Representations Of Migrants Research Articles

One hundred thousand welcomes? Economic threat and anti-immigration sentiment in Ireland1

ABSTRACT Public opinion has moved towards a more restrictive approach to immigration since 2008, particularly in countries more strongly affected by economic recession. This is generally assumed to be a consequence of economic threat due to greater competition for scarce material resources, such as employment, leading to anti-immigration sentiment. However, not all individuals are affected equally by job losses, nor by the presence of migrants. Using data from the European Social Survey (2008–2016), in conjunction with the Labour Force Survey (2007–2016), this paper examines if individuals within occupations and sectors which face economic decline as measured by job losses, and which have a greater representation of migrants, are more likely to express anti-immigration sentiment. In line with the threat hypothesis the study finds that positive job growth is associated with pro-immigration sentiment while a greater share of migrants within occupations and sectors is linked to greater opposition towards immigration.

War Captives, Left-Behind Wives, and Buddhist Nuns: Female Migrants in Early Medieval China (4th–6th Century CE)

AbstractUsing received texts and excavated funerary epitaphs, this article examines the intricacies of gender and migration in early medieval China by exploring women's long-distance mobility from the fourth century to the sixth century, when what is now known as China was divided by the Northern Wei and a succession of four southern states—the Eastern Jin, Liu-Song, Southern Qi, and Liang. I focus on three types of migration in which women participated during this period: war-induced migration, family reunification, and religious journeys. Based on this analysis, I propose answers to two important questions: the connection between migration and the state, and textual representations of migrants. Though the texts under consideration are usually written in an anecdotal manner, the references to women, I argue, both reveals nuances in perceptions of womanhood at the time and elucidates the contexts within—and through—which long-distance travel became possible for women.

Natives and Migrants in the Population Structure of Russian and Bashkortostan

Based on the data of the All-Russian population censuses of 2002 and 2010, as well as the micro-census of 2015, the author examines the dynamics of the structure of the urban and rural population of Russia and Bashkortostan in terms of the representation of two categories of residents – local natives living in a place of permanent residence without leaving, and migrants, that is, those who live in a place since a certain time or are a local native with migration experience. A comparative analysis of the population census data revealed the following trends in the migration mobility of the population of Russia and Bashkortostan in the first decade and a half of this century. The results of the 2002 census showed the dominance of “non-migrants” in the urban and rural population both in the whole country and in Bashkortostan. They were more represented in the republic than in Russia. The intensification of migration processes in the following years led to the reverse ratio of different categories of the population in 2010 – the predominance of migrants and a decrease in the proportion of local natives living without leaving. During this period, migration flows increased not only to cities, but also to rural areas, which also affected the higher representation of rural migrants. Five years later, the 2015 micro-census data brought the population structure closer to the situation in 2002 – the dominance of local natives, which to a certain extent indicates a decrease in the migration mobility of the population. However, the results of the micro-census could also be influenced by organizational and methodological reasons related to different approaches to accounting for the most mobile categories of the population. At the same time, the decline in migration activity of the population in the period between 2010 and 2015 is also indicated by the results of representative sociological studies both in the country as a whole and in the Republic of Bashkortostan. The general trend of changes in the population structure between 2002 and 2015 is characterized by a lower representation of migrants and a greater representation of local natives in Bashkortostan compared to Russia at the beginning of the period under review and the alignment of national and all-Russian indicators by 2015. To a certain extent, this may be due to the fact that the decline in migration mobility of the population in the republic was not as intense as in the whole country. The upcoming population census will provide an opportunity to get a more complete picture of the nature of changes in the genetic structure of the population over the past decade.

