of the future, changes in its image, development scenarios, etc. The ideas about the image of Russia’s future correlated with civic identity. The frontier residents saw Russia as a legal, just, democratic, and safe state that supports its citizens in difficult situations. Less than half of the participants look into the future of the country with optimism and hope, while every third frontier resident mentioned feeling pessimism, fear, or anxiety. Senior citizens of the Kaliningrad Region were especially optimistic. However, a third of young people under 30 demonstrated pessimism regarding the future of this country. Respondents with a low civic identity had a negative view of Russia in 50 years. They mentioned depopulation and mass emigration to developed countries, as a result of which Russia becomes a resource appendage that survives by sheer dictatorship of power. Respondents with a strong sense of civic community hoped for the better: the state will gain power on the world stage, strengthen its internal positions by an improved social policy, and return to time-tested traditions and moral values.

Problems of protecting children’s rights who are citizens of Ukraine enjoying temporary protection in EU countries

The full-scale war in Ukraine caused a mass migration of its population and led to the increase in private relations complicated by a foreign element, which are the subject matter of private international law. The Council Directive 2001/55/EC of 20 July 2001 on minimum standards for giving temporary protection in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons and on measures promoting a balance of efforts between Member States in receiving such persons and bearing the consequences thereof provided the opportunity for citizens of Ukraine to receive the status of temporary protection on the territory of the EU countries. Cases of children being taken away from their accompanying persons or from their families have become a new challenge for Ukrainian children and their parents, who moved from Ukraine to the territory of the EU and who are under the temporary protection status. Those cases occur due to differences in legislation in matters of guardianship and parental responsibility. The author of the article has studied and systematized cases, when social services of the host country are authorized to act urgently in the interests of a child and take a child away from the family. The article provides general characteristics of circumstances that are reasons for taking a decision on the application of emergency measures by social services of EU countries to children who are citizens of Ukraine enjoying temporary protection in EU countries. It is established that the removal of children from their parents, guardians or authorized persons to accompany the child occurs under different circumstances and each situation is individual, but having systematized the cases, the author has identified the following reasons: staying in the EU unaccompanied by adults and on the grounds of “parental negligence” or “improper performance of parental duties”. The author analyses the legal status of an unaccompanied child under the national legislation of Ukraine and foreign national legislation of some EU countries. The legal status of unaccompanied children under the Directive 2001/55/EC and the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989 is investigated. It is substantiated that the practice of recognizing Ukrainian children enjoying the temporary protection status as unaccompanied children is based on the following grounds: а) deficiency (inconsistency, non-recognition) of documents authorizing a person who accompanies a child for taking care of a child; в) non-compliance (non-recognition) of documents on the right to guardianship, issued in Ukraine, with the requirements of the host country that granted temporary protection; с) independent stay of a child on the EU territory, who is a citizen of Ukraine and has reached the age of 16, left Ukraine independently and is on the EU territory without parents and accompanying persons.

