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As mentioned in the introduction, the empirical analyses presented in this book are based on the material gathered in my research conducted in 2014–2015 within the Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship SAST. In total, 80 individual in-depth interviews and questionnaires were undertaken with 40 post-accession Polish migrants in the UK and 40 post-2004 Ukrainian migrants to Poland legally residing there (see the Appendix, Tables 1 and 2 ). The participants needed to meet a selection criterion of not having a local spouse or life partner, to
I introduced some participants in Chapter 1 . Diane and Misha came from one part of the city I call Hill district and Rachel from Church district. In this chapter I introduce the districts and describe the methods I used to conduct the fieldwork this book is based on. The approach to gathering knowledge I use is interpretivist and the methodology is to research with an ethnographic sensibility. For readers unfamiliar with ethnographic methods or wanting to read more, I have included additional detail about the methods in the Appendix. For readers not
, stating that they wanted to tell their story, that they wanted it to be heard (see Scene 3 ). The focus of the field research was twofold: processes and encounters. As suggested in Chapter 1 , this means moving beyond top-down or bottom-up approaches in favour of ‘studying through’ (Wright and Reinhold 2011 ) citizenisation and naturalisation processes, shedding light on how policies and their effects and outcomes are not fixed but variously enacted by various actors in different settings. Furthermore, the research aligns itself with what Matthew
Initiation of the research at RSP The idea of an anthropological assessment had been discussed at MSF for some years before my arrival in Amman. As the RSP entered its tenth year, in 2017, the organization’s determination to make an assessment that went beyond an evaluation of its medical aspects intensified. The mutual interest of the field and desk managers and CRASH, MSF
Over the course of a scholarly career, the nature and the quality of interaction with those who share the same field of research is a thorny and important question. To my mind, my two main rivals (or partners) in the field have always been exemplary. Why so? Because, in our loneliness as scholars, we survive only inasmuch as we manage to preserve the reality—or the fiction—of a certain originality. My “distinguished colleagues” have, to varying degrees, always had the elegance to produce substantially different analyses to my own in our
1 Some theoretical premises of European Union research A major obstacle to an adequate examination of European integration is the definition of political phenomena as requiring either a national or an international relations (IR) approach. The 'theology of realism' preached by some intergovernmentalist political scientists (Hoffmann 1982; Moravcsik 1993, 1998) and neorealists in IR-theory (Waltz 1979) leads to misleading oversimplifications, reinforcing the division between national and supranational. In academe, this institutionalised division has prevented
This book offers a unique and timely reading of the early Frankfurt School in response to the recent 'affective turn' within the arts and humanities. It revisits some of the founding tenets of critical theory in the context of the establishment of the Institute for Social Research in the early twentieth century. The book focuses on the work of Walter Benjamin, whose varied engagements with the subject of melancholia prove to be far more mobile and complex than traditional accounts. It also looks at how an affective politics underpins critical theory's engagement with the world of objects, exploring the affective politics of hope. Situating the affective turn and the new materialisms within a wider context of the 'post-critical', it explains how critical theory, in its originary form, is primarily associated with the work of the Frankfurt School. The book presents an analysis of Theodor Adorno's form of social critique and 'conscious unhappiness', that is, a wilful rejection of any privatized or individualized notion of happiness in favour of a militant and political discontent. A note on the timely reconstruction of early critical theory's own engagements with the object world via aesthetics and mimesis follows. The post-Cold War triumphalism of many on the right, accompanied by claims of the 'end of history', created a sense of fearlessness, righteousness, and unfettered optimism. The book notes how political realism has become the dominant paradigm, banishing utopian impulses and diminishing political hopes to the most myopic of visions.
Cartoon analysis is the study of a non-elite communication. Ilan Danjoux examined over 1200 Israeli and Palestinian editorial cartoons to explore whether changes in their content anticipated the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in October of 2000. Political Cartoons and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict provide readers an engaging introduction to cartoon analysis and a novel insight into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Conflict researchers benefit from paying attention to popular fears because they influence the policies of career-minded politicians and autocratic leaders seeking to placate domestic dissent. The book begins by outlining the rationale for this research project, while explaining the choice of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a case study. It identifies the challenges of cartoon research and outlines the methodological approaches available to researchers. After laying the framework for this study, the book details the collapse of the Israel-Palestinian Peace Process into full-scale violence by October 2000. A description of Israeli and Palestinian media production follows. The book demonstrates the cartoon's ability to chronicle changes in conflict. Not only did both Israeli and Palestinian cartoons change their focus with the outbreak of violence, the mood of cartoons also shifted. It also shows that Israeli and Palestinian cartoons also changed the way that each portrayed the other. Changes in both Israeli and Palestinian cartoons corresponded with, but did not precede, the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada.
Since the early 2000s, global, underground networks of insurrectionary anarchists have carried out thousands of acts of political violence. This book is an exploration of the ideas, strategies, and history of these political actors that engage in a confrontation with the oppressive powers of the state and capital. The vast majority of these attacks have been claimed via online communiqués through anonymous monikers such as the Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI). The emphasis of the insurrectionary, nihilist-infused anarchism is on creating war-like conditions for opposing capitalism, the state, and that which perpetuates structural violence (e.g. racism, poverty, speciesism, gender roles). To connect the various configurations of post-millennial, insurrectionary resistance, the book explores explore three of its most identifiable components, the FAI, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire (CCF), and emergent networks in Mexico. In his discussion of guerrilla warfare and terrorism, conflict theorist Richard Rubenstein points to a two-stage understanding advocated by Vietnamese leader and military strategist General Vo Nguyen Giap. The book also examines the strategy of Blanquism, the contribution of "classical anarchists," the influence of theorists such as Tiqqun and The Invisible Committee. It seeks to construct the basis for an insurrectionary framework based around a shared politic. The feminist methodology and ethic of research adds a great deal, including a reading of identity politics, standpoint theory, action-orientated research, and embedded, emotive and sincere participatory involvement. The design and methodological intent of the book is to embrace a "militant" form of inquiry which is counter to the project of securitization.
ability to conduct collaborative research. COVID-19 increased the uncertainty and alienation researchers face when working in foreign territories and which pushes them to creatively adapt to changing landscapes. While volatile environments and safety concerns have been strong inhibitors to researching the Middle East, I argue in this chapter that these challenges can be turned into opportunities to rethink and push for more ethical, equal and sustainable research practices. In other words, COVID-19 may have tilted the