Aid or Business? The Transformation of Humanitarian Work in the Refugee Camp in Slavonski Brod (Translation)

Članak nastoji prikazati polazišta za tumačenje transformacije humanitarnog rada i oprimjeriti prakse koje upućuju na njegovu profesionalizaciju i izgradnju bliskog odnosa s područjem političkog djelovanja. Zasnovan kao filantropijski projekt i imperativ o spašavanju života i/ili reduciranju patnje, u posljednjih nekoliko desetljeća humanitarizam je formalizirao koncept pružanja pomoći i počeo se manifestirati u aspektima tipičnima za poslovnu i korporacijsku kulturu. Prakse profesionalizacije i odnos između dva pojma koji ostavljaju dojam suprotstavljenih varijanti shvaćanja humanitarnog rada – pomoć i posao – problematiziraju se na osnovi etnografije rada i analize intervjua provedenih s humanitarnim radnicima iz izbjegličkog kampa u Slavonskom Brodu.This paper will present the starting points for the interpretation of the transformation of humanitarian work, along with providing examples indicative of its professionalisation and the close relationship it has developed with the domain of political activity. Originally conceived as a philanthropic project and based around the imperative of saving lives and/or reducing suffering, humanitarianism has formalised the concept of providing aid in the past few decades and has begun to manifest aspects typical of corporate and business culture. The practice of professionalisation and the relationship between the two terms seemingly presenting contradictory attitudes towards humanitarian work – seeing it as either aid or business – are problematised on the basis of the ethnography of work and an analysis of the interviews conducted with humanitarian workers from the refugee camp in Slavonski Brod

Asylum Seekers as a Threat

Posljednjih dvadeset godina u državama članicama Europske unije, kao i u ostalim razvijenim industrijskim državama, migranti, izbjeglice i tražitelji azila uglavnom se doživljavaju kao sigurnosna prijetnja. Zamjetna je tzv. „sekuratizacija migracija“, odnosno proces u kojem politikama (policies) migracija i azila dominiraju sigurnosni diskursi i pripadajuće sigurnosne tehnike. Pri djelovanju sigurnosnih tehnika zabilježene su pojačane represivne i sigurnosne mjere. Članak detaljnije analizira represivne prakse u zemljama Europske unije. U Hrvatskoj su represivne prakse analizirane na primjeru Prihvatilišta za tražitelje azila hotel Porin. Autori nude i nekoliko objašnjenja o nastanku tih praksi vezujući ih uz procese depolitizacije suvremenih liberalno-demokratskih društava.In the past twenty years in European Union member states, as well as in other developed industrial countries, migrants, refugees and asylum seekers are mainly seen as a threat to security. The so-called “securitisation of migration” is noticeable. This is a process in which security discourses and related security techniques predominate in migration and asylum policy. In terms of security techniques effectiveness, the strengthening of repressive security measures has been recorded. The paper analyses the repressive practices in EU member states. Porin Hotel, a shelter for asylum seekers, was used as an example in the analysis of repressive practices in Croatia. The authors offer several explanations as to how these practises came about and link them to de-politicization processes in contemporary liberal democracies

