Nerina Weiss | Fafo - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Books by Nerina Weiss

Viten 18/01591, 2018

Denne rapporten presenterer resultater fra forskningsprosjektet «Radiskan» om forebygging av radi... more Denne rapporten presenterer resultater fra forskningsprosjektet «Radiskan» om forebygging av radikalisering i Norge, Danmark og Sverige. Formålet er å frembringe kunnskap om hvordan tiltak mot radikalisering iverksettes, og hvordan tiltak mot radikalisering oppleves. Det er lokale myndigheter, frivillige organisasjoner og enkeltpersoner som følger opp handlingsplanene og omsetter dem til konkrete tiltak. Prosjektet har undersøkt hvordan dette skjer gjennom etnografiske studier, samtaler og intervjuer med involverte aktører. Forskningen er viktig for å fylle kunnskapshull for videre utvikling av politikk og praktisk rettede tiltak. Kunnskap og erfaringer er høstet med forskningens systematiske metoder, analyser, dokumentasjon og kvalitetssikring for å unngå forutinntatte meninger, synsing og fordommer.

Fafo rapport, 2020

Municipalities, IMDi and other agencies that need to help refugees integrate into the Norwegian l... more Municipalities, IMDi and other agencies that need to help refugees integrate into the Norwegian labour market are calling for more systematic
and accessible knowledge on the skills that recently arrived refugees
bring with them. The refugees, for their part, want to know about their
prospects for employment and how these can be achieved. On assignment from Skills Norway and the Directorate of Integration and Diversity, Fafo and Agenda Kaupang have studied two measures that are designed to address these needs: skills mapping of refugees prior to settlement, and skills mapping and career guidance for refugees after settlement. The report is based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods.

Fafo report, 2017

In 2016, altogether 5213 refugees with a residence permit lived in Norwegian reception centres. T... more In 2016, altogether 5213 refugees with a residence permit lived in Norwegian reception centres. This is equal to approximately one-third of the entire population of these centres. On average, refugees spend 625 days in reception centres, and 205 of them they spend waiting to be relocated to a Norwegian municipality. There is a political and academic consensus that long waiting periods in reception centres, both before and after a residence permit has been granted, entail major negative economic consequences for society. On the other hand, until now it has also been uncertain whether a long waiting period entails negative consequences also for the later ability of the refugees to be integrated into Norwegian society and enter into paid employment or training.
This report therefore firstly investigates the consequences that a long stay in the reception centre entails for the refugees’ quality of life while they are there. What issues have determined the seriousness of the consequences that a long stay has entailed? Secondly, the report elucidates the possible consequences that a long stay in the reception centre may entail with regard to later integration into paid work or training.

