Search

One of the earliest puzzles discussed in the textual history of the Hebrew Bible is the parallel lists and count of returnees in the Restoration period that appear in Ezra 2 ‖ Nehemiah 7 ‖ 1 Esdras 5, to which both traditional and critical commentators have turned their attention. These passages have raised multiple interpretive cruxes in the interpretation of the book of Ezra-Nehemiah, including contradictions between the different versions of the list, and their internal inconsistency. The current study offers a solution for both of these issues, based upon two independent arguments: (1) a proposed arithmetic methodology for determining the original numerical details of the entries to the list according to a maximalist principle. Using this method, the attested values for each entry are compared, allowing for the reconstruction of the list in a putative original form. (2) a text-critical analysis of the verses in which the total of the returnees is summarized (Ezr 2:64–65; Neh 7:66–67; 1 Esd 5:41), which expands the boundaries of those included in the total count. When the list is reconstructed by combining these insights, then we are left with an internally coherent, almost equation of the entries with the sum total.

This article describes and analyses the status-quo of Union Law applicable to non-removable returnees and it examines likely scenarios for future developments at eu level in this field, focusing on the rights of non-removable returnees, including documentation (section 2); the legal frame for applying administrative detention (section 3); the legal frame for imprisonment as criminal law sanction (section 4); continued encouragement of return (section 5) and pathways to legal stay (section 6).

The challenge of ensuring the full reintegration of refugee women and returnees in post-conflict societies is an important one, yet there is gap in the literature that evaluates interventions designed to assist them. This article seeks to narrow this gap by examining the gender policy of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (unhcr) as applied to reintegration programs in Sierra Leone, particularly in Kailahun district. Using Amartya Sen’s concept of agency, the paper begins with an exploration of the pre-war status of women and girls in Sierra Leone and their marginalization in flight and exile. The paper then argues that the conceptual framework of unhcr’s Community Empowerment Projects (ceps) created a foundation for an open, democratic process that, in theory, could lead to enhanced well-being for women as beneficiaries and greater political agency for them as decision-makers. In practice, the ceps resulted in the implementation of projects that benefited women both directly and indirectly, especially in the areas of water and sanitation and education. The lack of emphasis on health projects, however, especially when compared to the strong support for rebuilding community buildings controlled by elders, shows the impact of traditional, patriarchal decision-making on the cep process. The paper further argues that special women’s centers constructed or supported by unhcr, though small in number, both enhanced the well-being of and promoted political agency for women; this intervention contributed to the high levels of females elected as local officials in Kailahun district in the 2012 elections.

Since the first reports detailing the presence of foreigner participating in the Syrian civil war in September 2011, the number of foreign fighters has increased exponentially. Especially European policymakers are worried about the potential threat posed by the presence of hundreds of European foreign fighters in Syria and the possibility that some of them could return to stage an attack. This article examines the challenges European policymakers face when addressing the foreign fighter phenomenon in general, and that of returnees in particular. The article first discusses the complexity of the (potential) threat posed by those that return from the fight in Syria. Next, it outlines the need for and challenge of providing an accurate threat assessment. The authors then present a number of recent ideas and proposals on how to deal with the phenomenon of foreign fighters in Europe. These proposals highlight the need for a mixed or comprehensive approach, which is sensible given the complexity as well as the multidimensional and international nature of the threat. However, it also poses an additional challenge to policymakers pertaining to the implementation of such an approach. This governance challenge is discussed by investigating the possible roles of various actors when dealing with returnees. Based on these findings, the concluding part presents a number of policy recommendations.

Migration in Cameroon is often linked to specific expectations towards migrants, particularly with regard to sharing accumulated resources. To understand how differences in post-return experiences are created, this study, which is a summary of a PhD research project on the post-return experiences of Cameroonian migrants, takes a holistic approach by considering the socio-cultural, economic and political characteristics of the Cameroonian context. These factors were examined at four levels: (1) the expectations of the local community towards returned migrants; (2) family perspectives towards return; (3) tactics in navigating the socio-cultural, economic and political uncertainties after return; and (4) the formal support structures available for returnees. In addition to increasing scientific knowledge, this study leads to clear recommendations for policy and practice.

