iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Melissa Gatter

Austin Kocher, PhD @austinkocher.com · 11/03/2026

Most people don't realize how much of the U.S. immigration detention system is run by private companies and how much money is involved. 🧵

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

The refugee camp is at the center of one of the greatest illusions of our time: that refugees can't 'keep up' temporally because they are helpless and that they shouldn't be allowed to 'keep up' because they are dangerous. I pick this illusion apart here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Camp Time: Heterochronies in ‘Other Spaces'

Contemporary global apartheid is built upon temporal discord, with refugee camps playing a central role. Yet camp studies have largely neglected the temporal dimensions of displacement, leading to re...

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

For those at IHSA right now, join us for a panel on 'Ethical Exits' in humanitarianism in 15 minutes - online and in Istanbul. See you there!

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

My review of Estella Carpi's book The Politics of Crisis-Making is out now on @antipodeonline.bsky.social! Read for my thoughts on the local vs global, Southism, and humanitarian futures 👇

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Reposted by Melissa Gatter

Syria Notes @syrianotes.org · 30/05/2025

“The dream of returning home or simply the possibility to end a decade of exile is suddenly within reach. But this dream now comes with existential, practical and legal questions.” Charlotte Al-Khalili and @melissagatter.bsky.social for @theconversation.com. theconversation.com/syria-after-...

theconversation.com

Syria after Assad: why many Syrian refugees aren’t returning home

Syrian refugees must be able to decide what’s next for them as pressures mount for their return.

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Reposted by Melissa Gatter

Resist List @resistlist.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

"How can ordinary citizens fight back? To scout the best approaches, I canvassed activists, lawyers, scholars, politicians, and union leaders for advice." Great resource here: newrepublic.com/article/1931...

newrepublic.com

Fighting Back: A Citizen’s Guide to Resistance

Ordinary people have more power than they know.

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

Has Assad's downfall in Syrian changed anything for Syrians displaced in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey? Charlotte Al Khalili and I share the perspectives of people in all three contexts for @theconversation.com, and the situation is...complicated 👇

theconversation.com

Syria after Assad: why many Syrian refugees aren’t returning home

Syrian refugees must be able to decide what’s next for them as pressures mount for their return.

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Reposted by Melissa Gatter

Wendy Pearlman @wendy-pearlman.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

On the urgent need to mobilize allies, far beyond campus, of all "who understand that the universities of America are critical to everything that is good about the country: its commitment to freedom, its devotion to excellence, its leadership in science & medicine." www.chronicle.com/article/how-...

chronicle.com

How a University Fights an Authoritarian Regime

Viktor Orbán came for me. Donald Trump is coming for you. Here’s what to do.

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Reposted by Melissa Gatter

Laura Walker McDonald @techladylaura.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

Interesting to see the growth of reports on digital and data. Especially when we are still a long way from good practice in the sector. Also are there inflation-adjusted / real costs figures on humanitarian appeals and spend? That would be interesting.

thenewhumanitarian.org

A deep dive into 25 years of humanitarian data

The good, the bad, and the buzzwords: 25 years of humanitarian data.

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Tired of hearing about the free world but it not feeling free.

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Reposted by Melissa Gatter

Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

THE RESIST LIST IS HERE. Proud my team just started this @resistlist.bsky.social, which will list actions that happened and that are slated to happen.

Resist List

They want us to think we’re alone. We are not.
The Resistance is Everywhere.
Hopescroll through stories of people’s noncooperation against Trump’s coup.
Jump to databases of noncooperation or trackers of ligitation and impact.
Follow our social media accounts to stay updated.

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

Thank you! Would love your thoughts 🤓

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

I urge practitioners to refrain from using 'resilient' as a label to be imposed or taken away and that is tied to understandings of worth or deservingness. Instead where we see resilience, we should be looking for power. (4/4)

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

Resilience as a concept is still useful for 'seeing' power. Confronting resilience head on, I found that camp residents actually resist resilience narratives. AND I warn that this resistance should not be romanticized as resilience. (3/4)

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

I reflect on the everyday lives of 2 residents in Azraq camp in Jordan, where an aid worker is tasked with packaging their lives into 'success stories' - feeding into humanitarian resilience narratives. Resiliency humanitarianism is a problem, I argue, BUT.. (2/4)

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Reposted by Melissa Gatter

Wendy Pearlman @wendy-pearlman.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Trump's freeze on foreign aid will leave 100,000s in Syria without food, water & healthcare. “In a normal situation... NGOs would have a heads-up & some time to figure out what to prioritise ..But there is no common sense...about leaving people to die.” www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature...

thenewhumanitarian.org

US aid freezes escalate Syria’s crisis

Aid officials involved in the response say people are already suffering and predict huge problems ahead due to the abrupt end of programmes.

