Rethinking Anthropological Perspectives On Migration

"Cabana and Clark have chosen to base their research into migration on careful study of how real people actually behave over time and space. We are well served by this rugged empiricism and by the multidisciplinary breadth of their approach."—Dean R. Snow, Pennsylvania State University "A thorough survey of the ways in which anthropologists across the four subfields have defined and analyzed human migration."—John H. Relethford, author of Reflections of Our Past: How Human History Is Revealed in Our Genes All too often, anthropologists study specific facets of human migration without guidance from the other subdisciplines (archaeology, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, and linguistics) that can provide new insights on the topic. The equivocal results of these narrow studies often make the discussion of impact and consequences speculative. In the last decade, however, anthropologists working independently in the four subdisciplines have developed powerful methodologies to detect and assess the scale of past migrations. Yet these advances are known only to a few specialized researchers. Rethinking Anthropological Perspectives on Migration brings together these new methods in one volume and addresses innovative approaches to migration research that emerge from the collective effort of scholars from different intellectual backgrounds. Its contributors present a comprehensive anthropological exploration of the many topics related to human migration throughout the world, ranging from theoretical treatments to specific case studies derived primarily from the Americas prior to European contact. Contributors: | Christopher S. Beekman | Wesley R. Bernardini | Deborah A. Bolnick | Graciela S. Cabana | Alexander F. Christensen | Jeffery J. Clark | J. Andrew Darling | Christopher Ehret | Alan G. Fix | Catherine S. Fowler | Severin M. Fowles | Susan R. Frankenberg | Jane H. Hill | Keith L. Hunley | Kelly J. Knudson | Lyle W. Konigsberg | Scott G. Ortman | Takeyuki (Gaku) Tsuda

“Artfully integrates scholarship on both past and present migration. With its thematic focus on disruption, this volume develops unprecedented nuance in the treatment of migration.”—Graciela S. Cabana, coeditor of Rethinking Anthropological Perspectives on Migration “A significant contribution to the social sciences in general and a future staple for archaeologists and anthropologists. Migration and Disruptions demonstrates the importance of collaboration and constructive dialogues between the traditional subfields composing the umbrella title of anthropology.”—Stephen A. Brighton, author of Historical Archaeology of the Irish Diaspora: A Transnational Approach Migration has always been a fundamental human activity, yet little collaboration exists between scientists and social scientists examining how it has shaped past and contemporary societies. This innovative volume brings together sociocultural anthropologists, archaeologists, bioarchaeologists, ethnographers, paleopathologists, and others to develop a unifying theory of migration. The contributors relate past movements, including the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain and the Islamic conquest of Andalucía, to present-day events, such as those in northern Ethiopia or at the U.S.-Mexico border. They examine the extent to which environmental and social disruptions have been a cause of migration over time and how these migratory flows have in turn led to disruptive consequences for the receiving societies. The observed cycles of social disruption, resettlement, and its consequences offer a new perspective on how human migration has shaped the social, economic, political, and environmental landscapes of societies from prehistory to today. Contributors:Brenda J. Baker | Christopher S. Beekman | George L. Cowgill | Jason De Leon | James F. Eder | Anna Forringer-Beal | Cameron Gokee | Catherine Hills | Kelly J. Knudson | Patrick Manning | Jonathan Maupin | Lisa Meierotto | James Morrissey | Rachel E. Scott | Christina Torres-Rouff | Takeyuki (Gaku) Tsuda | Sonia Zakrzewski

