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DTSTART:20200101T000000
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20250904T130000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20250904T170000
DTSTAMP:20260803T142932Z
CREATED:20260803T142932Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142932Z
UID:30000217-1756990800-1757005200@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:'The Borders of Transformation: The Continent and the South African University' colloquium
DESCRIPTION:This colloquium asks how universities in South Africa\, and the scholars and activists housed within them\, can respond to stormy political waters and to potentially competing visions of justice and transformation. \nDate: Thursday\, 4 September 2025\nTime: 13:00-17:00 (SAST)\nIn-person venue: Ground Floor\, Wartenweiler Library\, Wits University\nOnline: Link to be shared once RSVPed.\nRSVP: Lenore.Longwe@wits.ac.za\, stating whether you will attend in-person or online. \nDescription:\nThis colloquium considers competing and complementary approaches to race and nationality in South African higher education\, at a moment that marks ten years since the RhodesMustFall and FeesMustFall protests as well as being characterised by the increasing visibility and weaponisation of national and international xenophobia. It poses this question as a reflection not just on the Fallist movements\, but on a three-decade long history of contentious post-Apartheid efforts to align the country’s universities with broader commitments to equity and progressive social change. Current attacks on academic institutions represent them as sites of illicit patronage of apparently unqualified foreigners\, while foreign academics themselves navigate bureaucratic mazes and hostile atmospheres. What can these contradictions tell us about the processes of transformation and change that were meant to be invigorated by #RMF? The colloquium also considers future institutional trajectories in an era of resource scarcity\, persistent domestic and global inequality\, and rampant populist anti-intellectualism. At its heart\, it asks how universities\, and the scholars and activists housed within them\, can respond to stormy political waters and to potentially competing visions of justice and transformation. What might it mean to be an African university in South Africa\, and what will it take to realise that vision? \nSpeakers: Ahmed Veriava (Wits University)\, Srila Roy (Wits University)\, Mxolisi Makhubo (University of Johannesburg)\, Fikile Masikane (University of Pretoria)\, William Mpofu (Wits University)\, Samia Chasi (Wits University) and Salim Vally (University of Johannesburg). \nOrganisers: A collaboration between the Wits Internationalization and Strategic Partnerships Office\, the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies\, the Wits-Oxford Mobility Governance Lab\, the NRF-DST SARChI Chair in Mobility and the Politics of Difference\, and the NRF-DST SARChI Chair in Critical Diversity Studies. \n \n 
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/the-borders-of-transformation-the-continent-and-the-south-african-university-colloquium/
LOCATION:Ground Floor\, Wartenweiler Library\, Wits University
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://migration.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Wits-University-building-28Aug2025.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20250827T123000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20250827T134500
DTSTAMP:20260803T142932Z
CREATED:20260803T142932Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142932Z
UID:30000216-1756297800-1756302300@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:WiP Seminar: The Securitisation of Migration: Consequences of EU Externalisation Policies on Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding in Africa
DESCRIPTION:The featured image behind the title on the header was created using ChatGPT. \nPresenter: Dr Silindile Mlilo\nDate: Wednesday\, 27 August 2025\nTime: 12:30 – 13:45\nVenue: ACMS Seminar Room: Room 2163\, Solomon Mahlangu House (2nd floor)\, East Campus\, Wits University (directions)\nZoom link: https://wits-za.zoom.us/j/95786624514?pwd=53Oi1h6gHcWY2Q43O0p8ZqzOsOLZXp.1\nRegister: https://tinyurl.com/4zxkc7s8 \nAbstract:\nThis work-in-progress (WiP) paper examines the impact of global migration governance\, particularly the European Union’s (EU) externalisation policies\, on conflict resolution and peacebuilding in Africa. Following the 2015 so-called “migration crisis\,” the EU increasingly framed migration as a security threat\, prioritising border militarisation\, containment strategies\, and partnerships with African states such as Niger\, Libya\, Egypt\, and Tunisia. These policies sought to curtail irregular migration while neglecting root causes\, including conflict\, poverty\, and governance failures\, and often exacerbated local tensions between migrants and host communities. Drawing on a critique of Eurocentric narratives\, the paper foregrounds African perspectives to highlight the unintended consequences of these policies. It explores how the securitisation of migration governance has contributed to human rights violations\, corruption\, and the destabilisation of regional mobility frameworks like the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Furthermore\, the externalisation of migration policies has empowered non-state actors\, such as smugglers and traffickers\, while deepening economic and social inequalities in transit and host countries. The paper argues that these policies undermine regional integration and peacebuilding efforts in Africa\, intensifying xenophobia and societal tensions. It calls for the reimagining of migration governance through inclusive\, African-led approaches that prioritise human dignity\, address root causes of displacement\, and foster sustainable conflict resolution and development. \nAbout the researcher/presenter:\nDr Silindile Mlilo is a migration scholar\, practitioner\, and consultant with extensive experience in research and project management at the intersection of migration and mobility governance\, xenophobia and social cohesion\, youth\, and policy development across Africa and Asia. She is also a part-time content creator\, producer\, and interviewer\, committed to amplifying African voices in migration scholarship and public discourse. \nDr Mlilo is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher and Project Manager at the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS)\, University of the Witwatersrand\, where she leads research and monitors xenophobic discrimination in South Africa through the Xenowatch project. She is also the co-founder of Meraki Afrique\, a social enterprise focused on advancing regional integration in Africa. \nMlilo holds a Ph.D. in Migration and Displacement from Wits University\, an MA in Advanced Development in Social Work through a consortium of European universities\, including the University of Lincoln\, Aalborg University\, Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas (University of Lisbon)\, and Université Paris Nanterre\, an MA in Human Rights and a Bachelor of Social Work both obtained at the University of Fort Hare\, respectively.
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/wip-seminar-the-securitisation-of-migration-consequences-of-eu-externalisation-policies-on-conflict-resolution-and-peacebuilding-in-africa/
LOCATION:ACMS Seminar Room 2163\, South East Wing\, Second Floor\, Solomon Mahlangu House\, University of the Witwatersrand East Campus
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://migration.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Silindile-WiP-seminar-graphic-ChatGPT_SMALL_22Aug2025.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20250825T100000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20250825T113000
DTSTAMP:20260803T142932Z
CREATED:20260803T142932Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142932Z
UID:30000215-1756116000-1756121400@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:ACMS seminar: On the move — where does wellbeing fit?
DESCRIPTION:Date: Monday\, 25 August 2025\nTime: 10:00 – 11:30\nVenue: ACMS Seminar Room: Room 2163\, Solomon Mahlangu House (2nd floor)\, East Campus\, Wits University (directions)\nZoom link: https://wits-za.zoom.us/j/99337631783?pwd=gvLi3k7R74aLv3N9R2t4IY2NtMa4RP.1 \nMigration and mobility shape multiple dimensions of wellbeing\, from physical and mental health to social inclusion\, identity\, and access to rights. Yet\, wellbeing often remains a secondary consideration in policy and research on migration. This webinar explores how wellbeing fits into the lived realities of those on the move — highlighting the challenges they face\, the resilience they show\, and the policies and practices needed to support them. \nSPEAKERS\nMs Margaret Zulu – Project Manager\, Save the Children\, South Africa\nDr Mwelwa Phiri – Researcher\, Zambart\, Zambia\nDr Glynis Clacherty – Research Associate\, ACMS\, Wits University and Independent Consultant \nMODERATOR\nDr Langelihle Mlotshwa- Researcher\, ACMS\, Wits University
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/acms-seminar-on-the-move-where-does-wellbeing-fit/
LOCATION:ACMS Seminar Room 2163\, South East Wing\, Second Floor\, Solomon Mahlangu House\, University of the Witwatersrand East Campus
CATEGORIES:Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://migration.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Youth-webinar-logos-25Aug2025.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20250820T123000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20250820T134500
DTSTAMP:20260803T142931Z
CREATED:20260803T142931Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142931Z
UID:30000214-1755693000-1755697500@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:ACMS Seminar: Managing the Transition - Adjusting Migration Policies to Respond to a World Undergoing Demographic Change
DESCRIPTION:Presenter: Dr Andrew Selee\nDate: Wednesday\, 20 August 2025\nTime: 12:30 – 13:45\nVenue: ACMS Seminar Room: Room 2163\, Solomon Mahlangu House (2nd floor)\, East Campus\, Wits University (directions)\nZoom link: https://wits-za.zoom.us/j/95786624514?pwd=53Oi1h6gHcWY2Q43O0p8ZqzOsOLZXp.1\nRegister: https://tinyurl.com/4zxkc7s8 \nAbstract:\nThe world is undergoing rapid demographic change\, with most upper and upper-middle-income countries dropping below replacement level fertility and many middle-income countries following close behind. As populations shrink in these countries\, immigration will become one of the few ways that countries maintain a robust labor force and ensure fiscal solvency\, even taking into account productivity gains and changes in workforce needs brought about by technological innovation. And African countries will almost certainly be the source of most of the migrants that are willing to move to these rapidly aging societies. \nHowever\, this transition is likely to be less than smooth\, with increased migration also leading to significant push-back within destination countries and to calls both for greater border controls. As a result\, managing this transition effectively will require building legal pathways proactively\, adjusting the pace of change thoughtfully\, and ensuring the credibility of immigration systems to facilitate mobility. It will also require rethinking narratives of national identity in destination societies\, while ensuring that emigration from source countries\, largely in Africa\, can lead to long-term growth and development through proactive investments in human capital. \nAnd while this may initially seem to be a challenge just for the highly developed economies of Europe\, North America\, and East Asia\, it will quickly become relevant in South Africa and significant parts of Latin America\, the Caribbean\, and Southeast Asia. \nAbout the researcher/presenter:\nDr Andrew Selee is president of the Migration Policy Institute\, a non-partisan\, independent think tank based in Washington\, DC and Brussels\, which focuses on data\, analysis\, and prospective ideas for migration policy. He is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University\, both in the School of Foreign Service and in the School of Public Policy. Previously he was the Executive Vice President of the Woodrow Wilson Center. \nDr Selee is the author and co-author of several books\, including On the Move: Migration Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean (Stanford University Press\, 2025)\, Vanishing Frontiers: The Forces Driving Mexico and the United States Together (PublicAffairs\, 2018)\, and What Should Think Tanks Do? A Strategic Guide to Policy Impact (Stanford University Press\, 2013). His articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal\, New York Times\, Foreign Affairs\, and Foreign Policy\, among other publications. He holds a PhD in Policy Studies from the University of Maryland and was named an Andrew Carnegie Fellow in 2017-18.
