"Tales of Development: People, Power and Space" has been written to mark forty years of commitmen... more "Tales of Development: People, Power and Space" has been written to mark forty years of commitment to the field of development geography by Ton van Naerssen.
With 19 essays, this book reflects on a number of important themes such as the role of critical theory in public debate; the interrelationship between governance and development; the implications of changing identities in the articulation of space; the role of globalization on lives and livelihoods; and the significance of migration.
Contents:
Acknowledgements
Introduction - Paul Hebinck, Sef Slootweg and Lothar Smith
Themes and Motives
1 Tales of Development: Ton van Naerssen in perspective through themes and motives - Ernst Spaan
Critical Geography and Social Space
2 Critical geography in post-modern times - Huib Ernste
3 Land reform, scripts and social space: emergent properties in rural South Africa - Paul Hebinck
4 Livelihoods and the articulation of space - Leo J. de Haan
5 Revisiting peripheral capitalism in Zambia - Ton Dietz, Annemieke van Haastrecht and Rudolf Scheffer
6 Knowledge development, SNV’s impact on world history - Sef Slootweg
Migration Trajectories
7 Return migration and development: a complicated marriage - Tine Davids and Ruerd Ruben
8 People, borders, and trajectories - Martin van der Velde
9 Remittances versus migrants: disjointed flows in a globalizing world - Joris Schapendonk and Lothar Smith
10 Door-to-door cargo agents: cultivating and expanding Filipino transnational space - Marisha Maas
Acting on Globalisation
11 African art and the Dutch art world – a reflective practitioners’ view - Ankie van de Camp and Ben Janssen
12 Rocks and hard places: development research between neoliberal globalism and global neoliberalism - Frans J. Schuurman
13 Global governance, NGOs and the politics of scale - Bas Arts
14 A tale of two countries: perspectives from the South on the coherence of EU policies - Paul Hoebink
15 The geopolitisation of natural resources in an era of global transition: the EU response - Cor van Beuningen
Redefining Regions and Identities
16 Walking the middle path: contested democracy in Thailand - Luuk Knippenberg en Saskia van Bruchem
17 Associationalist regionalism: from ‘powers of association’ to ‘associations of power’ - Bas Hendrikx and Arnoud Lagendijk
18 Urban governance for development. recent trends in Latin America - Paul van Lindert
19 Environment and health in an urbanizing world - Françoise Barten and Geert Tom Heinekens
The Netherlands has the ambition to gain a competitive edge in the global knowledge economy. At t... more The Netherlands has the ambition to gain a competitive edge in the global knowledge economy. At the same time, similar to most European societies, it faces demographic challenges. In 2040 it is expected that for every two of working age (aged 15-64), there will be one person in the retirement age (aged 65 or older) (Eurostat, 2014). It is therefore essential that the skills, knowledge and competences (SKC) of all workers in the Netherlands are fully used, including those of migrants.
In the field of migration and development, the role of diasporas has been examined critically bec... more In the field of migration and development, the role of diasporas has been examined critically because of the political consequences and culturally informed moral norms often attached to their engagement with their country of origin. These shape the nature of their interactions. Drawing on two case studies of diaspora philanthropic interventions in post-war Sri Lanka, this article applies a post-development framework to study the complexities of transnationalism. These cases highlight the complex and uneven relationships between local and diaspora actors, and in doing so illustrate the various kinds of diaspora organizations and their ‘constituencies’. The cases also show that diasporas can have a facilitative effect on local development, but that the process of change is rife with institutional complexities, competing agendas and shifting priorities over time. The article speaks to the need to conceive development as a process, even more so in a post-war context. This requires much ...
