Melissa Kerr Chiovenda

Refugees in Athens, Greece struggle with negative reactions from local populations, harassment from far-right movements and institutions such as the police, and an asylum system that provides very few positive outcomes for applicants. Refugees find themselves in a position of heightened vulnerability, and those from historically oppressed groups, such as Shi’a Hazaras from Afghanistan, may experience additional challenges through the various stages of migration. Based on ethnographic research conducted in Greece and Afghanistan, this chapter considers the ways in which Afghan Hazara asylum seekers in Athens counter negative views about their character and intentions. Adrift in new surroundings waiting for extended time periods with no clear decision about their asylum status, some asylum seekers remake themselves, finding meaning and purpose through social relationships and prosocial activities intended to better the situation of the vulnerable groups to which they belong.

Objective I contend that City Plaza, a refugee‐run hotel in Athens, Greece has actually used socialist and anarchist political theories in an innovative way for our current global system by subverting the norms of the nation‐state with regard to refugee care. I am framing this argument by considering Derrida's discussion of unconditional and conditional hospitality. Methods The article is based on ethnographic research carried out in Athens during the summers from 2016–2019. Results I suggest that in its innovative methods of providing refugee care, City Plaza is highly successful. Conclusion While Derrida contends that unconditional hospitality, the acceptance and embracing of the stranger without condition or question, is a moral imperative, realistically this is not possible in our current global system. I argue that at City Plaza, the improbable was achieved as a group of activists subverted the dominant system and yielded better results than state governments and international organizations with much greater resources.

Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) became a well-known feminist organisation during the rule of the Taliban, when it dedicated itself to bringing the abuses of Taliban against women in Afghanistan to worldwide attention. RAWA was briefly allied with the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) when this United States (US)-based organisation also made the plight of women in Afghanistan a priority. However, disagreements between the two organisations soon came to light. This article examines the experiences of RAWA’s interactions with FMF using Appadurai’s imaginary landscapes as a theoretical basis. RAWA’s experiences demonstrate the disjunctures and unevenness that are part of these landscapes. While initially very successful in spreading its messages through its website, RAWA struggled to become a strong political player in Afghanistan and internationally, partly due to unwillingness to compromise and partly because of the difficulties faced in navigating the un...

In Afghanistan ethnic Hazaras are a group with a long history of marginalization, and even outright persecution, mainly because of their Shi'a Muslim faith. Only after the international intervention in 2001 have socio-economic opportunities started to open up for Hazaras. Hazaras, however, maintain a strong perception of still being considered second-class citizens, claiming to be overlooked by the Afghan government and allotted fewer funds by the international development community. This paper examines Hazara perceptions of marginality with reference to one issue: the lack of state-provided electricity in Bamyan province, which many consider the Hazara homeland. Anti-government protests in Bamyan often revolve around this particular issue, and the demand for electricity has become part of the permanent landscape, through a lantern sculpture in Bamyan's main square, as well as through the experience of living one's everyday life with a lack of easily available electric light. The lack of electricity becomes an embodied, daily reminder of perceived subordination to other religio-ethnic groups and the feeling of being left behind by the international community.

Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) became a well-known feminist organisation during the rule of the Taliban, when it dedicated itself to bringing the abuses of Taliban against women in Afghanistan to worldwide attention. RAWA was briefly allied with the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) when this United States (US)-based organisation also made the plight of women in Afghanistan a priority. However, disagreements between the two organisations soon came to light. This article examines the experiences of RAWA’s interactions with FMF using Appadurai’s imaginary landscapes as a theoretical basis. RAWA’s experiences demonstrate the disjunctures and unevenness that are part of these landscapes. While initially very successful in spreading its messages through its website, RAWA struggled to become a strong political player in Afghanistan and internationally, partly due to unwillingness to compromise and partly because of the difficulties faced in navigating the uneven terrain of mediascapes and ideoscapes upon which it used to promote its cause.

In Afghanistan ethnic Hazaras are a group with a long history of marginalization, and even outright persecution, mainly because of their Shi'a Muslim faith. Only after the international intervention in 2001 have socio-economic opportunities started to open up for Hazaras. Hazaras, however, maintain a strong perception of still being considered second-class citizens, claiming to be overlooked by the Afghan government and allotted fewer funds by the international development community. This paper examines Hazara perceptions of marginality with reference to one issue: the lack of state-provided electricity in Bamyan province, which many consider the Hazara homeland. Anti-government protests in Bamyan often revolve around this particular issue, and the demand for electricity has become part of the permanent landscape, through a lantern sculpture in Bamyan's main square, as well as through the experience of living one's everyday life with a lack of easily available electric light. The lack of electricity becomes an embodied, daily reminder of perceived subordination to other religio-ethnic groups and the feeling of being left behind by the international community.

In March 2001, the Taliban government of Afghanistan destroyed two ancient Buddha statues carved into a cliff face in Bamyan, Afghanistan. The event received wide coverage in the international media. The local ethnic minority group that inhabits Bamyan, the Hazaras, received little or no attention in the reporting of this event. This article seeks to demonstrate that the Western media participated in the construction of a history of the statues and the region that excluded the Hazaras because of a narrative that was created that compared a cosmopolitan, tolerant West with the Silk Road era of the statues, and contrasted this with the intolerance and parochialism of the Taliban. The inclusion of the Hazaras would have upset this dichotomy, and as a result this minority group was excluded, despite evidence that they have their own beliefs about and relationship to the Buddha statues.

This article discusses Tajik labour migration to Russia during the period from 2000 to
2010, focusing on each states’ actions in resolving their own interests regarding the large
number of labour migrants that leave Tajikistan to seek work in Russia. The article
begins by outlining the history of and reasons for the high rate of Tajik labour migration
to Russian, using social and economic migration theories to support these ideas. The
article goes on to document many of the difficulties faced by Tajik labour migrants in
Russia, and examines Russian policies that both exacerbate and ameliorate these
problems. The article also examines Tajik state policies concerning the difficulties faced
by labour migrants in Russia, concluding that as Tajikistan has little recourse to improve
the conditions of migrants once they are within Russian, it has focused rather on domestic
policies to maximize the benefits of financial remittances, to prepare migrants for their
time abroad, and to make travel to Russia more accessible. Finally, the article concludes
by considering some of the future scenarios that might take place concerning the large
number of Tajik labour migrants in Russia and Tajikistan’s financial dependence on their
remittances.

Pashtun women working for international NGOs and development organizations
in Jalalabad Afghanistan balance the requirements of their employment with
a set  values, known as doing pashto, that guide their behavior as
Pashtuns. These two influences on their lives are often contradictory.
Based on fieldwork in Jalalabad, this study suggests that Pashtun women
working for such organizations do not overtly resist Pashtun norms that
often enforce a strict segregation of women. Rather, they use strategic
ambiguity, maintaining that they are performing pashto well while at the
same time taking part in some work activities that on the surface appear
contrary to the norms of pashto.