A Disruption of the National Identity in the Brazilian-American Novel Samba Dreamers / Ruptura com a identidade nacional no romance brasileiro- estadunidense Samba Dreamers

The intensification of anti-immigration policies and discourses in the United States during Donald Trump’s administration reveals a reaction against the foreigner characterized, as Jacques Derrida proposes, by the widening of ethnocentric and xenophobic circles in face of the fluxes of capital, people, and information in contemporaneity. In this context, it is part of the critic’s responsibilities to address the link between literature and national identity, while attesting to the way literature transgresses the borders imposed upon it. This is the stance this article intends to take as it analyses Kathleen de Azevedo’s 2006 Brazilian-American novel Samba Dreamers. For this purpose, I depart from a discussion about the intrinsic relationship between hospitality and hostility to the foreigner, as well as from the possibility of literature of saying everything (tout dire), to argue that this novel objects to stable notions of nation, gestures towards a displacement of identity beyond the constraints of the state, and invites a post-national mode of thinking.Keywords: immigrant writing; post-nationalist literature; Brazilian-American literature; national identity.Resumo: A intensificação de políticas e discursos anti-imigração nos Estados Unidos durante a presidência de Donald Trump revela uma reação ao estrangeiro caracterizada, como coloca Jacques Derrida, pelo espessamento dos círculos etnocêntricos e xenofóbicos diante dos fluxos contemporâneos de capital, pessoas e informações. Nesse contexto, é papel do crítico abordar a relação entre literatura e identidade nacional, atentando para as formas pelas quais a literatura transpõe as fronteiras que lhe são impostas. Este é o posicionamento que se pretende ter aqui, enquanto se analisa o romance brasileiro-estadunidense Samba Dreamers, de Kathleen de Azevedo (2006). Para isso, parte-se de uma discussão sobre a relação intrínseca entre hospitalidade e hostilidade ao estrangeiro, assim como da possibilidade da literatura de dizer tudo (tout dire), para propor que o romance se opõe a noções estáveis de nação, articula o deslocamento da ideia de identidade para além dos limites geopolíticos do estado e convida a um pensamento pós-nacional.Palavras-chave: escrita de imigrantes; literatura pós-nacional; literatura brasileiro-estadunidense; identidade nacional.

When Pandemic Threat Does Not Stoke Xenophobia: Evidence from a Panel Survey around COVID-19 in Colombia

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected attitudes of host citizens towards refugees and migrants? A large literature, mostly in Global North contexts, links disease threat with increased xenophobia. Indeed, recent studies on the effects of COVID-19 have found an increase in hate crimes and anti-migrant attitudes, particularly when political elites exclude and blame migrants for the pandemic. We examine the case of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia, in which elite rhetoric and immigration policies have been largely inclusive. Using a panel experimental survey of 374 Colombian respondents, supplemented by 550 new respondents at endline, we find no evidence that exposure to COVID-19 changes Colombians' attitudes towards Venezuelans, even if the respondents were directly affected by COVID. In fact, we find some evidence of empathy. Our research implies that xenophobia in reaction to pandemics is not a foregone conclusion, but likely a product of political scapegoating.

The Dynamics of Polarisation in Australian Social Media

This chapter provides a case study of a public debate attracting highly polarised and antagonistic participants within the Australian context and examines the dynamics of polarisation, information flows, discourses, and materialities shaping these dynamics. Twitter conversations about immigration policies of the Australian government and detention of asylum seekers in offshore camps attract a great deal of polarised debate. The authors show how the affordances of the platform constitute, and are constituted by, the discourses of the users, and how users strategically discursify and give meaning to these affordances to further make their own political positions visible, amplify antagonisms, and at times, join each other in the formation of larger agonistic communities.

Refugee Policies and Narratives in the Globalised Era

One of the effects of globalisation has been population mobility as a result of famine, climate warming and war conflicts, among other things. This flow of refugees, however, is often seen as a menace to the rule of law and human rights concomitant with the Western lifestyle. Refugees are no longer regarded as human beings and victims, but rather as danger, even as potential terrorists, which has led many governments, including the Australian, to detain them indefinitely in detention centres where they are confined in inhuman conditions. The main aim of this paper will be to describe Australian immigration policies and how contemporary Australian narratives on and by refugees are reflecting this situation, mainly by analysing a selection of texts from three recently published collections, namely, A Country Too Far (2013), They Cannot Take the Sky (2017) and Seabirds Crying in the Harbour Dark (2017), and Behrouz Boochani’s No Friend but the Mountains (2018).