INTEGRATION OF THE TRANSPORT SYSTEM OF LVIV OBLAST INTO THE EUROPEAN IN THE CONTEXT OF FORCED POPULATION MIGRATION

Transport logistics is designed to promote accessibility and mobility in society. When all the links in the system are in place, the movement of goods and services can be launched without additional intervention. However, sometimes situations arise that destabilise the logistics scheme in a particular transport network in one way or another. In Ukraine, this became apparent after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion. The article reveals the system of factors that influence the process of integration of the transport system in a cross-border region and identifies indicators of transport infrastructure integration. The Russian-Ukrainian war has led to mass migration towards the European Union. Border crossing points became overloaded, which slowed down traffic during the crossing. Further, the number of trucks used to transport imports, such as military and humanitarian aid, increased. Queues to neighbouring countries, including Poland, also formed. The study describes the spatial aspects of the functioning of crossing points on the Ukrainian-Polish border, as well as the road and railway network of Lviv Oblast and Subcarpathian Voivodeship. Border crossing points for road transport are constantly loaded with heavy vehicles. The road and railway networks of the Lviv region are more extensive, which ensures high accessibility not only to close but also to remote points. The article examines motorways from the territory of Lviv Oblast to Poland. These motorways are laid to the Subcarpathian and Lublin voivodeships. The authors identify separate motorways and logistics hubs to speed up and make the connection between Ukraine and Poland more accessible. The first priority in such planning should be the creation of new border crossing points. Within the region, it is advisable to develop meridional roads from the state border towards mountainous areas. The study examines the number of buses among all international connections to Poland. The most regular is the Lviv – Warsaw Airport (Modlin) connection, which is associated with the active movement of migrants to one of the largest aviation hubs in Eastern Europe. It was determined that the westernmost end point of the bus service is Trier in Germany. There are no bus services from Lviv to Romania. The scientific publication presents railway lines of different categories (single-track diesel and double-track electrified) that connect Ukraine and Poland through the territory of Lviv Oblast. It has been established that the European gauge railway is included in the railway stations Mostyska-2, Rava-Ruska, Khyriv. However, most Ukrainian trains run to stations in Poland without changing wheelsets. This is typical for routes running from Lviv to Przemyśl. The achievement of the Ukrainian and Polish railway operators is to create interchange routes, for example, from Lviv to Warsaw. The potential of the Rava-Ruska railway junction needs to be developed by running other trains. The article mentions that Yurii Borsuk has been actively developing new connections, including Kyiv – Rava-Ruska with a transfer to Warsaw. The authors propose the idea of connecting Lviv and the nearest European cities using the European 1435 mm gauge. The article highlights the benefits of building the Mostyska-2 – Lviv railway. One of the important aspects of this connection could be the acceleration of export cargo transportation to the European Union. Keywords: transport system, railway infrastructure, road transport, integration, Ukraine, Poland.

Investigating the Validity of Climate Migration: Empirical Evidence from the Most Polluted Countries

The literature generally finds that lower air quality has been an important determinant of migration. This study builds a migration model employing annual data from 2010 to 2019 for the most polluted ten countries to test the validity of migration caused by air pollution through PM2.5 concentration. The Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood method results show that air pollution is one of the most significant determinants of migration from the most polluted countries. Moreover, the low income level also pushes people to migrate more from their origin regions than richer ones. The study provides some policy recommendations for policy-makers in the countries where people breathe the most polluted air: (i) governments should follow growth-promoting economic policies; (ii) environment-friendly production techniques should be implemented to prevent worsening environmental quality; (iii) climate-induced mass migration should be considered while making security policy arrangements.

Some Strange - Anachronic Attitudes of Mr. Zoran Janjetović on Emigration of the Muslim Population of Yugoslavia in Turkey

