How do actors on the ground make sense of social inequalities? Which concepts do they use in order to justify or to challenge existing disparities within their societies? And how do these concepts circulate over space and time? These were some of the questions that were discussed during the conference. The meeting served as the opening event of the international and interdisciplinary research unit of the same name, which is funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. Following a methodological introduction by Michaela Pelican, panels focused on various case studies and presented the preliminary findings of the different sub-projects of the research unit.

In her opening keynote, anthropologist and migration scholar CYNTHIA PIZARRO (Buenos Aires) reflected on how the Covid-19 pandemic affected labor migrants in Latin America. Migrants, as Pizarro made clear, were not only exposed disproportionately to the disease due to their precarious living and working conditions. In addition, the lives of immigrant populations in the region also became more vulnerable as the result of political dynamics surrounding the pandemic. As migrants were frequently deprived of access to social benefits and healthcare and often stigmatized as supposed “carriers” of the disease, they found themselves within social circumstances marked by even greater inequalities than before.

The conference then continued with its first panel. Even though the International Labor Organization (ILO) is widely known for the discussion and implementation of work regulations around the globe, its leadership during the interwar period also pushed for the instalment of an expert committee on so-called native labor whose aim was to draft a separate labor legislation for the colonies. FABIANA KUTSCHE (Cologne) presented her findings of the biographies and ideological tendencies of the involved experts who often had made careers as colonial civil servants before they became members of the committee. The presentation as well as the comments made by DANIEL MAUL (Oslo) and MARCEL VAN DER LINDEN (Amsterdam) shed some light on the influence of trans-imperial networks of colonial experts (and their shared racism) on the early history of international organizations.

The second panel was about trafficking in persons, a legal concept referring to the transfer of people by means of coercion and for the purpose of exploitation. However, as JONATHAN NGEH (Cologne) pointed out, the vagueness of the concept leads to a number of analytical problems, such as a huge discrepancy between the claimed magnitude of human trafficking and the number of confirmed victims. Discussing how the concept is used and reframed by trafficking survivors from Cameroon, he suggested to adopt a micro-level approach in order to grasp the complexities of lived examples. Following up on this, ANNE KUBAI (Huddinge) called for a longue durée approach in analyzing contemporary forms of human trafficking. She compared the structural factors which led to the enslavement and displacement of Africans from the 16th century onwards with current developments, arguing that a historical perspective could offer an analytical tool in order to understand the reasons and possible outcomes of human trafficking.

After that, a roundtable discussion took place that addressed the impact of the pandemic on African immigrants in the United Arab Emirates. The roundtable took a highly innovative approach, as it gave the groups under study the opportunity to speak for themselves and, by doing so, minimized at least partially the usual power asymmetries in (not only) anthropological research. This format indeed helped to understand how the pandemic reshaped the social formations and hierarchies in this specific context. For instance, Hanibal Fitsum, an Eritrean graduate student of International Relations in Abu Dhabi, gave a vivid picture on how the pandemic affected his life at the university, but also how it created a number of opportunities, such as the creation of solidarity networks. Similarly, Ismael Buba, an event manager from Cameroon who is living and working in the UAE, described how African communities in the Emirates relied on official and non-official communication channels, as they navigated through the pandemic.

The third panel addressed the impact and the contentions surrounding foreign direct investments (FDI) in Ethiopia. During the past decade, Ethiopia has experienced a period of growing industrialization, as well as an influx of foreign investments. While the Ethiopian government has expressed hopes that this might result in the transfer of technologies and continued economic growth, critics fear that the mostly unregulated character of foreign investments could widen social disparities within the country. As LOVISE AALEN (Bergen) showed, this process has had a quite ambivalent effect on Ethiopian women. On the one hand, economic growth has seemingly expanded the opportunities for women to work outside the home and to take jobs in the industrial sector. On the other hand, this process also led to a decrease in female political participation, due to their extremely harsh working conditions. In her comment, MERON ZELEKE ERESSO (Addis Ababa University) focused on the role of the Ethiopian state in this process. Out of fear that foreign investors could leave the country, existing labor laws are not enforced by the state. As a consequence, there is a growing social inequality.

Even though the conference covered a wide range of disciplines and methodologies, presentations were usually followed with interest and vivid discussions by the virtual audience. A recurrent topic running through the discussions was the question of how to conduct research under pandemic conditions. As trips to visit archives, anthropological fieldwork and personal exchanges between the sub-projects became almost impossible during the first year of the research unit, there was a palpable need to discuss possible adaptions to this situation. In this regard, the presentations made several important suggestions, ranging from the evaluation of previously unknown digitized source material to the analysis of visual and social media communication. In addition, the decision of the organizers to give its colleagues based in the Emirates the possibility to speak, deserves special recognition. It is very much hoped that innovative approaches of this kind will be continued in post-pandemic times.

Conference overview:

Keynote Lecture

Cynthia Pizarro (University of Buenos Aires): The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Labor Migrants: Accentuation of Inequalities

Panel 1: What makes a Politician an Expert on Colonial Labor? The ILO and the Concept of “Native Labor”

Ulrike Lindner (University of Cologne), Fabiana Kutsche (University of Cologne), Daniel Maul (University of Oslo), Marcel van der Linden (University of Amsterdam)

Panel 2: Debates on “Trafficking in Persons and Slavery” in Cameroon

Tu Huynh (Jinan University), Anne Kubai (Södertörn University, Huddinge), Jonathan Ngeh (University of Cologne)

Roundtable: Communication during and after Covid-19

Jonathan Ngeh (University of Cologne), Michaela Pelican (University of Cologne)

Panel 3: Discussing the Contentions Surrounding Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Ethiopia

Lovise Aalen (Chr. Michelsen Institute, Bergen), Meron Zeleke Eresso (Addis Ababa University)

Closing Remarks

Michaela Pelican (University of Cologne)