Prikazi

10. simpozij Anatomija otoka. Klimatske promjene i okolišne budućnosti otoka (L. Runko Luttenberger); Nataša Polgar, Vještica na kauču. Psihoanalitički ogledi o suđenjima vješticama u Hrvatskoj (S. Miličević Vukelić); COVID-19 u humanističkoj perspektivi, ur. Ivana Katarinčić, Jelena Marković, Ines Prica i Ana-Marija Vukušić (I. Matijašević); Ildiko Erdei, Moderni život u udarnom terminu. Televizija, humor i politika u socijalističkoj Jugoslaviji (L. Stevanović); Disenchantment, Re-Enchantment and Folklore Genres, ur. Smiljana Đorđević Belići Nemanja Radulović (D. Popović Nikolić); Marta Stojić Mitrović, Evropski granični režim i eksternalizacija kontrole granica EU. Srbija na balkanskoj migracijskoj ruti (R. Pozniak); Kazivanja o snovima u folkloru ruskog severa: “С четверга на пятницу…”. Рассказы о сновидениях в фольклоре Русского Севера, А. Б. Мороз, Н. В. Петров, А. И. Захарова, А. В.Комарова, Н. А. Савина (D. Đurić); Dan Ben-Amos, Folklore Concepts. Histories and Critiques, ur. Henry Glassie i Elliott Oring (D. Vasić); Politički leksikon pandemije, ur. Zlatko Bukač, Biljana Kašić, Jelena Kupsjak, Atila Lukić i Gordan Maslov (Lj. Anđelković Džambić); Nikola Visković, Pravo – politika – bioetika. Zbornik povodom osamdesetog rođendana, ur. Josip Guć i Hrvoje Jurić (I. Filip); Antropološki almanah 3 (V. Benković); Emergency Exit exhibition; If Forests Could Talk, They Would Dry Up with Sadness exhibition (E. Wróblewska-Trochimiuk); Siniša Labrović, umjetnički performansi Iz rječnika i Zid, pljesak, kuća, smijeh (M. Tkalčić Simetić); Umjetničko-antropološka izložba Ovo nije predmet (T. Reznić Brenko); The Soul in the Axiosphere from an Intercultural Perspective, 1-2, Ewa Masłowska, Dorota Pazio-Wlazłowska i Joanna Jurewicz, ur. (D. Vukelić

Prikazi

10. simpozij Anatomija otoka. Klimatske promjene i okolišne budućnosti otoka (L. Runko Luttenberger); Nataša Polgar, Vještica na kauču. Psihoanalitički ogledi o suđenjima vješticama u Hrvatskoj (S. Miličević Vukelić); COVID-19 u humanističkoj perspektivi, ur. Ivana Katarinčić, Jelena Marković, Ines Prica i Ana-Marija Vukušić (I. Matijašević); Ildiko Erdei, Moderni život u udarnom terminu. Televizija, humor i politika u socijalističkoj Jugoslaviji (L. Stevanović); Disenchantment, Re-Enchantment and Folklore Genres, ur. Smiljana Đorđević Belići Nemanja Radulović (D. Popović Nikolić); Marta Stojić Mitrović, Evropski granični režim i eksternalizacija kontrole granica EU. Srbija na balkanskoj migracijskoj ruti (R. Pozniak); Kazivanja o snovima u folkloru ruskog severa: “С четверга на пятницу…”. Рассказы о сновидениях в фольклоре Русского Севера, А. Б. Мороз, Н. В. Петров, А. И. Захарова, А. В.Комарова, Н. А. Савина (D. Đurić); Dan Ben-Amos, Folklore Concepts. Histories and Critiques, ur. Henry Glassie i Elliott Oring (D. Vasić); Politički leksikon pandemije, ur. Zlatko Bukač, Biljana Kašić, Jelena Kupsjak, Atila Lukić i Gordan Maslov (Lj. Anđelković Džambić); Nikola Visković, Pravo – politika – bioetika. Zbornik povodom osamdesetog rođendana, ur. Josip Guć i Hrvoje Jurić (I. Filip); Antropološki almanah 3 (V. Benković); Emergency Exit exhibition; If Forests Could Talk, They Would Dry Up with Sadness exhibition (E. Wróblewska-Trochimiuk); Siniša Labrović, umjetnički performansi Iz rječnika i Zid, pljesak, kuća, smijeh (M. Tkalčić Simetić); Umjetničko-antropološka izložba Ovo nije predmet (T. Reznić Brenko); The Soul in the Axiosphere from an Intercultural Perspective, 1-2, Ewa Masłowska, Dorota Pazio-Wlazłowska i Joanna Jurewicz, ur. (D. Vukelić

Performance of the CMS muon trigger system in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV

The muon trigger system of the CMS experiment uses a combination of hardware and software to identify events containing a muon. During Run 2 (covering 2015-2018) the LHC achieved instantaneous luminosities as high as 2 × 10 cm s while delivering proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV. The challenge for the trigger system of the CMS experiment is to reduce the registered event rate from about 40 MHz to about 1 kHz. Significant improvements important for the success of the CMS physics program have been made to the muon trigger system via improved muon reconstruction and identification algorithms since the end of Run 1 and throughout the Run 2 data-taking period. The new algorithms maintain the acceptance of the muon triggers at the same or even lower rate throughout the data-taking period despite the increasing number of additional proton-proton interactions in each LHC bunch crossing. In this paper, the algorithms used in 2015 and 2016 and their improvements throughout 2017 and 2018 are described. Measurements of the CMS muon trigger performance for this data-taking period are presented, including efficiencies, transverse momentum resolution, trigger rates, and the purity of the selected muon sample. This paper focuses on the single- and double-muon triggers with the lowest sustainable transverse momentum thresholds used by CMS. The efficiency is measured in a transverse momentum range from 8 to several hundred GeV

Humanitarian work in the context of refugeness and migration in post-transitional Croatia

Disertacija se temelji na etnografskom istraživanju rada u humanitarnim organizacijama i udrugama civilnog društva u Hrvatskoj koje se bave pružanjem pomoći izbjeglicama i migrantima. Započinje teorijsko-povijesnim pregledom razvoja humanitarnoga sektora i međunarodne industrije humanitarne pomoći. Pri tome, oslanja se na proturječja koja su pratila rad humanitarnih organizacija od 19. stoljeća naovamo. Propitivanjem normi i trendova liberalnog humanitarizma i njegova odnosa s konceptima civilnoga društva i nevladinih organizacija, disertacija otvara prostor za analizu specifičnosti humanitarnoga sektora u suvremenom hrvatskom kontekstu. Na temelju polustrukturiranih intervjua s humanitarnim djelatnicima i sudioničkog promatranja u humanitarnim inicijativama/organizacijama pokrenutima tijekom masovnoga tranzita izbjeglica 2015. i 2016., disertacija proučava aspekte u kojima se ogledaju proturječja koja u sektoru humanitarnog rada proizlaze iz sraza predodžbe o humanitarizmu kao, s jedne strane, altruističnom djelovanju i, s druge strane, industriji humanitarne pomoći. Uz to, propituje različita tumačenja humanitarizma u „profesionalnim“ i „vernakularnim“ humanitarnim organizacijama. Prateći birokratizaciju i institucionalizaciju neovisnih humanitarnih inicijativa, disertacija posvećuje značajnu pozornost transformacijama rada u uvjetima kasnoga kapitalizma, a posljedično i načinu na koji se te transformacije odražavaju u humanitarnom sektoru u Hrvatskoj. Naposljetku, adresira prekarizaciju i projektifikaciju humanitarnoga rada i fenomen profesionalnog sagorijevanja karakterističan za pomagačka zanimanja, a kojemu pristupa iz perspektive afektivnoga rada. Propituje procese psihologizacije i patologizacije humanitarnog i zagovaračkog angažmana, i praksi u kojima se očituje dinamika između repolitizacije i depolitizacije stradanja, a posljedično i humanitarnoga rada. Istraživanje pokazuje da se priroda humanitarnoga rada nalazi u ambivalentnom odnosu između emocionalnoga rada i nastojanja radnika da se u tom procesu zaštite od sagorijevanja, a da u tom procesu ne postanu indiferentni subjekti depolitizirajućega režima skrbi o izbjeglicama i ljudima u pokretu.This dissertation focuses on the notion of humanitarian work in contemporary Croatia. Specifically, it explores refugee aid workscape, with an emphasis placed on work experiences and processes of aid workers. Bearing in mind the critique of humanitarianism that sees humanitarian work as a form of biopolitical governance and an ambivalent system of care and control, this thesis explores in what ways these antagonisms influence the work of humanitarians and employees of the nonprofit sector in Croatia. Emphasis is placed on the transformation of humanitarian work following the concept of affective labor, and a post- Foucauldian understanding of governance and self-care. Accordingly, the dissertation offers an anthropological analysis of work in humanitarian organizations that provide aid to refugees/migrants/asylum seekers in the contemporary Croatian context, taking into account their precarious and projectified working conditions. It starts off by exploring humanitarianism through history, tracing the contradictions inherent to humanitarianism and its development from 19th-century philanthropy to international profession and industry. It analyzes different shapes of humanitarianism and traces how the dominant perception of liberal western humanitarianism has been created, and what are the norms, trends, and politics that define this perception. It shows the development and meaning of non-governmental organizations and civil society and their complex relationship to the concept of humanitarianism. For the international community, predominantly led by Western countries, the end of the Cold War signaled the long-awaited expansion of liberalism, which was no longer limited by Cold War relations. The last decade of the 20th century represents a turning point that is reflected in the nexus of humanitarianisma, liberalism and interventionism in war and postwar environments as well as in the global transformations in the area of work. These two aspects represent the two axes on which this dissertation relies when questioning the contemporary forms, discourses and antagonisms of aid work. The relationship between the seemingly opposed notions such as “help” and “work”, “emotions” and “rationality” or “amateurism” and “professionalism” that frequently accompanied conversations and appeared during fieldwork has been taken as the starting point for examining the relationship between transformation of humanitarianism and transformastion of work. These relationships, contradictions and transformations of humanitarianism, NGO sector and aid work are explored in the Croatian post-transitional context taking into account that the development of civil society in Croatia