Diversity Matters

23 April 2024, A conversation with María Cioé-Peña (University of Pennsylvania), Kamran Khan (University of Birmingham), Verena Platzgummer (Eurac Research & University of Galway), and Andrea Leone-Pizzighella (Eurac Research)

Cioé-Peña will first discuss the erasure of Black Latines within and beyond bilingual education in the United States. Black erasure remains a large issue within bilingual education in light of the standard association of Blackness with African American identity and English monolingualism. Using autoethnography, Cioé-Peña underscores how Black Latine erasure in bilingual education upholds anti-Blackness and “model minority” narratives in education overall and how it results in tangible exclusion and oppression for all Black bi/multilinguals.

Turning to the United Kingdom, Khan will then discuss the intersections between citizenship, race, and language in examining how security—in and around real and imagined borders—has become increasingly embedded with notions of integration and citizenship. He describes how this shift results in particular forms of securitisation and surveillance which discursively construct ‘unintegrated’ citizens as a threat to the nation.

Platzgummer and Leone-Pizzighella will close the discussion by focusing on early childhood and lower secondary education contexts in the trilingual Italian province of South Tyrol. Cross-cutting the region’s German- and Italian-language educational institutions, they will address how teachers explicitly and implicitly orient to social, linguistic, ethnic, and educational groups and categories in their practice and in their reflections, as well as how these orientations relate to structural aspects of the educational institutions they work in.

Link to Webinar

22 November 2023, In this multilingual episode, Anna Ritter (Universität Duisburg-Essen), Maria Stopfner (Eurac Research) and Sabrina Colombo (Eurac Research) will focus on plurilingual families in Germany and South Tyrol and how they live and experience their plurilingualism.

Ritter will explore the use and relationship of different family languages and the impact of language biographies across generations within families. Using audio recordings from ten German-Russian bilingual families, questionnaires, and parent interviews, Ritter will present interaction styles and a typology of bilingual interactions in plurilingual families in Germany.

Stopfner and Colombo will examine family language policies and generational perspectives in South Tyrol. Based on twelve family interviews, they will reveal how family members locate themselves in multilingual contexts. They will also discuss insights from over 100 professionals on language use and choices in homes where multiple languages are spoken.

30 May 2023, Networking individual repertoires and learning skills in the plurilingual primary school. A conversation with Emanuela Atz, Cecilia Varcasia (Freie Universität Bozen/Bolzano) and Marta Guarda (Eurac Research).

This multilingual webinar features Anja Binanzer (Leibniz Universität Hannover), Fiona Dalziel (Università degli Studi di Padova) and Marta Guarda (Eurac Research) discussing students’ attitudes towards and perceptions of multilingualism and language use in educational contexts. Binanzer will draw on the findings from a questionnaire-based survey with 308 upper secondary students in Germany, focusing on the perspectives of heritage language speakers (141 respondents). The study investigated what these students think of the handling of migration-related multilingualism in German schools, as well as how they perceive the attitudes of monolingual peers and teachers towards their multilingualism.  It also explored whether they would like a stronger consideration of their heritage languages as school subjects or vehicular languages.

Moving from secondary to tertiary education, Dalziel and Guarda will report on a study in the context of an Italian university that attracts increasing numbers of international students. Drawing on both questionnaire and interview data with two groups of students (tot. 74 participants), the authors will look into their perceptions as to the use of their home languages in two degree programmes that are entirely taught in English, as well as their conceptualizations of the English language as part of their plurilingual repertoires and identities.

22 March 2023, A conversation with Anja Binanzer (Leibniz University Hannover), Fiona Dalziel (University of Padova) and Marta Guarda (Eurac Research)

This multilingual webinar features Anja Binanzer (Leibniz Universität Hannover), Fiona Dalziel (Università degli Studi di Padova) and Marta Guarda (Eurac Research) discussing students’ attitudes towards and perceptions of multilingualism and language use in educational contexts. Binanzer will draw on the findings from a questionnaire-based survey with 308 upper secondary students in Germany, focusing on the perspectives of heritage language speakers (141 respondents). The study investigated what these students think of the handling of migration-related multilingualism in German schools, as well as how they perceive the attitudes of monolingual peers and teachers towards their multilingualism.  It also explored whether they would like a stronger consideration of their heritage languages as school subjects or vehicular languages.

