New perspectives on forced migration in the history of twentieth-century neuroscience

ABSTRACT

This special issue of the Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, comprised of six articles and one commentary, reflects on the multifold dimensions of intellectual migration in the neurosciences and illustrates them by relevant case studies, biographies, and surveys from twentieth-century history of science and medicine perspectives. The special issue as a whole strives to emphasize the impact of forced migration in the neurosciences and psychiatry from an interdisciplinary perspective by, first, describing the general research topic, second, by showing how new models can be applied to the historiography and social studies of twentieth-century neuroscience, and, third, by providing a deeper understanding of the impact of European émigré researchers on emerging allied fields, such as neurogenetics, biological psychiatry, psychosomatics, and public mental health, etc. as resulting from this process at large.     

Look who perpetrates violence and where: Explaining variation in forced migration

Are the causes of refugee and IDPs flows the same? While existing studies examine the causes of displacement in general, there is limited research on different determinants of internal and external displacement. Factors might have varying impacts on the decision to move within the country and flee abroad. Here, I argue the effect of violence on displacement as a function of perpetrator and geography (i.e., how spread it is). Increases in government violence increase the number of refugees because to escape government violence, people may have to cross an international border as governments are generally effective everywhere within their borders. On the other hand, rebel group activities are limited to a certain area and by leaving the conflict zone, civilians can be free from rebel violence. However, the spread of violence determines the decision to flee. If it is limited to a small region, people can escape from that area within the country and rebel violence increases the number of IDPs. If it is widespread, civilians may not have many opportunities within the country and have to move abroad. Therefore, the effect of rebel violence on internal displacement follows a reverse U-shape. The analysis of refugee and IDPs flows between 1989 and 2017 supports the main arguments and the results are robust to different model specifications and additional checks. This study highlights the importance of distinguishing the causes of internal and external displacement.     

Another Time,Another Place

This paper explores the way in which the languages of space and time condense and how the values of spatiotemporal fluidity and fixity are gendered. It considers several narratives from South Pentecost, Vanuatu, stories of primordial beings and of more proximate ancestors which alike stress women's association with flight and flood. Such narratives are situated in the context of labour migration in colonial history and more recent patterns of migration to towns. Here too, the movement of men and women is differentially constructed. These processes are considered in the context of recent feminist theories of the relation of spatiality and temporality, in modernity and ‘postmodernity’.     

Uncertainty,exhaustion, and abandonment beyond South/North divides: Governing forced migration through strategic ambiguity

Forced migration studies struggles to counterbalance policy assumptions that the governance of displaced people is of a fundamentally different nature in the Global South and North. This paper contributes to a growing body of critical scholarship that questions the epistemic segregation and theoretical demarcation that reproduce such exceptionalism. It mobilizes the idea of strategic institutional ambiguity to innovatively interrogate routinely assumed differences between migration governance in the Global South and North. It juxtaposes in-depth empirical case-studies of refugee governance in Lebanon, the country with the world's highest per capita number of refugees, with a review of critical research on EUropean governance of forced and irregular migrants. This exploration demonstrates that the rationales and manifestations of the ‘politics of uncertainty’ that refugees are subjected to in Lebanon closely mirror those of the ‘politics of abandonment’ and ‘exhaustion’ that migrants face in EUrope. Under both regimes, strategic forms of ambiguity operate to spatially and temporally marginalize refugees and render them controllable, exploitable, and deportable.     

又一支随想曲

人有偏爱。比如坐公交车,我偏爱坐八十三路、四十三路。西宁诸多公交线中,这是两条近两年新辟的线路,上线的全是新款城运客车,人性化设计:车体宽敞、坐椅舒适、车窗宽大。运营初始就有了自己的特色,有这感触的,非我一人。我是退休赋闲人,坐公交车十有八九为了消闲。居家附近有这两路车的站点,上车无论早晚大多有座位。我对这两路公交车的偏爱,是从搭乘消闲中形成的。比起城区其它老资格的公交线路,这两路车走的不是城内耳目详熟的中心路段。恰恰就是避开了几十年一贯的恒定走势,坐车如我的,坐车上看来看去,看出不少的感想,一吐为快。从报社…     

换一个眼光

人生有时需要换一个眼光,看风景也是。 我相信时间也是一种风景,我们每一个人都身处其中,不知道面对即将流逝的2010年,你有什么感受,有什么话要说？作为一本风景旅游杂志,当我们在回望中梳理这一年的时候．发现风景除了作为风景本身的存在之外,还有那么多更丰富的意味。     

Another New Nietzsche

Book reviewed in this article:
Bernard Williams, Truth and Truthfulness: An Essay in Genealogy     

Frisonica libertas: Frisian freedom as an instance of medieval liberty

In the later Middle Ages the predominantly rural Frisian territories covering the coastal area between the Zuider Zee and the River Weser stood out by virtue of their anomalous position. One striking phenomenon in this area was the early breakdown of feudalism; another was the failure of sovereign rule to take root. A crucial development was how the resulting political vacuum was filled by communal institutions. This paper tries to explain this state of affairs, a situation the Frisians themselves referred to as ‘Frisian freedom’, in terms of the communalism thesis propounded by Peter Blickle. In summary, it can be said that the Frisian territories, at least while the communal institutions were in their prime, constitute an even more prototypical model of rural communalism than the founding cantons of the Swiss Confederation.     

‘The sea shall have our weapons’: small arms and forced migration across the Baltic Sea during the Second World War

ABSTRACT

During the Second World War, a large number of guns were brought to Sweden by refugees escaping the occupation powers of the eastern Baltic countries. Most people had very limited space for bringing belongings with them, but small arms were apparently highly prioritised when setting out – yet, at the same time, they were usually disposed of in the course of the crossing. Informed by Latours’ thoughts on hybrid actors, this paper explores the relationship between humans and arms during the escape across the Baltic Sea in 1943–45. It is shown that although they were seldom fired, the physical presence of these arms directly affected human action, perception and identities, and that it did so in different ways during different phases of the crossing.     

审视传统文化的另一个视角

中国宗法社会发展到宋代,产生了大量脱离社会秩序的游民,形成游民阶层,在游民中产生了通俗文化、通俗文学。游民不同于宗法人之处,在于他们有反社会性、主动进击精神和帮派意识,义气是他们联系的纽带。产生于游民的通俗文化、通俗文学,包括《三国演义》《水浒传》等,又为游民的组织、活动提供了理论武器。从游民文化看中国历史,是审视传统文化的另一个视角。     

Traditional Culture from Another Perspective

中国宗法社会发展到宋代,产生了大量脱离社会秩序的游民,形成游民阶层,在游民中产生了通俗文化、通俗文学.游民不同于宗法人之处,在于他们有反社会性、主动进击精神和帮派意识,义气是他们联系的纽带.产生于游民的通俗文化、通俗文学,包括《三国演义》《水浒传》等,又为游民的组织、活动提供了理论武器.从游民文化看中国历史,是审视传统文化的另一个视角.