Many businesses around Accra have foreign links. For some their link is immediately clear, visibl... more Many businesses around Accra have foreign links. For some their link is immediately clear, visible in their exotic, foreign names, or in the products they sell, such as Italian floor tiles or foreign fashion items, or secondhand cars displaying bumper stickers that indicate the country they came from. Yet other businesses provide services to customers seek-ing connections to the outside world, such as communication centres. Beyond these kinds of businesses are many others that also have strong transnational connections, albeit more subliminally, as in the case of locally oriented businesses such as bars or restaurants, which were set up with the help of a loan from a migrant. There is general recognition by migration scholars that of all remittances sent by migrants, a large share is meant for businesses (De Haas, 2003; Hamann, 2000). For instance, Mazzucato et al. (2005) have calculated that 28 per cent of all remittances sent to Ghana by Amsterdam-based Ghanaians were meant for bu...
This paper explores the influence of transnational networks on social security arrangements of ur... more This paper explores the influence of transnational networks on social security arrangements of urban respondents in Accra, Ghana. Hereby the focus is on three themes, namely: health, education and funerals. These three themes, in different ways, explicate what social security issues exist for urban actors in Accra. Based on findings from one year of transaction data collected, corroborated with qualitative data from discussions on social security and social networks, the involvement of urban-based respondents in social security issues is analysed. To analyse the data a typology is used with which main differences in the research population in terms of access to formal/informal social security, general income/welfare, and characteristics of their social networks can be examined. The contextual point of departure of this paper is two-pronged: Firstly, the physical space of Accra shows a contrasting perception between the economic struggle of Accra’s majority to meet their livelihood n...
This paper discusses the position of West African mobility in light of the migration and developm... more This paper discusses the position of West African mobility in light of the migration and development debate, and particularly the stance of the European Union (EU) on migration as being caused by failed local development. We hereby follow critical scholars who have highlighted that African migration is still seen as a ‘development problem’. From this starting point, we point to incoherent dimensions of EU migration-development policy-making. Subsequently, we use Sheppard’s notion of positionality to embed the discussion on West African mobility within a wider debate on West African livelihoods as bottom-up processes of globalisation. In so doing, we unbound the question of development beyond the territorial boundaries of a locality. However, these processes lead to new frictions. To further illustrate this, we dive into two empirical cases from Ghana and the Republic of Gambia that enable us to better understand how different positionalities lead to different kinds of values and int...
Improving the practises of skill and diploma recognition of migrants and diversity management pra... more Improving the practises of skill and diploma recognition of migrants and diversity management practises within organisations.
Climate migration myths Misleading claims about mass migration induced by climate change continue... more Climate migration myths Misleading claims about mass migration induced by climate change continue to surface in both academia and policy. This requires a new research agenda on 'climate mobilities' that moves beyond simplistic assumptions and more accurately advances knowledge of the nexus between human mobility and climate change.
New Diversities, special issue on migration and development, 2014
There is a prevailing bias, even amongst the actors directly involved, to consider activities fal... more There is a prevailing bias, even amongst the actors directly involved, to consider activities falling under the migration-development banner as bipolar engagements, i.e. activities linking a country of origin of migrants to their country of present residence. Such conceptualisations assume the nation-state as the default frame of reference.
Whilst progress has certainly been made towards a necessary sophistication of migration related issues in policy thinking and related academic research, the migration-development nexus remains something still often considered as essentially something to approach within a singular or bipolar nation-state framework. This can be seen in studies of potential policy interventions related to transnational flows such as human capital transfers, remittance flows and community development projects initiatives.
Taking the case of the Transnational Synergy for Cooperation and Development (TRANSCODE) Programme, and focusing on empirical insights gained with this programme in relation to its conceptual underpinnings, we explore alternative modes of incorporating migration and development. This article thus seeks to provide insights in opportunities for alternative initiatives resulting out of cross-fertilization of experiences and ideas between migrant organisations and other actors engaged in migration and development efforts.
