29424 - Seminars (1) (LM) (G.C)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the seminar, the student acquires critical skills on specific anthropological issues and useful for the progress of his / her training.

Course contents

The course discuss socio-anthropological researches on migration issues – and their specific theoretical and methodological tools – and works of filmmakers and photographers who in recent years have been confronted with these same topics.

Audio-visual language plays a fundamental role in political communication and in the creation of public opinion; it should also be central in academic training and dissemination on important issues such as migration and intercultural encounters.

Social documentaries and photo reportages are very useful in contrasting fake discourses and representations and to promote plurality and multivocality.

The course will focus on the analysis of migration processes, considered as complex cultural, social, and economic phenomena that affect sending contexts. We will adopt a consolidated perspective in anthropology that, studying countries of origin, overturns the more normative one focused on integration and assimilation processes in the countries of arrival.

The seminar is organized in various lectures in which central theoretical and methodological themes are discussed and specific ethnographic cases are analysed: transnationalism and mobility regimes, travels, cultures of migration, families and transnational communities, migrants’ houses, return migrations and forced repatriations, the migration and development nexus.

In preparation for each lecture, students have to view an audio-visual product which will be discussed and analysed during the meeting.

Readings/Bibliography

Day 1: Intro. The main theoretical and methodological issues (Monday 10 May, 10 am)

Welcome and introduction of the participants. Presentation of the course and of the main theoretical and methodological issues. From the transnational approach to the mobility paradigm. The links between geographical mobility and social mobility. Mobility regimes, mobility and immobility. Intersections between ethnographic researches, social documentaries and photo reportages.

References:

- Riccio, B. (2019). “Introduzione”, in Riccio, B. (a cura di), Mobilità. Incursioni etnografiche, Mondadori, 2-21.

Day 2: Travels (Friday 14 May, 10 am)

Traveling is one of the central dimensions of ethnographic practice and it is also at the core of the migratory experience. Travels, both for anthropologists and for the rest of the humanity, have profoundly changed in recent years. In the contemporary world, opportunities, costs, durations and legal procedures are very different for different categories of people. Our focus is not only on emigration travels, but also on returns, on forced repatriations, on re-emigration, and on the intersections between different types of traveling (tourism, business, escape from conflicts or poverty).

Radio program:

Senza Confine – Puntata 2 Viaggio, di Ugo Fabietti, https://tinyurl.com/vpybwdcs

Documetary: - “Midnight traveler” di Hassan Fazili, Stati Uniti/Qatar/Canada/Regno Unito, 2019, 86’

References:

- Sheller, M. (2018). “Theorising mobility justice”, Tempo Social, 30(2), 17-34

Day 3: Cultures of migration (Monday 17 May, 10 am)

The concept of “culture of migration” refers to the sets values that give meaning and order to mobility decisions and practices. It allows us to understand how migrating is culturally relevant, how it is integrated in the system of local meanings and what new cultural forms it produces. The culture of migration manifests itself in material forms but is connected also to various symbolic and imaginative dimensions. This social imagination can also be profoundly differentiated within the contexts of departure, and for this reason we speak of "cultures of migration".

Documentary:

- "Notes on Migration” di Andrea Borgarello, 53’

References:

- Degli Uberti, S. (2014). “Culture delle migrazioni”, in Riccio, B. (a cura di). Antropologia e migrazioni, CISU, 21-34.

- Gaibazzi, P. (2010). “Qui, nell’Altrove: giovani, migrazione e immaginazione geo-sociale nel Gambia rurale”, Mondi Migranti, 3, 117–29.

Day 4: Transnational families and gender roles (Friday 21 May, 10 am)

In this lesson we reflect on the relations between the migrating and non-migrating members of a family and the way they change due to migration. Transnational methodological approach helps in considering the simultaneity of the practices and transactions between migrants and those who have not migrated as it provides a better insight into the relations and dynamics between the family members. Transnational family members live most of the time separated from each other but yet create a feeling of collective welfare and unity. Family members might have different agendas, not necessarily holding on to what is believed as to bringing benefits to the family, but instead realizing their own individual ambitions. Furthermore, migration can lead to reproduction, transformations or resistance to changes of gender roles.

Documentary:

- “Village of women”, di Tamara Stepanyan, Armenia/Francia 2019, 92’

References:

- Fiałkowska, K. (2019). “Remote fatherhood and visiting husbands: seasonal migration and men’s position within families”, Comparative Migration Studies, 7(1), 1-17.

- Giuffrè, M. (2014). “Genere”, in Riccio, B. (a cura di). Antropologia e migrazioni, CISU, 21-34.

Day 5: Migrant houses (Monday 24 May, 10 am)

Migrant houses in countries of origin are a visible marker of emigration. Case studies from diverse geographic contexts have explored their functions. These houses span the local and transnational realities of migrant lives, while being grounded in specific places. They can be considered from different points of view: as symbols od emigration; as economic investments; as physical structures necessitating follow-up locally; as second homes for holidays and reminders of return migration.

