Eva Gerharz

When Migrants Travel Back Home: Changing Identities in Northern Sri Lanka after the Ceasefire of 2002

Abstract This article looks at how social relations change when proximity is re‐established after a long period of separation. This theoretically inspired question is discussed in the case of Sri Lanka, where a peace process in 2002 enabled exiled Tamils to temporarily return to their ‘homeland’. The new mobility of these migrants constituted a significant momentum for the re‐negotiation of Tamil identity. Proximate relations resulting from mobility led to a growing awareness of differences in cultural expression and perspective. The empirical data show that the construction of difference is related not only to spatial mobility and to temporality. Spatial, but also temporal distance in translocal relations determines the construction of images, detached from face‐to‐face interaction and the locality, constituting an identity space.

Indigenous activism in Bangladesh: translocal spaces and shifting constellations of belonging

Taking the movement for the rights of indigenous people in Bangladesh as an example, this article elucidates how recent attempts to institutionalise the concept of indigenous people at the global level relate to local claims. These attempts are intrinsically interlinked to identity politics targeting the national political arena, and by adopting the conceptual offerings provided by the UN system as well as those from other parts of the world, activists seek to promote more inclusive approaches. Contemporary translocal indigenous activism, however, is prone to contradictions. On the one hand, identity politics rely upon old-established images of indigenous people with essentialist connotations. On the other hand, it can be observed that the activist configuration, thought in ethnic terms, becomes increasingly porous, for a variety of reasons. After providing an overview of the way indigenous activism in Bangladesh has unfolded recently, the conditions under which the boundaries of belonging to the activist movement are stretched or confined will be discussed. The final part deliberates the findings in relation to the ways in which the social order of the movement may change over time.

Uprooted belonging: the formation of a ‘Jumma Diaspora’ in New York City

ABSTRACT A growing number of so-called indigenous ‘Jumma’ people from the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh are migrating to New York City (NYC) in search of a ‘better life’, an attempt to escape from a situation defined largely by deprivation and exclusion. This paper asks how these migrants navigate the new terrain, which often does not comply with their expectations but instead fuels a deep sense of disappointment. It will be shown that their transnational practices and belonging are not only extensions of the global ‘Jumma’ network, but also that the formation of a diaspora community and the maintenance of cultural boundaries simultaneously create attachment to NYC. Making NYC a home is shaped by their dreams and aspirations, and by the ambiguous ways in which they relate to both the CHT and NYC, places where they find themselves torn between feelings of longing and detachment.

Spaces of Violence in South Asian Democracies: Citizenship, Nationalist Exclusion, and the (Il)legitimate Use of Force

This introduction discusses the emergence and consolidation of spaces of violence in South Asia’s democracies from both historical and conceptual perspectives. By revealing the varied experiences and experiments across the subcontinent, it invokes a perspective on democracy and democratic governance that refrains from following the assumptions of most of the democracy research to date, which frames such debates in predominantly normative terms. In this vein, we seek to show how democracy can not only be built on a violent past, but also become the very basis for the emergence of violent spaces, which, more often than not, have unfolded in South Asia’s post-colonial societies, and possibly also in other parts of the world.

Mobility aspirations and indigenous belonging among Chakma students in Dhaka

ABSTRACT In recent decades, indigenous people from the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in South-east Bangladesh have experienced increased social and spatial mobility. This article investigates how indigenous students from the CHT region who have migrated to Dhaka redefine indigenous belonging. By highlighting the juxtaposition of different forms of mobility (physical and social) the paper responds to a recent trend which has only rarely been the subject of scholarly enquiry. In particular, it examines the experiences of mobility of individual students and explores the ways in which these students justify their quest for higher education to fulfil their aspirations for a better future. The paper also reveals the obstacles students experience in their everyday lives, mainly in the form of stereotypical, often racist talk. It discusses the structural disadvantages indigenous students face as members of ethnic minorities as well as the strategies employed by the students to counter them. Furthermore, the paper illustrates how indigenous students negotiate urban lifestyles and redefine modernity and indigeneity simultaneously and how migrants face exclusion based on static interpretations of people from the CHT as put forward in mainstream discourses as well as by transnational indigenous activist networks. These lead to feelings of alienation between indigenous students and their Bengali Bangladeshi peers, leaving students to increasingly draw on indigenous networks to achieve mobility.

Anreizsysteme - Eine Möglichkeit zur Verbesserung der universitären Lehre?

Zusammenfassung Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden die Ergebnisse einer quantitativen Online-Befragung zu Einfluss und Wirksamkeit von Anreizsystemen in der universitären Lehre präsentiert. Im Mittelpunkt der Studie stehen die Ansichten der Lehrenden der Universitäten der Universitätsallianz Metropole Ruhr (UAMR). Die Ergebnisse zeigen deutlich, dass die Motivation, qualitativ gute Lehre anzubieten, im Meinungsbild der Lehrenden von intrinsischen Faktoren und positivem Feedback durch Studierende bestimmt ist. Sie zeigen zudem, dass sich Lehrende neben bereits vorhandenen Anreizsystemen eine Stärkung des Stellenwertes der Lehre innerhalb der Hochschullandschaft wünschen. Vor allem der Austausch innerhalb einzelner Fakultäten über das Thema „Lehre“ zieht nach Meinung der Befragten die Möglichkeit einer langfristigen Wahrung und Erhöhung universitärer Lehrqualität nach sich.