Publikationen

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected refugees and their protection? To respond to this question, Nadine Segadlo, Ulrike Krause, Franzisca Zanker, Hannah Edler conducted a study using a qualitative questionnaire in six countries in East Africa, Southern Africa and West Africa, namely Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. In this paper, they explore the information provided by the 90 respondents and focus on three main areas.

The consequences of threat constructions and security-dominated politics in many Asian states and regions have been all too apparent recently: The invocation of “security” and the often violent practices of security agents constitute a powerful “key mode of governing”. In offering various empirical studies guided by the pragmatic frameworks of securitisation and Critical Security Studies, this Special Issue (edited by Werner Distler) aims at deconstructing security as a governing mode in the Asian context.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic migrant communities have become immobile–stuck in the destination countries, or unable to continue their journeys in transit or in origin countries. This project brings together a collection of essays that seek to spell out how migrant communities in the Global South, namely in Mexico, Nepal, Qatar and Zimbabwe, have been affected by, and reacted to the pandemic.

In this article, the author gives an example for how particular policies during COVID19 in Qatar have affected the lives of migrants there, and in their countries of origin. Originally aimed at improving the conditions of migrant communities in Qatar, the Wage Protection System has further restricted the mobility of these communities.

COVID-19’s impact on migrants has now been well noted in Nepal, as well. This article starts with a discussion about whether/how the ongoing pandemic has altered trajectories and ambitions of current and aspiring migrants and their spouses who remain in Nepal. It then reflects on the pre-COVID migration policies of Nepal and analyses what policy/programme shifts might be needed to address the new situation.

In this article, the author shows how the Pandemic aggravated the already precarious conditions of migrants. When the Pandemic started in Mexico, the authorities were already upgrading their migration control measurements on several levels. Deeper coordination with the Trump Administration, suspension of asylum processes in the USA, militarization of the migration management and bureaucratic institutions in Mexico, have all been taking place simultaneously by March 2020.

For years, migrants from Zimbabwe have been undergoing xenophobic policies and discourses in South Africa and Botswana. This article demonstrates how the South African government has utilized the pandemic to further feed into these policies and discourses. From official statements to social media campaigns, the pandemic has been used as an opportunity for South Africa first discourse to grow and “coronationalism” to emerge, while depicting migrant communities, especially from Zimbabwe, as a risk to the public health.

Andreas Mehler, Denis M. Tull and Miriam Glund have recently published a workingpaper in which they examine the motivations that underpin the organisation and dynamics of political dialogue in responding to political crisis in Africa. For this they explored comparatively the two recent cases Mali and Cameroon.

Helga Dickow, Nadia Beider and Yonatan Gez wrote a paper in response to the scarcity of literature on “religious nones” - who are not affiliated with any religious tradition - in sub-Saharan Africa, offering an overview of this understudied subject and pointing towards avenues for future research.

"New Area Studies and Southeast Asia" is the title of the recently published issue of the International Quarterly for Asian Studies, edited by Claudia Derichs, Jörn Dosch, Conrad Schetter and Uwe Skoda.

This working paper presents the experiences of four individual researchers who introspect on issues of insiderness, outsiderness and privilege in academia. Those researchers are from different regions of the world and with different positionalities, who carry out research in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. All of them are currently based at the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute.

"Urban Poetics and Politics in Asia, Part II" is the title of the recently published issue of the International Quarterly for Asian Studies, edited by Claudia Derichs, Jörn Dosch, Conrad Schetter, Uwe Skoda.

"Perspectives on Field Research in Security-Sensitive Spaces - Insights from China and the Southern Mediterranean Area" is the title of the recently published working paper by Julia Gurol and Cita Wetterich.