Bole to Harlem via Tel Aviv: networks of Ethiopia's musical diaspora

ABSTRACT

One of the fastest growing sources of domestic labor in the Global North is Ethiopia, whose female population travels to North America, Europe, and the developed Middle East to work for remittances to send home. Once these migrants settle in cities such as London, Abu Dhabi, Tel Aviv, Rome, or Toronto, they organize themselves into cultural enclaves that navigate their positionality, namely the state, religious practice, and their bodies. While scholars are occasionally interested in the explicit security ramifications of absorbing these migrant workforces, they pay less attention to the cultural forces propelling citizenship, and to migrants' relationship with their home culture. This gap in knowledge is counterproductive, because scholars and policy-makers will have trouble assessing the Ethiopian migrant population's perspective through interview material alone. The Ethiopian values of honor and respect for authority dictate a hesitance to criticize explicitly, so the population's feelings about marginality rarely emerge in discussion about labor. This taboo curtails the effectiveness of typical ethnographic methods (e.g. interviewing). Rather, this article examines Ethiopian music as a prism through which migrant musicians navigate the complex web of religious, ethnic, national, and embodied identities in their new surroundings. In this article, I present findings based on participant-observation of Ethiopian live music in North American and Middle Eastern diaspora cities (New York, Washington, DC, Tel Aviv, and Dubai), and argue that the populations are linked through the multidirectional cultural influences of Ethiopian diasporic popular music. I will argue that Ethiopian migrants' music offers a stable, alternative form of political discussion to more overt discussions of contested identities, and that these discussions reshape cultural boundaries. By considering performance techniques such as choice of language for lyrics, and the incorporation of Ethiopian or local dance style into music videos that are distributed over the Internet, one begins to understand how the rapidly expanding transnational network of Ethiopian migrants conceptualizes itself as an emerging global source of labor in cosmopolitan urban centers.     

Emigrants and the state in Ethiopia: transnationalism and the challenges of political antagonism

ABSTRACT

Since the fall of military-socialist government in 1991 in Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has embarked on the total restructuring of the state. It has presented ‘Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ as an ‘organizing principle’ and it has been working towards the rebuilding of the Ethiopian state along this line. The focus of this paper is EPRDF's policies and practices of engagement of Ethiopian emigrants. The analysis is based on information and interviews with government officials in Addis Ababa and with Ethiopian migrants in Washington DC during February–May 2013. This study indicates that the EPRDF government gradually started to focus its attention on Ethiopian migrants around the world, mainly due to the growing economic significance of their transnational engagement in Ethiopia. The study also shows the circumstances in which political debates about the conditions in Ethiopia has been permeating interactions within Ethiopians emigrants.     

Changing perception of homeland for the Kazakh diaspora

There is a sizable Kazakh diaspora living in Turkey and Europe. Since their initial migration, these Kazakhs have been involved in actions aiming to preserve their group's cultural and ethnic boundaries. By studying these actions and related discourses, this article seeks to explain how these groups formulated and reformulated their identities and loyalties in their host states over generations. Many Kazakhs in Turkey and Europe originally came from Eastern Turkestan (Xinjiang) and considered this area their homeland. However, Kazakhstan's independence in 1991 led to an important change in their homeland orientation and, after 1991, the activities of an increasing number of Kazakh diaspora organizations shifted toward Kazakhstan as the homeland. Therefore, this article focuses mainly on two periods: the period before and the period after Kazakhstan's independence. The fieldwork was conducted in Turkey, Germany, France, and the Netherlands and includes interviews with leaders of Kazakh diaspora organizations and other members of the diaspora.     

The multidimensional roles of food and culture-centered entrepreneurship among Ethiopian and Eritrean migrants: Ethnographic case studies in Washington,D.C.

This paper examines business experiences among Ethiopian and Eritrean transnational migrants in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. It primarily draws from ethnographic and entrepreneurial case studies to explain how Ethiopian and Eritrean entrepreneurs establish food and culture-centered businesses, such as the flatbread (Injera) and the coffee ceremony (Bun/a) entrepreneurship (e.g., with limited business training, limited financial capital, and coming from subsistence agricultural economic systems), in Adams Morgan and the U Street Corridor.

