IMER Lunch Seminar

From revolution to exile: Understanding the activist trajectories of Syrians across time and space

Time: Tuesday 9^th of April 2024, 12.00 – 13.00

Place: Online through this zoom link

It will be great to know if you plan to join us using the registration link here

What happens to political dissidents after they go into exile? Do they continue to engage with their homeland causes or do they disengage altogether seeking a new life in their new whereabouts?

About the Seminar

In this seminar, Amany Selim will discuss the findings of her doctoral thesis, which focuses on the case of Syrian activists who were forced out of their country in the aftermath of the 2011 Syrian uprising. Based on biographical interviews made with Syrian activists living in Berlin and Oslo, Selim will analyse how Syrian activists’ trajectories have evolved over time and across different contexts of exile, drawing on a comparison between the two cities. The seminar will be an elaboration of her thesis findings which unpack the interlinkages of time and space in influencing political participation in exile, drawing attention to the contributory value of homeland activism to integration.

Amany Selim holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Bergen. She is currently an independent consultant working on digital rights in the Middle East.

For questions about the event or if you experience problems registering, etc., please contact: Felicity.Okoth@uib.no

IMER Lunch Seminar Online self-presentations of young migrant women in Norway: Navigating opportunities and risks on Social Networking Sites Time: Wednesday 26th April 2023, 12.00 – 13.00 Place: Bergen Global, Jekteviksbakken 31 You can also follow through Zoom.  It will be great to know if you plan to join us using the registration link here. A light lunch will be served.  Social Networking Sites (SNS) represent important social arenas in young people’s everyday life. SNS give young people with migrant backgrounds opportunities to keep in touch with family and friends in transnational networks and create opportunities to establish “digital neighbourhoods” of youth in Norway and elsewhere. Activities on SNS, however, also involve risk in relation to visibility and exposure and may reproduce and even reinforce processes of marginalization. About the Seminar In this seminar, Ingrid Onarheim Spjeldnæs and Rita Agdal will present research findings where they group-interviewed 15 young women aged 16 to 26 years who have lived in Norway for several years and originate from the Greater Middle East or from the Horn of Africa. Their analysis suggests that these young women present themselves in carefully tailored ways according to affordances of SNS, such as anonymity, visibility, and persistence. Self-presentations are managed towards several particular, yet large and diverse audiences, bearing in mind the constant risks of experiencing challenges, such as “context collapse.” Their analysis draws upon research from communication researcher Hollenbaugh (2021) as well as a broader framework of social psychology and symbolic interactions. Spjeldnæs and Agdal’s presentation will also touch upon the topic of settings-based health promotion strategies that aim to enable people to increase control over their health and environments. In this case, it implies sharing strategies to navigate complex networks, like emphasizing the importance of anonymous chats, sharing health-related information with extended networks with lower e-literacy, and the cocreation of health promotion strategies. Ingrid Onarheim Spjeldnæs is an Associate Professor at the Department of Welfare and Participation at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Research group of Community Work.Rita Agdal is an Associate Professor at the Department of Welfare and Participation at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Research group of Community Work. Publications Agdal, R. & Spjeldnaes, I.O. (2023). Developing Public Health Promotion Strategies for Social Networking Sites: Perspectives of Young Immigrant Women in Norway. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20, 4033. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/5/4033 Agdal, R., Zachariassen, H.& Spjeldnæs, I.O. (2022). Samfunnsarbeid i digitale nabolag: Tre perspektiver på unge kvinner med innvandrerbakgrunn sine vilkår for deltakelse på sosiale nettverkssider. I Ågotnes, G.& Larsen, A.K. (Red.), Kollektiv mobilisering: teori og praksis. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. https://press.nordicopenaccess.no/index.php/noasp/catalo For questions about the event or if you experience problems registering, etc., please contact: Felicity.Okoth@uib.no

View this email onlineThe newly established National network of junior scholars working with issues related to migration and intercultural relations invites you to their first online seminar: 

Migration studies and social impact – critique and possibilities

Date: 30th of September, 9.00-12.30

Online: zoomlink here 

Please sign up here to join the seminar 

Programme:

09.00-09.15: Welcome and information about the network
09.15-10.00: Keynote by Prof. Willem Schinkel 
10.00-10.15: Break
10.15-10.45: Q&A/Discussion with Prof. Willem Schinkel
10.45-11.00: Digital Coffee Break/Mingling in Breakout Rooms
11.00-11.45: Keynote by Nataliia Sokolovska
11.45-12.00: Break
12.00-12.30: Q&A/Discussion with Nataliia Sokolovska

About the national network: This is the launching seminar for the National network of junior scholars working with issues related to migration and intercultural relations. This network was initiated on the basis of activities organized by the IMER junior scholar network in Bergen.