MIGRANTS AS FLOATING SIGNIFIERS IN AND THROUGH RIGHT-WING POPULIST POLITICAL STYLE: THE CASE OF THE AFD

This article focuses on how and in which ways migrants are taken into the right-wing populist agendas, specifically analysing how migrants are represented in the right-populist style of Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) Party. At a time when populism studies have increased gradually and attained maturity, the impact and contribution of the populist actors by means of their discourse and style on the representation of certain groups should not be neglected. In addition to this, the ways migrants have been represented by the populist actors can be ranked among the subjects which need to be investigated not only for Turkey which hosts millions of migrants and people with Turkish heritage living in Europe but also for the Turkey-European Union (EU) relations in the long-term. The relevant literature suggests that migrants are represented in Europe within negative frameworks rather than positive. This study is designed to ascertain the contributions of the right-wing populist parties to the existent discourses and representations, accordingly, analysed how and through which representation strategies migrants have been in the right-wing populist style. For this study, the AfD and its representation strategies concerning migrants have been chosen and the party campaign visuals of the AfD posted between 2013-2021 have been considered and the ones which are overtly related to the migrants have been focused on to reach the argument of the article with primary coding for an initial analysis. The key findings of the article suggest that negative representation of migrants has been sustained by the right-wing populist party AfD and the existent pejorative representations have been reinforced, moreover migrants have been constructed as floating signifiers in and through right-wing populist style with strategic usages.

Clinical outcomes and risk factors for COVID-19 among migrant populations in high-income countries: A systematic review

BackgroundMigrants in high-income countries may be at increased risk of COVID-19 due to their health and social circumstances, yet the extent to which they are affected and their predisposing risk factors are not clearly understood. We did a systematic review to assess clinical outcomes of COVID-19 in migrant populations, indirect health and social impacts, and to determine key risk factors. MethodsWe did a systematic review following PRISMA guidelines (PROSPERO CRD42020222135). We searched multiple databases to 18/11/2020 for peer-reviewed and grey literature on migrants (foreign-born) and COVID-19 in 82 high-income countries. We used our international networks to source national datasets and grey literature. Data were extracted on primary outcomes (cases, hospitalisations, deaths) and we evaluated secondary outcomes on indirect health and social impacts and risk factors using narrative synthesis. Results3016 data sources were screened with 158 from 15 countries included in the analysis (35 data sources for primary outcomes: cases [21], hospitalisations [4]; deaths [15]; 123 for secondary outcomes). We found that migrants are at increased risk of infection and are disproportionately represented among COVID-19 cases. Available datasets suggest a similarly disproportionate representation of migrants in reported COVID-19 deaths, as well as increased all-cause mortality in migrants in some countries in 2020. Undocumented migrants, migrant health and care workers, and migrants housed in camps have been especially affected. Migrants experience risk factors including high-risk occupations, overcrowded accommodation, and barriers to healthcare including inadequate information, language barriers, and reduced entitlement. ConclusionsMigrants in high-income countries are at high risk of exposure to, and infection with, COVID-19. These data are of immediate relevance to national public health and policy responses to the pandemic. Robust data on testing uptake and clinical outcomes in migrants, and barriers and facilitators to COVID-19 vaccination, are urgently needed, alongside strengthening engagement with diverse migrant groups.

Mapping foreign immigration in Spain (1998–2018). Trends and spatial patterns

ABSTRACT The last 20 years of sociodemographic history in Spain cannot be interpreted without considering the impact of foreign immigration, numerous publications have shown. The aim of this article is to contribute a clear spatial representation of migrants in Spain by combining statistical and mapping methods. Maps showing the rate of variation of immigrant populations point to the existence of an uneven distribution around Spain, during both the period of economic growth and the years when migratory flows waned. On the other hand, the immigrant clusters show that certain geographic areas in Spain attract specific groups; the extent of their presence can be seen on density maps based on location coefficients. In short, this article provides an understanding of foreign immigration in Spain, which other approaches have not achieved.

Exhibiting Solidarity Work: Temporary Displays and Their Potential To Trouble and Push Museums Representing European Mobilities

Temporary exhibitions are excellent points of departure for looking at the ‘troubling’ effects that refugee realities, migration, and mobility practices have on European museums. Based on an analysis of the narrative strategies of four travelling exhibitions Lichtblick, Yallah?!, Flight for life, and The Museum without a home, the focus of this contribution is on representations of migration and solidarity work since the 2015 ‘summer of migration’. The article analyses the displays themselves and the venues, the places, and the spaces that are represented through them, and the ways in which the exhibitions relate to solidarity work. It is the aim of this article to sound these exhibitions’ potential to trouble and also to inspire museums in their work towards representing flight and mobility, as well as refugees and solidarity workers and the manifold ways in which they are part of today’s European realities.