There is a prevailing bias, even amongst the actors directly involved, to consider activities fal... more There is a prevailing bias, even amongst the actors directly involved, to consider activities falling under the migration-development banner as bipolar engagements, i.e. activities linking a country of origin of migrants to their country of present residence. Such conceptualisations assume the nation-state as the default frame of reference. Whilst progress has certainly been made towards a necessary sophistication of migration related issues in policy thinking and related academic research, the migration-development nexus remains something still often considered as essentially something to approach within a singular or bipolar nation-state framework. This can be seen in studies of potential policy interventions related to transnational flows such as human capital transfers, remittance flows and community development projects initiatives. Taking the case of the Transnational Synergy for Cooperation and Development (TRANSCODE) Programme, and focusing on empirical insights gained with this programme in relation to its conceptual underpinnings, we explore alternative modes of incorporating migration and development. This article thus seeks to provide insights in opportunities for alternative initiatives resulting out of cross-fertilization of experiences and ideas between migrant organisations and other actors engaged in migration and development efforts.
The research for this Oxfam Novib study was conducted in Cebu City, Philippines, and the surround... more The research for this Oxfam Novib study was conducted in Cebu City, Philippines, and the surrounding metropolitan area, collectively known as Metro Cebu, which stands as the second most populous metropolitan area in the Philippines behind the Manila complex. The area was described by one of our respondents as having many families with an overseas Filipino worker1 (OFW) member and is therefore a great place to research the effects of change that remittances have on these households. The Philippines as a whole are a ...
Environmental Change, Adaptation and Migration, 2015
Introduction: Climate change-Between global trend and local manifestation Places and regions-Cent... more Introduction: Climate change-Between global trend and local manifestation Places and regions-Central spatial categories in climate change research Imaginative geographies of climate mobilities Climate mobilities in a spatial perspective-Translocality as a conceptual loophole?
"Tales of Development: People, Power and Space" has been written to mark forty years of commitmen... more "Tales of Development: People, Power and Space" has been written to mark forty years of commitment to the field of development geography by Ton van Naerssen.
With 19 essays, this book reflects on a number of important themes such as the role of critical theory in public debate; the interrelationship between governance and development; the implications of changing identities in the articulation of space; the role of globalization on lives and livelihoods; and the significance of migration.
Contents:
Acknowledgements
Introduction - Paul Hebinck, Sef Slootweg and Lothar Smith
Themes and Motives
1 Tales of Development: Ton van Naerssen in perspective through themes and motives - Ernst Spaan
Critical Geography and Social Space
2 Critical geography in post-modern times - Huib Ernste
3 Land reform, scripts and social space: emergent properties in rural South Africa - Paul Hebinck
4 Livelihoods and the articulation of space - Leo J. de Haan
5 Revisiting peripheral capitalism in Zambia - Ton Dietz, Annemieke van Haastrecht and Rudolf Scheffer
6 Knowledge development, SNV’s impact on world history - Sef Slootweg
Migration Trajectories
7 Return migration and development: a complicated marriage - Tine Davids and Ruerd Ruben
8 People, borders, and trajectories - Martin van der Velde
9 Remittances versus migrants: disjointed flows in a globalizing world - Joris Schapendonk and Lothar Smith
10 Door-to-door cargo agents: cultivating and expanding Filipino transnational space - Marisha Maas
Acting on Globalisation
11 African art and the Dutch art world – a reflective practitioners’ view - Ankie van de Camp and Ben Janssen
12 Rocks and hard places: development research between neoliberal globalism and global neoliberalism - Frans J. Schuurman
13 Global governance, NGOs and the politics of scale - Bas Arts
14 A tale of two countries: perspectives from the South on the coherence of EU policies - Paul Hoebink
15 The geopolitisation of natural resources in an era of global transition: the EU response - Cor van Beuningen
Redefining Regions and Identities
16 Walking the middle path: contested democracy in Thailand - Luuk Knippenberg en Saskia van Bruchem
17 Associationalist regionalism: from ‘powers of association’ to ‘associations of power’ - Bas Hendrikx and Arnoud Lagendijk
18 Urban governance for development. recent trends in Latin America - Paul van Lindert
19 Environment and health in an urbanizing world - Françoise Barten and Geert Tom Heinekens
The Netherlands has the ambition to gain a competitive edge in the global knowledge economy. At t... more The Netherlands has the ambition to gain a competitive edge in the global knowledge economy. At the same time, similar to most European societies, it faces demographic challenges. In 2040 it is expected that for every two of working age (aged 15-64), there will be one person in the retirement age (aged 65 or older) (Eurostat, 2014). It is therefore essential that the skills, knowledge and competences (SKC) of all workers in the Netherlands are fully used, including those of migrants.
