Imagined Borders Through Rhetoric

In the last few days we have witnessed an odd phenomenon. The President of the United States made several remarks about changing tariffs on trade goods, specifically steel and aluminum. There was also a markable increase in rhetoric about the abilities of the United States to not only survive but ‘win’ a trade war against some of its global economic and trade partners. This sent global markets into a brief crisis, required counter threats from several foreign leaders, and forced white house and congressional staffers to scramble to clarify political positions. However, all of this came without any formal policy change, discussion of how or when these tariffs could be enacted, or concrete action from the President or legislature. Which brings about the quandary of if rhetoric is powerful enough on its own to significantly change perceptions even if a change in actual policy is nonexistent. And, perhaps, what sort of impacts and implications this could have not only on the current administration, but also on the way future administrations may confront global issues.

I soon came to the conclusion, that a single brick of something like a promised border wall would not need to be placed to have a real and significant impact on refugee populations. Rather, the existence of the rhetoric, and the political support for the concept alone is a symbolic deterrent possibly more effective than any physical barrier could ever become. This then creates both global and national impacts without the need for monetarily and politically costly actions on behalf of any specific party or government.

There is little need for me to simply speculate about this aspect. An ethnically Turkish friend, a permanent resident of the United States, who teaches at a small private university in Virginia recently reached out to me. During our conversation she confided in me that she currently feels more trapped in this country than she did while visiting her family in Turkey during the failed coup attempt in 2016. In a way the rhetoric of the far right, in association with many ultra-nationalist movements have created a furthering of isolationist era divisions among the population.

This story is not unique. We as academics and professionals don’t exist in a singularist vacuum. Rather everyday we witness people’s fear of not knowing if they should travel to their familial homes to visit family because of the threat of being turned away at our borders. This includes academics, artists, and entrepreneur from imagined shithole countries, being entombed within the border walls of rhetoric without actual political action or major shifts in enforced policy.                 

               

Education on Refugees

Since my last blog was a little depressing speaking on the topic of mental illness in refugee camps, I thought I would make this blog a little more about how education about refugees, specifically from my family, was lacking.  I wanted to discuss how people’s education on what a refugee is keeps them from wanting to help refugees into this country.  So while I was busy trying to plan my sister’s gender reveal for her baby, I thought I was ask my family, what most would call the average American white family, what they knew about refugees. To keep all of my family members private they will go by Member 1, 2, and 3.

My first question was how many refugees are there in the world right now? Member number one said only around 6 million. Member number 2 said around 25 million. Member number 3 said only around 15 million. So the first thing I thought was “Wow these numbers are ridiculously low compared to the actual amount of refugees there are in the world today, and these aren’t even including the Palestinian refugees that are in a category of themselves.” This was the very first question and I knew this was going to be a very interesting situation.

My next question was what country do you think hosts the most refugees? Member one’s first guess was Australia (which after class not too long ago this made me giggle). Member number 2 guessed the United States, which also made me giggle a little bit. The last member guessed France and when I asked why its because they heard about France taking in a lot of refugees on the news and how terrorists attacks had happened because they took them in. This was the first question where I learned just how the news may effect peoples opinions on refugees and how part of the world may view them.

The third question was how many years on average does a refugee spend in a camp? Member one said 6 years, member 2 said 10 years (only because I had spoken to them about it before) and then third member said 5. This was not something I thought they would know but just wanted to ask out of curiosity in case the news, which I refuse to watch most of the time, had actually mentioned how long refugees may have spent in camps waiting for future help.

The questions went on and on like “How many refugees actually perform terrorist attacks in the countries they were placed in?” or “How long does the vetting process take for a refugee to be admitted to the United States?”

As I thought, one common issue seen in the U.S.  is the lack of education on refugees. Now I didn’t expect my family, who have little education outside of the business world, to know much about refugees. However with how much my family watches Fox News and all of the talk of refugees they have I was curious as to how much they have learned. Clearly it was little so I spent the rest of the time educating them on the simple facts they needed to know to hopefully change their mind on what the media has told them. Oddly enough, Member 2, whom I expected to never change their mind, admitted that the news had taught them nothing and they were very thankful to me for teaching them even the smallest bit of knowledge I have learned in this class so far. It just proves how “fake news” are destroying our nation and their want to help those in need.

The Effects of Nationalism on Refugees

Out of curiosity I decided to view some Anti-refugee organizations websites throughout the world. To be quite honest I was surprised to see some of the rhetoric in the way people expressed hatred for other “human beings”. After reading the making of the modern refugee by Peter Gatrell it’s shocking to see how the sense of nationalism shapes our view of other humans.  The quote by Sir John Hope Simpson that states,” The exaggerated nationalism that creates the refugee also creates most of the difficulties which beset him in the country of refugee” has really stuck in my mind. (Gatrell, 2013: 76-77) When nations create these imaginary border we call home we also create a mindset about how culture is supposed to be. When we humans create this culture we are angered when humans from different cultures try to move in. We do not want our culture, values, economic system, “safety” and so on to be altered. So when a human loses their country of origin and no longer has a region where they have a created sense of nationalism and culture where do they go? Exactly, they have nowhere to go because in this created sense of boards and nationalism we forget that everyone is a human. Refugees are stuck in limbo because of a negative cogitation when in reality we are all the same. To show just how messed up the sense of nationalism can make a person feel I have produced summaries on how refugees are viewed in two of the anti-refugee websites I looked at.