Moving from secondary to tertiary education, Dalziel and Guarda will report on a study in the context of an Italian university that attracts increasing numbers of international students. Drawing on both questionnaire and interview data with two groups of students (tot. 74 participants), the authors will look into their perceptions as to the use of their home languages in two degree programmes that are entirely taught in English, as well as their conceptualizations of the English language as part of their plurilingual repertoires and identities.

19 May 2022, Im Gespräch mit Assimina Gouma (University of Vienna), Nadia Thoma (University of Vienna) und Marta Guarda (Eurac Research)

Dieses Webinar widmet sich den vielschichtigen Zusammenhängen von Sprache und Rassismus, die bislang mit Konzepten wie Linguizismus, language racism, linguistic racism und raciolinguistic ideologies beschrieben und theoretisiert wurden.

Am Beispiel zweier in Österreich angesiedelter und inzwischen abgeschlossener Forschungsprojekte werden die Vortragenden der Frage nachgehen, wie verschiedene Felder (Bildungsinstitutionen, Medien, etc.) an der (Re-)Produktion von sprachbezogenem Rassismus beteiligt sind, wie Menschen, die sprachbezogenen Rassismus erlebt haben, Sinn aus ihren Erfahrungen ziehen, in welchen Settings und unter welchen Rahmenbedingungen das Thematisieren linguizistischer Erfahrungen möglich ist und welche oppositionellen Stimmen und counter narratives sich aus dem empirischen Material rekonstruieren lassen. Aus forschungsmethodologischer Perspektive wird der Frage nach der Involviertheit der Forschenden ins Feld nachgegangen.

21 December 2023, In dialogo con Irene Landini (University of Trento), Davide Strazzari (University of Trento) and Samantha Scappiti

La ricerca presentata in questo webinar affronta il tema della gestione della crescente diversità culturale e linguistica in ambito scolastico, con un focus comparato sulle città di Trento e Bolzano. La ricerca è interessata principalmente alla diversità legata all’ aumento di studenti stranieri sia di prima che di seconda generazione all’interno delle scuole primarie e secondarie di primo grado, nel corso dell’ultimo decennio. Un ulteriore elemento di interesse è analizzare se e come la gestione della diversità legata al fenomeno migratorio vari a seconda dei diversi contesti socio-culturali in cui le scuole sono inserite: una società multiculturale e pluralistica (il caso di Bolzano e dell’Alto Adige) e una società, invece, prevalentemente monoculturale (Trento), nonostante la presenza di alcune minoranze. Si può quindi effettuare una doppia comparazione: analizzare le differenze e somiglianze fra i due tipi di scuole bolzanine (si considereranno alcune scuole di lingua italiana e scuole di lingua tedesca) e confrontare poi entrambi i tipi con scuole equivalenti trentine.

La ricerca si è posta due obiettivi: 1) mettere in luce le principali sfide e gli aspetti problematici e critici che emergono dall’esperienza quotidiana degli insegnanti in alcune scuole selezionate nelle due città; 2) identificare, tramite un’analisi ‘sul campo’, le strategie (strumenti, prassi e approcci educativi) elaborate quotidianamente dagli insegnanti, volte a rispondere alle sfide derivanti dalla crescente diversità culturale e linguistica. I dati sono stati raccolti attraverso interviste semi-strutturate con insegnanti di scuole primarie e medie interessati a condividere la loro esperienza con studenti italiani e con background migratorio nelle città di Trento e Bolzano.