In the field of migration and development, the role of diasporas has been examined critically bec... more In the field of migration and development, the role of diasporas has been examined critically because of the political consequences and culturally informed moral norms often attached to their engagement with their country of origin. These shape the nature of their interactions. Drawing on two case studies of diaspora philanthropic interventions in post-war Sri Lanka, this article applies a post-development framework to study the complexities of transnationalism. These cases highlight the complex and uneven relationships between local and diaspora actors, and in doing so illustrate the various kinds of diaspora organizations and their ‘constituencies’. The cases also show that diasporas can have a facilitative effect on local development, but that the process of change is rife with institutional complexities, competing agendas and shifting priorities over time. The article speaks to the need to conceive development as a process, even more so in a post-war context. This requires much ...
Many businesses around Accra have foreign links. For some their link is immediately clear, visibl... more Many businesses around Accra have foreign links. For some their link is immediately clear, visible in their exotic, foreign names, or in the products they sell, such as Italian floor tiles or foreign fashion items, or secondhand cars displaying bumper stickers that indicate the country they came from. Yet other businesses provide services to customers seek-ing connections to the outside world, such as communication centres. Beyond these kinds of businesses are many others that also have strong transnational connections, albeit more subliminally, as in the case of locally oriented businesses such as bars or restaurants, which were set up with the help of a loan from a migrant. There is general recognition by migration scholars that of all remittances sent by migrants, a large share is meant for businesses (De Haas, 2003; Hamann, 2000). For instance, Mazzucato et al. (2005) have calculated that 28 per cent of all remittances sent to Ghana by Amsterdam-based Ghanaians were meant for bu...
This paper explores the influence of transnational networks on social security arrangements of ur... more This paper explores the influence of transnational networks on social security arrangements of urban respondents in Accra, Ghana. Hereby the focus is on three themes, namely: health, education and funerals. These three themes, in different ways, explicate what social security issues exist for urban actors in Accra. Based on findings from one year of transaction data collected, corroborated with qualitative data from discussions on social security and social networks, the involvement of urban-based respondents in social security issues is analysed. To analyse the data a typology is used with which main differences in the research population in terms of access to formal/informal social security, general income/welfare, and characteristics of their social networks can be examined. The contextual point of departure of this paper is two-pronged: Firstly, the physical space of Accra shows a contrasting perception between the economic struggle of Accra’s majority to meet their livelihood n...
This paper discusses the position of West African mobility in light of the migration and developm... more This paper discusses the position of West African mobility in light of the migration and development debate, and particularly the stance of the European Union (EU) on migration as being caused by failed local development. We hereby follow critical scholars who have highlighted that African migration is still seen as a ‘development problem’. From this starting point, we point to incoherent dimensions of EU migration-development policy-making. Subsequently, we use Sheppard’s notion of positionality to embed the discussion on West African mobility within a wider debate on West African livelihoods as bottom-up processes of globalisation. In so doing, we unbound the question of development beyond the territorial boundaries of a locality. However, these processes lead to new frictions. To further illustrate this, we dive into two empirical cases from Ghana and the Republic of Gambia that enable us to better understand how different positionalities lead to different kinds of values and int...
Improving the practises of skill and diploma recognition of migrants and diversity management pra... more Improving the practises of skill and diploma recognition of migrants and diversity management practises within organisations.
Climate migration myths Misleading claims about mass migration induced by climate change continue... more Climate migration myths Misleading claims about mass migration induced by climate change continue to surface in both academia and policy. This requires a new research agenda on 'climate mobilities' that moves beyond simplistic assumptions and more accurately advances knowledge of the nexus between human mobility and climate change.
New Diversities, special issue on migration and development, 2014
There is a prevailing bias, even amongst the actors directly involved, to consider activities fal... more There is a prevailing bias, even amongst the actors directly involved, to consider activities falling under the migration-development banner as bipolar engagements, i.e. activities linking a country of origin of migrants to their country of present residence. Such conceptualisations assume the nation-state as the default frame of reference.
