Author: chakravs@newschool.edu

July 2019 Newsletter

THE CRIMINAL IMMIGRANT: MYTH, ENEMY, ICON (PART 3 of 4) BY: JEN EVANS “Nowadays, crime’s gone respectable.” These were the words of Captain James Hamilton, Head of Intelligence for the Los Angeles Police Department, as he described the Italian-American Mafia to Ian Fleming circa 1959.1 In his travels to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, and …

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June 2019 Newsletter

MAKING SENSE OF HISTORY: CANADA’S NATIONAL MUSEUM BY: SUMITA S. CHAKRAVARTY At a time of increasing fragmentation of civic life and thought in many western societies, it is instructive to ponder the role of national museums in articulating a culture’s collective history, goals, and aspirations. Museums, like sports, are perhaps the mediated experiences still remaining …

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July 2018 Newsletter

Both projects were conceived and executed in a class called The Cinematic Place, taught by the late Deanna Kamiel, who passed away on June 16th. There has been an outpouring of heartfelt tributes from students who were touched by Kamiel’s dedicated service as a professor, and these two projects are products of one of her …

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June 2018 Newsletter

    Despite the tendency for things to slow down during the Summer, the work being done surrounding issues related to migration seems to be just ramping up. It seems like there are endless opportunities to contribute or discuss, but where to start? In an era of information oversaturation, and a deluge of political movements, …

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April 2018 Newsletter

Migration is not just happening across national borders; it is also a risky move forced on women within the United States. I am referring to migratory practice related to the need to have an abortion that some women face. In an assessment published at the beginning of 2018, The Guttmacher Institute, a leading research and …

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February 2018 Newsletter

Immigrant stories have increased greatly over the past fews years, seeming to be only encouraged by the 2016 election and current political climate. Years ago, having immigrant characters at all was considered transgressive. They had to be used sparingly, and with vagueness surrounding their background. This often resulted in some pretty offensive portrayals. Frustratingly, even …

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Ghosts, ruins and forced migration: the 2017 Australian Venice Biennale exhibition opens

An exhibition of work by artist Tracey Moffatt has opened at the permanent Australian pavilion in Venice as part of the 2017 International Art Exhibition, or Art Biennale. Moffatt is the first Indigenous artist to represent Australia in Venice since 1997. Housed in the permanent Australian pavilion designed by Denton Corker Marshall that opened in 2015, My Horizon comprises two …

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Art in the UAE: the exhibitions and installations to look out for in 2018

This solo show by Venezuelan artist Alessandro Balteo-Yazbeck takes up the question of refugees, arguing that human rights NGOs and charities have developed into a full-blown industry, with their own marketing and propaganda techniques. Working as an artist and a researcher, Balteo- Yazbeck proposes that governments and NGOs use human tragedies, such as the migration …

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How Architects Can Design ‘Coherent and Peaceful Cities’

Diébédo Francis Kéré designed the next National Assembly building to reflect the reality of life in Ouagadougou. The design by the Berlin-based architect (and Burkina Faso native) is open and transparent, a pyramid whose façade doubles as a public space. The plans include terraces that celebrate (and demonstrate) the country’s agricultural achievements. Low-slung and marked …

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Ankledeep by Lubaina Himid

Ankledeep was completed in 1991 in Preston, where Himid lives and works. It is part of a series entitled Revenge: A Masque in Five Tableaux that the artist finished in 1992 and first exhibited that same year at Rochdale Art Gallery. The series comprises twelve works (ten paintings, an installation and a drawing on paper) that include figurative …

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January 2018 Newsletter

In June 2011, a lengthy essay by journalist Jose Antonio Vargas was published in The New York Times Magazine. It was titled “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant.” In the essay, Vargas talks about the complicated logistical aspects of succeeding in America while undocumented, but it is his insight into the psychological impact of feeling …

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European citizens want information on migration – not higher walls

Despite being bombarded with headlines about the “migrant crisis” facing Europe, little is really known about how European citizens perceive and experience migration in their daily lives. As part of our ongoing research we’ve found that rather than linking “irregular” migration with fears of terrorism, EU citizens have a more nuanced position on border security. The people …

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DHS adds social media to immigration files

The Department of Homeland Security announced Sept. 18 that it was adding social media and other public-facing information to its immigration records. The move has generated alarm among privacy activists and generated a flurry of comments in the normally sleepy public docket. Essentially, DHS announced that it was redefining what constitutes an official immigration file, expanding the scope of …

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Zimbabwe created a new ministry to monitor social media. But most Zimbabweans don’t want government monitoring.

