MedNet archive

MedNet workshop at EASA 2010, MaynoothMedNet workshop at EASA 2010, Maynooth

Third workshop of the EASA Mediterraneanist Network
Understanding Mediterranean transit migration
EASA 2010, Maynooth (24 – 27 August 2010)

MedNet, the Mediterraneanist Network of EASA, held a scientific workshop at the EASA 2010 conference in Maynooth with the aim of understanding the social dimensions of clandestine migration across the Mediterranean by examining the experiences and social profiles of irregular migrants and the responses of the nation-states involved.

Maynooth workshop – Discussant Maria CouroucliMaynooth workshop – Discussant Maria Couroucli

The workshop took as its starting point that currently a global trend of south-north irregular migration can be observed, especially strong in present cross-Mediterranean migration. Attempts to map transit migration in the Mediterranean area identify typical routes in the west (between Morocco and Spain), in the centre (between Libya and Italy) and in the east (between Turkey and Greece). Whereas these typical routes of clandestine migration across the Mediterranean Sea are quite well documented, a clearer understanding of the social dimension of this irregular transit migration is still lacking. Little is known about the social profile of irregular migrants arriving at various European shores, of their gender or age composition, their motives for migrating and especially their often traumatic experiences of clandestine border crossing. Furthermore, the political responses of the nation-states involved might vary over time in relation to increasing numbers of undocumented migrants arriving at or passing through their national territories. By narrowing down the focus of analysis to a specific geopolitical region (here the Mediterranean basin), our understanding of the phenomenon of irregular migration can be contextualized and deepened by a comparative approach.

Maynooth workshop – Roundtable discussionMaynooth workshop – Roundtable discussion

Based on empirical research with transit migrants in the Mediterranean area, the following papers were presented and discussed during the MedNet workshop:

FIRST WORKING SESSION

Jutta Lauth Bacas (Academy of Athens): The puzzle of Mediterranean transit migration.

William Kavanagh (CEU San Pablo University, Madrid): Imagining the frontier: European state borders, globalizing migration theory and the lived worlds of migrants.

Anitta Kynsilehto (University of Tampere): 'I would have never imagined travelling like this': journeys towards and across Europe.

Maynooth workshop – Paul Clough makes a pointMaynooth workshop – Paul Clough makes a point

SECOND WORKING SESSION

Paul Clough (University of Malta): Narratives of self and other in migration trajectories.

Francesco Bruno Bondanini (Universidad de Granada): Studying immigrants' identities on the frontiers of Europe.

Azita Bathaïe (University Paris Ouest Nanterre la Defense): The Afghan migrants from the frontiers of Iran to Europe.

Didem Danis (Galatasaray University): Transit migrants in Turkey shuffling between categories.

THIRD WORKING SESSION

Carlo Capello (University of Turin): The social context of hrigue: a Moroccan view

Inka Stock (University of Nottingham): Bringing up children in transit: the life of African migrant women with their children in Morocco.

Francesco Vacchiano (CRIA Lisbon): Children on the wave: minors, migration, and the new European 'southern frontier'.

Francesco La Rocca (CEMDAI, Catania): Between Libya and Europe: migrants and Italian realpolitik.

 

Athens MedNet workshop 2009Athens MedNet workshop 2009

Second workshop of the EASA Mediterraneanist Network:
Emerging Perspectives in the Anthropology of the Mediterranean Area
Athens, 5 – 7 November 2009

MedNet, the Mediterraneanist Network of EASA, held its second scientific workshop in Athens from 5 to 7 November 2009, at the École Française d’Athènes (French School at Athens). The aims of the workshop were, firstly, to organize an open forum where MedNet members could present aspects of their ongoing research projects to encourage a review of the state of the art of anthropological research of the Mediterranean area and, secondly, to intensify the growing communication structure between network members which was established during past MedNet meetings and at the very successful first MedNet workshop held at Catania, Sicily in November 2007.

