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During the last decades, Nigerian migrant women in the European sex market, described as victims of trafficking, have generated consistent concern and outrage. This article analyzes data from an ethnographic study of more than 800 Nigerian sex workers in southern Spain, describing the networks used by these women to carry out their migration projects and the relationships they establish with their agents. Thus, it contributes to refuting the hegemonic narrative about trafficking and its victims by contrasting it with data collected and systematized over almost a decade of participant observation and informal conversation. This paper argues that the stereotypical image of the Nigerian migrant women as victims of abuse and violence by transnational trafficking networks functions to justify strict migration-control policies and the denial of labor rights to sex workers. As an antidote to the dominance of narratives based on stereotypes and pseudoscientific claims, this paper underscores the urgent need for ethnographic research and its focus on emic (participant) perspectives. The goal is to develop tailored and effective policies and practices for the prevention of and intervention in migrant women's experience of exploitation, abuse, and violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disasters and climate-related events, including tropical storms, droughts, coastal erosion, and ocean acidification, threaten small island nations. Given the urgency of reducing disaster risks and the effects of climate change on vulnerable populations, this reflection essay pursues three objectives. First, it highlights the role of anthropology, ethnography, and multi-sited research in exploring disaster impacts, climate crises, and public policy in island communities. It then highlights national planning and inter-regional activities to build awareness of various risk reduction efforts by island nations and multi-governmental organizations. This article concludes with discussion prompts to engage researchers, scholars, students, and practitioners studying and working in small island nations. Due to the growing interest in climate equity and justice, this paper argues that anthropologists can offer valuable methodologies and approaches to develop transdisciplinary and nuanced insights into researching disaster risk reduction efforts and climate policy networks in and across island nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This piece brings together the experiences of four Chilean researchers and one Spanish researcher with different professional backgrounds (psychology, sociology, nursing, and education), who conduct qualitative inquiry from other approaches, moments, and gender-sensitive topics of interest in the border regions of Arica and Parinacota, and Tarapacá, both in northern Chile; the capital Santiago; and in Andalucía, southern Spain. In this paper, the authors problematize their research experiences by focusing on their condition as academics conducting qualitative research in the context of neoliberal higher education and with a pandemic affecting all spheres of life. Finally, they explore what their experiences have been like in leading government-funded research projects and representing the voices of underrepresented people in different spheres of life in the field of education and health. Voices are shared to identify challenges and assess implications for qualitative research in these difficult times in the academy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greece has been a site of various crises in recent years: firstly, the financial crash of 2008; secondly, the ongoing 'refugee crisis', which peaked in 2015; and thirdly, the current COVID-19 pandemic. This paper addresses the first of these crises, and particularly how state responses to increased migration flows shape young refugees' (aged 15–25) (re-)engagement with post-15 learning opportunities upon arrival in the country. It is based on semi-structured interviews with young refugees living in Thessaloniki, conducted as part of an ethnographic doctoral project on educational decision-making. The findings reveal that three key institutional bordering practices in Greece—namely the bordering of space (via encampment), time (via enforced waiting), and public services (via administrative barriers)—played central roles in young refugees' (re-)engagement with post-15 education; often causing their dreams to be diverted or downgraded. However, with determination and the support of willing gatekeepers, refugee youth found ways to (re)construct adapted learning trajectories despite, and in response to, these arrival challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the narratives and embodiment of noisemakers in noise complaints in a small town of rural Japan. By building on the intersection of sound studies, body, and migration, this paper aims to critically address the longstanding concept of 'noise' through the overlooked perspectives of migrants who are perceived as 'noisemakers' in the neighbor relations between Japanese neighbors and migrants. This study was conducted through months of fieldwork in a small town in Japan, wherein an ethnic concentration of Japanese descendants from North Sulawesi, Indonesia has been established for almost two decades. Sensory ethnography was adopted in addition to participant observation and in-depth interviews that presented the narratives of five Japanese descendants working in seafood processing factories. The findings suggest that perception of the 'unwanted' bodily presence becomes a salient metaphorical sense of 'noise' which is embodied in migrants as byproducts of the psychological noise of the hearers. This 'noise' evokes series of complaints which also escalate into space control in the neighborhood. More than just neighbor relations in negotiating private–public spaces, the phenomena of noisemaking and noise complaints in this study are layered with overlapping unequal social and power structures concerning neighbors, workers, and migrants with stigma of gaijin and 'noisemakers'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the role of Catholic religious organizations and worker groups in their commitment to achieve the promotion of decent working conditions. Methodologically, critical discourse analysis (CDA) and the valuation of social anthropology applied to social and political regulations are used. The results show that defending decent work means putting people at the heart of matters and considering work a fundamental right for the dignity of human life. Conclusions show that actions such as guaranteeing workers' rights, extending social protections, and promoting social dialogue are seen as essential in achieving the aim of decent work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]