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/acms-seminar-managing-the-transition-adjusting-migration-policies-to-respond-to-a-world-undergoing-demographic-change/
LOCATION:ACMS Seminar Room 2163\, South East Wing\, Second Floor\, Solomon Mahlangu House\, University of the Witwatersrand East Campus
CATEGORIES:Seminar
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20250806T123000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20250806T134500
DTSTAMP:20260803T142931Z
CREATED:20260803T142931Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142931Z
UID:30000213-1754483400-1754487900@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:ACMS Seminar: Queering Sex work and Mobility in South Africa
DESCRIPTION:Presenter: Ntokozo Yingwana\nDate: Wednesday\, 6 August 2025\nTime: 12:30 – 13:45\nVenue: ACMS Seminar Room: Room 2163\, Solomon Mahlangu House (2nd floor)\, East Campus\, Wits University (directions)\nZoom link: https://wits-za.zoom.us/j/95786624514?pwd=53Oi1h6gHcWY2Q43O0p8ZqzOsOLZXp.1\nRegister: https://tinyurl.com/4zxkc7s8 \nAbstract:\nDrawing from a doctoral thesis with a similar title\, this paper explores the intersections of sex work\, mobility\, migration and gendered sexualities through a queer lens. The study informing it made use of digital storytelling and WhatsApp to engage 17 migrant and mobile sex workers in South Africa\, during 2019 and 2020. Through a queering of sex work\, migration and mobility analysis we learn that because sex work is essentially about using one’s body to perform varying sexual acts with different types of people for financial gain\, a migrant/mobile sex worker is exposed to different ways of experiencing sexual (dis)pleasure. According to the research participants this can then broaden the body’s erotic vocabulary and expand one’s range of sexual desires\, along with their expressions; to the point whereby it can also have an influence on one’s gendered sexuality and choice of intimate partner. However\, the respondents also stressed the integral role movement plays in this evolution of one’s gendered sexuality. Hence\, this paper argues for the recognition of migrant/mobile sex work as intrinsically queer\, and concludes by unpacking the socio-political implications of this in relation to (sexual) citizenship. \nAbout the researcher:\nNtokozo Yingwana is a researcher and PhD candidate with the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) at Wits University. She holds a Masters in Gender and Development from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex\, and an Honours in Gender and Transformation from the African Gender Institute (AGI) at the University of Cape Town. Prior to that she earned a Bachelor of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University. Yingwana has nearly two decades of experience in sex worker rights’ scholar-activism in Africa.
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/acms-seminar-queering-sex-work-and-mobility-in-south-africa/
LOCATION:ACMS Seminar Room 2163\, South East Wing\, Second Floor\, Solomon Mahlangu House\, University of the Witwatersrand East Campus
CATEGORIES:Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://migration.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/QueeringSexWorkandMobility_COVER.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20250723T123000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20250723T134500
DTSTAMP:20260803T142930Z
CREATED:20260803T142930Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142930Z
UID:30000212-1753273800-1753278300@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:ACMS Seminar: The ‘Oil and Water’ Dynamics of Migration Governance in West Africa: A Bottom-up Perspective in Niger
DESCRIPTION:Presenter: Dr Balkissa Daouda Diallo\nDate: Wednesday\, 23 July 2025\nTime: 12:30 – 13:45\nVenue: ACMS Seminar Room: Room 2163\, Solomon Mahlangu House (2nd floor)\, East Campus\, Wits University (directions)\nZoom link: https://wits-za.zoom.us/j/95441930593\nRegister: https://tinyurl.com/4zxkc7s8 \nAbstract:\nStudies on migration governance in the context of African so-called migrants sending countries are often influenced by European narratives. While this discourse informs migration policy in these countries\, it overshadows existing local mechanisms that condition actors’ practices. Debates on this issue either point to the influence of the European Union (EU) on migration governance in Africa\, or to the agency of African states in aligning or ‘bargaining’ their policy goals with global agendas on migration. The present discussion uses a multi-level governance lens to examine the case of Niger’s management of ‘transit’ migration to Europe from 2015–2020. Its objective is to explore the influences multi-level actors had on this governance and its outcomes. In doing so\, it shows how higher-level processes seldom reflect lower-level realities where informality prevails often at the expense of migrants. These dynamics critically challenge conventional ideas of what is considered ‘legal’ or ‘illegal’ crossings in a context where borders are negotiated informally. \nAbout the researcher:\nDr Balkissa Daouda Diallo is a Postdoctoral Researcher affiliated with the African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS). Her research is on African migrations and governance with a focus on informal and multi-level mechanisms. She holds a Ph.D. in Global Governance and Human Security and an M.A. in Conflict Resolution from the University of Massachusetts Boston (UMass Boston). She also holds an M.A. in International Development and an M.S. in Environmental Studies from Ohio University. She earned a B.A. in Political Science and History at the University of Ghana\, Legon. \n 
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/acms-seminar-the-oil-and-water-dynamics-of-migration-governance-in-west-africa-a-bottom-up-perspective-in-niger/
LOCATION:ACMS Seminar Room 2163\, South East Wing\, Second Floor\, Solomon Mahlangu House\, University of the Witwatersrand East Campus
CATEGORIES:Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://migration.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Niger-to-Europe-mirgation-routes-9July2025.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20250312T122000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20250312T133000
DTSTAMP:20260803T142930Z
CREATED:20260803T142930Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142930Z
UID:30000211-1741782000-1741786200@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:ACMS Seminar: 'From Deprivation to Mobilisation: Towards a Multideterminant Model of Xenophobic Violence in South Africa'
DESCRIPTION:Presenter: Dr Jean Pierre Misago\nDate: 12 March 2025\nTime: 12.20 – 13.30\nVenue: ACMS Seminar Room: Room 2163\, Solomon Mahlangu House (2nd floor)\, East Campus\, Wits University (directions)\nZoom: link\nPlease register: here \nAbstract:\nDrawing on extensive and comparative qualitative data from a nearly two-decade long and ongoing research\, this paper responds to inadequacies and limitations of current causal explanations for xenophobic violence in South Africa. It argues that existing explanations are inadequate as many lack empirical backing and others are incomplete due to their reductionist approach. To address these shortcomings\, this paper proposes an empirically based and theoretically informed multideterminant (explanatory) model\, which identifies and analyses the roles of – and interconnections between – six key determinants namely: i) socio-economic and political deprivation\, ii) xenophobic beliefs\, iii) collective discontent\, iv) political economy\, v) mobilization\, and vi) governance. The paper argues that i) these determinants and their interconnections in a value-added process constitute the necessary and sufficient conditions for the occurrence of xenophobic violence\, and ii) this multideterminant model consequently provides an adequate and comprehensive explanation of the xenophobic violence in South Africa. \nBio:\nDr Jean Pierre Misago is a Senior Researcher at the Africa Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) at Wits University. His research interests include migration\, identity and belonging; xenophobia and related violence; as well as migration governance at different levels but particularly at local government and community level (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6964-3926). \n  \n  \n  \n 
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/acms-seminar-from-deprivation-to-mobilisation-towards-a-multideterminant-model-of-xenophobic-violence-in-south-africa/
LOCATION:ACMS Seminar Room 2163\, South East Wing\, Second Floor\, Solomon Mahlangu House\, University of the Witwatersrand East Campus
CATEGORIES:Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://migration.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Xenowatch-website-header-4March2025.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241218
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20241219
DTSTAMP:20260803T142930Z
CREATED:20260803T142930Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142930Z
UID:30000210-1734480000-1734566399@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:'Atlas of Uncertainty' exhibit coming to Jozi
