Given the continuing massive disparities in wealth between Europe and Africa, immigration is unlikely to stop anytime soon. Remittances sent by migrants are the second most important income source for many countries in the south. Border control is expensive and ineffective. So why not open the borders? Free migration for all?

In his blog On distance, Anthropologist and journalist Joshua Craze discusses some arguments for free migration - to be published in Cafe Babel.

One of the most prominent lobbies to back the idea of opening up all our frontiers is the free-market right:

Free marketeers point out that in 2005 over a third of Europe’s regions were facing a declining labour force. Immigration, they argue, fills this need, and it also fills skills shortages (in both low and high skilled jobs) that will allow our economy to grow.
(...)
Such proposals may seem like a further extension of the dominion of the market: it would be businesses who effectively control the borders they have long since bypassed. However, in another sense such proposals are essentially a vanguard action; they preserve existing notions of citizenship, and immigration follows the model of the German guest worker, or gastarbeiter. (...) They priveledge capital’s need for labour and do not address the humanitarian problems of immigration. As Max Frisch noted of the Turkish gastarbeiter: ‘We called for a workforce, but we got humans.’

The political left forms the other part of the open borders movement:

Raffaele Marchetti argues that we shouldn’t think about open borders in terms of how it can benefit us, but in terms of the universal right to free movement. Why should Europeans be allowed to holiday wherever they want while Africans cannot even come to Europe to work?

Such a proposal has a number of humanitarian advantages. You stop people trafficking and the attendant loss of life and human rights violations, as people would be able to enter the country legitimately. Then there is the massive financial cost of maintaining Fortress Europe which would be saved. A recent report by the International Organisation of Migration shows that five OECD countries spent two-thirds as much on border controls as they did in official development assistance. Removing this boundaries would also mean removing the massive humane cost of people trying to scale the wall and cross the sea to get to Europe.

>> read the whole text by Joshua Craze

Strangely enough, I've written a piece about the same topic at the same time (in Norwegian), inspired by an article about a new book by political scientist Jonathon Moses (Norwegian University of Science and Technology). In International Migration: Globalization's Last Frontier he argues for free mobility.

He adds an economic and historic perspective and shows that free migration helps fighting poverty in a much more effective way than free trade (and development aid).

On his website you can download - among others:

Exit, vote and sovereignty: migration, states and globalization
Increased mobility is shown to improve the responsiveness of governments to citizen demands. In a world characterized by relatively free mobility for other factors of production (and their owners), labor/voters appear to be handicapped by being prisoners of territory.

The Economic Costs to International Labor Restrictions: Revisiting the Empirical Discussion

Two (Short) Moral Arguments for Free Migration

For a good summary for see also Kevin H. O’Rourke (2003): The Era of Free Migration: Lessons for Today

Both Kevin H. O’Rourke and Jonathon Moses remind us of the fact that borders are a relatively new phenomenon and therefore claims for open borders are not unrealistic. According to the book Norsk innvandringshistorie (Norwegian immigration history), the Norwegian government decided in 1870 that borders are outdated, something that belong to despotic regimes.

But O'Rourke stresses in The Era of Free Migration: Lessons for Today the important role of the national state. Labour market regulation (e.g. minimum working ages, the prohibition of night work, limits on the working day or factory inspections) and social insurance (e.g. accident compensation; or unemployment, sickness or old age insurance) are neccessary, otherwise native workers' living standards would inevitably be eroded by mass immigration (wage dumping / social dumping)

SEE ALSO:

Research: How migration fights poverty

Migration and development - a report from Tonga

Raffaele Marchetti: Migration needs global regulation based on the principles of free movement and universal justice

Liza Schuser: Keeping alive the possibility of a free migration, “open borders” policy is an investment in everyone’s future

Chukwu-Emeka Chikezie: Africans’ initiative, symbolised by diaspora remittance flows, is the key to liberation (part of a larger debate at Opendemocracy.net)

More Global Apartheid? (The South African system came to an end just as the rest of the world was reinventing it in new forms.)

Why borders don't help - An engaged anthropology of the US-Mexican border

"Anthropologists Should Participate in the Current Immigration Debate"

See also more articles by Joshua Craze in Cafe Babel and SaudiDebate

The first Interdisciplinary Conference on the Visual Anthropology of Iran entitled “Images of Culture, Culture of Images” is to be held in Oxford University in September 2007, according to a press release.

The two-day conference on the Visual Anthropology of Iran, organized by the Society for Iranian Anthropology (SIRA), is the very first of its kind. The participants will investigate on different issues such as nomadism, rituals and ceremonies, war, gender, aesthetics and language in Iran and its relationship with the other countries.

The SIRA says in its announcement:

Since the 1990s, there has been a growing interest in Iranian cinema which is now internationally recognized as one of the most original and prolific cinemas of all times and whose aesthetics and culture have in the twenty-first century increasingly appealed to a mass audience. The study of visual anthropology is motivated by the belief that one can understand the culture of some people by looking at visual symbols such as gestures, rituals, ceremonies and works of art.