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

I have some very cool colleagues 👇

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Reposted by Melissa Gatter

Judah Grunstein @judah-grunstein.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

And not to give this more thought than it deserves, but it would be worth it for some enterprising journalist in the position to do so to ask Trump just who the US would buy Gaza from. It could get him on the record endorsing a sovereign Palestinian state.

bbc.co.uk

Trump says US is 'committed to buying and owning Gaza'

There has been global condemnation of his plan to take over the strip and move its Palestinians out.

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

Saturday morning reading: Charlotte Al Khalili describes reuniting with her interlocutors for the 1st time in Syria, one of whom she quotes: “Charlotte, we are meeting in Damascus! Damascus!”, Bilal exclaimed as we greeted. “Can you believe it?! Who could have thought we would meet here one day!” 🥹

americanethnologist.org

Snapshots of Post-Assad Syriaby Charlotte Al-Khalili - American Ethnological Society

“Welcome to Syria,” greeted the robust man as he took our passports. He was seated at a counter, behind security glass. The man, unlike the young men carrying

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

I'll be at @ucl.ac.uk next Thursday to discuss my book with Estella Carpi and Anne Irfan and talk about what's next for the Syrian refugees whose stories shape my research. Register here 👇

ucl.ac.uk

IAS Book Launch: Time and Power in Azraq Refugee Camp

Join us for the launch of Time and Power in Azraq Refugee Camp. A Nine-to-Five Emergency by Melissa Gatter

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

Link to the open access article: www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journal...

berghahnjournals.com

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

Back at the desk today with Monday morning reading: Ruben Andersson gives us anthropologists a roadmap for studying humans in an increasingly inhumane world. Much needed motivation as we stare down the barrel of 2025, full of monsters we've seen before (and some we haven't).

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Reposted by Melissa Gatter

Aron Lund @aronlund.bsky.social · 22/12/2024

Another must-read story on the end of the Assad regime, in which palace insiders talk about the final hours, by the New York Times’s Ben Hubbard, Christina Goldbaum, and Hwaida Saad. www.nytimes.com/2024/12/21/w... @nytimes.com @benhubbard.bsky.social

nytimes.com

Inside the Final Days of the Assad Regime in Syria (Gift Article)

President Bashar al-Assad, who wielded fear and force over Syria for more than two decades, fled the country under the cover of night — and a fake political address.

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Reposted by Melissa Gatter

Duke University Press @dukepress.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

In "The Time beneath the Concrete," Nasser Abourahme argues that settler colonialism in #Palestine is always as much an attempt to conquer time as it is to conquer land. Read the introduction for free now. buff.ly/3BwdKyr

Cover of The Time beneath the Concrete: Palestine between Camp and Colony by Nasser Abourahme. Cover is blue and features an image of an art installation featuring six human figures in concrete. There is some Arabic text above them on the right. The title is in white at the top of the design, the subtitle beneath that in red, and the author name at the bottom in white.

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

My feed is a mix of celebration in Syria and destruction in Palestine. How I wish to see Palestinians share the joy of liberation in the very near future 🍉

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Reposted by Melissa Gatter

Mai El-Sadany @maitelsadany.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

If you want to fill your Friday with something truly remarkable, take a moment to look at the images and videos from across Syria today, where Syrians are celebrating the first Friday following the fall of the 54-year Assad family rule. ✊❤️

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

This is why time matters in migration debates. Migration is not just about HOW or WHERE we move but HOW LONG it takes us to do so. The question of 'how long' does a lot of work to socialize certain people to the kinds of futures they can access. (8/8)

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

Borders aren't about keeping people out, but about distinguishing between people within the borders. Lengthy processes make migrants look like they're a burden, lazy or loitering. (7/8)

theborderchronicle.com

No Borders as a Practical Political Project: A Podcast with Nandita Sharma

“This is the moment of solidarity. This is the moment for mutual support.”

