refugees – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

Brexitannia: The Faces and Voices of Brexit

First shown at London’s East End Festival in June of 2017, Brexitannia was the very first documentary about Brexit. It is a striking and deeply pensive film, in contrast with the Brexit movie reviewed in the previous article. Brexitannia (2017) is a superb documentary that is remarkable for its sensitivity, balance, and the ability to […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Anthropologists and “Illegal Immigrants”

In this second of two recent articles on migration I examine the writings of three anthropologists— Nicholas P. De Genova, Andrew Kipnis, and Luis F.B. Plascencia—concerning usage of the phrase “illegal immigrant”. The problem of labelling migrant workers is not one that anthropologists invented, but it certainly is one they take seriously, as they should. […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Open Borders, Global Citizenship, and the Working Class

In this and the next article I will discuss some of the politically contentious issues surrounding what some of us call “illegal immigration,” with reference to the works of three anthropologists—Andrew Kipnis, Nicholas De Genova, and Luis F.B. Plascencia—and the commentaries they sometimes make of each other’s arguments. This is a promised continuation from two […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Immigration and Capital

Immigration, rightly or wrongly, has been marched to the frontline of current political struggles in Europe and North America. Whether exaggerated or accurate, the role of immigration is situated as a central factor in the Brexit referendum in the UK, and the rise of the “America First” Trump movement in the US. It seems impossible […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Wall: A Monument to the Nation-State

Reaction against globalization often takes a visceral nationalist turn in many parts of the globe, no less in the US where the impacts of globalization are increasingly registered as an increased “Third Worldization” of large parts of the society and economy. The nationalist reaction to peripheralization within the centre takes shape in ideas of “taking […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

(New Book) Force Multipliers: The Instrumentalities of Imperialism

From ALERT PRESS: Click here to order a printed copy, or, Click here for the free e-book (pdf) Friends and allies, partners and protégés, extensions and proxies—the vocabulary of US power in the form of multiples of itself has become so entrenched that it rarely attracts attention, and even less so critical commentary. Force multiplication […]

by M. Jamil Hanifi

Anthropology and the Representation of Migrations from Afghanistan

[This is a paper that was originally published under the title of “Anthropology and the Representation of Recent Migrations from Afghanistan,” as it appeared in Rethinking Refuge and Displacement: Selected Papers on Refugees and Immigrants, Volume VIII, 2000. Arlington, VA: American Anthropological Association. Eds. E. M. Godziak and D. J. Shandy. Pp. 291-321. Given the […]