DESCRIPTION:Human mobility is the defining feature of an era marked by political instability\, economic precarity\, and environmental insecurity. These movements are reshaping urban landscapes and Africa’s cities stand at the forefront of this transformation. They are now among the world’s largest and most diverse urban centres\, serving as focal points for a youthful\, rapidly growing population. Yet\, this is occurring without the traditional pathways of industrialization\, job creation\, and service provision. Urban life now blurs the line between lottery and life-making. It is a life of uncertainty. The complexities of material marginalization and mobile place-making demand novel ways of understanding community\, politics\, and the city itself. It requires novel forms of analysis that avoid oversimplified narratives and instead embrace the ambiguities characterising African urban life. \n\n  \nAtlas of Uncertainty: Transforming African Cityscapes is a multi-media research project by the African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS) at the University of the Witwatersrand\, and the Mobility Governance Lab at the University of Oxford. The Atlas of Uncertainty unsettles the racialised tropes of danger\, desperation\, and deprivation informing the manic mapping of contemporary migration and urbanisation in Africa. Where such classic cartography typically projects scientific certainty\, the Atlas elevates emotion\, ambiguity\, and contributors’ positionality. Rather than definitive knowledge\, it offers reflections to elicit the senses. It aims to unsettle and inform\, to generate — not foreclose. Drawing on surveys\, qualitative research\, and artistic engagements in gateway neighbourhoods across Accra\, Nairobi\, and Johannesburg\, the Atlas builds on decades of interdisciplinary research. First realised as a pilot installation at the 2023 architectural Biennale in Venice\, our goal is to cultivate a human understanding of time\, travel\, and urban politics. In doing so\, the research team aims to understand urban life in an era of uncertainty. For more on the research team click here. \nWhat is the Atlas of Uncertainty?\nThe Atlas of Uncertainty is a publication\, an exhibit\, and a digital platform. It integrates written essays\, visual art\, sound\, and critical cartography. Created dialogically\, it offers layered and nuanced understandings of transforming urban spaces and the moral and material economies that bind them. It is at once a tool of knowledge communication and a reflection on what we believe and how we know it. The Atlas aims to move from the ‘census’ to the ‘senses’ evoking sensorial and embodied experiences of the material\, in ways that challenge traditional ways of representing African cities. \nBook\nThe book is comprised of twenty eight 2500-3000 word essays\, reflections\, or mixed media piece. These range from accessible scholar treatises to poetic reflections produced by experts and activists deeply engaged in the project’s themes and research sites. Each reflects on one or more cities or transversal themes. These texts will be intertwined in an art and prose folio with artistic media\, visual illustrations or maps\, and statistical and narrative vignettes drawn from original research in Accra\, Nairobi\, and Johannesburg. \n\nExhibit\nIntended to travel across the research sites\, the initial Johannesburg exhibition will feature original visual and sonic works produced by artists from each of the research sites. Working in response to quantitative and qualitative data\, their works will instantiate themes of mobility and urban future making amidst uncertainty. The works will be displayed alongside interactive displays where visitors can ‘map’ journeys or ask questions of the data. The exhibits will run for a minimum of four weeks accompanied by an active programme of speakers and tours. You can read more on our contributors here. \nDigital\nThrough an immersive online experience across a dedicated website\, the text\, visuals\, and maps will come alive and be accessible to a wider public. Targeted social media will enhance visibility and provide additional distribution channels to audiences in academia\, the policy world\, and the general public. For more information on the research and how to get involved visit the Atlas of Uncertainty website: https://atlasofuncertainty.com/
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/atlas-of-uncertainty-exhibit-coming-to-jozi/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://migration.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/ATLAS-SPREAD_01.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230614
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230615
DTSTAMP:20260803T142929Z
CREATED:20260803T142929Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142929Z
UID:30000209-1686700800-1686787199@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:Third Global Consultation on the Health of Refugees and Migrants
DESCRIPTION:The 3rd Global Consultation on the Health of Refugees and Migrants opened in Rabat (Morocco) yesterday. The 3-day consultation\, 13-15 June 2023\, aims to assess progress and good practices in promoting the health and well-being of refugee and migrant populations; consider emerging and persistent challenges; foster implementation of key priorities; and build further political commitment on the way forward. Its purpose is to inform policy decisions and the implementation of appropriate interventions to improve\, protect and preserve the health and well-being of refugees and migrants\, as well as host communities. \nThis consultation builds upon previous forums and commitments\, such as the WHO Global Action Plan on Promoting the Health of Refugees and Migrants 2019-2023\, the Global Compact for Safe\, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) and its first revision process\, the International Migration Review Forum\, and the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR). It is hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO)\, the International Organization for Migration (IOM)\, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)\, and the Kingdom of Morocco. \nSpeaking at the opening event WHO Director-General\, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus\, reported that over 100 million people worldwide are forced to move for a variety of reasons\, including conflict\, persecution and humanitarian crises. Morocco’s Minister of Health and Social Protection\, Khalid Ait Taleb\, stressed how the consultation provides an opportunity to shed light on his country’s efforts to consolidate the position of migrants and refugees\, in addition to guaranteeing them access to healthcare and smoothing their membership of social protection systems and programs. \n \nACMS invited to 3rd Global Consultation\nThe Global Consultation on the Health of Refugees and Migrants is by invitation only\, and African Centre for Migration & Society’s (ACMS) Professor Jo Vearey will be facilitating a session on the final day (15 June 2023) on ‘Harnessing the power of research and data to improve the health of refugees and migrants’\, at 14:00 Rabat time (15:00 South African time)\, see the full consultation programme here.  Vearey recently published the Migration and Health in the WHO-Afro Region: A Scoping Review\, which also contributed to the World Report on the Health of Refugees and Migrants. The panel that she will be facilitating will be reflecting on the challenges\, solutions and recommendations for strengthening research and data to help improve the health of these populations. \n \nThe entire consultation is being streamed on the WHO website in multiple languages\, so you can catch this session LIVE. Online participants can share questions and comments here.
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/third-global-consultation-on-the-health-of-refugees-and-migrants/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230524
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230525
DTSTAMP:20260803T142929Z
CREATED:20260803T142929Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142929Z
UID:30000208-1684886400-1684972799@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:Chair in Mobility and the Politics of Difference supports Gender and Geography
DESCRIPTION:This opinion piece was originally published by Wits University under the same title\, along with the featured images\, on 18 May 2023.  \nThe 18th international architectural exhibition in Venice showcases urban spaces in the Global South – with African cities front and centre. La Biennale Architettura runs from 20 May to 26 November2023. \nYou Will Find Your People Here is part of exhibition curator Lesley Lokko’s special project\, Gender and Geography. This special project features the book by sociologist Caroline Wanjiku Kihato\, Migrant Women of Johannesburg: Everyday Life in an in-between City\, published by Wits Press. \n \nA migrant to Johannesburg herself\, Kihato was previously in Urban Planning in the School of Architecture and Planning at Wits and is now associated with the University’s African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS). \n\n  \n‘A new language to speak about mobility and African cities’\nThe Mellon Foundation Mobility\, temporality\, and Africa’s future politics project at Wits provided support for the exhibition\, as did the ACMS\, and the Migration Governance Lab at Wits and Oxford University. \nDr Kabiri Bule\, a postdoctoral Research Associate at ACMS\, provided technical support. \nThe project is aligned to the general goal of Professor Loren B. Landau’s SARChI Research Chair in Mobility and the Politics of Difference in the ACMS. \n \n“What will go on show is a mix of music\, images\, and the written word that envelop themes and text from Kihato’s book across multiple media\, with composers\, artists\, and analysts from many parts of the continent and beyond\,” says Landau\, who collaborated closely with the project’s primary leads. “We need a new language to speak about mobility and African cities. This is one way to further that conversation.” \nYou Will Find Your People Here\nNestled between performance\, film\, composition\, and exhibition\, is a collaborative\, interdisciplinary work by pianist Mareli Stolp (South Africa)\, sociologist Caroline Wanjiku Kihato (Kenya)\, composer Clare Loveday (South Africa)\, and artist Sedinam Awo Tsegah (Ghana). \nThe thirty-minute film\, You Will Find Your People Here\, premièred at William Kentridge and Bronwyn Lace’s Centre for the Less Good Idea in Johannesburg in July 2022. \nKentridge and Lace are both alumni of Wits University. \n \nThe film presents composer Clare Loveday and pianist Mareli Stolp’s creative response to the migrant women’s testimonies collected in Kihato’s book\, Migrant Women of Johannesburg: Everyday Life in an in-between City. \nFabric maps on language diversity\, family connections\, and women’s mobility to Johannesburg adorn the walls\, unsettling how we understand urbanity\, social-worlds\, and family. The maps draw on data collected by the Wits-Oxford Mobility Governance Lab in 2021. \nAmplifying the experiences of migrant women in Johannesburg\nJohannesburg is a global city remarkable for its affluence\, inequity\, and diversity. Roughly one in two Johannesburg residents were born elsewhere; one in five outside the country. In the city’s gateway neighbourhoods\, few plan to stay. Lives are shaped by transience\, ambition\, uncertainty\, and anxiety. In the shadows of repurposed office blocks\, new arrivals dodge predatory police and hostile citizens. As they negotiate the unfamiliar\, they continually refashion the space around them. \nThe installation moves us from census to senses; from demography and demagoguery to the fashioning of human futures. \nDemagoguery refers to political activity or practices that seek support by appealing to the desires and prejudices of ordinary people rather than by using rational argument.
