Journal Articles by Alyssa Marie Kvalvaag
Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2024
Addressing the special issue’s focus on the contestation of state categories, this article invest... more Addressing the special issue’s focus on the contestation of state categories, this article investigates the categorization of Indigenous Peoples on the move and how they resist and re-exist these categorizations. Rooted in decolonial approaches from Latin America, we propose a trans-Indigenous conceptual framework for the analysis of such mobilities. Based on 15 semi-structured interviews with Indigenous people on the move conducted in the State of Roraima in Brazil and supplemented by an examination of relevant policy documents in the region, our arguments are built around the perspectives of Indigenous people on the move and their resistance. In outlining the contours of a trans-Indigenous conceptual framework, this article’s primary contributions lie in contextualizing Indigenous mobilities within a decolonial critique of the modern-colonial nation-state and human rights in Latin America that may lead toward an independent praxis related to territory, sovereignty, and mobilities.
Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 2024
Contributing to critical migration studies, this article explores how leaders of migrant organiza... more Contributing to critical migration studies, this article explores how leaders of migrant organizations in northern Norway contest integration discourses – and subsequent expectations and implications – by exercising epistemic resistance. Based on semi-structured interviews with leaders of migrant organizations, my results highlight three contested issues embedded in integration discourses: (1) target groups and stratified resources for learning the Norwegian language, (2) unequal expectations regarding participation, and (3) migrants as in a perpetual state of arrival. These issues highlight the epistemic agency of migrants in contesting widespread integration discourses and encourage alternative ways of imagining integration, towards a more epistemically just society.
Nordic Journal of Migration Research, 2024
Combining two streams of literature, this article is framed within critical migration studies and... more Combining two streams of literature, this article is framed within critical migration studies and local migration and integration studies. Making integration discourses the object of research, I use county-oriented policies that aim to attract and retain international migrants in the north of Norway to question in what context and with what purpose the concept of integration is used in an area experiencing depopulation. Using the analytical concepts of the moral and the loyal resident to develop my arguments, I find that (1) the concept integration is primarily used within the context of participation in organized, voluntary activities and the labor market that produce ideas of the moral, active resident, and (2) the concept integration is used with the purpose of retaining residents, producing notions of the loyal resident. Here, there appears to be an assumption that a moral, active resident will or is more likely to be a loyal resident, who not only comes to an area but stays despite possibilities to move. Within this context, integration is not framed as a goal in and of itself, but rather may be better understood as a means to an end: a solution to depopulation.
NORA - Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, 2023
This article argues that when integration discourses are used in newspaper articles to discuss so... more This article argues that when integration discourses are used in newspaper articles to discuss social policy issues, the issues are framed as being “about migrants” and not as issues that impact the population at large; through this migratization of policy issues, integration discourses are weaponized and may be used to justify welfare retrenchment. Integration discourses have received growing attention from critical migration scholars, who often focus on how the concept of integration reinforces ideas related to the nation-state and issues explicitly related to migrants and migration; however, more general social policy issues also use integration discourses. Against this background, the current study questions what integration discourses “do,” particularly referring to two cases published in local newspapers in Nordland County, Norway: the cash-for-care benefit (kontantstøtte) and adults’ right to upper secondary education. The results show (1) the gendered process of migratization that ascribes general policy issues as “migrant” issues and (2) how integration discourses are used to delegitimize these policies and, ultimately, to justify welfare retrenchment. The findings demonstrate that integration discourses transform the discussion of general policy issues into being “about migrants” with implications for the welfare state at large.
Nordic Journal of Human Rights, 2022
Indigenous migrants are often treated without regard for their status as Indigenous Peoples, as i... more Indigenous migrants are often treated without regard for their status as Indigenous Peoples, as if their migrant status would hierarchically supersede their Indigenous one. The flow of Indigenous migrants from Venezuela to neighboring countries has largely increased over the years. Currently, there are several Indigenous Peoples from Venezuela in Brazil. This evaluative interdisciplinary research addresses the relations between Indigenous and migration human rights protection with consideration for decolonial perspectives. It questions how living coloniality impacts Indigenous migrants' rights, leading to their intersectional invisibility, and how decolonial views on human rights may help overcoming these challenges. It claims that a decolonial perspective on human rights rooted in the pluriverse may situate human rights as emancipatory scripts when led by Indigenous cosmologies. Ultimately, this article aims to contribute to critical understandings on the intersectional oppression faced by Indigenous migrants and, by calling for a shift towards pluriversal approaches to their human rights, illustrate possible paths to the realization of Indigenous migrants' rights and the need to decolonize their lived realities. This may inform potential directions for decolonizing the human rights agenda as well as the law and practice of human rights in the case of Indigenous migrants in Latin America.