>> call for papers "Images of Culture- Culture of Images"

SEE ALSO:

Photography as research tool: More engaged Kurdish anthropology

Anthropologist: Iranian Nomads Constitute Cultural Treasure

Photos and songs from fieldwork in Siberia, reflections on ethnographic photographing

Anthropological Films online

Andreas Lloyd from the University of Copenhagen extends our notion of Open Access Anthropology and writes:

Now that I’ve officially finished my fieldwork, and with all the talk going on about Open Access Anthropology, I thought I’d try my own little Open Access experiment. I’ve decided to publish the question guide I’ve used for my fieldwork under the GPL. I’ve even indented and commented them in proper code fashion (or, at least, as far as I’ve been capable of emulating it). Also, at suggestion of one of my informants, I’ve answered my own questions (...)

In Opening the source, he explains:

Traditionally, anthropologists guard their questions and approaches fairly carefully as it does say a lot about how they think and act as anthropologists. A question guide can in this way be seen as the source code for one of their basic methods - the interview.

Lloyd has done fieldwork in the Ubuntu open source community and published several papers on technology and anthropology

>> visit Anders Lloyds blog

SEE ALSO:

Kerim Friedman: Open Source Anthropology

New Open Access Anthropology Website, mailinglist, chat and t-shirts!

antropolohgi.info special Open Access Anthropology

Open Access Anthropology - news archive

anpere - Anthropological Perspectives on Religion is the name of a new journal that is freely available for everybody. It is edited by anthropologists Pierre Wiktorin and André Möller from Lund University (Sweden).

They explain:

The aim of anpere is to offer a flexible and relevant channel for researches as well as lay people interested in questions pertaining to the anthropology of religion.

anpere do not stick to the traditional way of publishing, as it will publish as soon as any text is ready to meet the public. This means that we may publish three articles a day or three articles per month, depending on the quality and quantity of the articles received.

In order to faciliate the life of our valued readers, we will gladly send you an e-mail each time a new article or review is added on the anpere site.

The articles are written both in Swedish and English. At the moment there are three papers in English:

Åse Piltz: Being Tibetan: Internet and Public Identity among Tibetan Youth

André Möller: Islam and Traweh Prayers in Java: Unity, Diversity and Cultural Smoothness

Jörgen Hellman: Entertainment and Circumcisions: Sisingaan Dancing in West Java

There are even lots of photos, among others related to Ramadan.

>> visit anpere - Anthropological Perspectives on Religion

By the way, one of the editors, André Möller, maintains an interesting Indonesian Islam Blog.

SEE ALSO:

Open Access to Indigenous Research in Norway

American Anthropological Association opposes Open Access to Journal Articles

antropologi.info's special on Open Access Anthropology (multilingual)

Open Access Anthropology Website (wiki and blog)

I've just discovered http://openaccessanthropology.wordpress.com/ - an Open Access Anthropology blog - an extension to the Open Access Anthropology Wiki!! UPDATE: The blog also exists at http://blog.openaccessanthropology.org/.

More and more theses in Norway are published in digital archives and are freely available in full text. In MUNIN - the digital library of the University in Tromsø (Northern Norway), you can download eight master theses in indigenous studies. They look very interesting, so here they are:

Sargylana Zhirkova: School on the "move". A case study: Nomadic schooling of the indigenous Evenk children in the Republic of Sakha Yakutia (Russian Far East)
Abstract: It seems strange that in a modern time the indigenous people decided to return not only to their traditional culture but also to the type of schooling which was used by their parents. The first nomadic school in Russia was created in the 1930s and now this kind of school starts to work again in nomadic communities. I have decided to write about the nomadic school because education is an important aspect of life of the indigenous people: it opens doors for indigenous people. Today the nomadic school is a new educational institution for the indigenous nomadic children.

Abdul Hoque: Radio and indigenous peoples. The role of radio in the sustainable livelihoods of indigenous peoples: A case study of the Rakhaing and the Garo people in Bangladesh
Abstract: Radio has the strong role in the sustainable livelihood of indigenous people. Promoting the recognition and practice of mother language media, especially radio, has its distinctive role. (...) Rakhaing has no radio programme of their own. So their language and culture has no significant development, even diminishing day by day. Study findings showed that the Rakhaing feel them excluded from the world; and only a single programme in radio can give them a feeling of being a member of the world.

Gilbert Ansoglenang: Rural women and micro-credit schemes. Cases from the Lawra District of Ghana
Abstract: The study concluded that micro-credit schemes help reduce rural poverty and empower women. Despite the enhanced and visible roles assumed by these women due to the credit schemes, there were serious operational lapses. (...) In the light of this, inter alia, the study made the following recommendation towards the empowerment of women: an appreciable increase in the loans, prioritizing girl-child education, developing and encouraging the use of appropriate technology, and engendering the loan scheme or helping rural women side-by-side their men folk.

