Programme full

Friday 17 April 2015 09:00 - 10:30
ROUNDTABLE SESSIONS
The status of the Armenian community in Turkey has been continuously situated at the problematical intersection
point between the minority rights and the state-subsidized discriminatory policies. Although the debates at both
national and international levels are mostly dominated by the theme of the politics of genocide recognition it is crucial
to turn a critical gaze towards the media representations of Armenians in Turkey as well as their perceptions and
experiences as the Turkish citizens. This paper is only a part of my PhD research exploring the ways in which a thorny
issue of Armenians in Turkey becomes a site of contestation and negotiation of the discursive and quotidian
(re)production of nationalism(s). Drawing on data from both of critical discourse analysis of the particular cases in
three Turkish national newspapers and forty-five semi-structured interviews with Armenians living in Istanbul this
qualitative study aims to present insights for the ongoing discussion on the 'Armenian question'. In this paper I
address how the tension between the sense of belonging and the confrontation with discrimination are experienced by
Armenians in Turkey as their attachment to the homeland and relationship with the state are dissimilar from the
members of the Armenian Diaspora. Based on the semi-structured interviews I aim to present only a part of my
findings that address the conflicting interpretations of the Armenian interviewees with regard to the notions of national
belonging and domestic enemy. This analysis also reveals both the shifting and continuing tendencies across the
generations of the Armenian interviewees.
The ‘Other’ in the Society in Transition
Sojka, B.
(Swansea University)
This paper is based on recent qualitative research undertaken for the PhD project on racialisation of immigrants in the
Republic of Cyprus. It explores the experiences of immigrants living in Nicosia and reports on findings drawn from
sixty tree semi-structured interviews and two focus groups, which took place at the end of 2012 and beginning of
2013. This paper discusses the racism towards immigrants in Cyprus as a result of matrix of historical and present
social relations there. It analyses the racialisation of immigrants as an important part of Greek-Cypriot identity
construction. It demonstrates how the physical border divides not only the territory but also distinguishes people into
'us' - Greek-Cypriots and 'them' - the Turkish-Cypriots. It shows how the immigrants are othered even more then the
clearly defined 'primary Others'-Turkish. This paper shows how the immigrants are the 'Other than the primary Other'
and in consequence occupies the most disadvantaged position in the Greek Cypriot society. The findings add to the
literature on racism towards immigrants and shows how the Greek Cypriots by clearly defining who is and who is not
one of them, constructs and reinforce the Greek national identity in which the cultural, Hellenic values are extremely
important. In conclusion, this paper, by closely examining immigrants' experiences of racism, sheds new light on the
little recognized subject of immigrants' discrimination within already ethnically and physically divided societies.
Race, Ethnicity and Migration 3
ROUNDTABLE 15, CONFERENCE HALL, HAMISH WOOD BUILDING
CITIZENSHIP, MIGRATION AND HIERARCHIES OF PLACE AND STATUS
This panel creates an intriguing juxtaposition between transnational and internal migration through contrasting papers
on transnational migration from Iran to the UK (Mastoureh Fathi) and from the Philippines to various locations (Anju
Mary Paul) and on internal migration in China (Fang Xu, Sophia Woodman). Drawing on the concept of ‘regimes of
mobility’ proposed by Nina Glick-Schiller and Noel Salazar, the panel highlights the power dynamics of both mobility
and stasis, while incorporating perspectives on how these dynamics reflect sets of practices shaped by, on the one
hand, state institutions and regulatory frameworks, and on the other hand, migrant trajectories and imaginaries. In
examining such practices, the papers explore hierarchies of place, transnationally and within countries, and
hierarchies of status that operate in explicit and implicit ways in state frameworks, citizenship regimes, place-based
identities and migrant aspirations. Papers also interrogate ways in which ethnicity and citizenship are mobilized in
contestations over place and status. The panel and aspects of the papers also challenge the methodological
nationalism of much migration research, by calling into question the conceptual divide between transnational and
internal migration. Through addressing these points, the panel will generate empirical insights and theoretical
perspectives on broader debates around mobility and translocality within and across state borders. The discussant,
Kristoffer Halvorsrud, will focus on drawing out the theoretical and comparative implications of the four papers,
providing a starting point for a lively discussion on the themes of the panel.
241 BSA Annual Conference 2015
Glasgow Caledonian University