Afghan Refugees in Greece: Overcoming Traumatic Events and Post-Traumatic Growth

Refugees in Athens, Greece struggle with negative reactions from local populations, harassment from far-right movements and institutions such as the police, and an asylum system that provides very few positive outcomes for applicants. Refugees find themselves in a position of heightened vulnerability, and those from historically oppressed groups, such as Shi’a Hazaras from Afghanistan, may experience additional challenges through the various stages of migration. Based on ethnographic research conducted in Greece and Afghanistan, this chapter considers the ways in which Afghan Hazara asylum seekers in Athens counter negative views about their character and intentions. Adrift in new surroundings waiting for extended time periods with no clear decision about their asylum status, some asylum seekers remake themselves, finding meaning and purpose through social relationships and prosocial activities intended to better the situation of the vulnerable groups to which they belong

Crafting masculine selves: culture, war and psychodynamics among Afghan Pashtuns

Based on 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork carried out in Afghanistan from 2009 until 2013 within a majority Pashtun ethnic community in the city Jalalabad and outlying rural districts of Nangarhar province, this dissertation examines concepts of masculinity in a socio-cultural environment that is patrilineal, patrilocal and strongly androcentric, with a firm tradition of female segregation (parda). Because only individuals of opposite sex who are closely related by blood or marriage can have social relations, the research focused entirely on men. Given this context, cultural idioms about masculinity acquire extraordinary social and psychological importance. To be considered respectable and honorable, Pashtun men are expected to live up to the demanding standards of a cultural environment that requires displays of fearlessness, courage, aggressiveness and self-assertiveness. This includes a willingness to engage in violence when that is deemed necessary. The dissertation focuses on the psychological dynamics and subjectivity produced by these strict and demanding cultural norms in a sample set of individual Pashtun males as they matured into adulthood. The findings presented here were derived from multiple psychodynamic and one-on-one interviews with four select informants, which are supplemented with an analysis of more extensive data gleaned from participant observation in the Pashtun community. This methodological approach was designed to elicit material pertaining to these men’s deep emotional states, inner thought processes, conscious and unconscious attitudes and self-concepts that were related to their interpretations and enactments of the cultural mandated norms of masculinity, as well as their resistance to them. Notable findings include striking evidence for well-established patterns of inner psychological conflict, contradiction and suffering that the men I interviewed underwent as they coped with internalizing the uncompromising standards of behavior and attitude that constituted "being a real Pashtun man." These standards are not static, and the analysis of the data reveals a striking shift toward the legitimization of unprecedentedly violent behaviors that stem from thirty-five years of nearly constant conflict in Afghanistan.2017-11-04T00:00:00

Derrida\u27s Unconditional Hospitality as the Improbable: An Example of Innovation in Refugee Care

© 2020 by the Southwestern Social Science Association Objective: I contend that City Plaza, a refugee-run hotel in Athens, Greece has actually used socialist and anarchist political theories in an innovative way for our current global system by subverting the norms of the nation-state with regard to refugee care. I am framing this argument by considering Derrida\u27s discussion of unconditional and conditional hospitality. Methods: The article is based on ethnographic research carried out in Athens during the summers from 2016–2019. Results: I suggest that in its innovative methods of providing refugee care, City Plaza is highly successful. Conclusion: While Derrida contends that unconditional hospitality, the acceptance and embracing of the stranger without condition or question, is a moral imperative, realistically this is not possible in our current global system. I argue that at City Plaza, the improbable was achieved as a group of activists subverted the dominant system and yielded better results than state governments and international organizations with much greater resources

The pitfalls of protection: gender, violence, and power in Afghanistan

Extremely detailed, well-written and accessible, Torunn Wimpelmann\u27s The Pitfalls of Protection gives us a view of the ways gender-focused interventions in Afghanistan can be used to better underst..

La collezione dei cereali della colonia eritrea presentata dal R. governo all'Esposizione internazionale di Torino del 1911 : relazione / del prof. Emilio Chiovenda

La collezione dei cereali della colonia eritrea presentata dal R. governo all'Esposizione internazionale di Torino del 1911 : relazione / del prof. Emilio Chiovenda Roma : Tipografia nazionale di G. Bertero, 1912 56 p. ; 24 cm In testa al front.: Ministero degli affari esteri, Direzione centrale degli affari coloniali, Ufficio di studi coloniali

Osservazioni botaniche, agrarie ed industriali fatte nell'Abissinia settentrionale nell'anno 1909 : relazione / del prof. Emilio Chiovenda, conservatore del R. erbario e museo coloniale di Roma

132 p. ; 24 cm Sul front.: Ministero delle colonie, Direzione centrale degli affari coloniali, Ufficio di studi colonial

Alpine ethnobotany in Italy: traditional knowledge of gastronomic and medicinal plants among the Occitans of the upper Varaita valley, Piedmont

A gastronomic and medical ethnobotanical study was conducted among the Occitan communities living in Blins/Bellino and Chianale, in the upper Val Varaita, in the Piedmontese Alps, North-Western Italy, and the traditional uses of 88 botanical taxa were recorded. Comparisons with and analysis of other ethnobotanical studies previously carried out in other Piemontese and surrounding areas, show that approximately one fourth of the botanical taxa quoted in this survey are also known in other surrounding Occitan valleys. It is also evident that traditional knowledge in the Varaita valley has been heavily eroded. This study also examined the local legal framework for the gathering of botanical taxa, and the potential utilization of the most quoted medicinal and food wild herbs in the local market, and suggests that the continuing widespread local collection from the wild of the aerial parts of Alpine wormwood for preparing liqueurs (Artemisia genipi, A. glacialis, and A. umbelliformis) should be seriously reconsidered in terms of sustainability, given the limited availability of these species, even though their collection is culturally salient in the entire study area

Manly merchants: commerce, mobility and masculinity among Afghan traders in Eurasia

This article explores intersections between masculinity, mobility, generation and commerce through the everyday lives of Afghan men who make-up trading networks that are active across Eurasia. It is based on ethnographic fieldwork amongst Afghan traders in Ukraine’s port city of Odessa and in the Chinese international trading of Yiwu. Building on recent work in anthropology concerning the ‘emergent’ nature of Middle Eastern masculinities, the article brings attention to the flexible and adaptable nature of the notions of masculinity held and performed by mobile Afghan traders. It emphasises the need for such conceptions of masculinity to be treated historically and draws attention to the forms of care-giving that are especially important to the traders’ intimate lives and self-understandings. The article also highlights the significance of complex notions of trust both to the traders’ articulation of conceptions of manliness and to their everyday modes of securing a livelihood

Food, flavouring and feed plant traditions in the Tyrrhenian sector of Basilicata, Italy

BACKGROUND: Research was carried out in the years 2002–2003 into food, flavouring and feed folk traditions of plants in the Tyrrhenian part of the Basilicata region (southern Italy). This area was colonized in ancient times by Greeks. Data was collected through field interviews, especially of farmers. METHODS: Field data were collected through structured interviews. The informants, numbered 49, belonged to families which had strong links with the traditional activities of the area. RESULTS: 61 taxa are cited, belonging to 26 botanical families, amongst which 44 used as food or flavouring and 22 for animal alimentation. Besides 7 taxa are involved in rituals especially connected with agriculture and plant growth. CONCLUSION: The preservation of some rituals especially concerning agricultural plants is noteworthy in the area, together with a certain degree of continuity in food uses. Knowledge and rediscovery of recipes in human and animal diet could represent an economic potential for the area