The paper describes the positive and multidimensional roles (cultural, social and economic) of the Ethiopian and Eritrean food and culture-centered businesses in the area. It argues that these restaurants, cafes, and grocery stores use an “ethnic entrepreneurship niche” model to conduct business with a focus on the re-creation of ethnic identities in a specific geographic area, building at the same time a transnational space, but with the intention of doing business with their migrant communities, host societies, and tourists alike.     

Retaking the Middle Passage: glimpses of a modern African diaspora in Brazil

Abstract

Enticed by the various economic, academic and social promises offered by this new ‘metropole’, Africans have begun to form a new diaspora in Brazil, the country with the largest concentration of Afro descendentes outside of Africa. This paper aims to explore, through interviews, the various motivations and experiences of these Africans, as well as to examine the official attitude of the Brazilian authorities and that of the society at large to the new residents of this modern African diaspora.     

Dancing to the beat of the diaspora: musical exchanges between Africa and its diasporas

Abstract

This essay examines the complex ebbs and flows of musical exchanges between Africa and its diasporas. Specifically, it focuses on musical engagements between, on the one hand, the Caribbean and West Africa and, on the other, the United States and Southern Africa. It argues that the influence of diasporan music on modern African music, especially popular music, has been immense. These influences and exchanges have created a complex tapestry of musical Afro-internationalism and Afro-modernism and music has been a critical site, a soundscape, in the construction of new diasporan and African identities. A diasporic perspective in the study of modern African music helps Africa reclaim its rightful place in the history of world music and saves Africans from unnecessary cultural anxieties about losing their musical ‘authenticity’ by borrowing from ‘Western’ music that appears, on closer inspection, to be diasporan African music.     

Tyrone Grainger and the dilemma of blackness in London

Europe as terminus of Black dispersal holds much significance for the study of Black identity in the Diaspora due to its role in colonizing the African continent. More specifically, England was a major contender in the race to take control of human and natural resources in Africa and the Caribbean prior to and after the European slave trade. During the first 50 years of the twentieth century, Great Britain successfully lured Black West Indians to its shore with hopes of social, cultural, and economic freedom denied them in their homelands. This article explores the dilemma of Blackness and formation of African Diasporan identities in London during the twentieth century. It also examines the complexities of transnationalism and the impact of cultural memory and globalization on identity formation in Beryl Gilroy's novel Boy Sandwich (1989) through the experiences of Tyrone Grainger.     

‘Cultures of healing’: spirituality,interdependence and resistance in the African diaspora

ABSTRACT

Concepts of healing and spirituality have remained crucial to generating agency and empowerment for both black women and black men, especially in their diasporic displacement from Africa to the US. Healing has been consistently deployed to fight against the systemic racism and sexism that has pervaded and continues to persist in the lives of African diasporic subjects. Placing the discussion of healing within the current debates about interdependence and spirituality, the paper traces the notion back to its African roots and enslavement times, and attempts to delineate a genealogy of healing up to the present that grounds interdependence and interconnectedness within an ‘ethics of resistance’.     

Moroccan Diaspora in France and the February 20 Movement in Morocco

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes the links between the so-called 20 February 2011 Movement in Morocco and the Moroccan migrant organizations in France. The research examines how the 50-year-long history of these organizations shapes Moroccan migrants' political experiences and their ties to homeland in order to explain why they do not play a significant role in the events unfolding in Morocco in 2011. To this end, concepts such as diaspora and transnationalism are mobilized to grasp how activists are connecting to places and territories and reducing the distance between them, while preserving a certain unity in their collective action.     

Diaspora Mobilizations in the Egyptian (Post)Revolutionary Process: Comparing Transnational Political Participation in Paris and Vienna

ABSTRACT

This article sheds light on the patterns of diaspora mobilization in different settings by placing it in the transnational realm. The article does so by comparing Egyptian activism during the revolution and transformation period (2011–2013) in two European capitals, Paris and Vienna. I argue that different features—emigrant policies of the sending country, integration policies of the receiving country, and characteristics of the migrant group—influence the degree and form of diaspora mobilization.     