Refugees Welcome!? The Controversial Topic of Migration in German Museums

Abstract This article deals with the representation of migration in German museums. Three exhibitions are examined, all of which dealt with the topic of migration in the year 2018. The exhibitions included are: “2 Million Years of Migration” presented in the Archaeological Museum Hamburg, “Survival Stories” from A to Z in the House of History Baden-Württemberg in Stuttgart, and “Forum Migration”, shown in the German Emigration Center Bremerhaven. The essay shows that all three exhibitions purposefully participated in the public debate on migration and brought new perspectives and elements into the discussion. However, both the focal points of the exhibitions and the presentation were different. They either concentrated on the fate of migrants who came to Germany in recent years or considered the overall picture of migration and presented it as a core element of human development. Presentations were based on the exhibition of personal belongings of migrants, on hands-on activities or multimedia installations that allowed visitors to get involved.

How the Other Half Looks: The Lower East Side and the Afterlife of Images

How the Other Half Looks: The Lower East Side and the Afterlife of Images

‘So, he is practically a Korean?’: Power relations and re-articulation of the Korean Self in the TV show Non-Summit

Korean national identity is defined by nationalist sentiment and a mono-ethnic self-image. Having turned into a migrant-receiving country, Korea is slowly transforming into a multicultural society. The contemporary popularity of television shows with migrant representation reflects this change. The question arises how migrants get depicted in these popular broadcasting shows and what this portrayal of non-Koreans reveals about re-articulations of the Korean Self. As a response to these questions, a critical discourse analysis of Episodes 1 and 103 of the show Non-Summit (Bijeongsang hoedam 2014–17) is conducted. Corresponding to Koller’s (2011) combined discourse-historical and socio-cognitive approach, macro-, meso- and micro-level are analysed separately. Overall, Non-Summit reproduces Korean discourse on multiculturalism as ‘happy talk’, as the avoidance of in-depth consideration of inequality, the reproduction of ‘western’ norms and the normativity of Koreanness. This results from predominantly selecting Caucasians and constructing them as ‘para-Koreans’ who can then be readily consumed. These practices enable the Korean Self to position itself as analogous to western, modern norms. This positioning mirrors the influence of ‘nouveau-riche nationalism’ and the Korean ‘will to greatness’. The show further consolidates existing societal norms in Korea (Kang 2017: 14) on four different levels of power relations between Korean producers/writers and migrant population in Korea, non-Korean cast and migrant population in Korea, Korean producers/writers/hosts and non-Korean cast, and Korean viewers and non-Korean cast, and hierarchizes modern and traditional values. Thereby, Non-Summit reproduces the South Korean struggle to reconstruct a homogenous national identity in the face of a rising ethnic diversity within the country.

The Functions of Deictic Words in the Representation of Migrants’ Experiences in NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names (2013)

Literature is one of the arenas of discourse where the meaning potential of language can be explored. Interestingly, literary language is more figurative than denotative. One of the functions of language in literary discourse is to represent reality. The reality literature represents varies, depending on the historical time and social events a writer focuses on. Some aspects of global reality captured in current literature include transnational migration, border crossing and how migrants negotiate their identities in new cultures and spaces. For the African writer, the foregoing is a source of inspiration for what has become known as the African migrant novel. Against this background, this paper explores the representation of migrant experiences with particular attention paid to the use of language. An aspect of language explored in this paper is the use of deictic words in NoViolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names and the deployment of deictic forms, such as pronouns, verbs, and adverbs in order to specify personal and collective identity, physical and psychological displacement and spatiotemporal referencing in the novel. M. A. K. Halliday’s and Roger Fowler’s functional linguistic models are adopted as a theoretical framework within a descriptive and qualitative methodology. This paper notes that the recurrent use of the first-person pronoun in singular form (I) foregrounds the text as a Bildungsroman. It also underscores the process of self-evolution of Darling, the protagonist, from an a priori subject to a self-conscious a posteriori subject. The paper shows that deictic words as deployed in the novel enabled Bulawayo, the author, to create distinct narrative voices, from a personal voice to a collective voice. A guiding assumption of this paper is that it is not enough to say that a narrative has a first, second, or third person narrative speaking voice without pointing to the text to show how it is realised with data drawn from the text. It is on that basis that this research contributes significantly to the multidisciplinary interconnection between the field of linguistics and literature (stylistics) to demonstrate how a writer can engage nouns and pronouns as linguistic resources for the construction of migrant experiences, whether encompassing personal or group identity, nostalgia and memory, dislocation, or hybridity.

