Author: Semira Berhe

Opinion

Refugee Professionals: What are the challenges to their professional reintegration?

Imagine being a doctor, an engineer, or a teacher—forced to leave behind not only your profession, but also your country, your family, and your friends. Then imagine crossing multiple borders and arriving in a host country with professional aspirations, only to discover that your qualifications no longer count, and that you are viewed not as a professional but as a humanitarian burden. This is the lived reality for many forcibly displaced individuals with higher education and professional backgrounds—referred to as...

Research Brief

Between God and Ground: Invisible Chains Among Farming Communities

Slavery, in its modern guise, remains a pervasive issue. In South Asian countries, which are predominantly agricultural societies and home to nearly one-quarter of the world’s population, this issue often goes unseen and unnoticed (Bose & Jalal, 2022; Kara, 2017). The perspectives on slavery within these regions vary significantly compared to the modern world, featuring the hidden and complex nature of the problem. Far from being a relic of the past, slavery in South Asia is mainly perpetuated by a...

Opinion

Welcome No More? Shifting Attitudes towards Ukrainian Refugees in Europe

Almost seven million Ukrainians have fled Ukraine since Russia’s large-scale invasion in February 2022. Seeking refuge in other European states, they were welcomed. However, recent analyses have emerged which point to an increasing discrimination against Ukrainian refugees who were displaced by Russia’s aggression, including in previously supportive nations like Poland. The shifting treatment and belonging of Ukrainians could therefore become a pressing issue, both as the war continues and once it ends. This can be linked to the idea of...

Opinion

Technology and precariousness: the employment downgrading of Europe’s middle class

Since the advent of the first industrial revolution, the growing automation of production processes has been accompanied by concerns (or hopes) regarding the displacement of human labour. Although significant increases in productivity occurred over the last century, we can argue – evidence at hand – that no mass displacement has occurred following the diffusion of computing and robotic technologies. The latter (especially ICTs), together with globalization, are typically cited as the main engines driving advanced capitalist economies from manufacturing-based toward...

Gender & Sexuality / Opinion / Social Movements / Social Change

Forging A Gender-Household Plastics Nexus in The Circular Economy

Inexpensive, lightweight and durable, it is difficult to imagine a world without the ubiquitous plastics. If you have ever looked around your kitchen, bathroom or living room, you will realise something: plastic is everywhere. From packaging and bottles to bags and straws, it is hard to escape the pervasiveness of plastics. However, plastics are a double-edged sword. Despite playing an indispensable role in modern society, plastic pollution has become a pressing environmental issue. Household plastics in particular, is a key...

Figure 1: A child abuse awareness and prevention poster, part of a public campaign managed by the national government. Image created by Riko Mukuta and the National Network for the Prevention of Child Abuse, 2023.

Applied Sociology / Opinion / Research Methodologies / Social Movements / Social Change / Sociology of Children

Care equity and the welfare state in Japan: Contextualizing what the child protection system seeks to safeguard

The child abuse crisis: Japan has a lively arena of research on children’s social care. Yet, there has been relatively little attention given to social constructions of childhood, abuse, and other pressing topics of debate, particularly in relation to structural and cross-cultural contexts. This is interesting considering how widespread visual and discursive representations of child abuse have proliferated throughout Japan in the past 30 years. I recently wrote a paper on the social-cultural construction of child abuse and its possible...

Opinion

Logistics Violence and Harm: Unpacking Supply Chain Capitalism for a Critical Southern Criminology

We live in a world where 10% of the population takes 52% of the global income, while the poorest half survives on just 8.5% (Chancel et al. 2022). This wealth inequality is more severe within the Global South, where there is an extreme disparity between wealthier and poorer zones. This economic inequality also comes with high levels of state and non-state violence. For example, in 2022, 177 environmental activists were killed, 88% of them in Amazon rainforest countries, while none...