In a highly anticipated reshuffling of cabinet appointments last week, Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, created a new ministry of “Cyber Security, Threat Detection and Mitigation,” to be led by former finance minister Patrick Chinamasa. The government claims the ministry was created because of growing abuse of social media, including cyberbullying. But observers claim that the real reason is to clamp …

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The refugee crisis captured in haunting detail using infrared cameras

The Irish artist spent two years capturing the journeys of migrants into Europe using the camera, which can detect a human body from 30km and identify an individual from 6.3km. As the equipment is subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, Mosse hired lawyers to obtain an export document for each trip. “The camera was designed …

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November 2017 Newsletter

In a Ted Talk, Chris Milk calls virtual reality the “ultimate empathy machine” and he is not the only one who has taken note of the possibilities this technology holds; possibilities that non-interactive media such as traditional cinema or fine art cannot offer. The immigrant experience is one that is a part of most American …

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List of academic conferences on migration (2016-2017)

2016–17 “MIGRATION AND COMMUNICATION FLOWS: RETHINKING BORDERS, CONFLICT AND IDENTITY THROUGH THE DIGITAL” November 2-3 2017 – Bilbao, Spain “We are faced with a crisis of humanity, and the only exit from this crisis is to recognize our growing interdependence as a species and to find new ways to live together in solidarity and cooperation, …

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Why migrants need social citizenship

Prominent political philosophers — including David Miller at Nuffield College, Oxford, and Joseph Carens at the University of Toronto — outline an account of “social membership” in receiving societies. This process unfolds over five to 10 years of work, everyday life, and the development of attachments. As Carens writes in Who Should Get In?(2003), after a period of years, …

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UNHCR steps up efforts towards alternatives to detention in Libya and solutions for vulnerable refugees

UNHCR is currently negotiating with the Libyan authorities the establishment of an open reception centre that would allow refugees and asylum seekers freedom of movement, giving priority to the most vulnerable among them. In this reception centre, UNHCR could provide registration, accommodation, food, social services, counselling and support to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, …

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‘It symbolises a lack of integration’ Fury as anti-migration ad condemns burka in poster

Posters have appeared in railway stations around the country which feature a woman in a burka with the slogan: “Uncontrolled naturalisation? No to facilitated naturalisation”. The poster was commissioned by a group of politicians working against the vote, led by Andreas Glarner of the right-wing People’s Party. National Councillor of the Zurich Canton Rosmarie Quadranti …

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Norway And Belgium Become Latest Nations To Plead With Migrants To Stay At Home

Norway has taken out a front-page advertisement in a major Afghan newspaper warning would-be migrants that potential asylum seekers “will be returned by force”, while the Belgian asylum secretary has written directly to migrants asking them not to come. “Afghans without need for asylum coming the #Arctic_route from #Russia, risk being sent to #Kabul. 500 returned …

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List of academic conferences on migration (2013-2015)

2015 “MIGRATION, MEDIA AND INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE,” 25-26 NOVEMBER 2015, UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSITY, BARCELONA “TRANSIENT MIGRATION IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC: IDENTITIES, SOCIAL NETWORKS AND MEDIA,” 12 NOVEMBER 2015, RMIT UNIVERSITY, MELBOURNE “MANAGING BORDERS,” 3-4 APRIL 2015, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK “GENDER, CULTURE & MIGRATION,” 6-7 MARCH 2015, UNIVERSITY OF GDANSK, POLAND 2014 “DETERMINANTS OF INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION,” 23–25 …

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List of academic articles on migration (1981 to 2016)

2011-2016 Scott Blinder and William L. Allen. “Constructing Immigrants: Portrayals of Migrant Groups in British National Newspapers, 2010–2012.” International Migration Review. Spring 2016. Shepard, Mark. “Minor Urbanism: Everyday Entanglements of Technology and Urban Life”Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, 2013 (v 27, no. 4), 483 – 494 BECK, Ulrich AND DANIEL LEVY, “COSMOPOLITANIZED NATIONS: RE-IMAGINING COLLECTIVITY IN WORLD RISK …

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List of academic books on migration (1890s to 2012)

2011-12 CELIK, IPEK A. IN PERMANENT CRISIS: ETHNICITY IN CONTEMPORARY EUROPEAN MEDIA AND CINEMA. ANN ARBOR: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PRESS, 2015. MARTIN, Susan. A NATION OF IMMIGRANTS. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2012. MOORE, KERRY, BERNHARD GROSS AND TERRY THREADGOLD. EDS. MIGRATIONS AND THE MEDIA. NY: PETER LANG, 2012. JONES, Amelia. SEEING DIFFERENTLY: A HISTORY AND THEORY OF IDENTIFICATION AND THE VISUAL …