This second MedNet workshop was held in cooperation with the French School at Athens, which provided its extremely pleasant venue for the two-day scientific meeting and, on the third day, organised an excursion to the archaeological site of Delphi, where MedNet members were given an excellent guided tour of the ancient ruins and the Delphi museum by Prof. Dominique Mulliez, the Director of the French School at Athens. Thanks must be given to Prof. Maria Couroucli, of the CNRS and the French School at Athens, who most ably acted as local organiser of the workshop.

Workshop programme

FIRST WORKING SESSION

Moshe Shokeid, Tel Aviv University
Center and Periphery in Israel Social Geography

Jutta Lauth Bacas, Academy of Athens
Informal networks of irregular migrants to Greece

William Kavanagh, CEU San Pablo University, Madrid
Anthropological Theorizing about Europe's frontiers
and the case of the Portuguese-Spanish border

Athens MedNet workshop – a working sessionAthens MedNet workshop – a working session

SECOND WORKING SESSION

Maria Papapavlou, University of Athens
Current research on music cultures in the Mediterranean

Marion Krüger, University of Tubingen
Flamenco between arts, ritual body practice and identity politics

ROUND TABLE

Emerging Perspectives in the Anthropology of the Mediterranean Area

Chair: Maria Couroucli, French School at Athens.
Participants: Lily Stylianoudi, Academy of Athens. Paul Clough, University of Malta. Gerasimos Makris, Panteion University, Athens

THIRD WORKING SESSION

Francesco LaRocca, University of Catania
Intangible Heritage, an Italian experience

Eva Carlestal, Linkoping University, Sweden
Processes of place making

Antonio M. Pusceddu, University of Sienna
Connecting experiences and places: social poetics of change
in an Epirote village

FOURTH WORKING SESSION

Marina Petronoti, Research Center for Social Science, Athens
Body culture and the politics of representation

Paul Clough, University of Malta
The management of African immigrants at a large Open Center:
Cultural brokerage and multi-cultural learning in Malta

FIFTH WORKING SESSION

Andromachi Oikonomou, Academy of Athens
Anthropological approaches to material culture
in a Mediterranean context: a Greek point of view

Katerina Seraïdari, Centre d’anthropologie sociale, Toulouse
Religion in the anthropology of Greece: A neglected object of study?

Eugenia Roussou, University College, London
Orthodoxy at the Crossroads: Religious Pluralism in the Greek ‘evil eye’

SIXTH WORKING SESSION

Sina Lucia Kottmann, University of Tubingen
Where cultures and religions of the Mediterranean meet: playful and serious staging of the Own and the Other on Spain's borders to Morocco

Carlo Capello, University of Turin
Al ‘Aql wa al Nafs: Embodiment, Anthropopoiesis and Religion in Morocco

Athens MedNet workshop – visit to DelphiAthens MedNet workshop – visit to Delphi

EXCURSION TO DELPHI

Guided tour of the Archeological Site and the Museum of Delphi lead by Prof. Dominique Mulliez, the Director of the French School at Athens.

Organisers:      

Jutta Lauth Bacas, Academy of Athens
William Kavanagh, CEU San Pablo University, Madrid

Local Organiser:

Maria Couroucli, CNRS and the French School at Athens

Participants

Maria Belioti, General Archives of the State, Nauplio
Jutta Lauth Bacas, Academy of Athens
Carlo Capello, University of Turin
Eva Carlestal, Linkoping University Sweden
Paul Clough, University of Malta
Maria Couroucli, French School at Athens
William Kavanagh, CEU San Pablo University, Madrid
Sina Lucia Kottmann, University of Tubingen
Marion Krüger, University of Tubingen

