Suchergebnisse

Abstract
Despite some improvement to the lives of Palestinians through human rights activism, this article argues that the legal regime governing Occupied Territories, combined with a rigid legalized conception and application of human rights, limits the ability to achieve human rights protections for those living under prolonged military occupations. Drawing on a critique of liberal legalism, this article will identify four key barriers to change through an analysis of court cases and human rights reports in the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinians. It will trace key shifts in human rights organizations in Israel and Palestine, which seek to overcome these limitations in an effort to secure long-term human rights for Palestinians.

As a consequence of international migration, religion has returned – if it had ever disappeared – as an important group boundary in contemporary society. This is evident in research on attitudes and social contacts that repeatedly shows social segregation and negative stereotyping particularly between Muslims and non-Muslims, but also between religious and non-religious individuals. The research outlined in this inaugural lecture focuses on the question under what conditions this group boundary becomes stronger, and when it takes on a more symbolic character or fades altogether. Drawing on large-scale survey research I aim to establish when people with a migration background can identify with and participate in European societies that are prevalently secular but where an anti-Islamic discourse is strong. What role do length of stay and intergroup friendship relations play in this process? I will argue that in addition to counting practice frequencies and the importance of religion, we need to better understand the different meanings that immigrants derive from their religion to get a grip on how and why religion acts as a social boundary in contemporary society.

AbstractThis contribution to the special issue on religion and migration reviews two decades of large-scale survey research on changes in immigrant religion and the relationship between immigrants' level of religiosity and their integration into European societies. The body of work reveals that Muslims in European societies stand out due to their comparatively high levels of religiosity and greater stability in religiosity over time and across immigrant generations. While the comparative picture is rather clear, findings regarding the long-term trend in Muslims' religiosity and its association with immigrant integration are instead inconclusive. A systematic review of empirical studies of the association of (various indicators of) individual religiosity with immigrant integration reveals positive, negative and non-significant results for all outcomes and domains. Thus, based on the current state of art it is hard to assess whether and why religion forms a bridge or barrier to immigrant integration in Europe. To move the field forward, the contribution ends with a twofold proposal for a research agenda that includes a broadened empirical scope, moving beyond the focus on Sunni Muslims, and a conceptual extension that focuses on differences in reasoning about religion and religious meaning-making as additional, potentially more consistent and more powerful explanation for immigrants' social relations and positions in their new societies

In the summer of 2015, an extraordinary number of German residents felt an urge to provide help to refugees. Doing good, however, is not as simple and straightforward as it might appear. Practices of solidarity are intertwined with questions of power. They are situated, relative and contested, unfolding in an ambivalent space between humanitarianism and political activism. This ethnographic account of the German »welcome culture« provides insights into the contested practices, imaginaries, interests and politics of refugee solidarity. Drawing on works from critical migration studies to social anthropology, Larissa Fleischmann develops an empirically grounded understanding of solidarity in migration societies.

''Ne Win's Burma - After Ne Win'': Many people may resent this title claiming that the "era after Ne Win" has not begun as yet because the now probably 71-year-old U Ne Win may have stepped down as President of State but still retains the (more?) powerful position of Chairman of the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), the one and only legitimate party in the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma. There are good reasons in such a claim. Nevertheless, I think that the era after Ne Win has eventually started with Ne Win retiring from day-to-day politics and that there is a good chance that the transition of power may be as smooth as Ne Win expects it to occur.

In the summer of 2015, an extraordinary number of German residents felt an urge to provide help to refugees. Doing good, however, is not as simple and straightforward as it might appear. Practices of solidarity are intertwined with questions of power. They are situated, relative and contested, unfolding in an ambivalent space between humanitarianism and political activism. This ethnographic account of the German »welcome culture« provides insights into the contested practices, imaginaries, interests and politics of refugee solidarity. Drawing on works from critical migration studies to social anthropology, Larissa Fleischmann develops an empirically grounded understanding of solidarity in migration societies.

Several global reports have concluded that natural resource extraction at its current levels is unsustainable and will lead to rapid erosion of the environment and tax global economic growth. One of the alternative paradigms to conserve those resources is the Circular Economy, a system driven by innovation that extends the utility of products as long as possible through a series of strategies that re-use resources. Design can act as a bridging tool and a catalyst for the innovation demanded by the Circular Economy because of its flexibility as a problem-solving discipline. The intermediary role of design can adapt to the complex requirements of Circular Economy stakeholders who want to shift their way of doing business to a more sustainable model, despite formidable policy, economic, cultural and political obstacles. The author explores the evolution and utility of design from a discipline that shapes objects to one that constructs and facilitates complex systems of interactions among collaborators, which in the Circular Economy includes consumers, manufacturers, logistics companies, governments, business and science entrepreneurs. Several examples of design's role in this facilitative process are presented that showcase the power of design to drive social and cultural transformations and re-cast industrial and business processes. Sustainable innovation is the centrepiece of the Circular Economy and design has a significant role to play in its adoption, particularly from a human-centred perspective that can address formidable constraints to its implementation.

In the summer of 2015, an extraordinary number of German residents felt an urge to provide help to refugees. Doing good, however, is not as simple and straightforward as it might appear. Practices of solidarity are intertwined with questions of power. They are situated, relative and contested, unfolding in an ambivalent space between humanitarianism and political activism. This ethnographic account of the German "welcome culture" provides insights into the contested practices, imaginaries, interests and politics of refugee solidarity. Drawing on works from critical migration studies to social anthropology, Larissa Fleischmann develops an empirically grounded understanding of solidarity in migration societies.

In the summer of 2015, an extraordinary number of German residents felt an urge to provide help to refugees. Doing good, however, is not as simple and straightforward as it might appear. Practices of solidarity are intertwined with questions of power. They are situated, relative and contested, unfolding in an ambivalent space between humanitarianism and political activism. This ethnographic account of the German "welcome culture" provides insights into the contested practices, imaginaries, interests and politics of refugee solidarity. Drawing on works from critical migration studies to social anthropology, the author develops an empirically grounded understanding of solidarity in migration societies.