Book Chapters by Alyssa Marie Kvalvaag
Rethinking Integration: Challenging Oppressive Practices and Pointing to Ways Forward, 2023
Nordic countries often present themselves in terms of racial exceptionalism; however, studies are... more Nordic countries often present themselves in terms of racial exceptionalism; however, studies are increasingly considering racialization in Nordic contexts. This chapter questions how integration discourses relate to the categorization and racialization of migrants by examining regional and local newspaper articles in the north of Norway. I argue that integration discourses produce categorizations by drawing on migratory pathway, nationality, and racialization in describing who “needs” or “lacks” integration, making a dispensation of integration apparent (Schinkel 2017; Schinkel 2018). These discourses tend to focus on “visible” migrants, involving a process of “doing race” and reinforcing whiteness as a symbol of Nordicness. It is important to investigate the categories produced by integration discourses in order to make explicit power relations and potential consequences.
Forced Migration and Separated Families: Everyday Insecurities and Transnational Strategies, 2023
Direitos Humanos e Vulnerabilidade e Migrações Forçadas, 2022
The Global and Social Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Ethical and Philosophical Reflection, 2022
Migrants held in privatized detention centers in the U.S. are among the most vulnerable populatio... more Migrants held in privatized detention centers in the U.S. are among the most vulnerable populations. Their situation during the COVID-19 pandemic was particularly bad and there is a risk that they will now be forgotten again. The provision of treatment and vaccination is precarious and privatization and the disengagement of the state contribute to this. The situation of these migrants should not be overlooked, nor should it be forgotten that for them the pandemic is not over.
The Global and Social Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Ethical and Philosophical Reflection, 2022
Violations of the human rights of migrants start with a policy of widespread detention, followed ... more Violations of the human rights of migrants start with a policy of widespread detention, followed by degrading conditions in detention centers, which are gravely impacted by COVID-19, adding to a picture of systemic breaches of human rights. The detention of migrants in privatized detention centers leads to questions regarding human rights, ethics, and responsibility. For migrants held in detention centers, public health and containment related measures for COVID-19 are largely outside of their control and left in the hands of the detention industry, raising questions of power and vulnerability. COVID-19 intensifies an already precarious situation, amplifying vulnerabilities and experiences of harm by detained migrants. This article begins by describing main challenges to the human rights of migrants and asylum seekers held by the migrant detention industry. The article questions the structural conditions that are given and the hegemonic conceptions that have been formed against processes of naming and symbolically subordinating the other (Butler, Restaging the universal: hegemony and the limits of formalism. In: Butler J, Laclau E, Žižek S (eds) Contingency, hegemony, universality: contemporary dialogues on the left. London, Verso, pp 11–43, 2000). Special focus is given to the interplay between politics/public sector and business/private sector and their exercise of power over migrants. This is framed in light of Gilson and Butler’s understanding of the relational nature of situational vulnerability. The article concludes with a discussion exploring the social consequences of COVID-19 in the case of migrant detention in the US and the interplay of power and vulnerability, with a focus on justice. The discussion is framed with consideration for the privatized nature of the detention industry, which leads to the question of responsibility of the state versus private institutions in ensuring the safety of detained migrants during a global pandemic.
Migration, Recognition and Critical Theory, 2021
Norwegian Child Welfare Services (NCWS) has faced intense criticism regarding their interactions ... more Norwegian Child Welfare Services (NCWS) has faced intense criticism regarding their interactions with migrant families, with international human rights monitoring mechanisms expressing concern regarding ethnic discrimination over the past decade. Our aim is to contribute to the academic discussion around migrant interactions with NCWS through exploring the suitability and relevance of Nancy Fraser’s theory of social justice, with a particular focus on recognition. We utilize the narratives of two migrant parents and two child welfare practitioners supplemented by critiques from international human rights monitoring mechanisms to bridge the gap between the theoretical level, institutions, and daily practices. Three areas regarding the suitability of recognition in the case of NCWS are discussed: misrecognition as institutionalized subordination; equality, sameness, and difference in the Nordic welfare state; and the dynamic nature of culture. While we find recognition to be an essential element to be considered in the case of NCWS, we emphasize recognition must also be considered within Fraser’s larger understanding of social justice, alongside redistribution and representation.