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/chair-in-mobility-and-the-politics-of-difference-supports-gender-and-geography/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20230425
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20230426
DTSTAMP:20260803T142929Z
CREATED:20260803T142929Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142929Z
UID:30000207-1682380800-1682467199@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:BOOK LAUNCH: Cosmopolitan Refugees
DESCRIPTION:Join us for the launch of Cosmopolitan Refugees: Somali Migrant Women in Nairobi and Johannesburg\, a book by ACMS’s alumnus Nereida Ripero-Muñiz on 18 May 2023 (see details below). The publication is based on her doctoral thesis with the Centre titled The Port and the Island: Identity\, Cosmopolitanism and Islam among Somali Women in Nairobi and Johannesburg. Dr Ripero-Muñiz is currently working as a lecturer in the School of Literature\, Language and Media\, at the University of the Witwatersrand. \n \nAbstract:\nExploring the dynamics of identity formation processes in diasporic spaces\, this book analyses how gender\, cultural and religious practices are renegotiated in a situation of displacement. The author presents the comparative case study of Somali migrant women in Nairobi and Johannesburg: two cosmopolitan urban hubs in the global South. The book is based on and includes ethnographic observations in Nairobi and Johannesburg\, first-person accounts of migration journeys across the African continent and women’s reflections on what it means to be a Somali woman today. \nCitation:\nRipero-Muñiz\, Nereida. (2023). COSMOPOLITAN REFUGEES: Somali Migrant Women in Nairobi and Johannesburg (1st ed.). Berghahn Books. https://doi.org/10.3167/9781800738188
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/book-launch-cosmopolitan-refugees/
CATEGORIES:Book launch
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20230213T123000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20230213T133000
DTSTAMP:20260803T142929Z
CREATED:20260803T142929Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142929Z
UID:30000206-1676291400-1676295000@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:Slavery\, Sex Work and the Paradox of Fugitivity 
DESCRIPTION:The African Centre for Migration & Society and Wits Department of Political Science cordially invite you to a seminar by Professor Julia N O’Connell Davidson (Professor in Social Research\, School of Sociology\, Politics and International Studies\, University of Bristol) titled Slavery\, Sex Work and the Paradox of Fugitivity. \nThe prostitute-slave analogy has long figured in the rhetoric of those who\, albeit for different reasons\, stand opposed to female prostitution\, and the assumptions and claims about sex work that inform it have been extensively critiqued by scholars and activists who approach prostitution as an earning strategy and seek to protect and promote the human\, civil and labour rights of those who choose to sell sexual services. However\, less attention has been paid to the fact that the analogy also rests on a very particular reading of ‘the slave’ and a very partial appeal to histories of Atlantic World slavery. Taking this observation as its starting point\, this presentation considers whether more careful engagement with the literature on slavery could shed a different light on sex work. In particular\, it asks whether the concepts of marronage and fugitivity that feature in more recent analyses of slavery and its afterlives could also have theoretical purchase with regard to the contemporary experience (both positive and negative) of sex workers. \nBio \nJulia has a longstanding research interest in work and economic life that started from a concern with the variability of capitalist employment relations which she explored in her 1993 book\, Privatization and Employment Relations: The Case of the Water Industry (Cassell) and a number of journal articles and book chapters on the restructuring of work and employment in privatised utilities and the use of franchising in milk distribution. In the mid 1990s\, she started to research prostitution as a form of non-standard work and to address questions about what\, precisely\, is exchanged in the prostitution contract and the diversity of prostitution in terms of its social organisation and the power relations it involves (both globally and nationally). She has also undertaken research on sex tourism\, on child prostitution (Prostitution\, Power and Freedom\, 1998\, Polity; Children in the Global Sex Trade\, 2005\, Polity)\, and on child migration. In 2001\, she was PI on an ESRC funded project examining the markets for migrant sex and domestic workers in the UK and Spain. This research has informed a number of publications that explore that definitional problems associated with the term ‘trafficking’\, critique dominant discourse on ‘trafficking as modern slavery’ and challenge the framing of ‘trafficking’ as a problem of transnational crime as opposed to a migrants’ rights issue. \nAt a theoretical level\, Julia has been concerned to link her research on prostitution\, sex tourism\, ‘trafficking’ and ‘modern slavery’ to critiques of dominant liberal fictions about contract\, freedom\, citizenship\, human rights\, and childhood\, as well as to questions of power\, especially the question of how we can critique those theoretical traditions that approach power as domination without slipping into the relativism and subjectivism of much post-modern and post-structuralist theory. These themes were further developed in her book\, ‘Modern Slavery: The Margins of Freedom’\, Palgrave Macmillan\, 2015\, and the Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship she held from 2013-16. \nJulia currently holds an ERC Advanced Grant for a project titled ‘Modern Marronage? The Pursuit and Practice of Freedom in the Contemporary World’. The project asks whether histories of marronage and enslaved people’s flight and fugitivity\, as well as other strategies employed by enslaved people in an effort to move closer to freedom\, and whether histories of slave states’ efforts to prevent flight and marronage and otherwise restrict the freedoms of the enslaved\, can shed light on the experiences of marginalised and rightless people today. \nDate: Monday 13 February 2023 \nTime: 12:30 – 13:30 \nVenue: ACMS Seminar Room 2163\, South East Wing\, Second Floor\, Solomon Mahlangu House\, University of the Witwatersrand East Campus
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/slavery-sex-work-and-the-paradox-of-fugitivity/
LOCATION:ACMS Seminar Room 2163\, South East Wing\, Second Floor\, Solomon Mahlangu House\, University of the Witwatersrand East Campus
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20221101
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20221102
DTSTAMP:20260803T142928Z
CREATED:20260803T142928Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142928Z
UID:30000204-1667260800-1667347199@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:Conference: African Queer and Trans Displacements
DESCRIPTION:African Queer & Trans Displacements is a two-day conference bringing together scholars\, policymakers\, practitioners\, advocates and activists working on the forced or voluntary migration of lesbian\, gay\, bisexual\, transgender\, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) Africans. The intersection of sexuality\, gender and displacement remains understudied\, especially in Global South contexts\, despite the fact that the vast majority of the world’s queer migrants\, refugees and asylum seekers live in these countries. At the same time\, the social\, legal\, political and economic needs of LGBTQI+ migrants\, refugees and asylum seekers remain overlooked by both queer rights movements and migrant/refugee rights movements\, resulting in inadequate support services and poorly developed policies. This conference aims to foster dialogue across these divides\, while also providing space to engage with migration scholarship centred on Africa and its peoples. \nExisting scholarship tends to elide the cultural\, linguistic and social differences of LGBTQI+ individuals seeking asylum\, homogenising disparate experiences and backgrounds under the broad category of ‘queer asylum seeker’. Countries of birth are largely presented as inconsequential\, or as narrative elements rather than critical considerations. This provides little clarity of the specificities of leaving any one place\, and even less of an understanding about the relationship between places left behind and those where asylum is sought. At the same time\, queer and trans Africans in the diaspora are projecting new identity formations and signifying practices back towards the continent. To this end\, this conference recognises that there is no single story of African queer and trans displacement. Rather\, there are specificities of experience that emerge when migration and asylum interact with different political\, discursive\, ideological and ontological formations linked to gender and sexuality. By curating this conference according to its geographical focus\, rather than emphasising thematic or disciplinary links\, we hope to spotlight the lived realities of migration and diaspora as they relate to queer and trans Africans. \nAfrican Queer & Trans Displacements is hosted by the African Centre for Migration and Society (University of the Witwatersrand) and the Centre of African Studies (University of Edinburgh). \nThe conference will be held in person in Johannesburg\, South Africa\, on 1–2 December 2022 (keynote addresses will be live-streamed). \nRegistration for the conference is limited. If you wish to register for the conference please do so here
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/conference-african-queer-and-trans-displacements/
CATEGORIES:Conference
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20221101
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20221102
DTSTAMP:20260803T142928Z
CREATED:20260803T142928Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142928Z
UID:30000205-1667260800-1667347199@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:Book Launch: African Queer and Trans Displacements
DESCRIPTION:Please join us on the 30th of November 2022 for a book launch and discussion\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nB Camminga (African Centre for Migration & Society)\, John Marnell (African Centre for Migration & Society)\, Verena Hucke (University of Kassel) and Godfried Asante (San Diego State University) \nin conversation with\nLetlhogonolo Mokgoroane (Cheeky Natives) \n30th of November 2022\nBreezeblock\, Brixton\n17:30 \nPlease register for launch.
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/book-launch-african-queer-and-trans-displacements/
CATEGORIES:Book launch
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20221019
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20221020
DTSTAMP:20260803T142928Z
CREATED:20260803T142928Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142928Z
UID:30000203-1666137600-1666223999@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:Virtual Discussion: Arrival at the Margins
DESCRIPTION:The editors and contributors of ‘Arrival at the Margins\,’ invite you to attend a virtual discussion of their new special issue of Migration Studies. With interdisciplinary contributions from five continents\, the issue calls on scholars to simultaneously centre and unsettle the margin: to recognise the multiplicity of margins as politically generative spaces\, frequently contoured by sustained and varied forms of mobility.  It helps to recalibrate the study of human mobility\, drawing attention to approaches\, spaces\, and transformative process underrecognised in contemporary scholarship. \nDate: 19 October 2022 \nTime: 2-3 pm UK / 9-10 am NYC \nRegistration: Click here to register \nClick here for a free download of the introduction by Natasha Iskander and Loren B Landau
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/virtual-discussion-arrival-at-the-margins/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20220913T130000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20220913T143000
DTSTAMP:20260803T142928Z
CREATED:20260803T142928Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142928Z
UID:30000202-1663074000-1663079400@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:Virtual Book Talk: Right Where We Belong: How Refugee Teachers and Students Are Changing the Future of Education