Liquid racism in the Greek anti-racist campaign#StopMindBorders

AbstractThis study examines the opaque reproduction of racism in an online, anti-racist campaign officially aiming to denounce hate speech and challenge widespread stereotypes concerning migrants. In particular, we investigate the video clips of the#StopMindBorderscampaign launched by the Greek branch of the International Organization for Migration. We specifically concentrate on theliquid racismattested in these video clips, namely a highly ambivalent form of racism encouraged in the mass media and usually hard to detect, as it involves multiple interpretations, some of which may not be assessed as racist (Weaver 2016). The multimodal critical analysis of the representation of migrants reveals that these video clips tacitly promote migrants’ linguocultural assimilation as a prerequisite for their acceptance in the host country. In this sense, although the anti-racist campaign under scrutiny attempts to refute discourses of aggression and mainstream stereotypes against migrants, it ends up naturalizing hate speech and reproducing assimilative and monoculturalist ideologies.

The “Guest” Who Refuses to Work, the “Terrorist” Who Contemplates Global Hunger: Minorities in Fatih Akin Films

In her book that explores Turkish migrant organizations in Germany, sociologist Gökçe Yurdakul detects a historical transformation in the political representation of migrants and minorities from the 1970s through the 2000s. She marks six historical events that lead to this transformation: labor migration (1961–1972), the introduction of family reunification law (1973–1979), post-1980 military coup asylum seekers from Turkey (1980–1988), the fall of the Berlin Wall and its aftermath of exacerbating xenophobia against non-German minorities (1989–1998), the introduction of the new citizenship law (1999), and finally the terrorist attacks on September 11 (2001–present). According to Yurdakul, these events mark a gradual shift in the minority rights debate. While the first minority organizations were formed around labor rights, gradually, due to these landmark events and laws, their demands shifted toward political and social rights of citizenship, and identitarian rights, such as the right “to exist as Muslims and as Europeans.”

Undutiful daughter(s): troubling geographies of the gendered nation and belonging in Adichie’s Americanah and Atta’s Everything Good Will Come

ABSTRACT This paper proffers a reading of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah as a Bildungsroman that represents a moment of a daughter’s “undutifulness” to domesticating national patriarchies and cultures, textual and epistemic genealogies. In this regard, I posit Adichie’s twining of national romances and a heterosexual romantic love that travels and returns as a framework for examining gendered experiencing and relations to the “home.” The article considers the text’s representation of migration and return not simply as moments of re-domestication and formulaic reunification but as incidents that enunciate expanded relationalities to the nation and reconfigure domestic intimacies in a manner that radically unsettles “home.” Americanah is read alongside Sefi Atta’s Everything Good Will Come in an attempt to show how the development of the protagonists’ interpersonal romances goes together with a studied engagement with the national space and communities in ways that inscribe women’s labours of love, care and intellect into the public domain and charts transformative possibilities of being in the world and inhabiting home. Ultimately, Adichie and Atta’s texts demonstrate alertness to celebrations of transnational black femininities, its vulnerabilities and bonds that transcend the limited “ethical” commitments delineated by the horizons of gendered roles and the national home.

A Representation of migration in Latvian mass media (2015 – 2016): Deny voice to the voiceless

The main focus of the research is the representation of migration in Latvian media. In total, 860 publications were analysed covering both Latvian and Russian speaking media content, and the following two methodological approaches were applied: the framing analysis of textual and visual content, and historical discourse analysis in order to reveal the arguments and strategies behind the justification of intolerance. The research data reveals that the framing of migration in Latvian media is left in the hands of politicians and officials. Economic strains and threat argumentation topoi dominate media discussions. The influence of migration is explained and approached from an economic perspective, and most frequently, the intolerance against migrants is interpreted as a failure attributed to the political elite – their inability to solve problems. Intolerance justification strategies were detected in 79% of the publications. This figure confirms that the authors are aware of intolerance not being a virtue nowadays, and the causes of it must be backed up and supported. Visual messages depict migrants exclusively as unidentifiable, dangerous, as a part of an anonymous crowd.