Nella prima parte del webinar, Landini presenterà i risultati principali che son emersi dalle interviste effettuate con insegnati e dirigenti. Nella seconda parte, Strazzari parlerà delle politiche di educazione interculturale in Italia illustrerà possibili scenari ed evoluzioni future in tale ambito. I due interventi teorici saranno infine ‘integrati’ dall’intervento di Scappiti, che svolge il ruolo di facilitatrice linguistica in alcune scuole di lingua italiana di Bolzano. Scappiti ci illustrerà, attraverso episodi tratti dalla sua esperienza quotidiana, le sfide e strategie messe in atto da lei e dai suoi colleghi di fronte alla crescente diversità linguistica e culturale. Nel corso del webinar, questo tema è pertanto analizzato in un’ottica sia teorica che empirica, cercando cioè di fornire strumenti operativi di supporto e spunti di riflessione indirizzati a scuole e insegnanti che si trovano in prima linea nella gestione di tale diversità.

Link to Webinar

30 May 2023, A conversation with Emanuela Atz, Cecilia Varcasia (Free University of Bolzano/Bozen) and Marta Guarda (Eurac Research)

This multilingual webinar features Anja Binanzer (Leibniz Universität Hannover), Fiona Dalziel (Università degli Studi di Padova) and Marta Guarda (Eurac Research) discussing students’ attitudes towards and perceptions of multilingualism and language use in educational contexts. Binanzer will draw on the findings from a questionnaire-based survey with 308 upper secondary students in Germany, focusing on the perspectives of heritage language speakers (141 respondents). The study investigated what these students think of the handling of migration-related multilingualism in German schools, as well as how they perceive the attitudes of monolingual peers and teachers towards their multilingualism.  It also explored whether they would like a stronger consideration of their heritage languages as school subjects or vehicular languages.

Moving from secondary to tertiary education, Dalziel and Guarda will report on a study in the context of an Italian university that attracts increasing numbers of international students. Drawing on both questionnaire and interview data with two groups of students (tot. 74 participants), the authors will look into their perceptions as to the use of their home languages in two degree programmes that are entirely taught in English, as well as their conceptualizations of the English language as part of their plurilingual repertoires and identities.

22 March 2023, A conversation with Anja Binanzer (University of Hannover), Fiona Dalziel (University of Padua) and Marta Guarda (Eurac Research)

This multilingual webinar features Anja Binanzer, Fiona Dalziel and Marta Guarda discussing students’ attitudes towards and perceptions of multilingualism and language use in educational contexts. Binanzer will draw on the findings from a questionnaire-based survey with 308 upper secondary students in Germany, focusing on the perspectives of heritage language speakers (141 respondents). The study investigated what these students think of the handling of migration-related multilingualism in German schools, as well as how they perceive the attitudes of monolingual peers and teachers towards their multilingualism.  It also explored whether they would like a stronger consideration of their heritage languages as school subjects or vehicular languages.

Moving from secondary to tertiary education, Dalziel and Guarda will report on a study in the context of an Italian university that attracts increasing numbers of international students. Drawing on both questionnaire and interview data with two groups of students (tot. 74 participants), the authors will look into their perceptions as to the use of their home languages in two degree programmes that are entirely taught in English, as well as their conceptualizations of the English language as part of their plurilingual repertoires and identities.

23 April 2024, A conversation with María Cioé-Peña (University of Pennsylvania), Kamran Khan (University of Birmingham), Verena Platzgummer (Eurac Research & University of Galway), and Andrea Leone-Pizzighella (Eurac Research)

Cioé-Peña will first discuss the erasure of Black Latines within and beyond bilingual education in the United States. Black erasure remains a large issue within bilingual education in light of the standard association of Blackness with African American identity and English monolingualism. Using autoethnography, Cioé-Peña underscores how Black Latine erasure in bilingual education upholds anti-Blackness and “model minority” narratives in education overall and how it results in tangible exclusion and oppression for all Black bi/multilinguals.

Turning to the United Kingdom, Khan will then discuss the intersections between citizenship, race, and language in examining how security—in and around real and imagined borders—has become increasingly embedded with notions of integration and citizenship. He describes how this shift results in particular forms of securitisation and surveillance which discursively construct ‘unintegrated’ citizens as a threat to the nation.

Platzgummer and Leone-Pizzighella will close the discussion by focusing on early childhood and lower secondary education contexts in the trilingual Italian province of South Tyrol. Cross-cutting the region’s German- and Italian-language educational institutions, they will address how teachers explicitly and implicitly orient to social, linguistic, ethnic, and educational groups and categories in their practice and in their reflections, as well as how these orientations relate to structural aspects of the educational institutions they work in.

