Issue Editors:
- Hilde Kitterød
- Ada Özenci
Editorial Team:
- Timothy Lim
- Seren Thomas
- Tamara Harvey
- Marie Kwon
- Dita Said Hashi Warsame
- Madhur Wale
Front and back cover (pdf)
Research Articles
The Change and Continuities of British New Travellers
George E. Smith
Abstract: During Thatcher's Britain (1979-1990), the inner-city squatting movement and the hippy convoy movements of the 1970s formed a new lifestyle culture, termed 'New Age Travellers' by the contemporary media. It was a reaction to the injustices of early neoliberalism and a romantic desire to salvage what was left of the natural world before every facet of life became 'up for sale'. Over three decades since the birth of this movement, I explore the life-worlds of those who remain on the road today and those who retreated into more conventional forms of living. The piece asks what sustains a 'creationist culture' such as this, in contrast to other travelling cultures who are sustained through family heritage and tradition. I address some of the familiar misconceptions and stereotypes of a culture which has all too often been spoken for, concluding that the lifestyle is sustained by a commitment to craftsmanship and an integral appreciation (and tolerance) for nature.
Citation: Smith, George E. 2020. The Change and Continuities of British New Travellers. SOAS Undergraduate Research Journal 1(1): 1-9.
The Change and Continuities of British New Travellers (pdf)
Towards an Anthropology Theory of Borders: The Case of Finnish-Russian Border Community, Värtsilä
Grace Elizabeth Richardson
Abstract: Borders are commonly considered by political agents to be physical entities determining states' territorial parameters. This positivist perspective differs significantly from the anthropology theory of borders, which maintains that borders are complex social processes. These constitute dynamic sites of interactions whereby local border practices create bodies of knowledge, producing localized forms of power. This paper adopts Foucault’s concept of power: Rather than power being perceived as a 'thing' which can be gained and lost through both national and international macro- political positioning, it is intricately woven through the tapestry of society and manifests through micro-social dynamics and daily social practices. The paper examines the Finnish-Russian border commune Värtsilä. This provides an excellent site of investigation because as the analysis demonstrates, local border practices significantly influenced Russia and Finland’s shifting national historical geo-political and ideological border processes. This reflects how borders are heterogeneous complex social realities and as such, need to be considered within their respective evolving geo-political contexts.
Citation: Richardson, Grace Elizabeth. 2020. Towards an Anthropology Theory of Borders: The Case of Finnish-Russian Border Community, Värtsilä. SOAS Undergraduate Research Journal 1(1): 10-15.
Towards an Anthropology Theory of Borders: The Case of Finnish-Russian Border Community, Värtsislä (pdf)
Climate Change and National Security: Contradictions Challenging the Status Quo (pdf)
Agnes Schim van der Loeff
Abstract: Presenting climate change as a national security issue provides an appropriate sense of urgency needed for serious climate action. However, there are several contradictions between the national security framework and climate change, four of which are explored in this paper. First, a focus on national borders inadequately deals with the problem’s global nature and allows for climate injustice. Second, long-term impacts are not captured by the short-term focus of national security’s main agents such as policy makers. Third, seeing the military as the traditional provider of national security does not address the root causes of climate change but leads to its inappropriate militarisation. Finally, national security is primarily concerned with protecting the status quo, which is itself the cause of the threat. Climate change thus exposes the flaws of national security as the dominant framework of international politics, being inherently antithetical to properly understanding and addressing this major threat.
Citation: van der Loeff, Agnes Schim. 2020. Climate Change and National Security: Contradictions Challenging the Status Quo. SOAS Undergraduate Research Journal 1(1): 16-22.
Climate Change and National Security: Contradictions Challenging the Status Quo (pdf)
Institutional Barriers to Labour Migration: Does China’s Economic Development Vindicate the Lewis Model?
Camilla Munkedal
Abstract: The Lewis Model is a seminal framework in development economics due to its analysis of the importance of migration for economic growth. This paper builds on the scholarship that has analysed the Lewis Model in relation to the Chinese development experience and focuses in particular on the institutional barriers to migration in the form of China’s hukou system. It is shown that the Chinese development experience of increasing wages in the face of persisting rural labour surplus does not adhere to the Lewis Model. Moreover, it is argued that wage and social discrimination in China’s urban labour market serve as significant barriers for rural-urban migration. This paper concludes that the Lewis Model provides a useful but inadequate framework for understanding China’s internal migration challenges, and that more research should focus on the welfare implications of migration patterns in China.