In the Journal of the Institute for Recent History of Serbia, Belgrade – “Tokovi istorije”, 3/2022, among other articles, an “Original scientific paper” was published, in English, by dr. Zoran Janjetović, a scientific advisor in the mentioned Institute, on the Emigration of the Kosovo Albanians into Turkey during the 1950s of the 20th century. In the same article, the author rightly partially referred to the question of the emigration of the rest of the Muslim population of Yugoslavia to Turkey, before and after the Second World War. After reading and analysing the such article, I came to the conclusion that the mentioned paper is certainly original, but, in my opinion, by no means scientific. In other words, in the time when almost all archival material is available for the research of the mentioned problem, to conclude that the emigration of Albanians, Turks, Boshniaks and other Muslims of Kosovo and the FPR of Yugoslavia as a whole, in Turkey, after the Second World War, was free/ according to their free will, in my opinion and deep conviction, is beyond all logic and historical truth. For example, the conclusions of Mr. Zoran Janjetović: a) „…partial emigration of ethnic Turks was acceptable, but the emigration of all Muslims, especially Albanians, was considered politically harmful. To prevent this, the Macedonian territory was divided into 'blocks' based on the number of ethnic Turks. Emigration was permitted from areas with a larger number of Turks, but not from those with a smaller number“; b) „The Yugoslav and Serbian authorities opposed the emigration of non-Turks from the very beginning, and this policy remained in place for a long time, especially for Muslims outside of Macedonia. Claims by some Western authors that the 'Serbian' authorities allegedly wanted to expel Albanians are unfounded. On the contrary, until 1957, the authorities in Serbia were against emigration from Kosovo, and the Federal government also wanted to limit emigration only to Macedonian Turks “; and, c) „The Muslims started to emigrate to Turkey after a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ of 1953 between Tito and Turkish Foreign Minister Fuat Köprülü. The agreement foresaw emigration of ethnic Turks from Macedonia, but other Muslims tended to join them. Because of that the Yugoslav authorities strove to limit emigration only to Turkish - inhabited parts of Macedonia. This failed because Muslims came to Macedonia from other parts of the country in order to emigrate. Among these emigrants there was a certain number of Kosovo Albanians. Like the Turks, they emigrated for religious, economic and social reasons… The article shows that the Yugoslav authorities in no way supported Albanian emigration, but rather that they tried to stop it“, in my opinion, are untrue and scientifically unfounded. In other words, according to my knowledge, and as cited in my book and in several of my articles on this subject, the mass emigration of the Muslim population, including the emigration of the Albanians from Yugoslavia to Turkey, after the Second World War started аs a result of the flagrant abuse of the mentioned bilateral agreement, by the Yugoslav/ Macedonian authorities. The emigration to Turkey was allowed not only to a small portion of Turks, as previously was agreed upon, but rather to the Turkish and the rest of the Muslim population as a whole. That the stated conclusions of Mr. Z. Janjetović are not correct, among other things, is confirmed by the final result of the mass emigration not only the Turks, but also a large number of Albanians and other Muslim populations.

Образовательная эмиграция белорусов: социально-политические аспекты

The subject of the study is the problem of mass emigration of young people and students from the Republic of Belarus. The analysis of the current situation in Belarus, as well as the results of the survey of Belarusian students studying in Poland, show that a special role in the educational emigration of Belarusian youth is played not by economic factors, but more by political and social factors. Educational emigration subsequently turns into channels for Belarusian youth to leave for permanent residence. The country loses the future intellectual elite of society: highly educated people, future scientists, highly professional specialists in all spheres of the national economy. Emigration has acquired impressive scale, which leads to a huge crisis in Belarusian education and society as a whole. For receiving countries, educational migration serves as a tool to increase the country’s competitiveness in the world market.

Widespread horse-based mobility arose around 2200 bce in Eurasia

Horses revolutionized human history with fast mobility1. However, the timeline between their domestication and their widespread integration as a means of transport remains contentious2–4. Here we assemble a collection of 475 ancient horse genomes to assess the period when these animals were first reshaped by human agency in Eurasia. We find that reproductive control of the modern domestic lineage emerged around 2200 bce, through close-kin mating and shortened generation times. Reproductive control emerged following a severe domestication bottleneck starting no earlier than approximately 2700 bce, and coincided with a sudden expansion across Eurasia that ultimately resulted in the replacement of nearly every local horse lineage. This expansion marked the rise of widespread horse-based mobility in human history, which refutes the commonly held narrative of large horse herds accompanying the massive migration of steppe peoples across Europe around 3000 bce and earlier3,5. Finally, we detect significantly shortened generation times at Botai around 3500 bce, a settlement from central Asia associated with corrals and a subsistence economy centred on horses6,7. This supports local horse husbandry before the rise of modern domestic bloodlines.