Immigration and the Progressive’s Dilemma

Chapter 5 considers an influential argument for severely limiting immigration, based on the progressive’s dilemma. According to this argument, immigration leads to ethnic diversity, and ethnic diversity drives down trust and solidarity and so the social basis for egalitarian redistribution. The premise that ethnic diversity drives down trust and solidarity is critically discussed, primarily by reviewing a large empirical literature. It is argued that the evidence is less clear than it is often thought, and that even in studies that do find a negative effect of diversity, it tends to be small. Furthermore, there are a number of ways in which states can moderate any negative impacts diversity may have on social cohesion. Finally, a number of theoretical explanations for why diversity might be expected to drive down trust and solidarity are considered, and it is argued that they do not ultimately support the argument for restrictive immigration policies.

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This story underlines the high-tech preventive immigration policies and imagines a future where the digital European borders are extended beyond their geographical locations to tackle the “refugee problem” at its origin. The story depicts the contrast between the harsh reality of people fleeing war, terrorism, and patriarchy and the tremendous technological investment to restrain their movement. This piece has been written at a truly unsettling time, as the world is silently watching the demolishment of the women’s movement’s achievements in Afghanistan after twenty years of waging a fruitless war. By describing an encounter between a border robot and a refugee, this story turns our gaze from a problem to a human and unveils the brutality of immigration datafication—reducing wounded bodies and souls to biometric specificities.

COVID-19 and the Creeping Necropolitics of Crimmigration Control

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a drastic impact on migration and migrants and immigration policies worldwide [...]

All in the (Definition of) Family: Transnational Parent–Child Relationships, Rights to Family Life, and Canadian Immigration Law

International human rights conventions, Canadian law and academic research all support the right to family life. Internationally and domestically, multiple definitions of family are recognized, acknowledging that long-term interpersonal commitments can be based on biological relationships as well as co-residential, legal, and emotional ties. Yet, the Canadian immigration system’s limited and exclusionary understanding of parent–child relationships complicates migrant family reunification. Drawing on qualitative interview and survey data from separated families and key informants who support them, we analyze national status and class assumptions embedded in Canadian immigration standards. We argue that Canadian immigration policies disproportionately deny the right to family life to transnational Canadians and their children who hail from the Global South and/or who are socio-economically disadvantaged. Immigration policies neither recognize the globally accepted “best interests of the child” welfare standard nor the human right to family life. We offer suggestions for addressing these inequities in practice and policy.

The future of the New Zealand tourism workforce: 2035

<p>Imagining the future is a tantalising thought, considering that we will never truly know what lies ahead. Despite this inability, envisioning the future has not remained trapped in the realm of mere science fiction fantasies, but is increasingly attempted by organisations, academics and governments. This thesis uses scenario planning to ask what will the future of the New Zealand tourism workforce look like in the year 2035. Scenario planning, as a method of futures studies, is an increasingly popular approach to envisioning the future and draws upon key drivers of change in the present to formulate plausible future scenarios. This provides decision makers with a space for discussion and stretches their thinking through rich storylines. This thesis adds valuable insight to both areas of workforce planning, and New Zealand’s valuable tourism industry and its workforce. It takes an alternatively qualitative scenario approach to holistically explore this topic. The year 2035 was chosen to push the current industry discussions around the Tourism 2025 strategy even further into the future. A modified Delphi method guided the research, based on a similar scenario planning study by Solnet, Baum, Kralj, Robinson, Ritchie, and Olsen (2013) which focused on the tourism workforce of the Asia-Pacific region. This method adds truthfulness to the research and involves three rounds of surveys that draw upon the knowledge and consensus of experts within the tourism and workforce fields in New Zealand. From a list of ten drivers, immigration policies and the growing Asian market emerged as the most important and formed the basis for the four alternative future scenarios. “Manaakitanga is Found Here” presents a world of closed immigration and a niche Asian tourist market, where the workforce relies on, and celebrates, local knowledge and culture. “Pick of the Labour Crop” encourages a flexible workforce for private profit within open immigration settings with a niche Asian market. “Struggling for Respect” warns of a future where tourism lacks national strategic importance with a struggling workforce, amongst closed immigration policies and a mass Asian market. Finally, “Cheap and Plentiful” explores how open immigration and a mass Asian market could push a flexible workforce and a cheaper tourism product, which damages the country’s industry and image. The study reveals that some scenarios are more desirable than others, but regardless of which scenario unfolds, they each present various challenges and opportunities for the workforce.They emphasis the unpredictable nature of the future and stress the importance of flexibility in order to respond and adapt to changes. They also highlight the necessity of seeking a balanced solution for the workforce and striving for a quality tourism product that respectfully integrates our Māori culture.</p>