DESCRIPTION:Half of the world’s 26 million refugees are children. Their formal education is disrupted\, and their lives are too often dominated by exclusion and uncertainty about what the future holds. Even kids who have the opportunity to attend school face enormous challenges\, as they struggle to integrate into unfamiliar societies and educational environments. \nIn Right Where We Belong\, Sarah Dryden-Peterson discovers that\, where governments and international agencies have been stymied\, refugee teachers and students themselves are leading. From open-air classrooms in Uganda to the hallways of high schools in Maine\, new visions for refugee education are emerging. Dryden-Peterson introduces us to people like Jacques—a teacher who created a school for his fellow Congolese refugees in defiance of local laws—and Hassan\, a Somali refugee navigating the social world of the American teenager. Drawing on more than 600 interviews in twenty-three countries\, Dryden-Peterson shows how teachers and students are experimenting with flexible forms of learning. Rather than adopt the unrealistic notion that all will soon return to “normal\,” these schools embrace unfamiliarity\, develop students’ adaptiveness\, and demonstrate how children\, teachers\, and community members can build supportive relationships across lines of difference. \nIt turns out that policymakers\, activists\, and educators have a lot to learn from displaced children and teachers. Their stories point the way to better futures for refugee students and inspire us to reimagine education broadly\, so that children everywhere are better prepared to thrive in a diverse and unpredictable world. \nSarah Dryden-Peterson is Associate Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is the founder and director of REACH\, which promotes research\, education\, and action for refugees. In addition to her university teaching\, she has taught in primary and secondary schools in the United States\, South Africa\, and Madagascar. \nDate: 13  September 2022 \nTime:13:00 – 14:30 SAST \nRegistration: Click here to register
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/virtual-book-talk-right-where-we-belong-how-refugee-teachers-and-students-are-changing-the-future-of-education/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20220802T143000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20220802T160000
DTSTAMP:20260803T142927Z
CREATED:20260803T142927Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142927Z
UID:30000201-1659450600-1659456000@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:Panel Discussion:  Implications of Xenophobic Violence for Trade & Transformation
DESCRIPTION:Wits University’s African Centre for Migration & Society and the Wits-Oxford Mobility Governance Lab\, invite you to a panel discussion reflecting on the meaning and implications of xenophobic violence for South Africa’s economic and political future. \nThe discussion stems from a newly released  Xenowatch report: Xenophobic Violence in South Africa: An Analysis of Trends\, Causal Factors and Responses. Drawing on more than a decade of original research across South Africa\, the report describes xenophobic violence as an increasingly integral part of the country’s socio-economic and political landscape. Abetted by anti-immigrant attitudes\, xenophobic violence is rooted in democratic deficits: threats to rule of law and constitutional credibility. It highlights that violence is distinctly spatialised\, often occurring repeatedly in specific localities where economic and political competition is acute. It demonstrates that while inequality fuels popular dissatisfaction\, political opportunists and entrepreneurs scapegoat and victimise immigrants and other outsiders for their own advantage. \nThe consequences of South Africa’s anti-outsider violence extend far beyond the immediate victims but affect lives across many townships and informal settlements. Yet while violence has long been a local matter\, the forthcoming national leadership contest has seen xenophobic rhetoric and mobilisation become increasingly well-organised and national. Together these reflect a dangerous politics of localism and entitlement\, a rationing of access to rights and opportunities\, and a threat to prosperity and the constitutional order. It is these implications that this panel intends to explore. \nPresented in a hybrid format open to a live and virtual audience\, the panel will include representatives from academia\, civil society\, the media\, and former civil servants. Over ninety minutes the discussion will consider the implications of xenophobic mobilisation for South Africa’s efforts to promote economic inclusion\, democratic institutions\, and security for all its residents. It will explore implications for domestic and regional trade\, security\, and political accountability. \n  \nPANELISTS: \n\nMavuso Msimang (Former Corruption Watch Chairperson)\nSiphelele Ngobese (Researcher in the Inclusive Cities Programme\, SA Cities Network)\nJean Pierre Misago (Senior Researcher at the African Centre for Migration & Society\, Wits University)\n\nIN CONVERSATION WITH: \n\nLoren Landau (Professor of Migration and Development at the University of Oxford\, and co-director of the Wits-Oxford Mobility Governance Lab)\n\nFor more information on the panel or the report\, contact info@mobilitygovernancelab.com \nDate: 2 August 2022 \nTime: 14.30 – 16.00 \nVenue: Senate Room\, 2nd Floor\, East Wing\, Solomon Mahlangu House\, University of the Witwatersrand and Online via Zoom \nRegistration: https://wits-za.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYucuCrpjspGNVxvTb1N94yQKQmYGA4_prF 
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/panel-discussion-implications-of-xenophobic-violence-for-trade-transformation/
LOCATION:Senate Room\, Second Floor East Wing\, Solomon Mahlangu House\, University of the Witwatersrand East Campus
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220720
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220721
DTSTAMP:20260803T142927Z
CREATED:20260803T142927Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142927Z
UID:30000200-1658275200-1658361599@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:BOOK LAUNCH: "The Blinded City: Ten Years in Inner-City Johannesburg" by Dr Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon
DESCRIPTION:Wits Anthropology\, the African Centre for Migration & Society\, and the Humanities Graduate Centre cordially invite you to a launch of\, and panel discussion on\, Dr Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon’s book “The Blinded City: Ten Years in Inner-CityJohannesburg” (Pan Macmillan SA\, 2022)\, Thursday 25 August 11:30 am -1 pm\, at the Atrium\, Wits Humanities Graduate Centre and online. \nDISCUSSANTS: \n\nCikizwa Ggokoma (Inner City Federation)\nDr Kudakwashe Vanyoro (African Centre for Migration & Society)\nSiyabonga Mahlangu (Inner City Federation)\n\nFACILITATED BY: \n\nDr Kholeka Shange (Wits Anthropology)\n\nFor in-person attendance RSVP is essential. Please write to wilhelmsolomon@gmail.com with the heading ‘RSVP: Wits Blinded CityLaunch.” \nSYNOPSIS: \n‘One of the best works of narrative non-fiction to emerge from the country in years. Quite simply brilliant.’ – NIREN TOLSI \nAmid evictions\, raids\, killings\, the drug trade\, and fire\, inner-city Johannesburg residents seek safety and a home. A grandmother struggles to keep her granddaughter as she is torn away from her. A mother seeks healing in the wake of her son’s murder. And displaced by the city’s drive for urban regeneration\, a group of blind migrants try to carve out an existence. \nThe Blinded City recounts the history of inner-city Johannesburg from 2010 to 2019\, primarily from the perspectives of the unlawful occupiers of spaces known as hijacked buildings\, bad buildings or dark buildings. Tens of thousands of residents\, both South African and foreign national\, live in these buildings in dire conditions. This book tells the story of these sites and the court cases around them\, which strike at the centre of who has the right to occupy the city. \nIn February 2010\, while Johannesburg prepared for the FIFA World Cup\, the South Gauteng High Court ordered the eviction of the unlawful occupiers of an abandoned carpet factory on Saratoga Avenue and that the city’s Metropolitan Municipality provide temporary emergency accommodation for the evicted. The case\, which became known as Blue Moonlight and went to the Constitutional Court\, catalysed a decade of struggles over housing and eviction in Johannesburg. \nThe Blinded City chronicles this case\, among others\, and the aftermath – a tumultuous period in the city characterised by recurrent dispossessions\, police and immigration operations\, outbursts of xenophobic violence\, and political and legal change. All through the decade\, there is the backdrop of successive mayors and their attempts to ‘clean up’ the city\, and the struggles of residents and urban housing activists for homes and a better life. The interwoven narratives present a compelling mosaic of life in post-apartheid Johannesburg\, one of the globe’s most infamous and vital cities.
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/book-launch-the-blinded-city-ten-years-in-inner-city-johannesburg-by-dr-matthew-wilhelm-solomon/
CATEGORIES:Book launch
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220426
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220427
DTSTAMP:20260803T142927Z
CREATED:20260803T142927Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142927Z
UID:30000199-1650931200-1651017599@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:The UK-Rwanda Asylum Deal: What does it mean for refugees and the global refugee regime?
DESCRIPTION:This special seminar is being hosted by the Refugee Law Initiative (RLI) in London\, the African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS) in Johannesburg\, and the East African Centre for Forced Migration and Displacement (ACFMD) in Nairobi. \nThe seminar will discuss the recent Asylum Partnership Arrangement signed between the \nUK and Rwanda\, under which certain asylum-seekers can be relocated to Rwanda from the UK for possible permanent settlement. The seminar draws on a range of perspectives from researchers and practitioners engaging with this issue. \nThe event facilitates topical debate about the legality and feasibility of this agreement and the likely impact it will have on affected populations: \n\nWhat does this agreement mean for refugees and asylum seekers?\nWhat does the agreement signal for the global refugee regime at large?\nWhat are the major legal and practical obstacles likely to be encountered?\nWhat are the alternatives to such an approach for the UK?\nWill it have wider ramifications for refugees seeking protection within the EU?\n\nDiscussants include: \n\nAllan Munyao Mukuki\, East African Centre for Forced Migration\nDr Nikolas Feith Tan\, PhD Fellow at the Danish Institute for Human Rights and Aarhus University in international refugee law\nZoe Bantleman\, Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association\n\nLocation: Online \nDate: Thursday 28th April at 2pm (UK time) \nTo register please use this link: https://rli.sas.ac.uk/events/event/26192
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/the-uk-rwanda-asylum-deal-what-does-it-mean-for-refugees-and-the-global-refugee-regime/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220317
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220318
DTSTAMP:20260803T142927Z
CREATED:20260803T142927Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142927Z
UID:30000198-1647475200-1647561599@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:Call for Papers & Panels: African Queer & Trans Displacements
DESCRIPTION:African Queer & Trans Displacements is a two-day conference bringing together scholars\, policymakers\, practitioners\, advocates and activists working on the forced or voluntary migration of lesbian\, gay\, bisexual\, transgender\, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) Africans. The intersection of sexuality\, gender and displacement remains understudied\, especially in Global South contexts\, despite the fact that the vast majority of the world’s queer migrants\, refugees and asylum seekers live in these countries. At the same time\, the social\, legal\, political and economic needs of LGBTQI+ migrants\, refugees and asylum seekers remain overlooked by both queer rights movements and migrant/refugee rights movements\, resulting in inadequate support services and poorly developed policies. This conference aims to foster dialogue across these divides\, while also providing space to engage with migration scholarship centred on Africa and its peoples. \nExisting scholarship tends to elide the cultural\, linguistic and social differences of LGBTQI+ individuals seeking asylum\, homogenising disparate experiences and backgrounds under the broad category of ‘queer asylum seeker’. Countries of birth are largely presented as inconsequential\, or as narrative elements rather than critical considerations. This provides little clarity of the specificities of leaving any one place\, and even less of an understanding about the relationship between places left behind and those where asylum is sought. At the same time\, queer and trans Africans in the diaspora are projecting new identity formations and signifying practices back towards the continent. To this end\, this conference recognises that there is no single story of African queer and trans displacement. Rather\, there are specificities of experience that emerge when migration and asylum interact with different political\, discursive\, ideological and ontological formations linked to gender and sexuality. By curating this conference according to its geographical focus\, rather than emphasising thematic or disciplinary links\, we hope to spotlight the lived realities of migration and diaspora as they relate to queer and trans Africans. \nThis is the first conference to focus specifically on the movements of queer and trans Africans. We invite paper abstracts and panel proposals from scholars working in all disciplines\, as well as from policymakers\, practitioners\, activists and others working in this field. Please send 250-word abstracts or 400-word panel proposals to almresearchnet@gmail.com by the 1 May 2022. \nAfrican Queer & Trans Displacements is hosted by the African Centre for Migration & Society (University of the Witwatersrand) and the Centre of African Studies (University of Edinburgh). The conference will be held in person in Johannesburg\, South Africa\, on 1–2 December 2022 (keynote addresses will be live-streamed). \nNo registration fees will apply\, though delegates are responsible for their own transport and accommodation. Three bursaries covering travel and accommodation are available. If applying for a bursary\, please include a one-page motivation letter along with your abstract. \nEnquiries and abstract submissions should be forwarded to almnresearchnet@gmail.com. \nThis conference is generously supported by the British Academy and  the South African National Research Foundation.[higgs_logo width=”360″ border=”true” brd_padd=”pb-padd-30″ image=”8668″]