Link to Webinar

28 February 2023, A conversation with Victoria Finn (University of Bergen), Ramesh Ganohariti (University of Leiden) and Verena Wisthaler (Eurac Research)

This webinar features Dr. Victoria Finn (European University Institute) and Ramesh Ganohariti (Dublin City University) discussing individuals’ rights and legal statuses on paper versus their access to exercising such rights in practice. Finn will focus on migrants’ political rights using examples from South America. Ganohariti will focus on the rights and duties involved in living in de facto states such as Abkhazia, Kosovo, South Ossetia, Taiwan, and Transnistria, where individuals often use multiple citizenships to strategically expand their bundle of rights. Both speakers will discuss various dimensions of belonging and its relation to claiming, gaining, and exercising rights in contexts beyond western democracies with fixed international borders.

Link to Webinar

29 March 2022, A conversation with Bilgin Ayata (University of Graz), Angéla Kóczé (CEU), Raphaële Xenidis (University of Copenhagen) and Verena Wisthaler (Eurac Research)

Intersectionality is a theoretical approach and an analytical tool which explores how social identities such as race, ethnicity, social class, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity overlap with one another. Moreover, intersectionality is characterized by its focus on systems of power that discriminate or privilege people because of these intersecting identities. This webinar explores the added value an intersectional perspective offers in the field of Minority Studies, and explores the challenges that we encounter when engaging with an intersectional approach, based on examples from discrimination and equality law, from Romani Studies and the challenges faced by Romani women, and in relation to religious belonging and gender.

22 September 2021, A conversation with Philipp Horn (University of Sheffield), Claire Wright (University of Bolzano) and Alexandra Tomaselli (Eurac Research)

Many Indigenous Peoples are on the move, with cities representing a primary destination. This may be due to territorial displacement, degradation, conflict or exploitation or to other socio-economic and environmental factors. Internal and transnational migration (and mobility) trends are particularly evident in the case of Latin America (e.g., Central American indigenous peoples that have moved to the USA or Indigenous individuals and families settling in Andean urban centres) but also in Europe (e.g., Sami youngsters moving to urban contexts or Latin American Indigenous individuals and families moving to Spain). In addition to rural-to-urban migration, the territories of Indigenous Peoples are also increasingly affected by urbanization processes such as urban expansion, rural-to-urban land conversions, and large-scale infrastructure projects. Against this background, this webinar tackles the dimension of “Indigenous Urbanization and Mobility” by discussing the impact of these processes on Indigenous identity, rights and resilience in Latin America and Europe. Emphasis will also be paid to current challenges caused by the pandemic and climate change.

23 April 2024, A conversation with María Cioé-Peña, Kamran Khan, Verena Platzgummer, and Andrea Leone-Pizzighella

Cioé-Peña will first discuss the erasure of Black Latines within and beyond bilingual education in the United States. Black erasure remains a large issue within bilingual education in light of the standard association of Blackness with African American identity and English monolingualism. Using autoethnography, Cioé-Peña underscores how Black Latine erasure in bilingual education upholds anti-Blackness and “model minority” narratives in education overall and how it results in tangible exclusion and oppression for all Black bi/multilinguals.

Turning to the United Kingdom, Khan will then discuss the intersections between citizenship, race, and language in examining how security—in and around real and imagined borders—has become increasingly embedded with notions of integration and citizenship. He describes how this shift results in particular forms of securitisation and surveillance which discursively construct ‘unintegrated’ citizens as a threat to the nation.

Platzgummer and Leone-Pizzighella will close the discussion by focusing on early childhood and lower secondary education contexts in the trilingual Italian province of South Tyrol. Cross-cutting the region’s German- and Italian-language educational institutions, they will address how teachers explicitly and implicitly orient to social, linguistic, ethnic, and educational groups and categories in their practice and in their reflections, as well as how these orientations relate to structural aspects of the educational institutions they work in.

