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Month: December 2014

Potential famine among Syrian refugees has far-reaching implications for the Middle East

Erik van Ommering   Last week around 1.7 million refugees from Syria received the following text message on their cellphones:

“We deeply regret that WFP has not yet received funds to reload your blue card for food for December 2014. We will inform you by SMS as soon as funding is received and we can resume food assistance”

The message was sent by the World Food Program (WFP), one of the UN agencies that has played a vital role in supporting refugees from Syria in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Egypt. Hosting refugees “in the region” has been a key policy pursued by the Netherlands and other countries. Accordingly they seek to both provide aid in efficient manners and discourage refugees from seeking asylum inside, for instance, the European Union.

Purchasing basic food items in a Lebanese grocery story (photo by WFP, link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/69583224@N05/8713978464/in/set-72157633416163971)
Purchasing basic food items in a Lebanese grocery, © WFP

As refugees register in their respective host countries, they receive a special credit card (the ‘blue card’) that is charged monthly by the WFP with the amount of USD 30, enabling refugees to purchase basic food items in selected grocery stores. For many who own little more than the clothes they wore as they fled the brutalities of Syria’s war, this support has proved indispensable. Its suspension may therefore spur catastrophe.

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Unilever Researchprijs voor thesis over Marokkaanse vrouwen en chronische pijn

Emmaly Berghuis    Op 27 november heb ik samen met twaalf andere studenten van Nederlandse universiteiten de Unilever Research prijs in ontvangst mogen nemen voor mijn masteronderzoek naar chronische pijn onder Marokkaanse vrouwen. Op de feestelijk verzorgde middag in het hoofdgebouw van Unilever in Vlaardingen hielden we posterpresentaties en kwam minister Jet Bussemaker van Onderwijs langs om ons toe te spreken.

Emmaly met haar begeleiders Edien Bartels (l) en Ina Keuper (r). © Nanning Barendsz

 

 

Over het veldwerk heb ik al verslag gedaan op Standplaatswereld. Mijn onderzoek ging over Marokkaanse vrouwen met pijn waarvan de oorzaak onduidelijk is. Vaak is dit pijn in de nek, schouders, rug, knieën en/of voeten. Deze vrouwen zijn ondervertegenwoordigd in therapieën en haken ook geregeld af met behandeling. Ik ben nagegaan hoe migrantenvrouwen betekenis geven aan chronische pijn vanuit een transnationaal perspectief. Daarmee bedoel ik dat deze vrouwen op heel wezenlijke, praktische of emotionele manieren verbonden zijn met meerdere leefwerelden die sterk kunnen verschillen. Ze onderhouden dagelijks contact met familie in het thuisland, door naar hun zorgen te luisteren, geld te sturen, of door daar op vakanties te gaan. Als migrante uit Marokko zoek je betekenis vanuit deze voor anderen min of meer gescheiden leefwerelden. Hoe zoeken migrantenvrouwen naar betekenis als het gaat om chronische pijn? In de verschillende leefwerelden bestaan eigen regels en verwachtingen ook ten aanzien van pijn. De conclusie van mijn onderzoek was dat ‘pijngedrag’ te maken heeft met het voortdurend navigeren tussen meerdere opvattingen over pijn uit verschillende leefwerelden.

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Kinship and Taboo: Three Stories about Two Brothers and One Territory

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A hooligan attacks Albanian players during the Serbia-Albania football match, photo retrieved December 2 2014, Nazionale Calcio, via Flickr Creative Commons Attribution

Krisztina Rácz     On October 14, the Serbia-Albania football game made it to the news worldwide. The reason was not the excellent game but rather the fact that during the match a drone, or more precisely a banner with a map attached to a drone, was flown around in the stadium. It is a matter of dispute whether the map represents merely territories where Albanians live, or the politically charged Greater Albania; one would assume though that it is the latter because for instance Italy, a country with a large Albanian emigrant population, is missing from it, but it does include Kosovo, among other territories. With the flying of the drone in the stadium things got out of control: one of the Serbian players caught the banner, some of the Albanians players tried to take it away him, and then football fans (or hooligans, depending on the interpretation) joined the fight on the pitch. Very few Albanian football supporters were involved in the incident since they were banned from entering the stadium in the first place, due to security risks. When the referee instructed the players to leave the pitch, the police did not secure the Albanian players’ exit, so they literally escaped from the stadium amidst Serbian hooligans shouting “Kill, slaughter, so that Albanians don’t exist!” at them (in Serbian this scansion rhymes, and instead of ‘Albanian’ other ethnic denotations can be inserted, most often ‘Croats’). The person accused of flying the drone was held up for interrogation, but eventually released. The reason why he was not even officially detained for questioning is unclear: Serbian media report that it was because upon the request to identify himself he presented his passport, which was of the USA instead of Albania. It is not clear why this would prevent detention, but what is known is that the person in question, who allegedly controlled the drone from the VIP box, is Olsi Rama, brother of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vu?i? characterized the incident as a provocation. Serbian law has no provisions against taking drones into stadiums, however. Several days later the UEFA ruled that the official result of the match was 3:0 for Serbia, but Serbia was punished by having its 3 points taken away. Neither of the countries is satisfied with the result. Mr Rama’s official visit to Belgrade, planned for 22 October, was cancelled until further notice.

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