[Abstract This essay analyzes the political dynamics involved in the construction of belonging in the case of African Americans’ “return” from the diaspora generated by the Atlantic slave trade to a town in Southern Ghana. Given the articulated belief of common ancestral origins, such arrival was initially welcomed by all the three groups of actors involved: the returnees , the local authorities, divided by a chieftaincy dispute, and the Ghanaian government that was supporting homecoming policies. The concepts of origins and kinship and the way to validate them, though, were differently conceived by the various political actors; furthermore each of them held dissimilar reasons and had different expectations behind this return. All these differences created a mutual, mutable and dynamic relation between the actors who were involved in the arrival and aimed to assert their authority., Abstract This essay analyzes the political dynamics involved in the construction of belonging in the case of African Americans’ “return” from the diaspora generated by the Atlantic slave trade to a town in Southern Ghana. Given the articulated belief of common ancestral origins, such arrival was initially welcomed by all the three groups of actors involved: the returnees , the local authorities, divided by a chieftaincy dispute, and the Ghanaian government that was supporting homecoming policies. The concepts of origins and kinship and the way to validate them, though, were differently conceived by the various political actors; furthermore each of them held dissimilar reasons and had different expectations behind this return. All these differences created a mutual, mutable and dynamic relation between the actors who were involved in the arrival and aimed to assert their authority.]

In this paper, I will analyse how a household of “factory returnees” and a “factory family”, who were directly exposed to the processes of industrialization and de-industrialization in Indonesia, appropriate labor, infrastructures and globalization. I will explore how this generation of factory workers have developed their way to stay afloat during the post-industrial, pandemic and possibly post-pandemic context.

Studies on xenophobic violence have mainly focused on their causes and effects, but have yet to probe how victimisation experiences of xenophobia trigger migration intentions and actual practices. In a balance of tales, I examine how families contributed to staying put/return decisions by Nigerian migrants in South Africa following the September 2019 xenophobic violence. The study asks: to what extent do family facilitate and/or contribute to the decision to return? And how do return strategies unveil the centrality of family in taking migration decisions? Data emerged through online interviews with Nigerian immigrants in South Africa who stayed put, and six family members in Nigeria were reached through snowball sampling. This was supplemented with secondary interviews conducted with Nigerian returnees in three National newspapers (The Punch, Vanguard, Nigerian Tribune and The Nation newspapers). Findings show the centrality of family in both migration intentions, staying-put, and the actual practices of Nigerian victims of xenophobia in South Africa.

This article investigates the development of national litigation against the Czech Republic’s governmental policy to detain asylum seekers under the Dublin III Regulation, as a means to address the so-called refugee crisis. The outcome of this litigation has been the preliminary ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the Al Chodor case, which has been praised for enhancing domestic standards of protection of asylum seekers and returnees’ right to liberty across the EU. The article demonstrates that this preliminary ruling has been a catalyst for domestic legislative and jurisprudential reforms across the EU, improving to a certain extent the protection of the right to liberty of asylum seekers. However, it is argued that in the Czech Republic the case has not initiated a change in the legislation, nor has it reduced the systematic use of asylum detention. The article identifies some important legal, political and social factors from within and beyond courtrooms that have contributed to this ambiguous outcome of the Czech litigation. It concludes by identifying circumstances that need to be taken into account when using the preliminary reference procedure as a tool for strategic litigation.

This paper interrogates an unexamined component of the religion-migration nexus in Ghana. Using African Traditional Religion as a case in point, the paper examines the function shrines play in sustaining youth migration to Libya and across the Mediterranean to Europe. The paper relies on interviews and fieldtrips to migrant sending communities in the Nkoranza area of the Bono East region of central Ghana. The paper gives an account of the daily realities of prospective migrants, returnees and their families. Among other key findings, it is shown that there is an intricate connection between youth migration, the family system and the deities in sustaining the trans-Saharan migration. This migration, we observe, has become a livelihood strategy, the perpetuation of which reassures the survival of not only the people, but their gods as well.

In 2015, the Myanmar Government, the Myanmar Tatmadaw (military) and eight ethnic armed organisations (eaos) signed the 2015 National Ceasefire Agreement (nca). In 2019, this agreement was signed by three more eaos, and there have been four annual conferences (Union Peace Panglong Conference 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019). The ceasefire arrangements, which are present primarily in Southeast Myanmar, have failed to make significant progress in key areas such as the provision of access to civil documents and land to returning refugees, displaced persons and conflict-affected communities. Violence has escalated in the last two years. It is not an exaggeration to say that Myanmar is at a critical juncture of transition. This article examines how the peace process is being communicated amongst different civil society organisations, international organisations, donor organisations, and government representatives in an area directly affected by the peace process. The article details the experiences of these participants exchanged in workshop in Mon State in July 2018. The exchanges during the workshop reveal a practical obstacles faced by civil society organisations, especially, in their attempt to support returnees. Many reported frustration with the implementation gap between promoting a peace process and providing for local enabling conditions that support peace. Specific barriers faced by civil society organisations, and in turn the communities they are seeking to help were threefold: information and communication barriers concerning the peace process; women’s fear and reluctance to seek services due to personal safety concerns, and the persistence of traditional gender norms which affects access to information.