26 January 2022, A conversation with Rohini Mathur (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), Orkan Okan (Technical University of Munich) and Katharina Crepaz (Eurac Research)

At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe, calls for societal solidarity often mentioned that everyone can become a target for the virus, without distinctions of race, class, or gender. However, more than 1.5 years into the pandemic, we know that this is not true, and that diverse groups have been particularly affected by Covid-19, both epidemiologically and from a socio-economic perspective.

To provide a thorough and exhaustive investigation of the reasons for these developments, cooperation of life and social scientists is essential; this interdisciplinary approach also lies at the center of this webinar. Together with experts from epidemiology, political, and health sciences, we will discuss how the pandemic has affected migrants and minorities in terms of both physical and mental health, drawing also from research about health inequalities in general and touching on the difficulties of reaching and collecting data about diverse groups. Through an analysis of the role of health literacy in preventing and counteracting health inequalities, we will also contemplate potential ways forward and lessons learned regarding the nexus between diversity and health.

21 February 2022, A conversation with Fiona Dalziel and Francesca Helm (University of Padova) and Marta Guarda (Eurac Research)

Education and migration intersect on various levels. Educational migration has generally been considered as a form of voluntary migration, with stu[1]dents and academics choosing to move abroad for study purposes. Yet it can also be seen as a form of conflict-induced migration, particularly if we take an expanded understanding of conflict to include protracted social conflicts and exclusionary practises centred on politics, religion, ethnicity, social class and/or gender. Threats to academic freedom (including killings and disappearances, imprisonment, prosecution, loss of position) are also factors which can drive students and academics to migrate. The international organization Scholars at Risk identifies and tracks attacks on academic freedom and seeks to support at-risk academics by facilitating access to temporary placements. Countries such as Afghanistan, Turkey, Yemen, Syria and Belarus - which are not so distant from Europe - have been particularly affected in the last few years and initiatives are growing in Europe to facilitate at-risk scholars and students’ access to higher education, from political advocacy to national funding programmes. At the same time, migrants and asylum seekers already residing in Europe may face a series of barriers when seeking access to higher education, particularly in countries where there are not yet specific support mechanisms in place. In this conversation we will explore some of the contexts that are threatening students and academics globally and the responses of European institutions and higher education, especially in terms of facilitating access to higher education

29 March 2022, A conversation with Bilgin Ayata, Angéla Kóczé, Raphaële Xenidis and Verena Wisthaler

Intersectionality is a theoretical approach and an analytical tool which explores how social identities such as race, ethnicity, social class, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity overlap with one another. Moreover, intersectionality is characterized by its focus on systems of power that discriminate or privilege people because of these intersecting identities. This webinar explores the added value an intersectional perspective offers in the field of Minority Studies, and explores the challenges that we encounter when engaging with an intersectional approach, based on examples from discrimination and equality law, from Romani Studies and the challenges faced by Romani women, and in relation to religious belonging and gender.

19 May 2022, Im Gespräch mit Assimina Gouma (University of Vienna), Nadia Thoma (University of Vienna) und Marta Guarda (Eurac Research)

Dieses Webinar widmet sich den vielschichtigen Zusammenhängen von Sprache und Rassismus, die bislang mit Konzepten wie Linguizismus, language racism, linguistic racism und raciolinguistic ideologies beschrieben und theoretisiert wurden. Am Beispiel zweier in Österreich angesiedelter und inzwischen abgeschlossener Forschungsprojekte werden die Vortragenden der Frage nachgehen, wie verschiedene Felder (Bildungsinstitutionen, Medien, etc.) an der (Re-)Produktion von sprachbezogenem Rassismus beteiligt sind, wie Menschen, die sprachbezogenen Rassismus erlebt haben, Sinn aus ihren Erfahrungen ziehen, in welchen Settings und unter welchen Rahmenbedingungen das Thematisieren linguizistischer Erfahrungen möglich ist und welche oppositionellen Stimmen und counter narratives sich aus dem empirischen Material rekonstruieren lassen. Aus forschungsmethodologischer Perspektive wird der Frage nach der Involviertheit der Forscher*innen ins Feld nachgegangen.