This book includes studies conducted on the basis of field research by academics specialised in social anthropology in various universities in Turkey. Anthropological studies on migration date back a long way. Leaving their desk in the office, anthropologists have taken to the field, placing participatory observations and in-depth interviews at the centre of their research. The story of this book emerged from the thoughts of anthropologists, who had made presentations on migration, coming together during a symposium and discussing how to write about such a topic. A qualitative research method was used in work containing examples from Ankara, Istanbul, Burdur, Van, Ardahan, Sivas and Hatay. The focal groups had been displaced and/or had witnessed war. This book is composed of eleven chapters. The majority of the studies were conducted with the participation of Syrian immigrants. The wave of compulsory emigration from Syria due to the continuing conflict in the country has affected Turkey deeply. Syrians under temporary protection have been living in almost every Turkish city since the early years of the war. The book also includes papers on groups who have come from Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia to Turkey, settling in various places in the country, in addition to Syrian immigrants. Content PREFACE Meryem Bulut and Kadriye Şahin CHAPTER 1 – RETHINKING MIGRATION WITHIN AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK Ceren Aksoy Sugiyama and Seher Çataloğlu CHAPTER 2 – ARTIFICIAL BORDERS AND NATIONALISM: TURKMEN MIGRATION FROM IRAQ TO ISTANBUL Seher Çataloğlu and Meryem Bulut CHAPTER 3 – GENDER PERCEPTIONS OF SYRIAN IMMIGRANTS RESIDING IN SİVAS PROVINCE CENTRE AND PATRIARCHAL NEGOTIATIONS Çağdaş Demren and Ünsal Karbuz CHAPTER 4 – “THE GUEST DOESN’T LIKE ANOTHER GUEST, AND THE HOST LIKES NEITHER” : SOMALI REFUGEES FORGOTTEN IN A SATELLITE TOWN Ayşe Yıldırım CHAPTER 5 – CONTRIBUTION OF NGOs TO THE INTEGRATION OF SYRIAN IMMIGRANTS IN MARDİN Süleyman Şanlı CHAPTER 6 – RECONSTRUCTION OF DAILY LIFE BETWEEN TWO CULTURES: SYRIAN WOMEN LIVING IN ANTAKYA Aylin Eraslan CHAPTER 7 – AFGHANISTANI IMMIGRANTS SEEKING PEACE IN VAN Fuat Leventoğlu CHAPTER 8 – “TURKISH-GERMAN” FAMILIES: AN INSIDER VIEWPOINT ABOUT WAR, MIGRATION AND THE TRANSNATIONAL FAMILY BUILDING EXPERIENCE Oya Topdemir Koçyiğit CHAPTER 9 – PERCEPTIONS ABOUT ‘WAR MIGRANTS’ FROM SYRIA IN ANTAKYA: ANXIETY, FEAR, EMPATHY Mustafa Çapar CHAPTER 10 – MIGRANT WOMEN IN VAN: HOME AND DAILY LIFE AS A REFLECTION OF BELONGING Berivan Vargün CHAPTER 11 – THE CUISINE OF UZBEKS WHO EMIGRATED FROM AFGHANISTAN TO OVAKENT (HATAY): PRESERVED, CHANGED AND REMEMBERED Kadriye Şahin

All contributions to this book to this volume describe women as social actors within specific migration processes and point out women's creativity in shaping migrant settings. This perspective counter-balances common descriptions of women as more or less invisible and dependent of male migration. At the same time the anthropological approach ensures the careful consideration and analysis of the culturally specific contexts, within which the different processes of migration are taking place. Regional and cultural diversity of the data presented renders possible intercultural comparison of the investigated phenomena.

Includes statistical tables.

Migration, networks, skills: these keywords not only denote three popular and important fields of current investigation in Social Sciences and Cultural Studies, they also mark the wide range of interests of cultural and social anthropologist Waltraud Kokot, who is to be honoured in this Festschrift. Internationally distinguished scholars from five European countries and various academic disciplines present their most recent research findings on topics such as diaspora and migration studies, urban anthropology and the anthropology of crafts, all of which are connected by the common themes of mobility and transformation.

All contributions to this book to this volume describe women as social actors within specific migration processes and point out women's creativity in shaping migrant settings. This perspective counter-balances common descriptions of women as more or less invisible and dependent of male migration. At the same time the anthropological approach ensures the careful consideration and analysis of the culturally specific contexts, within which the different processes of migration are taking place. Regional and cultural diversity of the data presented renders possible intercultural comparison of the investigated phenomena.

Mobility and Migration in Ancient Mesoamerican Cities is the first focused book-length discussion of migration in central Mexico, west Mexico and the Maya region, presenting case studies on population movement in and among Classic, Epiclassic, and Postclassic Mesoamerican societies and polities within the framework of urbanization and de-urbanization. Looking beyond the conceptual dichotomy of sedentism versus mobility, the contributors show that mobility and migration reveal a great deal about the formation, development, and decline of town- and city-based societies in the ancient world. In a series of data-rich chapters that address specific evidence for movement in their respective study areas, an international group of scholars assesses mobility through the isotopic and demographic analysis of human remains, stratigraphic identification of gaps in occupation, and local intensification of water capture in the Maya lowlands. Others examine migration through the integration of historic and archaeological evidence in Michoacán and Yucatán and by registering how daily life changed in response to the influx of new people in the Basin of Mexico. Offering a range of critical insights into the vital and under-studied role that mobility and migration played in complex agrarian societies, Mobility and Migration in Ancient Mesoamerican Cities will be of value to Mesoamericanist archaeologists, ethnohistorians, and bioarchaeologists and to any scholars working on complex societies. Contributors: Jaime J. Awe, Meggan Bullock, Sarah C. Clayton, Andrea Cucina, Véronique Darras, Nicholas P. Dunning, Mélanie Forné, Marion Forest, Carolyn Freiwald, Elizabeth Graham, Nancy Gonlin, Julie A. Hoggarth, Linda Howie, Elsa Jadot, Kristin V. Landau, Eva Lemonnier, Dominique Michelet, David Ortegón Zapata, Prudence M. Rice, Thelma N. Sierra Sosa, Michael P. Smyth, Vera Tiesler, Eric Weaver