ULB research| Personal data | Research themes | Ongoing teaching | Publications |
MAA Anissa
Units
REPI Recherche et Études en Politique Internationale
REPI is a research unit, mainly dedicated to research and studies in international politics at the Université libre de Bruxelles. It is linked to the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences. REPI fosters fundamental research in the field of international relations and aims at providing a high quality framework for the research in this field (PhD dissertations, publications, conferences...). Depending on available resources, members of REPI can also provide specific expertise for national and international institutions. Furthermore, the research centre encourages the dissemination of knowledge in international relations to a larger audience and represents a convenient space for discussing the teaching of international relations within the university. REPI also organises seminars and summer schools for professionals and young scholars. Its scientific activities focus on two major areas of international politics: the study of security issues and international public policy (environment, health, international economics, development, etc.). These activities are rooted in several research traditions and schools of thought: foreign policy analysis, political sociology of international affairs, critical approaches to security, international political economy, etc., with the aim of better understanding power issues in international relations at different levels. The research agenda also includes the study of the European Union's external action and the main international institutions. Director : Christian Olsson
Group for research on Ethnic Relations, Migrations and Equality
GERME is a research group of social scientists studying processes of inclusion and exclusion in the context of diverse societies that are marked by social inequalities. Although initially mainly focussing its research activities on racism, migration, exclusion and ethnicity, researchers based at GERME are now working on a wide range of topics. These include ' without being exhaustive - citizenship practices, multiculturalism, migrant integration policy, urban policy, gender relations, xenophobia, labour market inclusion, education, culture, religion, political participation, social networks and social stratification. In our research work there is a firm emphasis on processes of ethnicisation and racialisation, on the reproduction of social inequalities and on relations between ethno-cultural minority and majority groups.GERME aims to investigate both state responses to ethnic diversity and social inequalities, lived experiences of citizens in diverse and class-divided societies and social and political mobilisation (of both marginalised as empowered groups).Researchers at GERME do not believe there is a universally best set of technical tools and use both qualitative as quantitative methods and mixed methods approaches. We invest in methodological expertise for handling both ethnographic and case study challenges as advanced multivariate statistical analysis. A key research interest of GERME is the interaction between management of ethno-cultural diversity linked to the phenomenon of immigration on the one hand and the power struggle between the dominant linguistic groups in Belgium on the other hand.
Projetcs
This research focuses on a major transformation in the international management of migration in Africa: the participation of return migrants (also called "returnees") in migration control in their countries of origin. No longer "heroes of return" encouraging the younger generation to migrate, nor even failed migrants in their communities of origin, returnees are increasingly encouraged to involve in initiatives aimed at strengthening migration control from their country of origin, be it through awareness-raising campaigns against irregular migration or assistance and reintegration programmes towards their peers. To what extent does the participation of returnees in migration control transform their relationship to mobility? Does it lead to their incorporation of imaginaries of immobility? Or does it operate as a resource in the definition of reintegration or migration strategies? To answer these questions, this project uses the concept of "indigenous intermediation", which allows to grasp the ambiguous involvement of returnees in migration control. The latter are indeed likely to reappropriate their participation in the fight against irregular migration according to their own agendas. In this context, the project assumes that the "indigenous intermediation" performed by returnees transforms both the exercise of migration control, and their own experience of return and relationship to mobility, as well as social relations at the local level. The project draws on ethnographic research carried out in a comparative perspective in Senegal and Mali.