The Novel “Snowman” by David Albahari. A Socio-Anthropological Reading

In this paper ideas of literary anthropology that legitimize research of fiction work in socio-cultural anthropology are combined with the theories and methodologies of migration studies. Novels can be used as a source for understanding and interpreting certain phenomena from our socio-cultural reality and be an object of research. Therefore, this paper analyzes the novel Snowman (1996) by David Albahari from his so-called “Canadian Trilogy”. It is his first novel after his emigration to Canada from Serbia in 1994. This paper aims to draw attention to the possibilities and potentials of anthropological analysis of Serbian literature that originated in Canada as one of the possible strands of literary anthropology. Is a prerequisite for successful integration of the first generation of immigrants good competence in the foreign language, a prestigious and well-paid job, and higher education? The answer to this question can contribute to a better understanding of the fictional representation of migrants and be useful in anthropological studies of contemporary migrations. To test this hypothesis, we have juxtaposed the novel “Snowman” with Albahari’s collection of essays “Diaspora and other things” on the life of immigrants in Canada based on the author's personal experiences and experiences of his co-nationals in Canada, and working biography of the author. Furthermore, we test Robert Park’s concept of the “marginal man”. While researching American Jews, Park concluded that they are “men on the margin of the two cultures” and that “marginal men personality” is a “cultural hybrid”, developed as a reaction to life in new surroundings. Finally, in the analysis section Milton Bennett’s method “developmental model of intercultural sensitivity” is used. Bennett’s model consists of six stages: denial, defense, minimization (first stage) and acculturation, adaptation, integration (second stage) and can be applied for the purpose of interpreting immigrants’ experiences in a foreign society. The main character of the novel “Snowman” is a writer from a small European country which is at war. He got a job at a university in a faraway northern non-European country and speaks their language fluently. However, he is nostalgic and homesick, feels misunderstood among his new colleagues and his new life seems to him hopeless. Finally, overburdened with all these emotions, he succumbs to heavy snowfall. Previous research of working migrants suggests that incompetence in the language of the country of residence, a low paid and unskilled job and low level of education are the main factors for their low level of integration. On the other hand, using the example of the educated main character from the novel, this paper shows that adaptation, integration, and positive emotions, such are pleasure and happiness, do not have to correlate with the level of education, language competence, and prestigious employment in a foreign country. In other words, the protagonist of the “Snowman” did not want to develop intercultural sensitivity. Therefore, we propose that migration studies should research not only what migrants do and how they behave but how they feel in their new surroundings. In this respect, migration literature with biographical elements may serve as an important source for this kind of research.

Touching, scrolling and swooping: Performing and representing migrant stories through geospatial technologies

Migration biographies have been used for decades to retell lived migration experiences, however, they only partially represent these experiences. Emergent geospatial technologies can add to migration biographies, creating novel performances and representations of migrants’ experiences. In this paper I reflect on my use of geospatial technologies within biographical interviews to build upon the traditional migration biography. International and domestic migrants to the Maroochy area in Queensland, Australia were interviewed about each of their moves over a lifetime, with their narratives of movement visually represented using Google Earth. I consider how the participants’ interacted with the Google Earth interface as a ‘digital body’, performing their lived experiences of migration. Multiple layers of meaning were produced through mapping migrants’ experiences, requiring a critical, reflexive approach. I then combined the transcribed narratives and mapped migration paths with Google Earth’s satellite imagery as a Qualitative Geographical Information Systems (QualGIS) analysis approach, to create mapped migration biographies. Here, I present excerpts of three migration biographies, and discuss the difficulties and opportunities for the use of QualGIS to represent the participants’ experiences. Digital mapping added mobile, tactile and visual aspects to narratives produced through traditional biographical methods, changing the performance and representation of the migrants’ experiences within the interview. This critical and reflexive evaluation of the method reveals how geospatial technologies can add to the researchers’ toolbox to explore migrants’ lived experiences.

