An invitation: Lost Predictions as novella, syllabus and glitch in the machine of academic publishing
What happens when the prediction fails, but the system marches on as if it hadn’t? When the algorithm forgets what the body remembers?
The Laughing Perpetrator
In photo and video material of violent conflict, a phenomenon regularly occurs that needs interpretation: perpetrators of violence who appear to enjoy their actions, or bystanders laughing or smiling while others commit violence.
International Joking Relationships
What can soldier humour tell us about international relations? To begin with, humour is a universal social practice …
When Soldiers became Spiritual: Wartime Beliefs
The dominant discourse about war is that soldiers deployed and fighting in it dominate the landscape, and the animals which live in it. This paper focuses on the ways that Zimbabwean soldiers were made to understand the sacredness and spirituality of the Democratic Republic of Congo landscape: river water, swamps, snakes and ghosts by the local Congolese civilian people.
Fun in War? On Researching Fun and Entertainment in the Yugoslav Partisan Struggle.
Commenting on my research for the WarFun project, someone once remarked that I must be using a very broad definition of fun — one that, apparently, included everything. In a way, they were right. But my usage of the term fun did not come from nowhere. It gradually emerged through engaging with the sources I had at my disposal.
When adrenaline draws you in. Reflections on film and skydiving in the aftermath of Argentina’s ‘dirty war’
I am currently wrapping up an essay film, Falling, about my fraught relationship with Pepe and his brother, two retired Argentine military officers whom I met during my doctoral research on crimes against humanity from the perspective of those who suffered and those who perpetrated political violence.
Songs of Fire and Rice: Post-Electoral Song Protests in Mozambique
Women have always helped shape Mozambique’s political narrative. Today, that role is more visible than ever. Their political commentary, through song, dance, or digital media, is forceful and clear.
African agency in response to EU externalization efforts
Diplomatic pressures on countries in West Africa to cooperate on migration-related issues has been high, and growing, in recent years. Numerous policy initiatives underscore this, going back to the 1992 Declaration on Principles Governing External Aspects of Migration Policy, which included the idea of EU return agreements with countries of origin and transit. Most recently, …
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IT’S TOO COMPLICATED, THEY SAY
A Reckoning in Seven Movements I. To Begin With Fire There are nights I wake with my hands curled into fists,nights when I cannot unclench my teethbecause somewhere a child is drinking saltwater and dying anyway.Somewhere a child is fed by moonlight and still starving. I see the names of the dead in the lines …
Public/applied/professional anthropologists on gentrification. Reflections from Milan, Italy.
Milan, Italy’s economic capital, continues to experience notable growth, with a projected 1.1% increase in added value for 2024, according to Assolombarda – an association representing entrepreneurs in the metropolitan city and surrounding provinces of Lodi, Monza, Brianza, and Pavia. Despite these positive economic indicators, the city faces conflicting dynamics that disproportionately impact its most vulnerable populations.
The inter-linkage between migration policies and irregular migration in the Global South: Evidence from Ethiopia
International migration is a controversial political and policy agenda, leading to the adoption of different policy measures in both sending and receiving countries. This blog takes the case of Ethiopia and examines the contexts and interplay between migration policy measures and international migration phenomena in sending countries.
Managing migration in Ethiopia: Complexities of externalisation
In this interview, Anna Gopsill asks Oliver Bakewell and Kiya Gezahegne about their research on Ethiopia.
Framing climate change-induced displacement: Attributing disasters to natural causes
This blog post considers the extent to which the EU and other industrialised countries can evade responsibility for the displacement of populations most affected by climate change by presenting climate-related disasters as natural, rather than man-made, events. The findings and discussion presented are based on expert interviews, analyses of policy documents and a literature review. The discussion integrates these findings to examine how the impact of framing climate-related disasters as natural events rather than anthropogenic phenomena affects the EU’s responsibility for climate-induced migration from Africa as described by experts working in the region.
Externalisation in Senegal: Balancing competing interests
Senegal is a compelling case when examining the influence of European externalization initiatives on African partner countries. For nearly two decades, the European Union and individual member states—particularly Spain, France, and more recently Germany—have in different ways attempted to curb irregular migration, both overland and especially at sea.
Funding the Journey: How Western Aid Became a Ticket to the Gulf
In 2011, while conducting fieldwork for my master’s thesis in the South Wollo area of Ethiopia’s Amhara region, I came across a striking paradox that has continued to shape my research on migration governance. My focus was on understanding how rural Ethiopian households financed the journey to the Gulf countries, where the Kafala system – in which migrant workers are legally tied to their employers for entry, stay and return – governs labour migration It is a system where the responsibility for managing transnational labour recruitment is handed over to non-state actors, such as private citizens and recruitment agencies. This decentralized approach is based on sponsorship.