“To Separate Myself from Them, I Think I Will Feel Great Sadness”: Transnational Fatherhood and Border Regimes in Central Mexico

Abstract Studies of fatherhood in Latin America demonstrate an uneven shift from traditional, patriarchal fatherhood to a more reflexive version that incorporates elements of active, relational fatherhood. This hybrid fatherhood emerged from the transition of Fordism to flexible accumulation, a transformation that coincided with massive migration from Central Mexico to the United States. Migration scholars have demonstrated the fluidity of masculine identities, men’s strategies to father across borders, and how US immigration enforcement shapes gendered subjectivities and power relations in transnational families. Building off these insights, we examine how return migrant men in rural central Mexico navigated changing meanings and practices of fatherhood. Their hybrid strategies reflect the inherent contradictions of a border regime that limited circular migration to the United States and their interest in maintaining close emotional attachments to children. Transnational fathers’ connections to reproduction reveal another way that affect articulates with capital accumulation and borders.

The most remarkable migrants-systematic analysis of the Western European insect flyway at a Pyrenean mountain pass.

In autumn 1950 David and Elizabeth Lack chanced upon a huge migration of insects and birds flying through the Pyrenean Pass of Bujaruelo, from France into Spain, later describing the spectacle as combining both grandeur and novelty. The intervening years have seen many changes to land use and climate, posing the question as to the current status of this migratory phenomenon. In addition, a lack of quantitative data has prevented insights into the ecological impact of this mass insect migration and the factors that may influence it. To address this, we revisited the site in autumn over a 4 year period and systematically monitored abundance and species composition of diurnal insect migrants. We estimate an annual mean of 17.1 million day-flying insect migrants from five orders (Diptera, Hymenoptera, Hemiptera, Lepidoptera and Odonata) moving south, with observations of southward 'mass migration' events associated with warmer temperatures, the presence of a headwind, sunlight, low windspeed and low rainfall. Diptera dominated the migratory assemblage, and annual numbers varied by more than fourfold. Numbers at this single site hint at the likely billions of insects crossing the entire Pyrenean mountain range each year, and we highlight the importance of this route for seasonal insect migrants.

Communities of Fear: The Politics of ‘Strangering’ and the Ethics of Resistance in Naima El Bezaz’s Vinexvrouwen

ABSTRACT This article analyses the Moroccan-Dutch author Naima El Bezaz’s novel Vinexvrouwen (Suburban Women), which explores the interplay between the representation of migrants’ cultural difference, the politics of ‘strangering’ and the ethics of resistance. By means of gendered practice of storytelling, the autobiographical novel unfolds the native Dutch people’s fear of a loss at the hands of globalizing forces: mass migration, cultural relativism and the hybridization of their national identity. This rhetoric of fear is channelled into deep resentment against migrants represented as ‘fetishised’ strangers, excluded them from the ‘imagined community' of belonging. In my close-reading, I focus on how El Bezaz’s novel engages a dialectical process of estrangement and embodiment, of exclusion and inclusion, of solidarity and resistance in its representation of migrants’ cultural difference. Examining the bond between storytelling and the extra-literary reality/new realism, I delve into the way the text narrates the process of ‘strangering' migrants as communities of fear and instead expresses resistance and solidarity in face of exclusionary mechanism.

Media Representations and Practices of Discrimination against Immigrants from an Intersectional Perspective

Abstract The article addresses the phenomenon of mass migration through an intersectional analysis, highlighting the interaction of discriminatory practices and exploring common exclusion mechanisms in the case of two minority groups: Muslim women and migrants/refugees. The starting point of the analysis is the media discourse on two legal documents addressing the ban of Muslim women’s headgear and the problem of illegal migration (the Marrakesh Declaration). The results of the research are applied to a broader reflection on the causes and consequences of discriminatory policies on minority and immigrant communities.