Deported before experiencing the good sides of migration: Ethiopians returning from Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

In the period November 2013–April 2014 more than 160,000 Ethiopians were deported from Saudi Arabia after a seven months amnesty period for undocumented migrants came to an end. This large-scale regularization campaign of the Saudi government must be seen in light of the ‘Arab Spring’, when popular uprisings in the Middle East were threatening dictatorial regimes. The effect of the Arab Spring was felt globally; the uprisings impacted upon migrants living in countries in the Middle East and on their countries of origin. This paper looks into the experiences of Ethiopian deportees prior, during and after their forced return. We argue that the fact that the migrants were not prepared for their sudden return affected their economic, social network and psychosocial embeddedness back in Ethiopia. In addition, the Ethiopian government has not been able to improve the returnees’ economic embeddedness, which has affected their social and psychological status negatively.     

Four women,for women: Caribbean diaspora artists reimag(in)ing the fine art canon

ABSTRACT

This article examines changing representations of women of colour within the realm of the visual arts and considers the aesthetic qualities, historical significance and cultural impacts of a diverse body of image-making spanning several centuries. The research focuses on selected works from the portfolios of the following four, early to midcareer artists of Caribbean heritage, whose nuanced depictions of black and brown womanhood in the twenty-first century have achieved international acclaim: American interdisciplinary artist Aisha Tandiwe Bell; American collagist Andrea Chung; French figurative painter Elizabeth Colomba; Danish photographer, video artist and performance installationist Jeannette Ehlers. The complex diasporic identities and imagery reflected in the oeuvres of these four contemporary artists are contrasted with fine art from earlier eras. The compositional, technical and social modalities of a number of notable works are assessed to determine why some have become celebrated images within the international canon and others have been deemed problematic.     

Locating black feminist resistance through diaspora and post-diaspora in Edwidge Danticat’s and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s short stories

ABSTRACT

Migrating to the US is transformative in the short stories in Edwidge Danticat's Krik? Krak! and Chimamanda Adichie's The Thing Around Your Neck. The currents of Blackness, gender and class alter their characters' experiences of the world, shaped by the global flows of migration taking place under neoliberal capitalism. This essay explores the nuanced and conflicting ways diaspora and post-diaspora spaces can facilitate Black feminist resistance in Danticat's ‘Caroline's Wedding' and Adichie's ‘Imitation'. I offer a Black feminist analysis, paying attention to the literary body as the site where tensions are dramatised. My reading of Danticat's and Adichie’s short stories leads to a progressive reconsideration of diaspora.     

Implementing evidence-based policy in a network setting: road safety policy in the Netherlands

In the early 1990s, in order to improve road safety in The Netherlands, the Institute for Road Safety Research (SWOV) developed an evidence-based "Sustainable Safety" concept. Based on this concept, Dutch road safety policy, was seen as successful and as a best practice in Europe. In The Netherlands, the policy context has now changed from a sectoral policy setting towards a fragmented network in which safety is a facet of other transport-related policies. In this contribution, it is argued that the implementation strategy underlying Sustainable Safety should be aligned with the changed context. In order to explore the adjustments needed, two perspectives of policy implementation are discussed: (1) national evidence-based policies with sectoral implementation; and (2) decentralized negotiation on transport policy in which road safety is but one aspect. We argue that the latter approach matches the characteristics of the newly evolved policy context best, and conclude with recommendations for reformulating the implementation strategy.     

The internal and external constraints on foreign policy in India: exploring culture and ethnic sensitivities

The main argument of this contribution is that the distinction between internal and external is at best blurred and in reality does not make much sense in the case of India’s foreign policy. It may start and end at the border and be determined by negotiations, diplomacy or brute force but there is no conclusive evidence in the literature to decide what determines what. There are important dynamics and interplays across the thin line between the domestic and international spheres, especially in terms of understanding the reciprocal challenges related to how factors of culture and ethnicity relate with the legitimacy of the state. The aim of the paper is to serve four purposes. To unpack and give a critical overview of the debates concerned with the internal and external aspects of India’s foreign policy; to situate the literature dealing more specifically with domestic issues related to culture and ethnicity and outline the main approaches involved; to give an overview of how external factors impact foreign policy conduct and relate to India’s role in defining international norms and regulations; and, finally, to give some theoretical markers, suggestions and concluding remarks.     