Direitos Humanos e Vulnerabilidade e o Direito Internacional dos Refugiados, 2021
Latin America and Refugee Protection: Regimes, Logics, and Challenges, 2021
This annex provides an overview of legal frameworks for refugee protection at three levels, inclu... more This annex provides an overview of legal frameworks for refugee protection at three levels, including the Cartagena Declaration Regime, the Inter-American Human Rights System Regime, and good practices for protection in national legislation. Intended as a tool for future research, the annex may serve as an initial resource for those curious about where to search for further information on refugee protection in Latin America.
Book Reviews by Alyssa Marie Kvalvaag
Nordic Journal of Migration Research, 2023
Providing a critical intervention to conventional liberal democratic approaches to immigration, i... more Providing a critical intervention to conventional liberal democratic approaches to immigration, integration, and citizenship, Professor Adrian Favell's book The Integration Nation: Immigration and Colonial Power in Liberal Democracies gives a compelling overview of contemporary debates in European migration studies and calls for alternative approaches beyond mainstream conceptions of integration. Specifically, Favell builds a 'case for a new critical reflection on the use and centrality of integration as a concept,' understanding integration primarily as a normative program of nationstates (p. 4). The volume is organized into six chapters: Chapter 1 'Integration as a Paradigm'; Chapter 2 'Integration and Assimilation'; Chapter 3 'Integration and Multiculturalism'; Chapter 4 'Integration and Race'; Chapter 5 'Integration and Transnationalism'; and Chapter 6 'Integration and Decolonization.' While mainstream views of integration see it as an encompassing, positive, and ultimately progressive concept, Favell argues that 'integration is and always was a fundamentally colonial term' (p. 2). As illustrated throughout the book, integration is based on 'the conventional "container state" view of national society' (p. 15), central to-but often implicit in-ongoing nation-state building, and involves conceptions of migration as a linear process. Favell points out that not all mobile populations are labeled as 'immigrants' and subjected to integration requirements. Rather, elites are able to float as 'free movers,' while more disadvantaged 'immigrants' are subjected to integration. For example, 'expats,' students, and tourists may move more freely, while individuals labeled as 'immigrants' and subjected to integration are often 'visible' and 'non-European' (pp. 44, 128). Thus, vis-à-vis integration, a preexisting national society is imagined and the nation-state is reaffirmed (pp. 29, 117). This nation-state building through integration, suggests Favell, is understood as part 'of the ongoing mission of liberal democracies to generate power from the successful management and governance of populations' (p. 12) where a linear progression 'towards citizenship is crucial to the nation-state's power' (p. 21). In this way, citizenship becomes an end goal-a benchmark of success-where many are 'effectively set up to fail' (p. 22).
Nordic Journal of Migration Research , 2022
Nordic Journal of Migration Research, 2020
Research on migration in the Nordic countries often frames diversity as starting post-1960s (3, 2... more Research on migration in the Nordic countries often frames diversity as starting post-1960s (3, 21), when international migration from outside of Western Europe was seen to challenge the social cohesion of these supposedly homogeneous countries; therefore, as societal security is often understood as strengthened through cultural homogeneity, migrants are often depicted as a potential threat (2-3, 21). However, as this edited book Undoing Homogeneity in the Nordic Region: Migration, Difference, and the Politics of Solidarity clearly illustrates, this narrative ignores the indigenous Sámi and national minorities that have been residing in the region, who historically have been framed by the state as problematic, resulting in harsh assimilation policies and repression to maintain an image of homogeneity. The editors Suvi Keskinen, Professor and Academy Research Fellow in the Centre for Research on Ethnic Relations and Nationalism (CEREN) at the University of Helsinki; Unnur Dís Skaptadóttir, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Iceland; and Mari Toivanen, Academy of Finland Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Swedish School of Social Science, University of Helsinki, effectively disrupt the narrative of homogeneity through this interdisciplinary book with chapters focusing on the indigenous Sámi, national minorities, and migrant groups side-by-side. This starting point highlights crucial parallels between treatment of these groups, illustrates that notions of a homogeneous nation were achieved through repression and assimilation, and leads us to new questions relating to solidarity.
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Journal Articles by Alyssa Marie Kvalvaag
Book Chapters by Alyssa Marie Kvalvaag
Book Reviews by Alyssa Marie Kvalvaag