Soldiers of Odin

The Soldiers of Odin started in 2015 in Finland.  As I read a write up on these individuals they have stated that refugees are putting a strain on Europe.  They make it known that refugees come to Europe because the “economic conditions” are way better there than the refugees own country. So basically they are coming to steal the jobs. Leaving citizens of the EU in a panic.  The website also mentioned some incidents of sexual assaults being allegedly committed by refugees. Which makes all refugees out to look like criminals. Lastly, it said the main purpose of the group is to patrol the streets to keep the people of Finland safe from the refugees.

Act for America

Act for America is an anti-Islamic group from the United States. One section on the website labeled border security talks about how the gravest threat to America steams from the flow of immigrants. The sentence then goes on to put immigrants in the same category of terrorist, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, crime, and drugs. The website also states that the U.S Constitution is under attack by Islamic groups due to the rise of Islamic immigration within the country.  

 

After viewing both of these websites I noticed a pattern. They both criminalized the refugee. They try to show them as the lowest of people in efforts to dehumanize them. They both produce ways in which they are “harming” the nationalism of the host countries “safety, economics, and culture”.  They are not showing the human side of the refugee as I stated before. This is because the way of which nationalism plays a role in society it draws attention to the refugee making others not want the refugee in their country as well.  This is eye opening to see how nationalism and having a sense of pride in your country can cause cruelty to others. I hope this post makes people realize that nationalism is not always good and is used as a propaganda of hate in many ways. It is important to keep in mind that although all humans’ values may differ, we are all humans none the less.

 

Here is a video for some perspective (listen to the first minute and a half of the video):

 https://www.newsy.com/stories/trump-s-alt-right-europe-s-nationalism-have-a-lot-in-common/

 

 

 

https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/documents/assets/pdf/combating-hate/Soldiers-of-Odin-USA-Report-web.pdf

 

Gatrell, Peter. 2015. The Making of the Modern Refugee.Oxford University Press.

 

http://www.actforamerica.org/issues

Corporate Social Responsibility and Toxic Humanitarianism

As a public relations major, I’m sure I view the world a little differently than my classmates in anthropology. I haven’t had the technical training, the ethics classes, or the field work that prospective anthropologists go through during their undergraduate years, but I’ve come to understand so much more about the impact of public relations in the world of humanitarianism through my anthropology coursework. As a public relations major, I’m taught how to communicate with people, build relationships, and advise employers on the best course of action. While this is a valuable skill that can do great good for the world and for organizations, it’s important to be aware of the potentially negative impacts of public relations efforts.

Image courtesy of WVXU Cincinnati

The idea of corporate social responsibility is one that has taken off in the world of public relations over the past decade. With more companies being thrust into the spotlight for labor violations, sweatshops, and other scandals (take Nike’s scandal with sweatshops in Asia), the idea that companies themselves need to be responsible members of the global community has been championed by interest groups, citizens and public relations practitioners alike. While companies should behave ethically and give back to communities, venturing into the realm of humanitarianism should be carefully thought-out with a solid understanding of how intervening in conflict-ridden or impoverished areas will impact local economies. 

Image courtesy of Toms

Too often, well-meaning companies and individuals, acting on advice from public relations staff, marketing departments or boards of directors, begin large-scale “humanitarian” programs that end up destroying local economies. Take Toms shoes for example; while the mission of the company is well-intentioned, in many economically depressed areas, giving shoes away only serves to further disintegrate the local economy, putting the entire supply chain out of business- from shoe cobblers and textile makers to the raw materials distributors. Fledgling economies and markets need support from global companies instead of competition. During times of crisis, it’s easy to view refugees and displaced people as victims and not active agents capable of controlling their own humanitarian relief. Companies who truly wish to be involved in the sphere of humanitarianism should first begin by supporting and understanding refugees and those in crisis. 

Sources:

Kumar, Raj

   2015. 3 ways we should rethink humanitarian aid. World Economic Forum.    https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/08/3-ways-we-should-rethink-humanitarian-aid/ 