In spite of the laudable political and humanitarian efforts to tackle the cyclical ethnic-related conflicts in Burundi, the impact of the refugee and returnee phenomena on the culture, education, and economy of the country and beyond has not yet received its full due attention. This study aims at increasing awareness on this issue. It first identifies the refugee- and returnee-related new linguistic trends in Burundi, together with their subsequent impact on education. How many Burundians learned Kiswahili in exile in Tanzania or in the Democratic Republic of Congo, not only for educational or professional purposes but also for survival, but who, back in Burundi, saw their language of exile become an obstacle to the pursuit of a standard education? Why has their plight not attracted as much attention as did that of war orphans, widows, and former child soldiers? This study also surveys the cultural exchanges between Burundian refugees and returnees with their host country and their motherland.

Beginning in the early 1950s there were tens of thousands of ethnic Chinese who chose to ‘return’ to the People’s Republic of China (prc). Until fairly recently, little attention has been given to the approximately 600,000 ethnic Chinese who chose to immigrate to China from locations throughout Southeast Asia, as well as further afield in the first few decades after the founding of theprc. There were many factors influencing their migration to a country that many had never stepped foot on. However, it is clear that the Chinese state made a concerted attempt to rally the support (capital and immigration) of overseas Chinese communities. Many of the returnees were resettled on one of dozens of ‘Overseas Chinese Farms’ (huaqiao nongchang) scattered throughout the provinces of southern China. Outside of China they were considered ‘Chinese’ and foreign, juxtaposed against the local or ‘indigenous’ identities that had taken shape in tandem with the independence of former colonies in Southeast Asia and the rise of modern nationalism. Upon their ‘return’ to what was, for many, an imagined ancestral homeland — a country many of them had never seen — they were confronted with a different type of discrimination and suspicion than they faced ‘abroad’. This was despite, and in some cases because of, certain favorable policies enacted by the party state to assist in their relocation and assimilation into society. Ironically, some of the same policies that sought to gradually assimilate them into Chinese society actually reinforced their position as ‘permanent outsiders’: the creation of an official ‘huaqiao’ legal status; institutionalized segregation in the form ofhuaqiao nongchang, huaqiao villages, andhuaqiao schools; and a resultant pariah status that did not begin to recede until after the reforms of the late 1970s. While the concept of ‘huaqiao’ (overseas Chinese sojourners) was falling out of use among Chinese communities abroad, the word was taking on a new meaning in theprc, both for the Chinese party state, and for those who would come to self-identify ashuaqiao/guiqiao.

During the period of Germany’s reunification in the early 1990s, disagreement between Germany and Vietnam over the return of Vietnamese individuals to Vietnam escalated into a diplomatic dispute that also spilled over into Vietnam’s negotiations with the European Union over a major eu–Vietnam treaty. In mid-1995, however, the German and Vietnamese governments finally agreed on a repatriation arrangement that allowed Germany to begin deporting about 40,000 Vietnamese who were living in Germany illegally. This article explores the episode in the wider context of diplomatic dispute resolution. While Germany was demanding full cooperation from Vietnam on the issue of returning Vietnamese nationals, the Vietnamese government initially resisted large-scale repatriation for economic and social reasons. Hanoi attempted to frame the discussion within bilateral negotiations, economic costs and human rights, whereas Bonn argued from the perspective of customary international law and applied increasingly coercive diplomacy. German authorities escalated the disagreement and made economic threats with the aim of changing Hanoi’s behaviour. In order to frame this approach analytically, this article uses a modified form of coercive diplomacy. The analysis proceeds in three stages: first, the article analyses the origins of the dispute, which had its roots in German reunification; second, it evaluates the legal arguments advanced by each side; and third, it investigates Germany’s ‘soft’ coercive diplomacy and Vietnam’s response. The article concludes with an evaluation of Germany’s approach, benchmarking 1995’s diplomatic outcome against results on the ground, namely the number of returnees to Vietnam.