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Article: George Lipsitz, The Meaning of Memory (1986)

American Studies scholar George Lipsitz’s article The Meaning of Memory: Family, Class, and Ethnicity in Early Network Television Programs (1986) examines how the “historical specificity of early network television programs led their creators into dangerous ideological terrain”. “The presence of this subgenre of ethnic, working-class situation comedies on television network schedules seems to run contrary …

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Publication: Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives (1890)

How the Other Half Lives (1890) was a pioneering work of photojournalism by Jacob Riis. The publication documented the poor living conditions in New York City slums in the 1880s. “Nothing would probably have shocked their original owners more than the idea of their harboring a promiscuous crowd; for they were the decorous homes of …

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The Emigration Museum

– Sumita Chakravarty A brand-new and impressive Emigration Museum in Gydnia, Poland overlooks the Baltic Sea, conjuring up for the visitor the scene of countless departures of Poles for other shores over the past three centuries. As the museum’s brochure informs us, 20 million Poles are currently living abroad, and the Polish diaspora is the …

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Immigration and National Security: Moving Beyond 9/11

Two reports from the Center for Immigration Studies are discussed; Janice Kepharts’s “Immigration & Terrorism: Moving Beyond the 9/11 Staff Report on Terrorist Travel” and James R. Edwards’ “Keeping Extremist Out: The History of Ideological Exclusion and Need For Its Revival.” Both reports are centered on efforts to prevent further attacks on American soil and …

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Black Girl (1966)

Black Girl (1966) “Black Girl is a 1966 film by the Senegalese writer and director Ousmane Sembène, starring Mbissine Thérèse Diop. Its original French title is La Noire de…, which means “The black girl of…”, as in “someone’s black girl”. The film centers on a young Senegalese woman who moves from Senegal to France to …

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Death by Hanging (1968)

A clinically presented series of stark white, unembellished placards illustrates the sobering statistical data for the overwhelming public sentiment against the abolition of the death penalty as an off-screen narrator (Nagisa Oshima) provides a snide, but impassioned rebuttal to popular opinion by presenting a objective documentary of the austere and impersonal milieu associated with the …

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Influences on Architectural Character

During the Colonial period, the English dominated settlement in New England, the Dutch in New York and New Jersey, the Germans in Pennsylvania, the Scandinavians in Delaware, and the French along the lake and river system of what was then the Western frontier. The patterns of westward migration of these groups established paths of architectural influence throughout the region. “The English established …

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Stranger Than Paradise (1984)

Stranger Than Paradise (1984) Rootless Hungarian immigrant Willie (John Lurie), his pal Eddie (Richard Edson), and visiting sixteen-year-old cousin Eva (Eszter Balint) always manage to make the least of any situation, whether aimlessly traversing the drab interiors and environs of New York City, Cleveland, or an anonymous Florida suburb. With its delicate humor and dramatic …

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My American Dream, How Democracy Works Now (2010)

How Democracy Works Now: Twelve Stories (2010) The documentary contains multiple, in-depth portraits that are weaved together to illustrate the full-blown social movement. It offers a window into the process of social change in a democracy, into the roots of immigration’s place in our culture and national identity and into the ability of the machinery …

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In Between Days (2007)

In Between Days (2007) A quiet specimen of personal storytelling at its most exciting, In Between Days intimately portrays the joys and risks of first love and burgeoning adulthood with bracing and undeniable honesty. Aimie (Jiseon Kim) is a teenager recently transplanted from her native South Korea to a snowbound North American city. Disconnected from her single …

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Well Founded Fear (2000)

Well Founded Fear (2000) This 2000 documentary is an unprecedented inside look at the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), award-winning filmmakers Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini take their cameras behind locked doors, where bureaucrats decide the fates of thousands of asylum-seekers each year. To be granted asylum, applicants must demonstrate a “well-founded fear” that their …

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The passing of Stuart Hall

For many across the globe, Stuart Hall’s name is synonymous with Cultural Studies, an interdisciplinary field of inquiry that he helped establish. An immigrant from Jamaica to Britain in the early 1950s, Hall’s work was deeply immersed in the political and cultural climate of his adopted country throughout his long career as scholar and teacher, …

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Shenandoah

David Turnley’s powerful and moving documentary, Shenandoah, tells the story of a small, coal mining Pennsylvania town of that name in which an illegal Mexican immigrant was attacked and killed by a group of white teenagers in 2008. An exploration of the uneasy admixture of fear and hate with patriotism and group loyalty, the film …

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