23 January 2023 A conversation with Marzia Bona, Claudia Lintner, Maura Di Mauro and Johanna Mitterhofer

Diversity and inclusion policies can be a powerful tool in promoting the interests of underrepresented and disadvantaged groups. They are also necessary to foster the positive impact of diversity on social and economic innovation and growth.

The first part of this webinar explores the challenges and opportunities associated with promoting diversity and inclusion in the labour market, including the strategies adopted by companies and the benefits of diversity and inclusion for both companies and employees. Opening up the discourse on diversity and inclusion, the webinar then explores the potential of migrant entrepreneurship as a valuable resource for innovation and development in addition to providing alternative avenues for the inclusion of marginalized groups.

Link to Webinar.

18 November 2021, A conversation with Tobias Weidinger (University of Erlangen), Stefan Kordel (University of Erlangen) and Marzia Bona (Eurac Research)

Tobias Weidinger and Stefan Kordel investigate various processes of immigration to rural areas and the transformation that result from rural newcomers. In this webinar, they will focus on the realm of housing, which is closely interlinked with other dimensions of migrant integration such as individuals’ sense of safety and security and is often addressed as a prerequisite for access to employment, education and health care. Drawing on empirical results from joint research projects conducted in rural Bavaria (Germany), the authors will present the complex interplay of individual and family-related residential preferences of rural newcomers over time. In addition, structural factors regarding access to housing and associated settlement and integration will also be examined. Mechanisms and practices of exclusion that prevent migrants from accessing appropriate private housing are related to the negotiation of residential preferences about where and how to live, as well as to structural aspects such as the pattern of local housing markets, accessibility of infrastructures or the unwillingness of landlords to let to migrants. The webinar will conclude by highlighting the role of ‘place’ in housing trajectories. While social resources determine newcomers’ practices and the strategies of local intermediaries to overcome exclusion, the difficult provision of housing points to the current housing crisis topic - one relevant both in urban and rural settings.

2 October 2023 A conversation with Ewen Macleod, Maria Albertinelli and Friedrich Poeschel (Eurac Research)

Afghans make up one of the three largest groups of refugees worldwide, reaching 5.7 million in 2022 (UNHCR). In the EU, Afghans have been the second largest group of asylum seekers throughout recent years and they represent by far the largest group among unaccompanied minors. After dramatic evacuations in the wake of the Taliban take-over in 2021, many important host countries for Afghans have struggled to adjust to the new reality in Afghanistan.

Now that the Taliban have ruled for two years, how should host countries view Afghan asylum seekers, and how might migration policies be adapted? Are Afghans now more or less often recognised as refugees? Could it be that Afghans primarily need more opportunities for labour migration? Do the Talibans’ restrictions on women and girls amount to persecution, so that every female Afghan may be eligible for asylum? The presentations in this webinar will delve into these and related questions, with substantial room for interactive discussion.

22 September 2021, A conversation with Philipp Horn (University of Sheffield), Claire Wright (University of Bolzano) and Alexandra Tomaselli (Eurac Research)

Many Indigenous Peoples are on the move, with cities representing a primary destination. This may be due to territorial displacement, degradation, conflict or exploitation or to other socio-economic and environmental factors. Internal and transnational migration (and mobility) trends are particularly evident in the case of Latin America (e.g., Central American indigenous peoples that have moved to the USA or Indigenous individuals and families settling in Andean urban centres) but also in Europe (e.g., Sami youngsters moving to urban contexts or Latin American Indigenous individuals and families moving to Spain). In addition to rural-to-urban migration, the territories of Indigenous Peoples are also increasingly affected by urbanization processes such as urban expansion, rural-to-urban land conversions, and large-scale infrastructure projects. Against this background, this webinar tackles the dimension of “Indigenous Urbanization and Mobility” by discussing the impact of these processes on Indigenous identity, rights and resilience in Latin America and Europe. Emphasis will also be paid to current challenges caused by the pandemic and climate change.

23 January 2024, A conversation with Alexandria Innes, Catarina Kinnvall (City University London) and Marcus Nicolson (Eurac Research)

Ontological security refers to a person’s sense of existential safety in the world. The theory was originally used by the psychiatrist R.D. Laing to explain how his patients’ experienced reality in a way that did not conform with normative experiences. Later, the theory was revisited by sociologist Anthony Giddens (1991), who emphasised the role of routines, societal trust, and biographical narratives in providing individuals with a sense of security.