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

Immigration systems also affect how someone settles into society once they make it across the border. Getting in is just the start, it often takes months or years to get a long-term visa and then a job, home, etc. (6/8)

theconversation.com

Novak Djokovic was detained for five days – refugees in the same hotel have been there for years

The tennis star’s short stay in the Park hotel is a far cry from the years many refugees spend waiting for action.

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

System changes are purposefully unpredictable. Look at the chaos caused by the new UK e-visa: it is not that the system can't keep up, it is a decision made by the government KNOWING the system can't keep up. It plays into the hostile environment within and beyond its borders. (5/8)

theguardian.com

Use expired ID to get to UK, says minister in charge of flawed eVisas

People will be allowed to use expired identity documents amid ‘real fear’ of another Windrush-style scandal

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

AND govts use lengthy asylum processing times to keep up the appearance that they are overwhelmed by the large number of people coming to their country. But we know that tens of thousands of people is a relatively manageable number. (4/8)

theguardian.com

UK asylum system would descend into chaos without more hotels, says minister

Angela Eagle said short-term solution necessary despite Labour election pledge to end use of accommodation

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

The border is slow by design for certain kinds of people. Asylum claims take years to process. Asylum seekers are intentionally put through exhausting and lengthy interviews that create suspicion about their legitimacy. It is a deterrence strategy... (3/8)

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

Governments use time to manage their borders. They slow down and speed up immigration processes as needed. The border closes quickly and opens slowly. Trump's Muslim Ban, for example, created a new border overnight, affecting refugees who waited years to make it to the US. (2/8)

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

Like clockwork, European countries have started halting the processing of Syrian asylum claims. Is it surprising how quickly otherwise slow immigration systems can implement change if they want to? No! Let's nerd out about time, shall we? 🧵 (1/8)

reuters.com

European countries put Syrian asylum bids on hold after Assad's fall

European countries put asylum applications from Syrians on hold until further notice on Monday after rebels seized the Syrian capital and President Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia following 13 years of civil war.

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Reposted by Melissa Gatter

MSF Sea @msfsea.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Just two days after the fall of the al-Assad regime in Syria, several European countries have seized the opportunity to publicly announce that they will suspend the processing of asylum applications from Syrians. 🧵⤵️

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Reposted by Melissa Gatter

Faisal Al Yafai @faisalalyafai.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

NEW: For some, the idea that Syrians could free themselves from despotism seems so implausible it’s dismissed outright — like prisoners hesitating to walk out of an open cell door, writes Layla Maghribi in @newlinesmag.bsky.social newlinesmag.com/argument/lib...

newlinesmag.com

Liberation in Syria Is a Victory Worth Embracing

The country is now free, yet some remain trapped in the past

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Reposted by Melissa Gatter

Kareem Shaheen @kshaheen.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

I’m not really worthy to write anything about beautiful Syria today but they asked me to and so I tried through tears to write some words that are inadequate but here they are anyway: Dawn in Damascus @newlinesmag.bsky.social newlinesmag.com/spotlight/da...

newlinesmag.com

Dawn in Damascus

In the end, Bashar al-Assad had nothing to say to the country he bludgeoned and bled, but what matters now is that his ‘forever’ rule is over

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

Does anyone know any Syrian organizations working on rehabilitation for freed political prisoners and how we can support them?

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

It’s a disaster by design, and it’s been a disaster for some time now. E-visas are just the latest piece of the puzzle.

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

The UK has created street level border guards out of landlords, doctors, employers, universities. As an immigrant in the UK, I haven’t had a physical residence card since 2022, unable to prove my residence to anyone other than my landlord & boss. Borders are everywhere, & I’m one of the privileged.

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

And the work must continue in our own backyards 👇

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Reposted by Melissa Gatter

Nandita Sharma @nsharma101.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

Are we ready to bring this tyrant down? Best to do it before they entrench their power and jail many of their opponents.

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

Getting emotional texting my Syrian friends in camps & across the diaspora. The overwhelm is clear in their voice notes, so much joy after so long, grief for loved ones lost over the years, some prepared to resettle elsewhere. We can figure out what’s next later, they say. But for now, الحمد الله.

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Melissa Gatter @melissagatter.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

I'm overwhelmed by news from Syria - nothing I can say does justice to what their liberation means. Overjoyed and tearful. What a beautiful way to end an otherwise awful year.

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