Priscilla Felicity De Wet: "Make our children proud of the heritage"
A case study of the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic communities in SA with specific reference to the emerging Khoe and San indigenous peoples in the Republic of South Africa

Victoria Phiri: When knowledge is not power. The integration of traditional midwifery into the health system. The case study of a traditional midwife among the Toka of Zambia
Abstract: In this thesis, I argue that what the traditional midwife practices is knowledge. Based on the local experiences and traditions, this knowledge may be different from what is commonly called “western” knowledge.

Sundar Bhattarai: The bola or parma of the Newar in Manamaiju Village. The significance of a farm labor exchange system among indigenous peasants in Nepal
Abstract: The key queries of this study are: what does the bola system look like in the village; and, how are they maintaining it as a successful living practice when there is a liberal economic policy in front of them?

Ciren Yangzong: The household responsibility contract system and the question of grassland protection. A case study from the Chang Tang, northwest Tibet Autonomous Region
Abstract: I attempt to demonstrate how common property systems have traditionally served and benefited the Shenchen nomads, and how they have traditionally co-existed with the wildlife using this system. (...) I analyze how HRCS is working in my particular area; especially in the Chang Tang conservation area and whether it is having an effect on nomad’s culture and environment.

Abebe Gizachew Abate: Contested land rights. Oromo peasants struggle for livelihood in Ethiopia
Abstract: Based on the contemporary ethnographic and historical data from Oromia regional state of Ethiopia the study examines complex relationships and contradictory processes of the effects of resource based-development policies of the Ethiopian regimes on land rights related to Oromo peasant livelihoods, environment and development. (...) Analytically, a new ethnographic paradigm of approaching the notions of land rights, power and resistance that problematize custom as static culture vs. dynamic understanding of culture opens up a more dynamic, practical , contextual and relational understanding of ` rights`.

>> overview over all theses

>> information on the Master Degree in Indigenous Studies

SEE ALSO:

Already 76 signatures for more Open Access Anthropology

American Anthropological Association opposes Open Access to Journal Articles

antropologi.info survey: Six anthropologists on Anthropology and Internet

antropologi.info's special on Open Access Anthropology (multilingual)

Open Access News

I haven't been at the annual meeting of tha American Anthropological Association but some other anthro-bloggers have (no journalists, though!). Information is scarce. Nevertheless, a few new reviews and blog posts have appeared since my first round up First news from the AAA-conference? one week ago:

• One of the few reviews was written by Amelia Guimarin. She has also put online her presentation llustrating Identity: Body Piercing and Photography that is based on her thesis In the Flesh: Body Piercing as a Form of Commodity-Based Identity and Ritual Rite of Passage (.doc!)
• Elizabeth (Dori) Tunstall published a short video (part of her presentation)

• The anthropologists from Remediated Places have videotaped their whole presentation and we can watch their 17 minute video. In their project they focus on the interaction of digital technologies, media, identity and ambiguity. You can also download their paper (draft)

• Alex Golub at Savage Minds reviews the conference: Getting our effervescence on: AAAs 2006: Many great panels, but less communication than usual.
• Alex Golub also comments on an article in Inside Higher Ed "Torture and Social Scientists": He wonders what sort of practical effect the anti-turture resolution of the AAA business meeting will have.
• At studentanthro.blogspot.com they have published a summary of the session "At A Critical Intersection: Exploring the Expectations and Needs of Anthropology Students"
• UPDATE (27.11.06): One of the most informative reviews by Thomas Strong at Savage Minds: AAA 2006: Late Observations
• UPDATE (28.11.06): Amelia Guimarina wrote a review of 4 AAA panels on the intersection of ethnography, digital information technology and the digital information technology industry
• UPDATE (9.12.06): Is there still the same pressure to justify ethnographic papers in terms of identity politics, asks Daniel Miller in his post Material Culture studies at the American Anthropological Association

See also earlier posts about the AAA meeting

First news from the AAA-conference?

San Jose: American Anthropologists Stand Up Against Torture and the Occupation of Iraq

Columbia University Press recently approached Savage Minds, asking if we would like to review new books from their catalog", Kerim Friedman writes and begins reviewing the first book "The Politics of the Governed: Reflections on popular politics in most of the world" by Partha Chatterjee.

I (and some other anthropology bloggers) have received this email by Columbia University Press (CUP) as well and you can expect reviews of their anthropology books here on antropologi.info as well (the first book has arrived).

"The new trend is getting bloggers to write about you", according to marketing consultants. This seems to be true as I was approached by an Norwegian publisher only a few days later and the first review was published by guestblogger Syeda Rahima Parvin (in Norwegian). Earlier this year, a museum in Germany has taken contact with me.

Of course, journalistic standards apply here in the same way as in newspapers (no advertising!).

There has been some discussion on this subject, see:

How to approach bloggers about products

Best ways to approach bloggers for product reviews