Citation: Munkedal, Camilla. 2020. Institutional Barriers to Labour Migration: Does China’s Economic Development Vindicate the Lewis Model? SOAS Undergraduate Research Journal 1(1): 23-29.
Institutional Barriers to Labour Migration: Does China’s Economic Development Vindicate the Lewis Model? (pdf)
The Productive Capacity of the Sri Lanka War (pdf)
Arzu Abbasova:
Abstract: Traditional understandings of war overlook its productive capacity. To remedy this neglect this paper focuses on the case of the Sri Lanka war and critically engages with the war’s generative and transformative power. After theoretical explanation of how war has productive capacities, the article develops a historical, societal and global analysis of the Sri Lanka war in order to trace back the creation of ethnic tension, to show how war is embedded in the societies and to demonstrate the war’s global effects. It argues that the war in Sri Lanka produced both Sinhalese and Tamil identity as well as the latter’s gendered character and spatial distribution. This exploration of identity creation as a by-product of war, will contribute to the critical war studies literature.
Citation: Abbasova, Arzu. 2020. The Productive Capacity of the Sri Lanka War. SOAS Undergraduate Research Journal 1(1): 30-35.
The Productive Capacity of the Sri Lanka War (pdf)
How Human Rights Law and Rhetoric Shielded the Military Junta in Myanmar (pdf)
Theint Theint Thu
Abstract: This paper argues how human rights norms, practices, and language have clouded the real solutions to injustices in Myanmar by protecting the military junta from pressure. It will explore how the international human rights discourse has set out to merely deal with the symptoms of the problems rather than the root cause itself, providing negligible change in the long run. The paper explains how the current solutions for Myanmar ignore the institutional roots of the injustices (such as the constitution) as well as structural and societal causes. In addition, it explores how in recent years, the military has been able to hide its rights violations behind superficial developments as well as the regime change. Overall, the human rights discourse has provided a naive narrative for despotism in Myanmar by undermining the entrenched authoritarian rule in both government and society, even in the post-trauma era. In doing so, the discourse has unknowingly shielded the military junta and has dangerously looked over the true causes of rampant rights violations.
Citation: Thu, Theint Theint. 2020. How Human Rights Law and Rhetoric Shielded the Military Junta in Myanmar. SOAS Undergraduate Research Journal 1(1): 36-42.
How Human Rights Law and Rhetoric Shielded the Military Junta in Myanmar (pdf)
How Are Healing and Suffering Conceptualized within Christian Science?
Greta von Albertini
Abstract: This paper investigates and explores the understanding of suffering and healing within the new religious movement (NRM) of Christian Science (SC). Through a medical anthropological lens, concepts such as the mind/body dualism and the 'placebo effect' will be discussed, alongside analyses of qualitative research data gathered at my local CS church in central London through participant observation and semi-structured interviews. With a focus on the movement’s construction of healing, that perceives suffering as 'unreal', I argue that CS’s conceptualisation of healing and suffering is inherently contradictory and dichotomous. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the rather scarce literature on CS through a transdisciplinary approach incorporating religious studies, medical anthropology, and sociology.
Citation: von Albertini, Greta. 2020. How Are Healing and Suffering Conceptualized within Christian Science? SOAS Undergraduate Research Journal 1(1): 43-50.
How Are Healing and Suffering Conceptualized within Christian Science?
Drivers of the London Housing Crisis: The Neoliberal Nexus of Ideology, Policy, and Capital
Julia Frances Alice Everett
Abstract: For the average Londoner, the subject of housing is a bleak one. House prices in the capital continue to rise while homelessness, displacement, and poor-qualit y accommodation become increasingly pervasive and damaging, with seemingly no end in sight. This paper is situated within a budding literature surrounding the international political economy of housing and property and seeks to trace the root drivers of the London housing crisis. It argues that although crises in housing are not necessarily new phenomena, this current period of crisis is intensified by neoliberal ideology which has justified and driven government policies which have in turn facilitated the financialization of the London housing market. These developments have occurred counter to the interests of ordinary Londoners through the reconceptualization housing as an asset, as opposed to a right. The paper will examine how ideology intersects with capital and UK government policy, in effect perpetuating the London housing crisis.
Citation: Everett, Julia Francis Alice. 2020. Drivers of the London Housing Crisis: The Neoliberal Nexus of Ideology, Policy, and Capital. SOAS Undergraduate Research Journal 1(1): 51-57.
Drivers of the London Housing Crisis: The Neoliberal Nexus of Ideology, Policy, and Capital
SOAS Undergraduate Research Journal Vol 1 full issue:
SOAS Undergraduate Research Journal Vol 1 (pdf)