Congratulation to Dr Sara de Jong who was awarded a Mid-Career Fellowship from the British Academy (Starting in Sept 2022 and will run for 12 months).

 

Sara's research is titled Brokers of Conflict and Migration.

Reference: MCFSS22\220055

In an interconnected yet divided world, where ‘us’ and ‘them’ categories are invoked in politics and media, actors who bridge lifeworlds are central but under-researched political actors. This project shifts attention to spaces of encounter and centres on the role of brokers mediating and gatekeeping between communities separated by cultural, social and political boundaries. It draws together different disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, language and development studies, to develop a novel conceptual framework on brokerage.

 

This is grounded in two empirical case studies in the areas of conflict and migration, focussing on

a) local Afghan interpreters working for Western armies;

b) refugee caseworkers for European migrant NGOs.

Redirecting our focus to brokering agents and their role in structures of governance sheds new light on the
everyday negotiations in the spaces of encounter opened up by global political processes and offers a new
vantage point to analyse migration and war.