Setting the scene: the European Union's engagement with transnational policy networks

This article serves as a tool to set the scene in this special issue on the manner in which the European Union (EU) engages transnational policy networks (TPNs). It paints a canvas of the main themes to be treated in articles that span a variety of thematic areas. Six main lines of inquiry are developed to better feed into the various themes covered by the specific articles. The lines of inquiry used include modalities or ways in which the EU influences TPNs around the world, TPNs’ influence of policy and decision-making within the EU, conditions under which engagement between the EU and TPNs can be considered successful, the identity and location of the TPNs, and the utility or otherwise of an EU strategy to weaken or strengthen engagement with TPNs.     

From aid negotiation to aid effectiveness: the case of food and nutrition security in Ethiopia

This paper looks at aid ownership through the lens of negotiations that take place between a country and its development partners (DPs). Based on the case of Ethiopian food security policies, it combines a structural analysis of the negotiation capital of both parties with an actor-oriented analysis of the institutional setting through which negotiations take place. First, it shows that the growing influence donors have come to have in the shaping of Ethiopian public policies results from the relative loss of legitimacy the government has experienced after the 2005 political crisis and its greater need for external economic assistance. Second, the more recent creation of a negotiation platform between the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) and its DPs has allowed the GoE to enhance donor’s alignment with its development policies and regain some control over its development agenda, while giving them more room to contribute to several food and nutrition security policy reforms which have been positively evaluated. The paper stresses the need for donors to better recognise the centrality of politics in any aid intervention.     

Assessing the European Union's engagement with transnational policy networks on conflict-prone natural resources

Transnational policy networks (TPNs) are attracting greater scholarly interest given their impact on the contemporary conduct of international affairs. While this has been a welcome development for International Relations scholars and provided some preliminary insights, there is a need for more scholarly studies of TPNs that delve into specific issue-areas on a comparative basis. The paper addresses the above need by providing analyses of the role of European Union (EU)-based actors – the European Commission, member states, civil society organizations, and firms – in regulatory frameworks on conflict-prone natural resources such as oil, diamonds, coltan, tin, tungsten, and gold. To that end, the paper draws upon participant observations, interviews with state and non-state actors, and access to primary documents in order to provide a comparative examination of EU-based state and non-state actors within the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and draft EU legislation that seeks to prevent the trade of conflict-prone minerals.     

A land full of opportunities? Agrarian frontiers,policy narratives and the political economy of peace in Colombia

Abstract

In many post-war countries, the relative security brought to rural areas is construed by government officials and business actors as an opportunity for development. This is particularly true for marginal areas, where opportunities for economic development had previously been hindered by the threat of violence. This provides a favourable context for the construction of commodity frontiers. Through the case of Colombia, I show that one of the main challenges faced by frontier policy narratives amounts to differentiating wartime dispossession from peacetime legitimate accumulation. This poses intractable challenges to policymakers and business actors, as it fuels the contradictions between peace consolidation and post-war development.     

Migration and the formation of transnational economic networks between Africa and Turkey: the socio-economic establishment of migrants in situ and in mobility

Turkey is often perceived as a transit place for migrants and refugees from the African continent. While many indeed continue to other countries and the country still precludes official local integration, the past decade has witnessed a growing number of African migrants settling in Istanbul. This article draws attention to the opportunity structures that enable this type of settlement. The article presents the argument that it is the presence of small-scale transnationally embedded traders from the same countries that enable the socio-economic stability of their co-nationals both locally as well as transnationally. The concept that is able to account for this development is establishment in situ and establishment in mobility, which is seen as exactly the definitional barrier between transit and settlement.