‘New Italians’ and intercultural citizenship: Challenging hegemonic visions of migration, childhood and identity through fiction

This article explores how representations of migration in 21st-century Italian fiction, including texts aimed at children and adolescents, can foster intercultural communication and contribute to the creation of a more tolerant society. Children represent a large proportion of the number of migrants arriving in Italy every year. However, since immigration is a relatively recent phenomenon, and Italians are still struggling to accept their homeland’s transition from emigrant to immigrant nation, Italian fiction offers a useful platform for exploring and challenging stereotypes about childhood, migration, identity and multiculturalism. This article presents a close reading of four semifictional works selected for their child-centric perspective, and their authors’ desire to use storytelling as a contact zone, that is a tool for sharing memories and creating a community spirit capable of promoting a sense of belonging, even in the absence of a single physical place to call home. The texts in question are Sumaya’s Abdel Qader’s Porto il velo, adoro i Queen. Nuove italiane crescono [I wear a headscarf, I love Queen. New Italian women are growing up]; Giuseppe Caliceti’s Italiani, per esempio. L’Italia vista dai bambini immigrati [Italians, for instance. Italy seen through the eyes of immigrant children]; Fabrizio Gatti’s Viki che voleva andare a scula [Viki who wanted to go to School], and Carmine Abate’ La festa del ritorno [The homecoming party]. All four authors have either direct or indirect experience of migration and particularly of the impact that migration has on children. They also share a sense of commitment and engagement and particularly in Caliceti’s and Abate’s case, an interest in language as a form of resistance. Their works are clear examples of the power of literature in challenging some of the more problematic sociological and media discourses about childhood and migration that tend to represent children as vulnerable victims or potential criminals.

Migrant Necropolitics at the Table: "Civilized Cannibalism" in Mahi Binebine's <em>Cannibales</em>

In Cannibales, the Maghrebi Francophone author Mahi Binebine revisits the encounter between the so-called “cannibals” and the European colonizer in the context of illegal immigration where bodies become commodities exchangeable for social improvements creating a different form of cannibalism. It is no longer the usual dichotomy between the civilized and the savage that is at work but rather a “civilized” European imperialist who feeds himself on a migrant’s flesh. This article argues that this representation works as a “colonial fragment” from the past but contextualized in today’s globalization. Binebine’s morbid depiction of an ambivalent postcolonial cannibalistic encounter translates as a representation of migrants in terms of cannibalistic necropolitics. The illegal migrant has no choice but to be swallowed by a narcissistic exocannibalism which seeks to incorporate what it feeds on to a total unity suggesting a bleak future not only for illegal migrants but for globalization as possibly devouring itself.

Staging Urban Diversity: Migrants on Theatrical Stages in Berlin and Moscow

This article reveals the relationship between the representations of migrants’ social experiences in theatrical productions and the institutional positions of Berlin and Moscow theaters that address migration issues. The study was based on in-depth interviews with participants of the projects Winterreise, The Situation (Maxim Gorki Theatre), and Come as You Are (Dock 11) in Berlin, and Akyn-opera (Teatr.doc) and Svan (Meyerhold Center) in Moscow. The fact that the attention of German and Russian societies is focused on different types of migration—forced in the first case and labor in the second—certainly affects artistic representations. However, in both contexts I consider the performances in which migrant artists with professional backgrounds took part. The main thesis of the article is that if in Germany productions with migrants are largely predetermined by the fact that theaters perform the role of a political forum, in Russia we observe the opposite trend. The case of Akyn-opera revealed that the theater’s attempt to generate civic initiatives and involve migrants in them could not succeed for several reasons. Acknowledging this, I deliberately refrain from assessing the analyzed performances in terms of their “success.” The interviews that I conducted show that the high degree of politicization of German theaters is not a self-evident value for artists with migrant background (with all due respect to the promigrant position of the German theater community). As for Russia, despite the fact that Akyn-opera did not become a “bridge” between conscious townspeople and migrant communities, this project had unexpected consequences for its participants. Those who are professional artists, although they did not get the opportunity to return to their main vocation, raised their status in the diasporic community and established themselves as artists for a certain segment of the Russian public. In addition, Akyn-opera has become an unprecedented testimony to migrant workers’ experiences of living in Moscow. Article in Russian DOI: 10.25285/2078-1938-2020-12-1-15-47