This webinar explores the use of Ontological Security Theory in migration studies and political science. Prof. Catarina Kinnvall (Lund University) will draw on her expertise in the study of minority groups to show how a strong conceptualisation of home is key for individuals to develop feelings of ontological security and highlight the role that state-level narratives play in these processes. Dr. Alexandria Innes (City, University of London) will provide insights from her research on the life histories of individual migrants to argue that a strong biographical narrative and sense of trust in their surroundings are necessary to perform security.

Link to Webinar

21 June 2023, A conversation with Leiza Brumat (Eurac Research), Marcia Vera Espinoza (Queen Margaret University Edinburgh), Federica Infantino (University of Côte d'Azur) and Friedrich Poeschel (Eurac Research)

This webinar will present findings on migration policy implementation in two world regions: Latin America and Europe. Building from a wide range of research methods including ethnographic research, online methods and systematic literature review, the three presentations will include the voices and perspectives of migrants, policymakers private companies and academics. By doing this, they will shed light on the wide range of actors, ideas, interests and the key tensions involved in the implementation of refugee and migration policies in Europe and Latin America.

Link to Webinar.

28 April 2022, Una conversazione con Davide Strazzari (University of Trento), Roberta Medda-Windischer (Eurac Research), Andrea Carlà (Eurac Research) e Mattia Zeba (Eurac Research)

La regolamentazione dei fenomeni migratori prende forma e si attua principalmente a due livelli istituzionali: quello statale e quello sovranazionale. Tuttavia, l’importanza degli interventi regolativi di questi due ambiti di governo non preclude un ruolo anche per altri attori istituzionali, in particolare, per le istituzioni substatali dotate di competenze legislative. Partendo dall’assunto che il cosiddetto federalismo dell’immigrazione è ormai una realtà presente in diversi stati, la discussione verterà su una serie di domande relative al ruolo degli enti territoriali subnazionali in materia di immigrazione. Gli interventi degli attori substatali sono limitati alle cosiddette politiche di accoglienza o riguardano anche le norme relative all’ingresso e all’espulsione dello straniero? Il federalismo dell’immigrazione negli stati federali è diverso da quello attuato negli stati regionali? Qual è l’impatto dell’immigrazione sulle concezioni di identità, etnia e cittadinanza all’interno degli stati federali? Infine, l’immigrazione è una minaccia o un’opportunità per gli enti territoriali subnazionali, specialmente per quelli in cui c’è una forte identità etnico-linguistica?

Ricorrendo a diversi esempi di stati territorialmente composti, cercheremo di capire se la devoluzione di funzioni legate all’immigrazione è più ampia e strutturale quando nasce in contesti di autonomismo di tipo identitario, con presenza di minoranze nazionali, rispetto a quando avviene per ragioni funzionali legate allo sviluppo economico-territoriale.

Link to Webinar.

3 May 2023, A conversation with Valeria Bello (United Nations University), Sarah Leonard (University of South Wales) and Andrea Carlà (Eurac Research)

In this age of migration, the arrival, presence and inclusion of migrants remains an enduring test for many countries which experience migration often as a burden rather than as an opportunity and a resource. In light of increasing migratory flows, coupled with the threat of international terrorism, economic slowdowns and increasing sociodemographic pressures on the welfare system, migration and migrants are often securitized, i.e. they are considered as a threat and a security problem that requires exceptional measures, de-emphasizing other perspectives, such as the humanitarian, social and economic. The increase in the number of asylum-seekers in recent years and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic have resulted in further complexities and anxieties.

In the past years, processes of securitization of migration and migrants have come under critical examination, bringing attention to how and under what circumstances migration and culturally diverse ‘others’ are constructed as a threat as well as how to contest security predicaments. This webinar moderated by Andrea Carlà (Eurac Research) features Valeria Bello and Sarah Leonard, who will discuss their research and their recently published book “The Spiralling of the Securitization of Migration in the European Union” (Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2023). They will examine how migration has been transformed into a security threat in Europe. The webinar will explore the actors,policies, practices and narratives involved in this process, looking at both governments and non-governmental organizations as well as the role played by prejudice and racism, and discuss the need of a change of paradigm when dealing with migration.