Whilst progress has certainly been made towards a necessary sophistication of migration related issues in policy thinking and related academic research, the migration-development nexus remains something still often considered as essentially something to approach within a singular or bipolar nation-state framework. This can be seen in studies of potential policy interventions related to transnational flows such as human capital transfers, remittance flows and community development projects initiatives.
Taking the case of the Transnational Synergy for Cooperation and Development (TRANSCODE) Programme, and focusing on empirical insights gained with this programme in relation to its conceptual underpinnings, we explore alternative modes of incorporating migration and development. This article thus seeks to provide insights in opportunities for alternative initiatives resulting out of cross-fertilization of experiences and ideas between migrant organisations and other actors engaged in migration and development efforts.
There is a prevailing bias, even amongst the actors directly involved, to consider activities fal... more There is a prevailing bias, even amongst the actors directly involved, to consider activities falling under the migration-development banner as bipolar engagements, i.e. activities linking a country of origin of migrants to their country of present residence. Such conceptualisations assume the nation-state as the default frame of reference. Whilst progress has certainly been made towards a necessary sophistication of migration related issues in policy thinking and related academic research, the migration-development nexus remains something still often considered as essentially something to approach within a singular or bipolar nation-state framework. This can be seen in studies of potential policy interventions related to transnational flows such as human capital transfers, remittance flows and community development projects initiatives. Taking the case of the Transnational Synergy for Cooperation and Development (TRANSCODE) Programme, and focusing on empirical insights gained with this programme in relation to its conceptual underpinnings, we explore alternative modes of incorporating migration and development. This article thus seeks to provide insights in opportunities for alternative initiatives resulting out of cross-fertilization of experiences and ideas between migrant organisations and other actors engaged in migration and development efforts.
The research for this Oxfam Novib study was conducted in Cebu City, Philippines, and the surround... more The research for this Oxfam Novib study was conducted in Cebu City, Philippines, and the surrounding metropolitan area, collectively known as Metro Cebu, which stands as the second most populous metropolitan area in the Philippines behind the Manila complex. The area was described by one of our respondents as having many families with an overseas Filipino worker1 (OFW) member and is therefore a great place to research the effects of change that remittances have on these households. The Philippines as a whole are a ...
Environmental Change, Adaptation and Migration, 2015
Introduction: Climate change-Between global trend and local manifestation Places and regions-Cent... more Introduction: Climate change-Between global trend and local manifestation Places and regions-Central spatial categories in climate change research Imaginative geographies of climate mobilities Climate mobilities in a spatial perspective-Translocality as a conceptual loophole?
Human mobility does not occur without social and spatial friction. This is particularly articulat... more Human mobility does not occur without social and spatial friction. This is particularly articulated in the context of an increasing securisation of migration whereby states and supra-states tend to frame international migration as a homeland security problem, leading to enhanced border control and the combatting of human smuggling, normalized in the everyday of host societies through television reality programmes like Border Security (Australia), UK Border Force, etc. At the same time, human right organisations and critical scholars have emphasized the human insecurity involved with migration flows and point to the countless deaths of innocent people simply looking for better futures abroad (Ferrer-Gallardo and Van Houtum 2014) as well as the exploitative acts of corrupt border guards and smugglers that are hereby produced (e.g. Triulzi and McKenzie 2012; Van Reisen, Estefanos and Rijken 2014). Moreover, when we look at the dynamics in the destination countries, we see that migrants continue to find themselves in precarious social-economic conditions and legal situations (Schuster 2005; Lucht 2012) with a substantial number of migrants facing the risk of deportation every single day (De Genova and Preutz 2010). Other forms of friction exist in the transnational space between the country of origin and destination locations. The frictions produced concern, among others, contestations over dual citizenship versus senses of loyalty, and the political engagement of diaspora communities on site and elsewhere. Moreover, migrant investments may reproduce, or even exacerbate social inequalities and divisions in countries of origin, not least if they are based on persistent social and cultural obligations. Yet, the notion of friction is not to be understood in a negative manner only. Frictions can also have profound effects, resulting in new societal directions, or in affirmations of particular social institutions, creating incentives that may be sustainable, because of the hard questions asked on their role and impact along the way. Yet in all cases it does require critical thinking, and analyses that take on various perspectives, are steeped in insights of more holistic developments (geo-political, economic or otherwise), and which maintain an open perspective to temporal and spatial dimensions. This conference consists of the following eight different panels.