Photographic projects:

"Brave new world", The Museum of European Cultures and Romanian Cultural Institute, Berlin, 2021 : http://bravenewworld.komsoe.eu/

“Pride and concrete”, di Petrut Calinescu, Romania, 2010, http://prideandconcrete.com/index.php

References:

- Boccagni, P. & Bivand Erdal, M. (2021). “On the theoretical potential of ‘remittance houses’: toward a research agenda across emigration contexts”, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 47(5), 1066-1083.

- Grimaldi, G. (2020). “Oltre il ritorno: le case della diaspora come infrastrutture della mobilità”, in Riccio, B. (a cura di), Mobilità. Incursioni etnografiche, Mondadori, 94-113.

Day 6: Returns, reconfigurations and conflicts (Friday 28 May, 10 am)

Return migrations are complex processes in which relationships and roles are redefined. Returnees, especially women, struggle to reconcile the expectations of gender relations that are specific to different societies. Decision-making on family repatriation, remittances and post-return experiences are gendered and inter-related. Several authors point out that women are gaining more bargaining power within the family through their greater access to economic resources; however, as long as power structures continue to confirm men's authority over women, improvements in women's status will continue to be uneven.

Documentary:

- “A working mum”, di Limor Pinhasov e Yaron Kaftori, Israele, 2006, 78’

References:

- Vlase, I. (2013). “’My husband is a patriot!’: gender and Romanian family return migration from Italy”, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 39(5), 741-758.

Day 7: Involuntary returns (Monday 31 May, 10 am)

The return, much more than the departure, produces a strong discontinuity and a break in the balance between the migrant and his/her community. The studies have highlighted how there are profound differences between voluntary returnees and forced repatriated migrants. While the former are at the centre of a collective celebration, the latter are stigmatized and live in conditions of strong marginalization. The paradoxes emerge even more when the repatriated are people who emigrated in their childhood or were born abroad and for this reason they have never known the country to which they are forced to return.

Documentary:

- “Trapped by law”, di Sami Mustafa, Germania 2015, 82’

References:

- Maitilasso, A. (2012). Il ritorno costruito: storie di reinserimento dei migranti in Mali tra vecchi modelli e nuove rappresentazioni. Archivio Antropologico del Mediterraneo, 14(2), 55-64.

Day 8: Generations (Friday 4 June, 10 am)

What does it mean to live your youth and become an adult in a context of emigration? Recent anthropological studies analyse the relationship between the life cycle and mobility in departure contexts from a youth perspective. In many societies, geographic mobility can play a central role during the difficult transition to adulthood and can be one of the main tools available to young people to achieve autonomy. This transition always involves a conflictual dimension, a phase of distancing from the adult world followed by the reincorporation into it.

This process is even more complex and dramatic when families have lived for generations in refugee camps, in a condition of protracted displacement, as occurs to Palestinian refugees in Lebanese camps.

Documentary:

- “A world not ours”, di Mahdi Fleifel, Regno Unito 2012, 93’

References:

- Cingolani, P. (2017). “Transitions to adulthood in Romania: a diachronic and intergenerational approach to mobility regimes”, New Diversities, 3, 59-74.

- Doraï, M. K. (2002). “The meaning of homeland for the Palestinian diaspora: revival and transformation” in Sadig, A.N e Koser, K. (eds.). New approaches to migration? : transnational communities and the transformation of home, Routledge, 87-95.

- Anderson, S. (2015). “The Smugglers are Vampirs”, Foreign Policy, October 5, https://tinyurl.com/8af7cdce.

Day 9: Migration and development (Monday 7 June, 10 am)

The migration and development nexus is complex and goes beyond the simple contrast between pessimistic and optimistic views. The recent emphasis on the diaspora as a bottom-up development agent has overshadowed the structural and political constraints in the sending countries. It is important to de-essentialize the concept of ‘diaspora’, understood as being endowed with a homogeneous collective identity, and to problematize the idea of ‘development’. Diaspora can become an agent of co-development only when the ideas brought by migrants are accepted in the context of origin, they are consistent with those of other political and institutional actors and when specific conditions are met.

References:

- De Haas, H. (2010). “Migration and development: A theoretical perspective”, International migration review, 44(1), 227-264.

- Cingolani, P., Vietti, F. (2019). “Social remittances and local development in the Republic of Moldova. A critical analysis of migrants as agents of change”, Southeast European and BlackStudies.

Day 10. Epilogue (Friday 11 June, 10 am)

Collective disccussion startign from the the following questions:

What are the theoretical and ethnographic links between the various case studies presented?

What are the specific contributions of audio-visual language to the study of the social phenomena analysed?

How can the acquired knowledge be transferred to the study of other migration contexts?

What are the emerging and most promising research topics for the future study of emigration contexts?

Teaching methods

The purpose of lectures is to introduce, inform and stimulate: they set out the general framework of the course, outline competing analyses of central questions, provide guidance to more complex texts and ideas, and try to engage your intellectual interest. In each lesson central theoretical themes are presented, and a guide to understand the bibliography and the audio-visual material is provided.

Assessment methods

Students will submit a final report (3000 words maximum) on the main topics, arguments, and reflections developed throughout the course. The deadline for submitting the final report is the 30th of June 2021.

Teaching tools

Documentaries, photo reportages, websites, scientific articles and volume chapters. The audio visual materials will be made available during the course and accessible through a password only to enrolled students and only for a limited time.

Office hours

See the website of Pietro Cingolani