Link to Webinar.

2 October 2023, A conversation with Ewen Macleod, Maria Albertinelli and Friedrich Poeschel (Eurac Research)

Afghans make up one of the three largest groups of refugees worldwide, reaching 5.7 million in 2022 (UNHCR). In the EU, Afghans have been the second largest group of asylum seekers throughout recent years and they represent by far the largest group among unaccompanied minors. After dramatic evacuations in the wake of the Taliban take-over in 2021, many important host countries for Afghans have struggled to adjust to the new reality in Afghanistan.

Now that the Taliban have ruled for two years, how should host countries view Afghan asylum seekers, and how might migration policies be adapted? Are Afghans now more or less often recognised as refugees? Could it be that Afghans primarily need more opportunities for labour migration? Do the Talibans’ restrictions on women and girls amount to persecution, so that every female Afghan may be eligible for asylum? The presentations in this webinar will delve into these and related questions, with substantial room for interactive discussion.

23 January 2023, A conversation with Marzia Bona (Eurac Research), Claudia Lintner (Free University of Bolzano/Bozen), Maura Di Mauro and Johanna Mitterhofer (Eurac Research)

Diversity and inclusion policies can be a powerful tool in promoting the interests of underrepresented and disadvantaged groups. They are also necessary to foster the positive impact of diversity on social and economic innovation and growth.

The first part of this webinar explores the challenges and opportunities associated with promoting diversity and inclusion in the labour market, including the strategies adopted by companies and the benefits of diversity and inclusion for both companies and employees. Opening up the discourse on diversity and inclusion, the webinar then explores the potential of migrant entrepreneurship as a valuable resource for innovation and development in addition to providing alternative avenues for the inclusion of marginalized groups.

Link to Webinar

18 November 2021, A conversation with Tobias Weidinger (University of Erlangen-Nürnberg), Stefan Kordel (University of Erlangen-Nürnberg) and Marzia Bona (Eurac Research)

Tobias Weidinger and Stefan Kordel investigate various processes of immigration to rural areas and the transformation that result from rural newcomers. In this webinar, they will focus on the realm of housing, which is closely interlinked with other dimensions of migrant integration such as individuals’ sense of safety and security and is often addressed as a prerequisite for access to employment, education and health care. Drawing on empirical results from joint research projects conducted in rural Bavaria (Germany), the authors will present the complex interplay of individual and family-related residential preferences of rural newcomers over time. In addition, structural factors regarding access to housing and associated settlement and integration will also be examined. Mechanisms and practices of exclusion that prevent migrants from accessing appropriate private housing are related to the negotiation of residential preferences about where and how to live, as well as to structural aspects such as the pattern of local housing markets, accessibility of infrastructures or the unwillingness of landlords to let to migrants. The webinar will conclude by highlighting the role of ‘place’ in housing trajectories. While social resources determine newcomers’ practices and the strategies of local intermediaries to overcome exclusion, the difficult provision of housing points to the current housing crisis topic - one relevant both in urban and rural settings.

21 October 2021, A conversation with Domenica Farinella (University of Messina), Michele Nori (University of Florence) and Marzia Bona (Eurac Research)

Domenica Farinella and Michele Nori investigate the dynamics reshaping human and natural landscapes in the European agrarian world, with a specific focus on Mediterranean Europe. In this webinar, they will examine more marginal rural settings, where the potential for agricultural intensification is structurally limited. These are the areas which have borne most of the consequences of the geographical and socio-economic polarization of development patterns and have been particularly impacted by the recent crisis. In these settings, immigration can help counterbalance the dynamics of an ageing and declining local population. Today, immigrant communities are relevant not only as an agricultural workforce and as providers of precious socio-ecosystem services, but also as new citizens of rural communities whose contribution is critical to maintaining the local socio-economic and territorial fabric.

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