By the end of 2012, 1264 children who have been denied legal residence were living in Norwegian r... more By the end of 2012, 1264 children who have been denied legal residence were living in Norwegian reception centers. Half of these children, 647 children, had been living in Norwegian reception centers more than three years. The number of children that remain in the centers for an extended period of three years or more has increased significantly in recent years. The situation of children in reception centers is a matter of growing public debate, involving NGOs, researchers and politicians. This report aims at contributing to this debate – not by taking a position but by providing background information on the living conditions of children who live in Norway without legal residence.
The report was commissioned by Save the Children. It demonstrates that the everyday lives of children seeking asylum, especially the lives of children whose asylum application has been rejected, is to a significantly greater extent influenced by structural frames than is the case for children in society at large. The report also shows that families whose asylum application has been rejected strive for a normal life in Norway, despite a number of structural constraints and their negative residency status: Children that live with a rejection of their asylum application often belong to families that have experienced great difficulties over time. These children are, therefore, considered a vulnerable group. This is due to great uncertainty in the lives of these children, their families’ economic situation and lack of material resources, a lack of access to education, poor housing and especially the lack of documents.
The results of this study confirm that rejected asylum seekers are especially vulnerable. A combination of psycho-social and somatic problems is prevalent among this group of people. Both parents and children have access to psychological health care. In spite of the fact that treatment is mostly considered helpful and positive, most families were clear that their problems would not be solved unless their general situation remained unchanged. Families, therefore, stressed the need for a clear and quick determination of their legal status.
In this context the aim of this research was to investigate the structural, institutional and social conditions as well as exploring how these affect the lives of children and their families who have been denied legal residence in Norway. The research is based on qualitative interviews with a total of 16 families. We spoke to 24 adults and 25 children between the ages of seven to 20 at five different reception centers. In addition, eight employees at reception centers and health professionals were also interviewed. These interviews were conducted in five reception centers distributed across two regions in Norway.
The findings demonstrate that the competition system for reception centers and the subsequent reduction negatively affect the residents' quality of life, as well as the employees’ working conditions. Financial cuts result in less organized activities, lower wages and, therefore, the hiring of less qualified employees. The cuts have also contributed to an increase in the workload for employees and a reduction in the time to follow up on families with children. This clearly has a negative effect on the children and their families.
Rejected asylum seekers are receiving reduced basic income and, therefore, are considered to be poor. Poverty is here defined as a combination of lack or scarcity of resources and the consequence these deficiencies can have on social participation. Children with a rejection of their asylum application felt especially excluded from social activities such as school trips, birthdays and other recreational activities. They often feel ashamed of having to explain their family's poor financial situation to other children. The strategies parents and children chose to deal with their bad economic situation varied from hiding their poverty, to speaking openly about the difficult situation and to emphasize on other, not materialistic values.
The family’s poor economic situation was experienced as extremely stressful for the parents and their children and was believed to contribute to a deteriorated life situation. In addition, the economic situation as well as their legal status hindered parents in seeking necessary health treatment.
All families were living in decentralized reception centers. This way of living is generally considered to have positive effects on normalizing everyday life, and has also received positive feedback from our respondents. Families are living in their own houses or flats, well integrated in the local society. However, decentralized reception centers do not shield rejected asylum seekers from witnessing the deportation of other rejected asylum seekers. Witnessing deportations is experienced as highly stressful and may lead to re-traumatization and an increased fear of one’s own deportation.
Recommendations:
- The procedures surrounding asylum process should be revised to ensure that the best interest of the child is being considered, as defined by to Norwegian legislation.
- Living conditions should be adapted so that children experience a normal and respectful living situation, regardless of whether they are allowed to stay in Norway or have to return to their home country
- The current bidding system for reception centers has to be reevaluated to ensure that the centers have adequate resources to employ qualified personnel. Special consideration should be given to social workers, child educators and staff with cross-cultural expertise.
- Better routines concerning the movement of asylum seekers between reception centers are required.
- Access to public childcare and secondary education should be legalized for all children and youth, independent of their legal status of residency.
- Regular meetings between reception centers, child welfare services, kindergartens, schools, health care, police and NGOs have to be institutionalized at each reception center
- Reception centers should establish health care services competent in migration health that are accessible for all residents independent of their legal status of residency.
- Deportations of families with children should be executed during daytime.--- Police should not wear uniforms and children should have the possibility to bid their friends farewell.

Papers by Nerina Weiss

Geopolitics, Feb 27, 2024

University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc. eBooks, Mar 6, 2014

Routledge eBooks, Feb 6, 2023

Engaging Evil

Elaborating on Martin Walser’s quote—“Auschwitz was not hell, it was a concentration camp” (1968)... more Elaborating on Martin Walser’s quote—“Auschwitz was not hell, it was a concentration camp” (1968)—I want to explore what it means to conceptualize torture as evil, the torturers as sadistic monsters, and prison as hell. As I will argue, the reality of people’s experiences—such as what haunts them years after they have been released from prison—very often does not correspond to the common categorization and hierachization of torture as frequently found in the therapeutic sessions, among Kurdish and Turkish activists, and in the international political and academic discourse. If only excess and sadism qualify torture as an act of evilness, what are the consequences for the torture survivors, the therapy sessions, and, not least, for how torture is perceived by a wider (more or less informed) public? My explorations are grounded in a decade-long engagement with Kurdish activists in Turkey and in Scandinavia, where many sought refuge and treatment. I draw on interviews with torture survivors and the therapists treating them in a Danish rehabilitation center as well as on an analysis of the medical files of Kurdish and Turkish torture survivors, which I gathered from the Danish rehabilitation center.