Athens MedNet workshop – Delphi museum Athens MedNet workshop – Delphi museum
Francesco LaRocca, University of Catania
Gerasimos Makris, Panteion University, Athens
Andromachi Oikonomou, Academy of Athens
Maria Papapavlou, University of Athens
Marina Petronoti, Research Center for Social Science, Athens
Antonio Pusceddu, University of Sienna
Elpida Rikou, High School of Fine Arts, Athens
Eugenia Roussou, University College, London
Katerina Seraïdari, Centre d’anthropologie sociale, Toulouse
Lily Stylianoudi, Academy of Athens

A selection of papers presented during the MedNet Athens workshop will be published as a special volume of the Journal of Mediterranean Studies with guest editors William Kavanagh and Jutta Lauth Bacas.

Catania MedNet workshop: keynote speaker Professor Jeremy BoissevainCatania MedNet workshop: keynote speaker Professor Jeremy Boissevain

First workshop of the EASA Mediterraneanist Network
Anthropological Views on Migration in the Mediterranean Area
Catania, 2nd – 4 th November 2007

Catania MedNet workshop: keynote speaker Professor Jeremy Boissevain

At the MedNet business meeting held on 19 September 2006 during the EASA conference at Bristol , it was suggested that MedNet organise a workshop during 2007 where members could present aspects of their ongoing research projects and discuss them with other social anthropologists doing research in the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea . This meeting – with the general title of ‘Anthropological Views on Migration in the Mediterranean Area' – was held at Catania, Sicily from 2- 4 November 2007 , hosted by C.E.M.D.A.I. , the centre for Mediterranean study of the University of Catania, whose director, Francesco La Rocca, very ably organised local arrangements for the celebration of a most successful workshop. The programme of the meeting was as follows:

OPENING SESSION

William Kavanagh, CEU San Pablo University , Madrid
Introduction

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Jeremy Boissevain, University of Amsterdam
Some of the Consequences of Tourism in Malta , 1960-2006

FIRST WORKING SESSION

Francesco La Rocca, University of Catania
The Sicilian bridge: Sicilians between nostalgia and globalization

David Zammit, University of Malta
Refugees in Limbo: Managing Time in Maltese Refugee Reception

Catania MedNet workshop: one of the working sessions Catania MedNet workshop: one of the working sessions

SECOND WORKING SESSION

Moshe Shokeid, University of Tel Aviv
Jewish Immigrants from the Atlas Mountains and from Ethiopia : Destinies Apart

Dorothee Louise Zinn, University of Basilicata
Immigration in Italy :  The View from Immigrant Writings

Rino Fichera, University of Catania
Immigration and health problems:Experiences and trends on Immigration, asylum seekers, sans- papiers and hints for improving related strategies

Carlo Cappello, University of Catania
Illegality and Immigration

THIRD WORKING SESSION

Jutta Lauth Bacas , Academy of Athens , Greece
Managing irregular immigration by sea in Greece

Annamaria Amitrano, University of Palermo
Human rights and compatibles developments

Elisabetta Di Giovanni, University of Palermo
Rom community in Palermo : not-inclusive dynamics

Paolo Palmeri, University of Rome
Globalization and illegal flows in Italy

Catania MedNet workshop: excursion to Mount EtnaCatania MedNet workshop: excursion to Mount Etna

EXCURSION TO MOUNT ETNA

Organized by the CEMDAI Center for Mediterranean Study

Organisers

Jutta Lauth Bacas, Athens ; William Kavanagh, Madrid

Local Organiser

Francesco La Rocca, Catania

Participants

Annamaria Amitrano, Palermo
Jutta Lauth Bacas, Athens
Jeremy Boissevain, Amsterdam
Carlo Cappello, Catania
Giampaolo Catelli, Catania
Elisabetta Di Giovanni, Palermo
Rino Fichera, Palermo
Francesco La Rocca, Catania
William Kavanagh, Madrid
Paolo Palmeri, Rome
Moshe Shokeid, Tel Aviv
David Zammit, Malta
Dorothee Lousie Zinn, Basilicata