Imagining, Conceiving and Implementing Development: Diaspora Philanthropic Interventions in Post-War Sri Lanka, 2023
In the field of migration and development, the role of diasporas has been examined critically bec... more In the field of migration and development, the role of diasporas has been examined critically because of the political consequences and culturally informed moral norms often attached to their engagement with their country of origin. These shape the nature of their interactions. Drawing on two case studies of diaspora philanthropic interventions in postwar Sri Lanka, this article applies a post-development framework to study the complexities of transnationalism. These cases highlight the complex and uneven relationships between local and diaspora actors, and in doing so illustrate the various kinds of diaspora organizations and their 'constituencies'. The cases also show that diasporas can have a facilitative effect on local development, but that the process of change is rife with institutional complexities, competing agendas and shifting priorities over time. The article speaks to the need to conceive development as a process, even more so in a postwar context. This requires much time to understand the exact impact of diaspora interventions in any local situation.
Misleading claims about mass migration induced by climate change continue to surface in both acad... more Misleading claims about mass migration induced by climate change continue to surface in both academia and policy. This requires a new research agenda on ‘climate mobilities’ that moves beyond simplistic assumptions and more accurately advances knowledge of the nexus between human mobility and climate change.
Uploads
Books by Lothar Smith
With 19 essays, this book reflects on a number of important themes such as the role of critical theory in public debate; the interrelationship between governance and development; the implications of changing identities in the articulation of space; the role of globalization on lives and livelihoods; and the significance of migration.
Contents:
Acknowledgements
Introduction - Paul Hebinck, Sef Slootweg and Lothar Smith
Themes and Motives
1 Tales of Development: Ton van Naerssen in perspective through themes and motives - Ernst Spaan
Critical Geography and Social Space
2 Critical geography in post-modern times - Huib Ernste
3 Land reform, scripts and social space: emergent properties in rural South Africa - Paul Hebinck
4 Livelihoods and the articulation of space - Leo J. de Haan
5 Revisiting peripheral capitalism in Zambia - Ton Dietz, Annemieke van Haastrecht and Rudolf Scheffer
6 Knowledge development, SNV’s impact on world history - Sef Slootweg
Migration Trajectories
7 Return migration and development: a complicated marriage - Tine Davids and Ruerd Ruben
8 People, borders, and trajectories - Martin van der Velde
9 Remittances versus migrants: disjointed flows in a globalizing world - Joris Schapendonk and Lothar Smith
10 Door-to-door cargo agents: cultivating and expanding Filipino transnational space - Marisha Maas
Acting on Globalisation
11 African art and the Dutch art world – a reflective practitioners’ view - Ankie van de Camp and Ben Janssen
12 Rocks and hard places: development research between neoliberal globalism and global neoliberalism - Frans J. Schuurman
13 Global governance, NGOs and the politics of scale - Bas Arts
14 A tale of two countries: perspectives from the South on the coherence of EU policies - Paul Hoebink
15 The geopolitisation of natural resources in an era of global transition: the EU response - Cor van Beuningen
Redefining Regions and Identities
16 Walking the middle path: contested democracy in Thailand - Luuk Knippenberg en Saskia van Bruchem
17 Associationalist regionalism: from ‘powers of association’ to ‘associations of power’ - Bas Hendrikx and Arnoud Lagendijk
18 Urban governance for development. recent trends in Latin America - Paul van Lindert
19 Environment and health in an urbanizing world - Françoise Barten and Geert Tom Heinekens
Papers by Lothar Smith
Whilst progress has certainly been made towards a necessary sophistication of migration related issues in policy thinking and related academic research, the migration-development nexus remains something still often considered as essentially something to approach within a singular or bipolar nation-state framework. This can be seen in studies of potential policy interventions related to transnational flows such as human capital transfers, remittance flows and community development projects initiatives.