took place in post-war and transitional circumstances, which impacted the positioning of civil society and humanitarian organizations in the contemporary context. In addition, it explores the emergence of new humanitarian initiatives and the processes of bureaucratization and institutionalization of grassroots humanitarianism. The mass transit of refugees in Croatia in 2015. and 2016. prompted the humanitarian and advocacy engagement of various actors – individuals, international agencies, and civil society organizations – and even the establishment of new initiatives and NGOs. It also increased the possibilities for funds and grants related to European Union and other international donors. A new humanitarian and advocacy niche has been established in the labor market, with a significant increase in the number of individuals, collectives, initiatives, and organizations involved in working with refugees and migrants. The author conducted ethnographic research that consists of ethnography of work in the Winter Reception and Transit Center in Slavonski Brod during the mass refugee transit in 2015/2016, participant observation among employees and volunteers in civil society organizations and initiatives that provide aid to refugees, and semi-structured interviews with volunteers and aid workers. This applies in particular to (1) interlocutors who were engaged in the refugee camp in Slavonski Brod, some of whom have continued to work in similar jobs until today, and (2) interlocutors who joined one of the humanitarian and/or human rights organizations subsequently and who, during this research, actively work or volunteer on programs related to contemporary migration and refugee regimes. Interviews covered employment experiences, motivations, expectations, and possible deviations from expectations, as well as difficulties that aid workers deal with such as the growing phenomenon of burnout. Relying on interviews and participative ethnography the author captured tensions between different understandings of humanitarianism. Specific focus was placed on the relationship between humanitarianism perceived in relation to concepts such as solidarity and activism on one side, and humanitarianism perceived as a highly professionalized and bureaucratized aid industry on the other. The main focus of this research was to explore in which ways, practices, and discourses the tension between the two perspectives about humanitarianism reflects in the labor processes of aid workers and in what ways the Croatian regime of care that refugees/migrants/people on the move are subjected to encapsulates those tensions. The concept of affective labor enabled understanding of the taxing experience of aid work and highlighted the entanglement of ethics, politics, and affects in the humanitarian sector. After the historical and theoretical insights into the development of the humanitarian industry, together with the antagonisms that followed its creation and transformation, and by using the narrative analysis based on interviews and ethnographic accounts, this dissertation explores (1) the ways the aid system has been commodified in the Winter Transit and Reception Camp in Slavonski Brod, (2) the ways grassroots/independent humanitarianisms have been developed during the mass refugee transit and (3) how these independent and/or volunteer initiatives risk being co-opted by the neoliberal/late capitalistic management techniques. Using the dialectical relationship between the processes of depoliticization and repoliticization of suffering, this dissertation explores the labor processes of aid and advocacy work having in mind the different positionalities of humanitarian organizations. The main focus is placed on the labor invested in overcoming the gap between taxing emotional, moral, and affective forms of labor and the processes of professionalization and bureaucratization that reproduce the uneven power relationship characteristic of a humanitarian regime. The latter gap pointed out the importance of self-care not only as a desirable practice within the taxing refugee aid workscape, but as a tool for shifting the interpretation of the problem produced by policies of migration/refugee regimes from their external sources to the internal level of aid workers. This is normally done by encouraging workers to optimize their capacities and skills when it comes to processing unjust practices, political decisions, and policies. However, most interlocutors demonstrate how an overwhelming landscape of refugee aid and a lack of experience or a lack of institutional protection can easily compromise the mental health of humanitarian workers. This research shows that it is precisely in the process of finding the balance between “care for others” and “care for oneself” (the humanitarian impulse and imperative of self-care) that affective labor takes place. After considering these processes through the notions of psychologization and pathologization of aid and advocacy work, the thesis interrogates the relationship between humanitarianism and feminism. Specifically, it explores volunteer work through the lens of the theory of social reproduction and the work practices that encapsulate the tensions between the subversive and exploitative capacity of emotional labor. Finally, this dissertation explores intersections of different forms and understandings of humanitarianism in the contemporary aid workscape in Croatia. It showed that the focus of the notion of work in humanitarian studies helps to grasp the ambivalent nature of humanitarianism. It points out that it consists of a dialectical relationship between emotional and rational capacities. These two parts of work consider emotional work that refers to interaction, communication, empathy, and care, and the efforts invested by workers not to burn out due to exhaustive and stressful work conditions. While the first level involves investing emotions and affects that cannot be quantified, the second level is determined by the attempts of humanitarians to establish control over the intensity and scope of care they invest in aid work. Next to rethinking different forms and shapes of the antagonisms of humanitarian work, the thesis explores the potential of emotional/affective labor suggesting that the process of repoliticization of labor in humanitarian and NGO sector can lead the process of overcoming these antagonisms

