Thursday, November 2, 202312:15 PM - 1:45 PM
Haines Hall, Rm 352
Abstract
Eritreans experience a paradox: Global North countries recognize Eritreans as international refugees while simultaneously expending considerable resources to block Eritreans’ movement. This blocking, in turn, makes possible the extreme predation and violence that many experience in transit. At the same time, Eritreans are criminalized as alleged perpetrators of human smuggling and trafficking and surveilled once they arrive in Europe. Thus, I argue that asylum should be conceptualized beyond the moment of legal recognition; rather, the phenomenon ought to be understood as a social and political process, replete with conflicting moral, political, and material demands and interests. The experience of Eritreans migrating to Europe demonstrates the often-contradictory politics and policies that frame asylum in contemporary Europe, politics and policies that not only oscillate between compassion and repression (Fassin 2013), but also engage fundamental questions around race, the colonial past, and the meaning of the European project itself, as the EU partners with North African and Sub-Saharan regimes to arrest migrant mobilities.
About the speaker
Dr. Fiori Berhane broadly researches the ways in which African refugees challenge discursive and legal-juridical frameworks that undergird the Central Mediterranean crossing. She studies the ways in which Eritrean refugee activists engage with colonial, post-colonial and neo-colonial policies and embedded histories in Italy within efforts to redress multi-modal violence.
Venue
Haines Hall 352
375 Portola Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Parking
Parking for Haines Hall is available in Parking Structure 4 located at: 221 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095. Parking at UCLA requires a valid permit at all times. Campus parking is available 24-hours a day at varying prices. Visit UCLA Visitor Parking for information about where to park and how to pay.
Sponsor(s): UCLA Anthropology Culture, Power, Social Change