Norsk antropologisk tidsskrift, 2008

International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 2016

New Perspectives on Turkey, 2010

This article calls for a critical scholarly engagement with women's participation in the Kurd... more This article calls for a critical scholarly engagement with women's participation in the Kurdish movement. Since the 1980s, women have appropriated the political sphere in different gender roles, and their activism is mostly seen as a way of empowerment and emancipation. Albeit legitimate, such a claim often fails to account for the social and political control mechanisms inherent in the new political gender roles. This article presents the life stories of four Kurdish women. Although politically active, these women do not necessarily define themselves through their political activity. Thus they do not present their life story according to the party line, but dwell on the different social and political expectations, state violence and the contradicting role models with whom they have to deal on a daily basis. Therefore, the status associated with their roles, especially those of the “new” and emancipated woman, does not necessarily represent their own experiences and subjectivit...

Stat & Styring, 2019

De ideelle aktørene blir omfavnet fra alle kanter, men få politikere tar til orde for en spesifik... more De ideelle aktørene blir omfavnet fra alle kanter, men få politikere tar til orde for en spesifikk politikk for dem. Hvilken plass skal ideelle organisasjoner ha når det offentlige kjøper helse- og sosialtjenester?

Nordisk välfärdsforskning | Nordic Welfare Research, 2021

Moral outrage has until now been conceptualized as a call to action, a reaction to injustice and ... more Moral outrage has until now been conceptualized as a call to action, a reaction to injustice and transgressions, and a forceful motor for democratic participation, acts of civil disobedience, and violent and illicit action. Th is introduction goes beyond linear causality between trigger events, political emotions, and actions to explore moral outrage as it is experienced and expressed in contexts of political violence, providing a better understanding of that emotion’s generic power. Moral outrage is here understood as a multidimensional emotion that may occur momentarily and instantly, and exist as an enduring process and being-in-the-world, based on intergenerational experiences of violence, state histories, or local contexts of fear and anxiety. Because it appears in the intersubjective fi eld, moral outrage is central for identity politics and social positioning, so we show how moral outrage may be a prism to investigate and understand social processes such as mobilization, coll...

Viten 18/01591, 2018

Fafo rapport, 2020

Fafo report, 2017

Geopolitics, Feb 27, 2024

University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc. eBooks, Mar 6, 2014

Routledge eBooks, Feb 6, 2023

Engaging Evil

Norsk antropologisk tidsskrift, 2008

International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 2016

New Perspectives on Turkey, 2010

Stat & Styring, 2019

Nordisk välfärdsforskning | Nordic Welfare Research, 2021

In this introductory article to the special issue Women and War in Kurdistan, we connect our topi... more In this introductory article to the special issue Women and War in Kurdistan, we connect our topic to feminist theory, to anthropological theory on war and conflict and their long-term consequences, and to theory on gender, nation and (visual) representation. We investigate Kurdish women ́s victimisation and marginalisation, but also their resistance and agency as female combatants and women activists, their portrayal by media and scholars, and their selfrepresentation. We offer herewith a critical perspective on militarisation, women ́s liberation, and women ́s experiences in times of war and peace. We also introduce the five articles in this issue and discuss how they contribute to the study of women and war in two main areas: the widereaching effects of war on women’s lives, and the gendered representation and images of war in Kurdistan.

© Maria Six-Hohenbalken, Nerina Weiss and contributors 2011 All rights reserved. No part of this ... more © Maria Six-Hohenbalken, Nerina Weiss and contributors 2011 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the ...

