Institute for Research into Superdiversity has just published the second part of Nando Sigona's interview with professor Cecilia Menjivar, 113th President-Elect of the American Sociological Association on #migration, #Covid19, the Trump administration and the fragility of migrant lives. It concludes with a reflection on the role of sociologists in times of #fakenews and #post-truth. https://youtu.be/afYxtY_UtX0
Trump, Covid-19 and the fragility of migrant lives – Conversations with Iris #15
The new episode of Conversations with Iris is the first part of a dialogue between Prof Nando Sigona, Director of IRiS, and Cecilia Menjívar, Professor of Sociology at UCLA and President-Elect of the American Sociological Association- ASA on the impact of the #Trump administration and #Covid-19 on migrant lives. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyUmg7lKRhY&t With legal status for immigrants... Continue Reading →
Bolsonaro, Covid-19 and Black Lives Matter: the politics of lockdown in Brazil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjopvgyNGyw In Episode #14 of Conversations with IRiS, Dr Andrea Poleto Oltramari and Dr Josiane Silva de Oliveira discuss the racialised and gendered effects of Covid-19 in Brazil. The Conversation was recorded at the end of June 2020. Dr Andrea Poleto Oltramari, Associate Professor at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul and Visiting... Continue Reading →
Black Lives Matter — Is This A Turning Point?
By Nicholas Bailey (@imnickbailey) and Nando Sigona (@nandosigona), University of Birmingham https://www.facebook.com/unibirmingham/videos/310858256686260/ BLM became something very different from its previous incarnation on the day George Floyd died. It transitioned from social organisation to symbolising a societal ideal. By any definition, 2020 has been a dramatic year. It was already the year of Australian bushfires, the... Continue Reading →
Care workers, our heroes: a double edged sword
Care work and domestic labour is the main theme of this episode of Conversations with IRiS. Our guests are two scholars who have investigated closely the intersection of gender and migration for many years. https://youtu.be/Hwr7eXmxqvU "Care workers, our heroes: a double edged sword", Episode 11 of Conversations with Iris Nina Sahraoui is a Post-doctoral Researcher... Continue Reading →
My escape from COVID-19: Turkey’s emergency return programme for Turkish citizens abroad
By Bircan Ciytak (PhD student, University of Birmingham) On April 15, 2020, the Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu stated that, as part of the Covid-19 return program, around 25 thousand Turkish citizens from 70 countries, the majority of whom are students, were flown back to Turkey and kept in quarantine upon arrival for 14 days... Continue Reading →
Coping with Covid 19 in an Italian reception centre: IRiS talks to Melash Zeleke
https://youtu.be/x4ndXtrSMyI Melash Zeleke is originally from Ethiopia, not sighted asylum seeker currently living in a reception centre in Rome, Italy. He tells Natasha Nicholls and Annavittoria Sarli (IRiS) about his story and his life in Rome before and after the lockdown. This conversation took place on Thursday 7th May 2020. On 4th May, after a... Continue Reading →
Coronavirus crisis ‘increases suffering of most vulnerable refugees’, new IRIS report reveals
The Covid-19 pandemic is exacerbating the existing vulnerabilities of the world’s refugees and internally displaced people, according to a report by theInstitute for Research into Superdiversity at the University of Birmingham and Refugee Women Connect. Research has revealed that many undocumented migrants were anxious about seeking medical help – fearful of being reported to immigration... Continue Reading →
What Hannah Arendt can teach us about work in the time of Covid-19, Lyndsey Stonebridge in The New Statesman
According to the government, we are now supposed to be getting back to work. But what does “work” mean in the time of Covid-19? Lyndsey Stonebridge asks in her latest contribution in The New Statesman.
#IAMESPOIR: Espoir Njei in conversation with Dawn River
This is the recording of a conversation between Espoir Njei and Dawn River. The conversation took place on Tuesday 28th April 2020 - approx. one month into lockdown. Espoir and Dawn built a friendship through their shared commitment to supporting LGBTIQ migrants fleeing persecution. Espoir is a lesbian asylum seeker from the Cameroon currently in... Continue Reading →