This article aims at supplementing the discussions on transnational family life and second generation. More specifically, it aims to look at the consequences of spatially fractured parent-child and kin relations and the years spent in the United States in the encounters between young women and different collectives in Palestine; how background shaped their experiences 'at home'. It also intends to distinguish between different family members and power relations and agency created and sustained through transnational family ties. Second- and third-generation transnational ties and practises are often approached from the perspective of the migration destination country. The present article, however, sheds light to the perspective of country of origin and 'reverse migrants' as Levitt (2002) put it. I refer to these individuals as transmigrants (Basch et al. 1994), return migrants and in some cases returnees. The paper argues that young western-born return migrant women associate with transnational family in shifting and sometimes-ambivalent ways that reflect their responses to gendered and generational forms of incorporation and rejection that female transnationals face in specific societal contexts. The argument implicates that the meanings of transnational family ties and the motives behind transnational practices can change even during a rather short time-span. Yet the forms of transnational practices, such as marriage patterns, may remain seemingly traditional. The paper concludes that transnational family ties are a resource for Palestinian migrants of second and third generation; they remain meaningful even when young transmigrants have a conscious oppositional stand in relation to gender roles and family ideology that these ties imply.

This paper seeks to examine the proliferation of Pentecostal churches and the changing religious landscape of Rwanda. The horrific genocide of 1994, left the country's traditional mainline churches bloodied and the Christian faith seriously challenged. Unlike elsewhere in Africa, prior to the genocide, Pentecostal churches had not got a foot-hold in Rwanda, then referred to as the most Catholic country in Africa. In the aftermath, Rwanda has experienced a spontaneous growth of new churches imported by returnees from far and wide. Though the Catholic Church still retains its dominant position, there has been an upsurge of Protestants and the Rwandan religious landscape is changing considerably. This gospel explosion has been attributed to the enormous challenges of social-economic reconstruction of a fractured society, where reconciliation and healing are of utmost importance. By packaging their messages with hindsight of the disillusionment with the traditional churches and the spiritual as well as the material need to arise from the ashes of genocide and rebuild their lives, these churches have attracted thousands of Rwandans.

During the last quarter of the 19th century travelling overseas became a social issue in India as debated among Hindu reformers as widow remarriage or conversion. Among Brahmans and other high caste Hindus it was a breach of dharmic conduct of such gravity that it could not be done without incurring severe social sanction: many returnees were excommunicated from their caste. It raised the issues of pollution and sin. Of pollution, because travelling overseas meant breaking the rules of one's own caste in two major ways: eating forbidden food and having contact with non Hindus, both major sources of impurity. It raised the issue of sin because it entailed shirking one's own prescribed duty. On sin and repentance, Chandavarkar shared the point of view of the abbot of Chitrapur, his caste-guru, in all matters but one: he refused to qualify sea-voyage as a sin. Keywords:Brahmans; Chandavarkar; Expiation; Hindus; sin

Less is known about Elsa Brandstrom's contribution to the reintegration of returning POWs and their families in post-war German and Austrian society, and to the concomitant reconstruction of gender roles. This chapter seeks to fill a significant gap in the historical record. It first examines Elsa Brandstrom's activities during the Russian civil war from 1918 to 1920, and in particular her efforts to secure the repatriation of former German and Austrian prisoners trapped by the fighting in the Caucasus, Siberia and Russian Central Asia. The chapter then looks at her work with returnees and their families in Germany after 1922, and at her role in the movement for international reconciliation and peace, especially at the time of the 1923 Ruhr crisis. It ends with some broader comments on the significance of Elsa Brandstrom's work for the question of women's activism in the aftermath of the First World War more generally. Keywords:Austrian society; Elsa Brandstrom; First World War; Germany; prisoners of war; women's activism