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/call-for-papers-panels-african-queer-trans-displacements/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220309
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220310
DTSTAMP:20260803T142926Z
CREATED:20260803T142926Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142926Z
UID:30000197-1646784000-1646870399@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:Applying Behavioral Science in Programming to Address Xenophobia & Promote  Social Cohesion
DESCRIPTION:Background \nGlobally\, as well as in the Southern Africa region\, a recent rise in anti-migrant attitudes\, including an increase in violent acts against migrants\, has drawn increasing attention from political actors as well as civil society. While many initiatives to promote social cohesion have been implemented over the years\, there is a dearth of research or evidence to understand the impact of such activities. Are media campaigns effective? If so\, with which types of audience and what types of messaging have the greatest impact? Can integrating migrants into sports leagues and cultural events help reduce anxiety and promote a more positive image of migrants among the host community? \nRecent advances in brain and behavioral science (BBS) are now providing policymakers and practitioners with new tools to design\, implement and measure more impactful social cohesion and peacebuilding programs to reduce xenophobia and violent conflict\, and promote cooperation across various social divides. \nIn this webinar\, the International Organization for Migration (IOM)\, the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS)\, Prof. Linda Tropp of the University of Massachusetts – Amherst\, and Beyond Conflict (a USbased NGO with over 30 years of experience collaborating with local actors and behavioral scientists in building social cohesion and preventing violence)\, will discuss global examples of initiatives aimed at addressing xenophobia and promoting social cohesion\, introduce new models and approaches to designing and measuring interventions\, and engage with participants on the specific context\, realities\, and initiatives in Southern Africa. \nDate: 9th March 2022  \nVenue:  \nOnline Time: 3:00-5:15pm ( South Africa time)  \nRegister here \n  \nAgenda  \nMarch 9th from 15:00 to 17:15 (SAST) \n15:00-15:10: Introduction to Webinar \n15:10-15:20:  Promoting social cohesion\, migrant integration\, and countering violence in South Africa within the framework of the Migration Multi Partner Trust Fund Programme (MPTF) \n15:20-15:30: Combatting xenophobia and promoting social cohesion in the South African Context (ACMS) \n15:30-15:40: Discussion \n15:40-15:55: Introduction to Brain and Behavioral Science for Social Cohesion – How does science help us think differently about how attitudes and beliefs are formed\, and decisions and actions are made? How does the brain operate in situations of conflict\, xenophobia\, insecurity and prejudice\, and why does that matter for social cohesion programs? \n15:55-16:05: Discussion \n16:05-16:20: Social Contact: Limitations and Opportunities – What is Social Contact Theory and what do we know about whether\, how and under what conditions social contact-based programs produce gains in social cohesion? What do we still need to learn? What innovations are we most excited about trying out? \n16:20-16:30: Discussion \n16:30-16:45: How We Engage: A Methodology for Science-Informed Design – What process do we use to better understand the gaps in a given program’s effectiveness and create tailored solutions to address them? How do we make sure these solutions are cost-effective and influential outside just one specific context? What roles and responsibilities do all parties have in that process? \n16:45-16:55: Discussion \n16:55-17:05: IOM’s Diversity\, Inclusion & Social Cohesion (DISC) Initiative – Global Approach to Addressing Xenophobia and Promoting Inclusion \n17:05-17:15: Conclusions / Wrap Up
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/applying-behavioral-science-in-programming-to-address-xenophobia-promote-social-cohesion/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20211203T190000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20211203T194500
DTSTAMP:20260803T142926Z
CREATED:20260803T142926Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142926Z
UID:30000196-1638558000-1638560700@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:Roundtable & Public Discussion: Rethinking Knowledge Politics in Migration Research\, Teaching & Practice
DESCRIPTION:The African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) at the University of the Witwatersrand and Department of Political Science at the University of Vienna in partnership with the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) and the Anti- Racism Working Group of the IMISCOE International Migration Research Network cordially invite you to a roundtable and public discussion on Rethinking Migration Research\, Teaching and Practice. \nAn ongoing gap in genuine perspectives that are the outcome of robust engagement of scholars and practitioners across the Global North and the Global South runs the risk of reducing decolonisation to a normative and at times arbitrary framework\, silencing certain perspectives and/or side-lining existing work. What does decolonisation have to offer to migration researchers and practitioners that differs or is inimitable from pre-existing notions of reflexivity in the field\, and what\, if any\, are its potential pitfalls? \nCentred on three themes (rethinking the migration research agenda and practice; reflecting on fieldworks and methods; changing the way we teach)\, this roundtable and public discussion aims to engage with the question if decolonisation as an analytical and reflexive tool can provide new or critical knowledge about more productive\, inclusive and transformative approaches\, language and categories of doing migration research\, teaching as well as practice. \nWe will dedicate each theme to one discussion round by short inputs from our three excellent roundtable speakers\, before opening the floor to the audience. \nOur Roundtable Speakers are E. Tendayi Achiume\, Ipek Demir and Aurora Vergara Figueroa. \nTendayi Achiume is the inaugural Alicia Miñana Professor in Law at the University of California\, Los Angeles School of Law. She is also a Research Associate with the African Centre for Migration and Society at the University of Witwatersrand. The current focus of her work is the global governance of racism and xenophobia; and the legal and ethical implications of colonialism for contemporary international migration. More generally\, her research and teaching interests lie in international human rights law\, international refugee law\, and international migration. Professor Achiume is also the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism\, Racial Discrimination\, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. Professor Achiume earned her B.A. from Yale University and her J.D. from Yale Law School. She also earned a Graduate Certificate in Development Studies from Yale. \nIpek Demir is an Associate Professor and the Director of Centre for Racism and Ethnicity\, University of Leeds\, UK. Her research sits at the intersections of the fields of diaspora studies\, ethno-politics\, race and identity\, Global South\, indigeneity\, epistemology and social and critical thought. In her recent work she develops a decolonial perspective to diaspora and discusses how diasporas are the primary agents of decolonization of the Global North. Her forthcoming (January 2022) book with MUP is entitled Diaspora as Translation and Decolonisation. \nAurora Vergara Figueroa is the director of the Afrodiasporic Studies Center (Centro de Estudios Afrodiaspóricos) at Icesi University. Her main research interest is the sociological study of Afrocolombians deracinated from the Colombian Pacific coast and the long durée of land dispossession. Professor Vergara Figueroa also develops research on the Afrodiasporic feminist movement in Colombia. She is the recipient of the 2014 LASA/Oxfam America Martin Diskin Dissertation Award. Vergara Figueroa holds a PhD in sociology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. \nDate: Fri\, December 3\, 2021 \nTime: 7:00 PM – 7:45 PM SAST / 6:00 PM – 6:45 PM CET / 12:00 PM – 12:45 PM EST \nLocation: Online \nRegistration:  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rethinking-knowledge-politics-in-migration-research-teaching-practice-tickets-211588546037
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/roundtable-public-discussion-rethinking-knowledge-politics-in-migration-research-teaching-practice/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20211118T100000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20211118T120000
DTSTAMP:20260803T142926Z
CREATED:20260803T142926Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142926Z
UID:30000195-1637229600-1637236800@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:Civil Society Consultative Meeting: Governing for Migrant Inclusion in Post-Election Johannesburg
DESCRIPTION:South Africa’s recent elections mean coalitions local governments and increasingly competitive local politics. An already weakened bureaucracy and a near empty public purse offer few resources to politicians and parties jockeying for position and electoral advantage. To divert attention from their shortcomings\, elected officials are ever more likely to scapegoat immigrants and migrants. Community leaders – elected\, selected\, or self-appointed – will similarly capitalise on xenophobia to their own advantage. Past experience of xenophobic violence across the country tells us this. Past experience tells us this will be deadly\, destructive and further denude our country’s already faltering public institutions.  As a municipality now managed by a coalition government and the city most affected by xenophobic violence\, Johannesburg will not be spared. But what is to be done? \nThere is now need to publicly recognise the acute dangers lying ahead and find ways to navigate a fragmented and perilous political landscape. To this end\, the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) and the Wits-Oxford Mobility Governance Lab is organising a civil society consultative meeting to discuss and prepare strategies for engagement with the incoming administration post recent local government elections. A new administration demands new and different forms of engagement. The meeting brings together civil society organisations working with migrants to reflect on the role the city can play in addressing migrants’ exclusion and strategies to engage with the new administration to this effect. \nThis consultative meeting is part of ACMS’ ongoing dialogues on ‘Governing for Urban Inclusion’. The dialogues aim to bring together relevant stakeholders within government\, civil society\, academia and community-based organisations to reconsider modes of interventions\, theories of change\, and stakeholder engagement with regard to addressing current forms of identity-based exclusion in South African cities. \nMeeting date: 30 November 2021 \nTime: 10.00 – 12.00 (SA time) \nVenue:  Online \nRegistration link: REGISTER \nFurther information: info@mobilitygovernancelab.org
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/civil-society-consultative-meeting-governing-for-migrant-inclusion-in-post-election-johannesburg/
LOCATION:Online
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20211011
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20211012
DTSTAMP:20260803T142926Z
CREATED:20260803T142926Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142926Z
UID:30000194-1633910400-1633996799@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:Book Launch: Seeking Sanctuary: Stories of Sexuality\, Faith and Migration
DESCRIPTION:[higgs_image size=”real” image=”8600″]
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/book-launch-seeking-sanctuary-stories-of-sexuality-faith-and-migration/