A chromosome-based draft sequence of the hexaploid bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) genome

An ordered draft sequence of the 17-gigabase hexaploid bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) genome has been produced by sequencing isolated chromosome arms. We have annotated 124,201 gene loci distributed nearly evenly across the homeologous chromosomes and subgenomes. Comparative gene analysis of wheat subgenomes and extant diploid and tetraploid wheat relatives showed that high sequence similarity and structural conservation are retained, with limited gene loss, after polyploidization. However, across the genomes there was evidence of dynamic gene gain, loss, and duplication since the divergence of the wheat lineages. A high degree of transcriptional autonomy and no global dominance was found for the subgenomes. These insights into the genome biology of a polyploid crop provide a springboard for faster gene isolation, rapid genetic marker development, and precise breeding to meet the needs of increasing food demand worldwide

Genome interplay in the grain transcriptome of hexaploid bread wheat

International audienceAllohexaploid bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) provides approximately 20% of calories consumed by humans. Lack of genome sequence for the three homeologous and highly similar bread wheat genomes (A, B, and D) has impeded expression analysis of the grain transcriptome. We used previously unknown genome information to analyze the cell type–specific expression of homeologous genes in the developing wheat grain and identified distinct co-expression clusters reflecting the spatiotemporal progression during endosperm development. We observed no global but cell type– and stage-dependent genome dominance, organization of the wheat genome into transcriptionally active chromosomal regions, and asymmetric expression in gene families related to baking quality. Our findings give insight into the transcriptional dynamics and genome interplay among individual grain cell types in a polyploid cereal genome

Detection of drug resistance mutations at low plasma HIV-1 RNA load in a European multicentre cohort study

Guidelines indicate a plasma HIV-1 RNA load of 500-1000 copies/mL as the minimal threshold for antiretroviral drug resistance testing. Resistance testing at lower viral load levels may be useful to guide timely treatment switches, although data on the clinical utility of this remain limited. We report here the influence of viral load levels on the probability of detecting drug resistance mutations (DRMs) and other mutations by routine genotypic testing in a large multicentre European cohort, with a focus on tests performed at a viral load <1000 copies/mL