World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies

Barcelona, July 19th - 24th 2010

· NOT_DEFINED date: THU 22, 5-7 pm

· NOT_DEFINED language: English / Français

· NOT_DEFINED description: Chair: Blanca Garcés (Universitat Pompeu Fabr /Grupo de Investigación Interdisciplinario sobre Inmigración (GRITIM), Spain)

Paper presenter: Bilgin Tiryakioglu (Professor of Law-Bilkent University, Faculty of Law, Turkey), “Aliens: Right to Work under Turkish Law”
An alien is any person who is legally permitted to remain in a country with no right to claim citizenship of that country. In Turkish Law without consideration to political rights and exclusion, we can observe that a system of equality is adopted on granting rights to aliens. According to the Turkish Constitution, aliens have equal rights as citizens. However the Constitution still carves out exceptions to the rule, which calls for interpretation. In Turkish Law, primarily in the Constitution and in several laws (statutes), some boundaries and rules regarding aliens? right have been defined. Aliens seeking employment in Turkey should submit a valid visa, including a residence and work permit. Alien employment law is in accordance with and regulated based on 70 statutory laws. In order to streamline Alien employment law, to resolve further ambiguity, disorder under Turkish Law and control over the process, to bring foreigners? (aliens?) work permit in compliance with the relevant European Union standards, to reduce bureaucracy and ensure equality of aliens under employment law, Turkey implemented a proper framework of law defining Work Permit for Aliens (Law No. 4817), which was ratified in 2003. This started a new ear of give protection to aliens under this provision of Law. We still need to adequately study the improvements, amendments made under Turkish Law and an in depth analysis is required for a better and a structured framework for alien employment law. The implementation and procedural complication needs to be looked into seriously to demonstrate, if there is any inconsistency on the face of it. Also, the constitutional right granting equality to aliens is reflected in execution and whether the limitations on aliens? right to work is interpreted as an exception and it over all effect.

Paper presenter: Johannes Frische (Student-University of Leipzig, Germany), “Between Work Migration and the Quest for ‘a Place called Home’ Place Attachment of Moroccan Families under the Conditions of Global Mobility”
The paper aims at exploring the relationship between the two concepts of home and mobility in the case of Moroccan migrant families in the region of Grand Casablanca. Mobility can be understood as a strategy to enhance access to resources and maintain social security (Gertel, 2007). Combining livelihood-concepts with Bourdieu’s concept of capital and Giddens theory of structuration (Bourdieu 1986; Giddens 1984) this approach does not only theorize mobility as movement and displacement but situates it into the context of vulnerability, risk-coping strategies and social reproduction. Taking the case of migrant families’ mobility in the form of work migration often aims at generating additional income for the family household and diversifying sources of revenue. Home refers to a physical and imaginary place, embedded within social relations, that is being constructed through daily routine practices (Blunt/Dowling, 2006). It may play a crucial role in establishing the feeling of ontological security in face of growing insecurities and risks (Giddens, 1991/Saunders, 1990). In relation to mobility home addresses the question of place attachment in a liquid modernity (Bauman, 2000): It will be explored whether ‘a place called home’ may be aspired as a base for (re)grounding identities (Massey, 1992; Ahmed & al., 2003) despite increasing tendencies of deterritorialization, global flows and time-space-compression (Appadurai, 1996; Harvey, 1989). This notion of home, however, does not imply that it is necessarily fixed within space and bound to a single place or territory as reactionary identity politics often claim. Drawing on ethnographic research (in-depth interviews with migrants in the Grand Casablanca area) the paper will focus on the personal and socio-economic circumstances for specific forms of mobility such as work migration to Europe and return migration. The following questions shall be addressed in particular: What is the impact of these mobility experiences on the practice of home making? What kinds of biographical narratives of creating home/dwelling at home/leaving home are told by those who have emigrated and remigrated but also by those who have more or less stayed at the same place? It will be shown that these narratives negotiate manifold notions of place attachment and spatial identification. Thus, the concrete conditions of mobility are crucial to the understanding of home. Searching for home is never abandoned but rather transformed and imbued with different meanings.

Paper presenter: Amel Jerary (Lecturer-El Fateh University, Tripoli, Libya), “Relationships between Libyan and Expatriate employees in Western Corporate Organizations in Libya”
I would like to use my work as a cross-cultural trainer in Tripoli to analyse how corporate organizations in Libya have become a stage for cultural conflict. In Libya, with the strong influx of corporate organizations, Libyans seem to be confused as to how to find their place in these organizations. These organizations come with their pre-set rules and regulations as well as expectations and standards. The underlying message is: Just do like us, we know better. To many Libyans, who are just coming out of 30 years of socialism, it seems very daunting. On the one hand they would like to catch up with the modern world but at the same time this "modern world" imposes a new way of being on them. It pulls them out of their cultural realm into unknown and sometimes undesired territories. Libya is a society which has strong family values and religious convictions and is economically just coming out of 30 years of socialism. All this makes adapting to "corporate culture" very difficult for Libyans. When these two groups (expat and Libyan) with their different attitudes and aims come together to become a professional team, conflicts are unavoidable. I wish to analyse the nature of these conflicts and see how and if it is possible to localize corporate culture in Third World settings such as Libya. How can these two groups work together in a way which encompasses different cultures and behaviours and not eliminate one at the expense of the other?

Paper presenter: Irina Casado i Aijón (GETP/GRAFO Researcher-Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain), “Temporary migration for health reasons among the Rifain Imazighen.”
The recent history of migration processes undertaken by the Imazighen from the Rif Mountains (Morocco) to Europe has well-defined characteristics, both regarding their final aim and the profiles of migrant themselves. At first, these were mainly young men who moved in search of job opportunities and economic improvement and who, once settled, had their wives and children join them. Although these migratory processes continue today, the steady settlement of imazighen throughout Europe and notably in Catalonia has led to the existence of extended families not just in Morocco but also in European territories (Spain, France, Holland, Belgium and Germany).These families retain the functions attributed to the institution and to each of its members as well as their respective roles and expected interaction. The strength and stability of these networks in the destination countries has contributed to the diversification of the causes and duration of migration processes. In this paper, I intend to analyze a case of health-related temporary migration among rifains moving to and from Europe, Morocco and Catalonia. This process may be understood either as the quest for the most suitable health care system or to take care of sick or convalescent relatives. In the first case, two trends stand out: first, migration is Morocco bound in search of amazigh ethnomedicine therapies or Koranic medicine. These travels are made by migrants with similar health problems, especially reproductive and those ailments whose perceived aetiology should only be treated by one of these two therapeutic systems. A second trend involves moving from Morocco for a better and more affordable biomedical assistance. Given the characteristics of the Catalan Public Health Care System, Catalonia is usually the destination site: it is best when travelling from Morocco and it becomes more economical when coming from other European countries. In both cases, it is usually elders who migrate and stay with those relatives in Catalonia who are thought as responsible for their care and assistance. As seen above, there is a second trend of temporary migration and that is the one involving nursing sick or/and recovering relatives. In this case, we will find single women travelling where their assistance is needed, be it Morocco, Europe or Catalonia. Above all, young, often unmarried women migrate when one of their sisters has had a baby and they are required to take care of the new mother during postpartum as well as her family. Whether the reason is achieving better treatment or performing an assistance duty, these temporary migrations show that, despite changing practices and health scenarios, models of representation remain central; therapeutic systems retain their purposes and responsibility for care and assistance is taken mainly by women.