CATEGORIES:Book launch
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20210922T020000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20210922T153000
DTSTAMP:20260803T142925Z
CREATED:20260803T142925Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142925Z
UID:30000192-1632276000-1632324600@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:PROTECT Expert Forum: Exploring the Boundaries of International Protection and Human Rights Instruments in South(ern) Africa
DESCRIPTION:The African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) is running a series of interventions (including public workshops) to unpack the role of international protection and the reality of human rights-based protection claims on the ground in Southern Africa today. Special attention will be given to the influence and impact of both the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) and Global Compact for Safe\, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) in the current context of Covid-19. \nThese events are part of PROTECT’s Expert Forums series\, all of which seek to explore the legal potential and impacts of the Global Compacts on Refugees and Migration. The events are organized by PROTECT’s South Africa-based researchers\, Jo Vearey\, Nicholas Maple\, and Kudakwashe Vanyoro. \nKey topics and issues to be covered in this series: \n• Protection claims of refugees in South Africa\n• The stretching and shrinking of international protection via state and local practices\n• Ground-level approaches to protection for marginalised groups \nThe impact of Covid-19 on: \n• International protection and localised forms and norms of protection\n•State approaches to health security and the international securitisation agenda\n• Regional responses to forced displacement\, crisis and instability \nProgram 22 September \nExploring the Boundaries of International Protection and Human Rights Instruments in South(ern) Africa \nTopics to be covered: \n• South Africa: Asylum and the boundaries of International Protection:\no Access to documentation and the backlog of asylum claims\no The role of the Global Compacts and pledges made by the state and UNHCR\no The role of Zimbabwean Exemption Visa Permits\no Regional (SADC) responses to international protection needs \n• Responses to COVID-19 and Vaccine programmes:\no Asylum-seeker permit renewals during lockdown\no Deportation\, detention; border closures\no Access to COVID-19 relief\no Access to the national Vaccine programme \nSpeakers and program: \nHelidah Refiloe Ogude-Chambert\, a South African-Kenyan national\, is an International Affairs and Development academic and professional with over ten years of experience\, including holding positions in The Presidency\, Government of South Africa\, and currently as a Social Development Specialist at The World Bank in Washington D.C. She is also a Ph.D. candidate in Public and Urban Policy at The New School\, New York City. \nJames Chirwa works at the Legal Advice Team at Messina Legal Advice Office (MLAO). He is also a Research Assistant for the Xenowatch project for the limpopo province \, African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) based at Wits University \nAsmita Parshotam is an international trade and development expert\, and an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa\, having served her legal articles at Bowman Gilfillan Incorporated\, a corporate law firm in Johannesburg. \nKudakwashe Vanyoro is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS)\, University of the Witwatersrand\, in South Africa interested in migration\, temporality\, borders\, humanitarianism and governance in Africa. He is currently working on a book project looking at governing immobilities at the Zimbabwe South Africa border. \nPanel Chair\, Jo Vearey is an Associate Professor and the director of  the African Centre for Migration & Society\, University of the Witwatersrand. Jo works on migration and health in the southern African region and globally. With a background in public health\, her work explores the relationship between migration\, mobility\, and health. \nDate: 22nd September 2021 \nTime: 2.00 – 3.30pm SAST \nRegister for online participation: https://wits-za.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUtdemtpzIqE9DGPkRwuS5DWd4G2Otb2uCW
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/protect-expert-forum-exploring-the-boundaries-of-international-protection-and-human-rights-instruments-in-southern-africa/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210922
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210923
DTSTAMP:20260803T142925Z
CREATED:20260803T142925Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142925Z
UID:30000193-1632268800-1632355199@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:Call to Participate in a Workshop on Rethinking Knowledge Politics in Migration Research\, Teaching & Practice
DESCRIPTION:Recently\, there has been a proliferation of representations of refugees\, asylum seekers and irregular migrants waiting at land\, sea as well as air border crossings headed towards Europe. These groups are often framed in highly emotive language that associates them with threats\, or portrayed as either tragic or miserable\, or as the exemplary citizen. There has also been an increase in emphasis on normative concepts such as ‘safe\, orderly and regular migration’ in contemporary migration debates and policies; over and above already established ones such as ‘integration’. Often\, we also find inherent presumptions that structural disparities between Europe and Africa can be resolved by addressing the root causes of migration and displacement via research and practice without necessarily addressing the causes of oppression. Conversations about African migrants tend to portray Europe as the main host continent for the majority of African migrants in spite of the greater numerical significance of internal and cross-border migration within and across the countries of the global South. All these developments point to the need for ongoing reflection and in particular the need to address northern-centric views in social science and public debate. \nThis call invites abstract submissions to participate in an online workshop as part of the African Academy for Migration Research Virtual Institute on Knowledge Politics and Production. The workshop is hosted by the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) at the University of the Witwatersrand and Department of Political Science at the University of Vienna in partnership with the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) and the Anti-Racism Working Group of the IMISCOE International Migration Research Network. The workshop aims to engage with the question\, what can (and should) migration academics and practitioners do to engage in these discussions and debates in a meaningful way? The ‘reflexive turn’ in migration research has engaged with the politics and ethics of knowledge production processes that involve vulnerable groups. While the ‘reflexive turn’ offered a paradigm shift in thinking about these questions by way of epistemological and conceptual reflections\, migration research has now also started to engage more with decolonial perspectives. While decolonisation itself is not a new notion\, it has been largely at the margins of migration research in Europe. We have seen an increasing attempt to focus on decolonising migration research\, especially in the wake of the Black Lives Matter mobilisations. \nThis workshop asks if decolonisation as an analytical and reflexive tool can provide new or critical knowledge about more productive\, inclusive and transformative approaches\, language and categories of doing migration research\, teaching as well as practice. Put differently\, what does decolonisation have to offer to migration researchers and practitioners that differs or is inimitable from pre-existing notions of reflexivity in the field\, and what\, if any\, are its potential pitfalls? While existing works on decolonising migration research have initiated an important debate\, we identify an ongoing gap in genuine perspectives that are the outcome of robust engagement of scholars and practitioners across the Global North and the Global South. This runs the risk of reducing decolonisation to a normative and at times arbitrary framework\, retaining hegemonic characteristics by silencing certain perspectives and/or side-lining existing work. We suggest that decolonisation as a discourse also needs to be questioned and its usefulness and limits as a reflexive tool\, not only for academics but those working in NGOs and practitioner institutions\, and in the framework of exchange among academics and policy makers\, further explored. \nThis workshop is meant to provide a space for this kind of allyship and exchange\, taking stock of existing work\, reading and critiquing each other’s work as well as opening up conversations that are guided by mutual trust\, understanding and support among migration scholars from different world regions\, and from different disciplines. In this workshop\, we would like to ask: \nHow useful and inimitable is the language of decolonisation in varying\, situated contexts of migration research\, teaching and practice? Decolonisation can mean different things for differentially situated actors\, yet there is a risk that it could become highly normative. We are specifically looking for contributions that offer grounded definitions\, meanings and implications of decolonisation by reflecting on experiences found in intersubjective relations\, humanitarian norms\, language and procedures as well as knowledge production and teaching processes. Here\, we are particularly interested in contributions that reveal both the desirable and undesirable consequences of adopting the language of decolonisation in the field and the possibilities of other emancipatory frameworks beyond or alongside this (if any). \nWhat are the institutional barriers to reflexive\, transformative praxis in the world of migration? Those working in migration research\, teaching and practice are constantly grappling with the possible influence of different ethnic\, professional\, racial and gendered positions. Yet\, even for those who would like to acknowledge or assume responsibility for this power relation\, a tendency to avoid debate embedded in institutional norms\, and procedures often constrains reflexive exercises. We are looking for critical\, genuine reflections on: the instances of the reproduction of unequal power relations; the institutional constraints to reflexivity in training and teaching in higher education as well as within NGOs and practitioner institutions; and the limits of using the language of decolonisation in calling for reflexivity within ‘rigged’ institutional contexts. \nWhat practical approaches and tools can be adopted to achieve a genuinely reflexive and transformative field of migration research\, teaching and practice? Concepts and approaches that are currently applied in migration teaching\, research and practice are often either highly normative or policy driven\, which also means they have the potential danger of contributing to the ‘othering’ of migrants. Contributions for this workshop should address how to bring reflexive\, transformative discussions into our work and into our research and spaces of learning in ways that shift power asymmetries; and ways to open up space for debate and emancipation as well as creating trust and an environment of feeling safe to reflect and act on errors instead of fostering distrust\, and adversarial politics. We are also interested in contributions that unpack how we can build a continental African migration research agenda\, in a globally comparative way. We also welcome reflections on teaching migration studies in an online world. \nHow to join? \nSend an e-mail to rethinking@migration.org.za by October 20\, midnight (your time zone) with the following information: \n\nName\nTitle and abstract of proposed contribution (300 words)\nShort bio: university affiliation\, title\, research interests\, time-zone where you are currently based\nWrite in the subject line of the e-mail: Rethinking Migration Workshop\n\nWe will notify those invited to participate on the basis of accepted abstracts by October 30. All papers are due by November 30. We envisage essay length papers (ranging from 3000  to 5000 words) that are a basis for discussion and exchange among the participants. Workshop contributions will go towards the compilation of an edited volume that engages scholarship on knowledge politics in the field of migration. The workshop will be held online to make it as accessible as possible for participants across the globe. \nWorkshop Date: December 3\, 2021 \nDownload the call here: Rethinking Knowledge Politics in Migration Research Teaching Practice _WorkshopCall_September2021
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/call-to-participate-in-a-workshop-on-rethinking-knowledge-politics-in-migration-research-teaching-practice/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20210830T020000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20210830T153000
DTSTAMP:20260803T142925Z