Humanitarian Aid: An Unintentional Harm

Something I found amazing when I first started this class was humanitarian organizations, I thought it was amazing that there were people out there who were helping those in need, like refugees or asylum seekers. However, after our discussion of how Humanitarian organizations or efforts can be play out, I feel so naïve. I remember when I was in high school, freshman year, I saw a pair of Toms, and thought how awesome it was for someone like me to buy a pair here and someone in a far-off country would receive one because of my transaction. What I did not know was how this would affect the local economy and market of those who craft by hand these material goods that were now being distributed for free by a more privileged industry. It sadly doesn’t stop here, it becomes a domino effect of failed market and shut downs as each component that aids and creates the craftsman products are all affected. Something innocent as giving to those who I thought were the unfortunate, caused harm to pass onto others.
Humanitarian groups are a double-edged sword in this way. They have the intention to do good, but in that exchange of “good”, is a bad solution or aid that is being given.  NGO’s and organization like the UNHCR have become a crutch to the way we handle situations of crisis. Instead of nation-states directly handling or providing support for the human rights issue at hand; most of the time the UNHCR and other organizations are told of the matter and it is shouldered off to them. Essentially, they are given power over lives and are the task force mediator for the human rights everywhere. As we have seen and discussed in class, the UNHCR is stretched thin all over the world. Being so vast and wide, causes issues to arise within UNHCR’s refugee camps, which then in turn causes delays and issues processing refugee accounts and applications as the workload is endless. I was reading an article from the New Yorker, and they stated that, “a public institution that is self-policing is effectively unpoliced and deflecting the critique by claiming the critique is not a serious form of reckoning” (Gourevitch, 2010).  When we watched in class how Australia, tried to make themselves unaccountable for intercepting thousands of refugees and asylum seekers at mid-sea and then abandoning them at process centers at Nauru and Papua New Guinea, we were appalled at the lengths the prime minister of Australia will go to avoid giving and providing aid to those who need it. The usage of humanitarian aid is a very political game, especially the origin of where the aid comes from. For instance, the United States has hundreds of organizations that do donations and mission trips to countries like Haiti to build houses and spread support to those in need.  Interestingly enough, “ten thousand NGO’s working in Haiti, and in fifty years that country has been receiving humanitarian aid and it is still very poor to this day” Why is this? Haiti has become dependent for the support of others outside of their own country. If we keep offering this certain form of help, we are making matters worse. NPR stated in an article that, “this craze of humanitarianism is called “voluntourism” (Kelto ,2010). For instance, if a group of foreign aid was to visit a refugee camp that is filled with children who are separated from their families and they were young of age, we would be impressionable on them. For us to communicate and interact as family and friends, and then suddenly leave causes a sense of abandonment and even more psychological trauma or damage to take place. Visiting them instills a certain form of hope within refugees, which can raise their spirits and make them feel better about their future for a short duration. However, if there are more groups coming and going from these camps, or institutions then hope begins to dwindle and the thought of ever leaving the “refugee limbo” as it were, begins to become a cruel dream. There needs to be open discussion with NGO's and organizations like UNHCR, to ensure that the acts that are being paid forward are really the best way we can ensure good is being done in all aspects of our mission to preserve human rights.

References

Kelto, A. (2010, November 02). In S. Africa's Orphanages, Is Doing Good Really Bad? Retrieved March 03, 2018, from https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130998857&sc=17&f=1001

Gourevitch , P. (2010, November 3). The Moral Hazards of Humanitarian Aid: What Is to Be Done ... Retrieved March 3, 2018, from https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-moral-hazards-of-humanitarian-aid-what-is-to-be-done

It Started With an Instagram Account

            It started with an Instagram account. As I was studying refugees, I came across an Instagram account belonging to a non-governmental organization that used photographs to “document, help, educate, and empower refugees and internally displaced people.” As a photographer myself and interested in refugee studies as an anthropologist, I gave this account a follow.  The account I am referring to is @everydayrefugees. Now, I look back on the decision to follow this account and recognize myself as a person naïve in understanding how refugees are depicted and how their stories are told and that as my studies progressed, I now view this account differently than I did when I first followed it.

            On first glance, I was impressed with the photographic style and quality of images being presented. It is impressive photojournalism for sure.

The scenes are set well, the lighting was good, there is a distinct lack of anything drawing attention to something that can be perceived as “ugly.” Most of the images taken depict very similar attributes.

Children playing, laughing, and learning have a dominant presence and looking at it made me feel as if those actions were commonplace and that refugee camps were generally happy and lively places and that the UNHCR was actively assisting and ever-present ready to help. It fueled my hope that the situations of refugees were improving.

        It, genuinely, is a wholesome, beautiful account, but looking back at it as I type this there is something that I find lacking. This is not something that is truly this accounts fault, but rather an overarching problem concerning the depiction of refugees. Each photo has a caption that describes the location and the action of the people being photographed; however, the refugees typically go unnamed and are present solely in that moment of time. It is in this that I see how the common depiction of refugees can cause them to become "ghosts." The depiction does not describe the refugees' situations and does not allow them to communicate their stories. The depiction does not allow us to see the treatment of refugees by organizations of power or the struggles they may be having inside the camps. Through this depiction, they are just a face, an action, a location. Commonly, through the ethnographic depiction, they are just a story, a case study. Through an organizational depiction, they become a statistic, a case number, a ration card. Through a governmental depiction, they become a problem. A single person may exist in the moment captured and be gone the next. They truly become a ghost population.

      As I mentioned before, this is a beautiful account and I still enjoy viewing it, but I view it with less hope than I did before. I see their depiction and can't help but wonder who that person is, how they got there, how their asylum case is going, and is everything really being done to help them. This feeling is not just due to this account, but in refugee depiction as a whole where something is always lacking and questions always go unanswered. Especially when the question is "whose voice am I really hearing?"

All photo credit goes to @everydayrefugees and is directly from their public Instagram account. I personally enjoy this account and recommend it to everyone.