Critical Studies on Terrorism

Conflict and Society

This article takes the expressions of moral outrage in an illegal demonstration in Norway as a po... more This article takes the expressions of moral outrage in an illegal demonstration in Norway as a point of entry to explore how the political unfolds in Kurdish diasporic spaces. The premise for this analysis is that moral outrage among pro-Kurdish activists is an enduring, intergenerational process, the expression of which displays a multitemporality and multidirectionality. In order to explore the many layers of moral outrage this article proposes an analysis along the literature of political ritual and performance, which focuses on signification, symbolism, identity constructions, and the importance of audiences. I argue that Kurdish activists consciously perform their moral outrage to position themselves in relation to their host country, other Kurdish activists in Norway, and the larger transnational Kurdish community in Europe. As such, moral outrage turns out to be central in the enactment of Kurdish diaspora politics.

In this volume we want to bring together research that focuses on violence and social suffering a... more In this volume we want to bring together research that focuses on violence and social suffering and work in which the violence might not be readily visible, nor be the focus of the research. We thus encourage papers on migration/asylum/refugees, sexual violence, surveillance conditions, poverty and racism, domestic violence or pollution as well as papers which focus particularly on conflict, violence and social suffering.
A key objective within this framing is to make public what has long been held in silence or shared guardedly with colleagues.

The current refugee crisis in Europe, the wars in the Middle East, state violence against civil s... more The current refugee crisis in Europe, the wars in the Middle East, state violence against civil society all over the world, neo-liberal abandonment as well as separatist violence and terror attacks are only a few of current events that cause a number of emotional reactions. In this panel we are interested in theoretical, analytical and empirical discussions on moral outrage, here understood as an affective reaction to political violence or the denial thereof. We want to explore the different ways moral outrage is expressed, its relational aspects as well as the ways moral outrage may be understood as a mobilizing force to action. Our understanding of moral outrage builds on the anthropology of morality) which explore moral economies, institutional ethics, and how people relate to conflicting moral orders. We find inspiration in Fassin (2015) and Zigon (2007) who, both in their own ways, have explored issues of how do people negotiate and deal with competing, and at times contradicting moralities, including the need to reposition themselves and become conscious of their own being-in-the-world and their relations to others. Drawing also on the body of literature looking at social movements (Tilly 1998) and moral protest (i.e. Jasper 1997) we want to explore morality, and especially moral outrage as a call to action. We are interested in explorations of the different ways moral outrage come to be expressed and what the social implications may be. When may moral outrage lead to violent action and excess and when does it actually enhance rather than diminish the quality of democratic life (Marcus and Mackuen 1993)? Exploring moral outrage as an affective phenomenon, it is important to reject earlier notions of emotion and affect as irrational and limited to the bodily and sensorial sphere. We argue with Jasper (1997) that emotions are part of rational action. As however, cognitive processes and moral values are socially constructed, also moral outrage is limited to and only makes sense in specific social circumstances. Thus, an interesting aspect for this workshop would be to explore the historical, geopolitical and cultural context of political violence and ask why certain events or forms of political violence are experienced as a moral call for action in one setting, but not in another. We invite empirical and theoretical studies of moral outrage directed against political violence as well as the denial of political violence and injustice (Cohen 2001). In particular we encourage papers to relate to (some of) the following questions and topics:

Images of dead bodies, in humiliating positions or even mutilated, have become an everyday occurr... more Images of dead bodies, in humiliating positions or even mutilated, have become an everyday occurrence for all who have been following the current violent events in Eastern Turkey. In her talk Nerina Weiss will explore current discussions and reactions to such images of dead bodies. She is especially interested in how (images of) dead bodies feature in the ongoing political struggle over legitimacy between Erdogan’s highly centralized presidential model and the PKK’s Bookchin influenced model of democratic autonomy. She argues that it is through the images that the borders of democracy and civilization are outlined and questioned.