CREATED:20260803T142925Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142925Z
UID:30000191-1630288800-1630337400@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:PROTECT Expert Forum: Protection Issues and Solutions for LGBTIQ+ People in Contexts of Forced Displacement
DESCRIPTION:The African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) is running a series of interventions (including public workshops) to unpack the role of international protection and the reality of human rights-based protection claims on the ground in Southern Africa today. Special attention will be given to the influence and impact of both the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) and Global Compact for Safe\, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) in the current context of Covid-19. \nThese events are part of PROTECT’s Expert Forums series\, all of which seek to explore the legal potential and impacts of the Global Compacts on Refugees and Migration. The events are organized by PROTECT’s South Africa-based researchers\, Jo Vearey\, Nicholas Maple\, and Kudakwashe Vanyoro. \nKey topics and issues to be covered in this series: \n• Protection claims of refugees in South Africa\n• The stretching and shrinking of international protection via state and local practices\n• Ground-level approaches to protection for marginalised groups \nThe impact of Covid-19 on: \n• International protection and localised forms and norms of protection\n•State approaches to health security and the international securitisation agenda\n• Regional responses to forced displacement\, crisis and instability \nProgram 15 September \nProtection Issues and Solutions for LGBTIQ+ People in Contexts of Forced Displacement \nTopics to be covered: \n• The role of international human rights instruments on the ground in Southern Africa\n• Refugee Status Determination Process (RSD) for LGBTIQ+ persons in South Africa: 10 years of refugee status denial letters\n• The role of the Global Compacts in relation to the protection needs of LGBTIQ+ persons\n• The impact of COVID-19 on labour\, informality\, access to specific services and forms of relief and protection \nSpeakers and program: \nB Camminga (they/them) is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the African Centre for Migration & Society\, Wits University. Their work considers the interrelationship between the conceptual journeying of the term ‘transgender’ and the physical embodied journeying of transgender asylum seekers from the African continent. In 2018 they were runner up in the Africa Spectrum: Young African Scholars Award\, which honours outstanding research by up-and-coming African scholars. Their first monograph Transgender Refugees & the Imagined South Africa (Palgrave\, 2019) received honourable mention in the Ruth Benedict Prize for Queer Anthropology from the American Anthropology Association and the 2019 Sylvia Rivera Award in Transgender Studies. They are the co-convenor of the African LGBTQI+ Migration Research Network (ALMN). \nNyasha Zhakata\, popularly known as Masiziva or Masi\, is a lesbian from Zimbabwe and founder of the community-based grassroots organisation Pachedu LGBTQI. Formed as a collective in June 2018 to assist and support LGBTQI refugees and migrants from the African continent living in South Africa. With members from Zimbabwe\, Zambia\, Malawi and Tanzania\, the collective provides mutual aid\, including financial resources\, food and medical and emotional support. Nysha is an Isibindi changemaker\, and in 2020 she won an award for her work with Pachedu. At present\, Pachedu\, with their partners Triangle Project\, Scalabrini\, Passop\, the African LGBTQI+ Migration Research Network (ALMN) and the Fruit Basket\, are working to mitigate the impacts of COVID on its members by providing food\, electricity\, water and covering rental costs. \nTina Dixson is a PhD Candidate at The Australian National University researching the construction of narratives on queer women’s displacement and violence. Tina has previously co-founded the first Australian LGBTIQ+ refugee-led organization Forcibly Displaced People Network. She works in social policy on issues of LGBTIQ+ inclusion\, women’s safety and refugee rights. \nPanel Chair \nSally Gandar is a Head of Advocacy & Legal Advisor at The Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town. Perceiving migration as an opportunity\, the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town is committed to alleviating poverty and promoting development in the Western Cape while fostering integration between migrants\, refugees and South Africans. In providing assistance\, they advocate respect for human rights and use a holistic approach that considers all basic needs. \nDate: Wednesday 15 September \nTime: 2.00 – 3.30pm SAST \nRegistration: https://wits-za.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJElcumvpzMrGdL-yIwgRBSMDkW7sRTCO-nB
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/protect-expert-forum-protection-issues-and-solutions-for-lgbtiq-people-in-contexts-of-forced-displacement/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20210720T090000
DTEND;TZID=Africa/Johannesburg:20210720T100000
DTSTAMP:20260803T142925Z
CREATED:20260803T142925Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142925Z
UID:30000190-1626771600-1626775200@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:Exploring the Boundaries of Protection and Human Rights for International Migrants in South Africa: A Facilitated Conversation
DESCRIPTION:Invited Panel at the 1st Migration & Urbanisation Conference organised by the South African National Department of Social Development and Statistics South Africa \nAbout the conference: \nMigration and urbanisation have been described as major issues impacting on the world’s economic\, political and social landscape. Migration has emerged as a dominant theme in global political discourse and international relations. Similarly\, patterns of internal migration and urbanisation have significant implications on origin and destination areas within countries. Thus migration is an area of significant focus in policymaking and administration at all levels of governance. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes for the first time the contribution of migration to sustainable development. Migration is a crosscutting issue\, relevant to all of the Sustainable Development Goals. Eleven out of seventeen goals contain targets and indicators that are relevant to migration or mobility. The Agenda’s core principle to “leave no one behind”\, including migrants\, requires data disaggregation by migratory status\, opening up significant migration data needs but also the opportunity to improve migration data. \nPanel discussion \nThis facilitated panel conversation will bring together the perspectives of academics\, government\, and international organizations working in the field of international protection. Inputs will consider the applicability of the current global refugee regime – as enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention – in the South African context. This will include consideration of the experiences of marginalised asylum seekers\, refugees\, and forced migrants\, current policy developments associated with the management of international migration in relation to refugee protection\, and the relationship between international organisations and the state. \nFacilitator: Prof Jo Vearey (African Centre for Migration & Society\, Wits University) \nPanelists: \nSarah-Jane Savage (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – UNHCR) \nDepartment of Home Affairs (TBC) \nDr Nicholas Maple (African Centre for Migration & Society\, Wits University) \nDr B Camminga (African Centre for Migration & Society\, Wits University) \nThe panel is part of “PROTECT The Right to International Protection. A Pendulum between Globalization and Nativization?” \nPROTECT is an EU funded research project which studies the impact of the UN’s Global Compacts on Refugees and Migration on refugees’ right to international protection. The vision of PROTECT is to discover ways of advancing the international protection system within today’s turbulent political context. We consist of 11 partner universities in Europe\, Canada\, and South Africa. More information can be found on the project website: https://protectproject.w.uib.no/ \nDate: Wednesday 28 July \nTime: 09H00 – 10H00 \nFree registration: https://migration.statssa.gov.za/index.php/registration/
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/exploring-the-boundaries-of-protection-and-human-rights-for-international-migrants-in-south-africa-a-facilitated-conversation/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210614
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210615
DTSTAMP:20260803T142924Z
CREATED:20260803T142924Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142924Z
UID:30000189-1623628800-1623715199@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:PROTECT Midterm Conference
DESCRIPTION:At PROTECT’s virtual conference on 26 – 27 August\, we will present our midterm findings and discuss their policy relevance. On day one (26 August)\, our researchers will give bite-sized presentations of our Work Package findings\, which are all dedicated to studying the impacts of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) and the Global Compact for Migration (GCM) in different manners. The conference will feature a keynote address by Professor James C. Hathaway\, University of Michigan Law School \nDay two (27 August) is dedicated to two plenary panels; a Policy Forum and an Academic Forum. While the Policy Forum gathers significant national and international actors involved in the global governance of international protection\, the Academic Forum is specially devised to communicate with top scholars in the field in order to have their evaluations of the quality and validity of our research results. On both days we invite guests to ask questions and participate in our online facilitated discussion spaces. Full video talks where we present our findings in detail will be sent out to all attendees in advance. Access the short programme here. \nRegister here for virtual participation
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/protect-midterm-conference/
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210303
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210304
DTSTAMP:20260803T142924Z
CREATED:20260803T142924Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260803T142924Z
UID:30000188-1614729600-1614815999@migration.org.za
SUMMARY:Healthcare in transit: Quantifying the health needs of migrants across the Limpopo
DESCRIPTION:Beginning in late 2019\, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in partnership with the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS)\, conducted over 1\,375 detailed interviews with migrants and asylum-seekers across Beitbridge and Musina\, documenting the health challenges they faced. Participants included: \n\nZimbabwean deportees coming through Beitbridge Reception\,\nmigrants and asylum seekers of several nationalities staying in Musina\,\nMalawians using Beitbridge as a waiting area\,\nthe cross-border population living in rural Beitbridge\, and\ndifferent groups heading to South Africa via Beitbridge crossing points.\n\nThe results of that survey show that the significant waiting period for asylum-seeker application outcomes often exacerbates health challenges that migrants experience. While the report does not point to an acute health crisis at the border\, it outlines the risks of the current process\, which often requires migrants and asylum-seekers to travel from the rest of the country to Musina\, as their office of first application\, in order to renew their permits. \nMany of those whose papers expire before they are able to renew them must endure inhumane and often illegal conditions of arrest and detention prior to deportation\, heightening the risks of contagion during the COVID-19 pandemic. \nImplications of the report – beyond addressing medical needs – extend to the need for a more considered approach to migration policy\, one that acknowledges the reality of migration while promoting wider public health imperatives. MSF and ACMS\, in collaboration with the Migration & Coronavirus in Southern Africa Coordination Group (MiCoSA)\, will be hosting a discussion on the project findings and their implications\, including what this may mean in the context of Covid-19. Discussants include: \n\nVinayak Bhardwaj\, Regional Migration Referent – Southern Africa\, Doctors Without Borders (MSF)\nFaith Ngari\, Future Families\, Musina\nDostin Lakika (PhD)\, field researcher & ACMS graduate\nAurelie Ponthieu\, International Migration Coordinator\, Doctors Without Borders (MSF)\, Brussels\n\nFacilitator: Jo Vearey\, ACMS\, Wits \nDate: Wednesday 17th March \nTime: 1 – 2.30pm SAST \nRegistration Link: https://wits za.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcpcOGrrTojGNSYGZtW2d7ct6CwU81b8rgO[higgs_space space=”pb-marg-b-45″][higgs_logos logos=”%5B%7B%22image%22%3A%228433%22%7D%5D”]
URL:https://migration.org.za/acms-event/healthcare-in-transit-quantifying-the-health-needs-of-migrants-across-the-limpopo/
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