Beyond the narrative: Colombia and the Venezuelan migrants

AbstractForced migration is an increasingly common feature in international relations, and the mass migration of Venezuelans to Colombia provides an opportunity to analyze how strategic narratives can support a welcoming migration and integration policy. Because Colombia is a country with no history of immigration and no established anti‐immigrant group, its experience provides unique insight into the impact and limitations of positive migration narratives. While Colombia's migration policy and humanitarian narrative have garnered praise internationally, this praise has not been matched by a sense of urgency for action, attention, or funding. Domestically, the policy response to mass Venezuelan migration has met international standards. Moreover, the country has experienced relatively little unrest compared to other host countries in Latin America. There is, however, ample evidence that Colombian perceptions of increased Venezuelan migration are negative and that tension and scapegoating are on the rise. Given these contradictions, this article reviews and discusses how and why Colombia's positive, humanitarian narratives have succeeded, as well as these narratives' limitations and need for adjustments. Together, these insights can help other host nations craft more effective and truthful migration strategic narratives.

Kamu Yönteminin Kitlesel İnsan Hareketliliklerine Reaksiyonu: 1989 Bulgaristan Kitlesel Göç Hareketi

Her göç olgusu kendi içinde kendine has özellikler taşır. Benzer biçimde göç hareketliliklerine göçü karşılayan toplumların ve devletlerin reaksiyonları farklı farklıdır. Türkiye’nin son yıllarda aldığı büyük göç hareketliliklerini anlamak ve açıklamak için geçmişte meydana gelen benzer hareketlilikler karşısında verilen tepkileri anlamak önemli ve değerlidir. Bu çalışmanın amacı 1989 yılından itibaren Bulgaristan yönetiminin izlediği politikalar nedeniyle Türkiye’ye göç eden zorunlu göçmenlere Türk kamu yönetiminin gösterdiği reaksiyon ve izlediği politikaları derinlikli ve kanıta dayalı verilerle ortaya koymak ve analiz etmektir.

Unveiling the Necropolitics of Oil on Migrant Bodies in Deepak Unnikrishnan’s Birds

Oil played a significant role in fuelling the sociopolitical and economic development of Middle Eastern nations, attracting mass migration from South Asian nations. The article draws a nexus between the energy dynamics and labour exploitation within these petroleum-rich nations. It undertakes a close reading of the text Birds from Deepak Unnikrishnan’s novel Temporary People as it depicts the lives of migrant labourers who navigate an exploitative petro-capitalist system. The fictional text employs a narrative strategy juxtaposing elements of magic and realism, opening up a space for multilayered marginalised voices. The article engages with energy theories and interweaves Mbembe’s theory on necropolitics to grasp oil’s sovereign influence in delineating the boundaries between life and death in migrant lives. The surplus energy generated through fossil fuel extraction contributes to notions of boundless growth, coupled with technical and economic progress, which conceals the intensive manual labour underpinning these petrocultures. The magical property alluded to oil and the spectral absence of labour in the socio-cultural imagination co-constructs an exploitative and dehumanising labour regime for migrants. The migrant body is kept alive, and their existence is contingent upon the instrumental value of their labouring body, which constructs them as easily disposable and expendable as they are positioned outside the formal boundaries of citizenship.

Migration, Exile, and Vocation in the Metropol: The Figure of Joseph in the Early Writings of Léon Askenazi

This paper considers the relationship between exile and migration as reflected in a case study of biblical exegesis in modern Jewish thought. I consider the place of the biblical figure of Joseph in an early text by Léon Askenazi (also known as Manitou), a North African kabbalist and French intellectual, and a key spiritual leader of Francophone Jewry in the second half of the twentieth century. The paper begins by locating Askenazi within the mass migration, or “repatriation”, of the Algerian Jewish community to metropolitan France. I then examine and analyze the reinterpretation of Joseph in an early and unpublished text by Askenazi. I show how Askenazi’s explication departs from a common reading of the Joseph story by recasting it as a positive diasporic narrative with direct contemporary implications. I argue that during Askenazi’s early years in Paris, he sought to offer a “Josephic” model for Jewish life in postwar France, a model which also functioned as an alternative to the Zionist ethos of the negation of exile. The paper’s conclusion reflects on how Askenazi’s ideas may speak to conversations on religion and immigration.