migration | antropologi.info

Collision of cultures? Somali immigrants share New England’s small-town values

Published on March 13, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, culture traditions, migration, Northern America, Us and Them

St.Petersburg Times

As almost 1,400 Somali refugees poured in this nearly all-white New England town, the natives weren’t quite sure what to make of them. Here were people who looked different, spoke little English and had little money. And expected this city of 35,000 to find them jobs and places to live.

But these Muslims from Africa, it turned out, shared many of Lewiston’s small-town values. The Somalis wanted to raise their kids in a safe, quiet community where faith was important. As both groups discovered, things as simple as potluck dinners and henna hand painting can go a long way toward bridging a vast cultural divide.

Heather Lindkvist, an anthropologist at Bates College, has studied the local Somali migration to Lewiston, Maine.
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St.Petersburg Times

As almost 1,400 Somali refugees poured in this nearly all-white New England town, the natives weren't quite sure what to make of them. Here were people who looked different, spoke little English and had little money. And expected this…

Socially conscious hip-hop is worldwide phenomenon

Published on March 13, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, migration, music, politics

Canadian Press

Somali-born rapper K’naan says hip-hop records helped him cope with his country’s civil war, his adolescence as a refugee and his life as an immigrant in North America. “It’s a whole new thing that is happening, even in villages in Africa,” said K’naan, whose music touches on everything from personal empowerment to life in Somalia.

Marc Perry, an anthropologist at the University of Illinois, says despite rap’s commercialization, socially conscious hip-hop is common among immigrants in the West and black populations in such countries as Brazil and South Africa. That’s not surprising given hip-hop’s history, Perry said at a recent symposium at Concordia University called Hip-Hop: Culture of Resistance. >> continue

Canadian Press

Somali-born rapper K'naan says hip-hop records helped him cope with his country's civil war, his adolescence as a refugee and his life as an immigrant in North America. "It's a whole new thing that is happening, even in villages…

Research: How migration fights poverty

Published on March 5, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, development empowerment, migration

A new special by ID 21 , hosted by Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, UK, deals with how migration fights poverty and asks: Migration and asylum policies in crisis: time for a rethink?

They provide short summaries and links to the original sources, mostly working papers that are avaiable online in full length.

Exploiting remittances: good for Mexico’s development?
More and more money is being sent back home by economic migrants and so the interest in how remittances can help fight poverty is growing. The total value of remittances world wide is estimated at over 100 billion US dollars per year. In 2001 Mexico became the nation with the largest share of remittances as its workers sent home 9,920 million US dollars.
Research from York University in Canada proposes a broader understanding of migrant remittances. Using data from Mexico the author argues the importance of non-economic dimensions of remittances particularly its social and political implications, the differences between family and community-based (or collective remittances) and the difficulties in channelling them towards savings and investment. >> continue

Migration and asylum policies in crisis: time for a rethink?
A policy briefing from the World Institute for Development Economic Research argues that more needs to be done to understand the relationship between globalisation, migration pressures and the potential role of development assistance in reducing migration. >> continue

antropologi.info links on migration (in English and Norwegian)

They provide short summaries…

Burkina Faso: Thousands of migrants now living as strangers in their homeland

Published on February 20, 2005 by lorenz Posted in Africa, anthropology in the news, migration

ReliefWeb

More than 365,000 people have fled from violence in Cote d’Ivoire to safety in Burkina Faso over the last two years. However there are no haunting images of refugee camps, packed to overflowing with people who have lost everything. For the new arrivals are former Burkinabe migrants going home. They have simply melted into the villages and the countryside, taken in by relatives and in some cases, even strangers. They are refugees in their own country.

The number of Burkinabe migrants that poured out of Cote d’Ivoire is almost double the number of Darfur refugees that have spilled across the Sudanese border into Chad. But while overcrowded refugees camps in eastern Chad have repeatedly come under the spotlight, attracting generous international aid, Burkina Faso’s masses have largely fallen off the international community’s radar screen. >> continue

ReliefWeb

More than 365,000 people have fled from violence in Cote d'Ivoire to safety in Burkina Faso over the last two years. However there are no haunting images of refugee camps, packed to overflowing with people who have lost everything. For…

What does it mean to be Muslim in a secular society? Anthropologist thinks ahead

Published on February 20, 2005 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, books, Europe, migration, religion cosmology, Us and Them

The Daily Star Lebanon

Dounia Bouzar, an anthropologist and educator, spent two years working with 12 Muslim associations in France studying the different ways young Muslims approach their daily life. Her newest book, “Monsieur Islam n’existe pas; Pour une desislamisation des debats” (Mr. Islam doesn’t exist; de-islamisizing the discussions), is one of several publications just out in France that examine “la France Musulmane,” or Muslim France. Part of the goal in her new book is to show just how diverse the community is.

Discrimination is still a big problem in France and Bouzar feels it’s important to look for the reasons why a percentage of young Muslims feel the need to look abroad for guidance – a relatively new phenomenon. >> continue (link updated)

The Daily Star Lebanon