[ The issue of changing gender relations was handled very differently by the two organisations selected for comparison in this chapter, namely the Association of Feminists (FE) and the Hungarian Women's National Federation (MANSZ). The chapter examines the contributions made by the two women's organisations to cultural de- or remobilisation. It draws both on archival material and on published output in the form of periodicals, which were the main means by which the organisations communicated their views. Besides mapping the differences in political discourses, common threads will also be drawn out in respect to the aims and arguments of the women's organisations in public life in Hungary after the First World War. In this respect, particular reference will be made to gender-related social issues such as suffrage, employment, education, private life, violence, health, childbirth, state welfare and the fate of returning soldiers and prisoners of war (POWs). Keywords:feminists (FE); First World War; Hungarian Women's National Federation (MANSZ); prisoners of war (POWs); remobilisation; women organisations , This chapter seeks to examine the role of female activists and organised women's movements in Bulgarian public life after the war, focusing in particular on the immediate post-war years. It begins by providing some historical background on the development of the women's movement in Bulgaria before 1915, and then goes on to explore its responses to the war and the national turmoil which followed in the wake of defeat. The chapter focuses on the intensification of the activities of the women's movement at this time, and then lights on three important aspects related to women's participation in public life: the commemoration of the war dead, the care of the wounded returnees from the front, and the involvement of women in protest movements of various kinds. It touches upon the contribution of organised women to the process of post-war stabilisation and cultural demobilisation. Keywords:Bulgarian public life; cultural demobilisation; female activists; post-war stabilisation; women movements ]

The AU Commission, in collaboration with the UN and its Specialised Agency on Drug Control (UNODC), as well as ECOWAS and other Regional Economic Communities (RECs), agreed to intensify the fight against drug trafficking in Africa, particularly in West Africa. Participants examined how the UN system, international donors and African states might collaborate to implement the recommendations issued in July 2008 by the MDG Africa Steering Group chaired by Ban Ki-moon. At year's end, the RCM reviewed the AU-UN ten-year capacity-building programme, which aims to enhance the capacity of the AU Commission and African regional and subregional organisations to act as effective partners in addressing political, peace and security, and socioeconomic challenges in Africa. The priority of the year was to mobilise support and resources for the AU Special Summit on Refugees, Returnees and IDPs in Africa, within the context of the AU-UN ten-year capacity-building programme. Keywords: Africa; AU Commission; ECOWAS; peace and security; Special Summit on Refugees; UN; UNODC

The ideology of a ?return to Africa" from the African diaspora was called Black Zionism in the first half of the twentieth century, indicating an affinity with Jewish Zionism. The idea of salvation was grounded in religious or quasi-religious longing. Unity of race is another basic Black Zionist idea. Black Zionism aimed to put an end to the suffering and oppression in exile by achieving Black self-determination, Black government and Black power in a liberated homeland. Very few Blacks did return to Africa from the Americas, but throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries there were movements of return. The returnees came not only from North America, but also from the Caribbeans and South America. Marcus Garvey was in fact a right-wing Black Zionist. The emphasis he put on race was not merely defensive, compensatory and egalitarian. Keywords: African diaspora; Black Zionism; Jewish Zionism; Marcus Garvey; return to Africa

This chapter focuses on the traditional Babylonian models of lunar visibility. Constituting an elaboration of the water-clock formula, these models are contained in tablet 14 of Enūma Anu Enlil (EAE) and section l of Mul.Apin. Drawnel?s recent contribution has made it possible to demonstrate how the Aramaic models of lunar visibility contained in 4Q208 and 4Q209 adopted the traditional Babylonian system and modified it to fit their specific needs. The Babylonian exile serves as a naturally conducive setting to cultural transfer, Babylonian knowledge being easily carried back to Jerusalem by the returnees at the time of the Restoration. The presence of Mesopotamian material in early Enochic traditions has been the subject of extensive discussion during the last century and earlier. Numerous scholars have noted the Mesopotamian origin of elements in the Pseudepigrapha and Qumran literature, whether in the field of language, apocalyptic worldview, or science.Keywords: Aramaic models; Babylonian knowledge; cultural transfer; early Enochic traditions; Jerusalem; lunar visibility; Mesopotamian material; Qumran literature

This chapter focuses on 4 Ezra, a post-70 C.E. text that pseudepigraphically attributes itself to Ezra, who is said to have just experienced the destruction of the First Temple. It explains the pseudepigraphic claims of 4 Ezra by situating it within the context of practices of the emulation and imitation of the sage and the struggle to overcome destruction by recovering a perfect, holy and idealized past. "Ezra" in 4 Ezra is associated with a renewed presentation of the law to the returnees from Babylon, and is also linked to the re-establishment of temple worship. However, that is not the only relationship with the temple that is preserved in Ezra-Nehemiah along with other traditions from the Second Temple period. Ezra participates in the ambivalence with which the newly formed Second Temple Judeans greeted the establishment of the new Temple as is found in Ezra 3:10-12. Keywords: 4 Ezra; Babylon; emulation; Ezra-Nehemiah; imitation; pseudepigrapha; Second Temple period; temple worship