The aim of the network is to build an inclusive and active platform where fellow junior scholars from different institutions in Norway can participate and expand academic discussions on relevant issues within the field. By organizing different events, the network aims to build a collaborative community that can encourage early career researchers to thrive within academia. 

Please, join this email list to get news on the network’s future events.

Board members:
Sara Toffanin (UiT)
Malin Håland Kleppe (HVL/IMER jr. Bergen)
Zahra Abbasi (UiO)
Tommaso Rompianesi (UiB/IMER jr. Bergen)
Veronica Øverlid (Carleton University (Ottawa), Canada)
Zubia Willmann-Robleda (VID Specialized University) 

For questions about the network and seminar, please contact: 

Zubia Willmann-Robleda zubia.robleda@vid.no

View this email online

Welcome to IMER Online Seminar

Migration at Sea and the Role of non-State Actors: Zooming in on the Central Mediterranean Route

Time: Friday, 29th April 2022, 12.00 – 13.00

Zoom Link

Non-state actors have become the gatekeepers of the State in the context of migration – especially for deportation and detention. Exploring the intersection between NSAs accountability under international human rights law and forced migration is hence crucial in defining a progressive way of interpreting the law – with justice for the victims as the final aim. The research presented in this seminar aims to fill an academic lacuna by analyzing NSAs’ involvement in migration processes, providing guidance for future policy-making at the national, regional, and international levels.

If you are interested in these issues, you don’t want to miss our next IMER online seminar! Please register your attendance here to enable us to effectively accommodate this arrangement.

About the seminar

In this seminar, Matilde Rocca will present reflections from her PhD research project which aims to determine how non-state actors (NSAs) have been involved in migratory processes in the Mediterranean and to what extent they have changed the level of human rights protection accorded to migrants. In addition, Rocca’s research project assesses the way in which the involvement of NSAs in migratory operations has shaped international human rights law (IHRL) and the international law of the sea. Her presentation will address the following key questions: a) How have NSAs shaped and changed the status of migrants and their protection in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea? b) To what extent does their impact expand or restrict human rights protection? c) How has NSAs’ involvement impacted responsibility allocation for the violation of human rights in international waters?

Matilde Rocca (LLM, London School of Economics – LSE; LLB, University of Sussex) is a PhD candidate at the University of Padova (Italy) and visiting fellow at the University of Bergen (Norway). Her research focuses on the role of non-state actors in the violation of human rights of migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea. Matilde is a PhD Research Affiliate at the Refugee Law Initiative (SAS, University of London) and was awarded the Lauterpacht/Higgins Prize at the LSE for best performance in public international law

Welcome to IMER Hybrid Seminar

A Critical Appraisal of Contemporary Migration Governance

Time: Tuesday 25th of January 2022, 11.30 – 12.30

Place: Bergen Global, Jekteviksbakken 31

Zoom link

Are you interested in how migration governance and politics of migration are constituted and contested from global standpoints? Do you see the need for a critical appraisal of migration governance from interdisciplinary perspectives? If yes, you don’t want to miss our Hybrid IMER seminar on January 25^th.

Please register your attendance here to enable us to effectively accommodate this hybrid arrangement.

About the seminar

In this seminar, Regine Paul  will present the  Handbook on the Governance and Politics of Migration (2021, Edward Elgar) which she co-edited. The handbook sets out to critically appraise contemporary migration governance in interdisciplinary, and decidedly global, perspectives. The handbook highlights the relationship between governance and migration as mutually constitutive, and thus intrinsically political and contested. Specific concepts used in migration governance such as citizenship, humanitarianism, and border, as well as specific categories of migrants, such as forced, voluntary, skilled worker, or family member, at specific spaces like camps, routes, homes or workplaces are addressed at this backdrop.

This handbook constitutes an important contribution to the field of migration as illustrated in this video.

In her talk, Regine Paul will focus on the Handbook’s “conceptual-analytical map“. In particular, she will introduce their conceptualization of the governance and politics of migration and discuss how they are constituted from the contradictions between their (1) conceptual framing and material expression; (2) global scope and relational practice; and (3) structured form and dynamic changeability. Next to illustrating the usefulness of this conceptual framework with examples from the Handbook, Regine will summarize the book’s key contributions to re-politicizing and decolonializing migration governance research.

Snacks will be served during the seminar. 

Regine Paul is Associate Professor in Political Science at the Department of Administration and Organization Theory at the University of Bergen. She has published widely on comparative labour migration and mobility governance in Europe, and on the notions of risk and resilience in policymaking at large. Her current research addresses the uses and regulation of artificial intelligence technologies in the public sector. She is Editor of Critical Policy Studies.