Taking the case of the Transnational Synergy for Cooperation and Development (TRANSCODE) Programme, and focusing on empirical insights gained with this programme in relation to its conceptual underpinnings, we explore alternative modes of incorporating migration and development. This article thus seeks to provide insights in opportunities for alternative initiatives resulting out of cross-fertilization of experiences and ideas between migrant organisations and other actors engaged in migration and development efforts.
With 19 essays, this book reflects on a number of important themes such as the role of critical theory in public debate; the interrelationship between governance and development; the implications of changing identities in the articulation of space; the role of globalization on lives and livelihoods; and the significance of migration.
Contents:
Acknowledgements
Introduction - Paul Hebinck, Sef Slootweg and Lothar Smith
Themes and Motives
1 Tales of Development: Ton van Naerssen in perspective through themes and motives - Ernst Spaan
Critical Geography and Social Space
2 Critical geography in post-modern times - Huib Ernste
3 Land reform, scripts and social space: emergent properties in rural South Africa - Paul Hebinck
4 Livelihoods and the articulation of space - Leo J. de Haan
5 Revisiting peripheral capitalism in Zambia - Ton Dietz, Annemieke van Haastrecht and Rudolf Scheffer
6 Knowledge development, SNV’s impact on world history - Sef Slootweg
Migration Trajectories
7 Return migration and development: a complicated marriage - Tine Davids and Ruerd Ruben
8 People, borders, and trajectories - Martin van der Velde
9 Remittances versus migrants: disjointed flows in a globalizing world - Joris Schapendonk and Lothar Smith
10 Door-to-door cargo agents: cultivating and expanding Filipino transnational space - Marisha Maas
Acting on Globalisation
11 African art and the Dutch art world – a reflective practitioners’ view - Ankie van de Camp and Ben Janssen
12 Rocks and hard places: development research between neoliberal globalism and global neoliberalism - Frans J. Schuurman
13 Global governance, NGOs and the politics of scale - Bas Arts
14 A tale of two countries: perspectives from the South on the coherence of EU policies - Paul Hoebink
15 The geopolitisation of natural resources in an era of global transition: the EU response - Cor van Beuningen
Redefining Regions and Identities
16 Walking the middle path: contested democracy in Thailand - Luuk Knippenberg en Saskia van Bruchem
17 Associationalist regionalism: from ‘powers of association’ to ‘associations of power’ - Bas Hendrikx and Arnoud Lagendijk
18 Urban governance for development. recent trends in Latin America - Paul van Lindert
19 Environment and health in an urbanizing world - Françoise Barten and Geert Tom Heinekens
Whilst progress has certainly been made towards a necessary sophistication of migration related issues in policy thinking and related academic research, the migration-development nexus remains something still often considered as essentially something to approach within a singular or bipolar nation-state framework. This can be seen in studies of potential policy interventions related to transnational flows such as human capital transfers, remittance flows and community development projects initiatives.
Taking the case of the Transnational Synergy for Cooperation and Development (TRANSCODE) Programme, and focusing on empirical insights gained with this programme in relation to its conceptual underpinnings, we explore alternative modes of incorporating migration and development. This article thus seeks to provide insights in opportunities for alternative initiatives resulting out of cross-fertilization of experiences and ideas between migrant organisations and other actors engaged in migration and development efforts.
Yet, the notion of friction is not to be understood in a negative manner only. Frictions can also have profound effects, resulting in new societal directions, or in affirmations of particular social institutions, creating incentives that may be sustainable, because of the hard questions asked on their role and impact along the way. Yet in all cases it does require critical thinking, and analyses that take on various perspectives, are steeped in insights of more holistic developments (geo-political, economic or otherwise), and which maintain an open perspective to temporal and spatial dimensions. This conference consists of the following eight different panels.