Bevezető: utak és úton lévők

A kvalitatív módszerekkel nyert kutatási eredményeink értelmezése során a transznacionális tér, a transznacionális és az etnikai migráció elméleti és szemléleti kereteit egyaránt figyelembe vettük. Az általunk vizsgált migrációs folyamatok transznacionális térben zajlanak, és a transznacionális irodalomban leírt migráns élethelyzetek, gyakorlatok – különböző nemzetállamokban elhelyezkedő lokalitásokhoz való egyidejű, bár eltérő intenzitású kötődés, kapcsolatok – több példájával is találkoztunk. Ludger Pries nyomán a transznacionális migrációt és a transznacionális migráns alakját olyan ideáltípusnak tekintettük, amelyhez az egyes migráns utak és helyzetek csupán közelítenek, és empirikus eredményeink alapján azt mondhatjuk, hogy a valóban plurilokális, vagyis a két helyhez való egyidejű, intenzív és tartós kötődés s az ehhez kapcsolódó gyakorlatok csupán a migránsok kisebbségét, illetve a migrációs életpályák egy-egy szakaszát jellemzik. A vizsgált migrációs folyamatokban az etnicitás strukturális tényezőként és a migráns tapasztalatok értelmezési kereteként egyaránt perdöntő szerepet játszik. Az etnikai migráció szakirodalomban tárgyalt mindhárom magyarázó modellje – az anyaországba való hazatérés, a gazdasági okokból való, illetve a kisebbségi létben elszenvedett sérelmek által ösztönzött migráció – alkalmas a migrációt kiváltó és mozgató okok elemzésére, a migráns narratívák értelmezésére, azt azonban nem állíthatjuk, hogy bármelyikük kizárólagos érvényre tehet szert. Más kutatókhoz hasonlóan Rogers Brubaker meghatározását tartjuk a leginkább gyümölcsözőnek, aki az etnikai migráció tág értelmezését használva minden olyan vándorlási folyamatot etnikai migrációnak tekint, amelyben az etnicitás kulturális és szimbolikus tőkeként szabályozó szerepet játszik. This special issue of Tér és Társadalom presents some results of an international research project carried out by researchers from Switzerland, Hungary and Serbia between 2010 and 2012. The topic of the research was “Integrating (Trans-)national Migrants in Transition States” (TRANSMIG) and was financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). The research aimed to explore and interpret migration flows from the Vojvodina (Serbia) to Hungary and from ex-Yugoslav republics to the Vojvodina. In the first period of the last twenty years, wars which contributed to the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the formation of new national states have caused migration flows. After the change of the millennium, educational migration of Vojvodina Hungarian youth can be considered the most important migratory movement from the Vojvodina to Hungary. Labour (economic) migration also occurs, but this cannot be understood as a one-way movement, since in the Hungarian–Serbian border zone migrants from the Vojvodina who already resettled to Hungary commute to the Vojvodina. While interpreting the qualitative research data the theoretical frameworks and approaches of transnational space, transnationalism and ethnic migration were taken into consideration. The migration movement in question occurs in a transnational social space where migrants are in constant motion. By their movements and actions that space is continually recreated. With Ludger Pries we see a transnational migrant as an ideal type to whom individual migratory movements and positions only approximate. Based on our empirical results we can conclude that real pluri-local, intensive and long-lasting bonding to two places at the same time and the relating practices only characterise a minority of migrants and certain sections of migratory careers. In the migration processes studied, ethnicity as a term is needed as a “structural factor” and frame of interpretation to approach migrant experiences. All three explanatory models for ethnic migration – return migration, economic migration, migration motivated by grievances suffered in a minority situation – are suitable to analyse the reasons that initiated migration and kept it in motion. They are helpful in interpreting migrant narratives. However, none of the reasons can claim exclusive validity. Agreeing with other researchers, we find Roger Brubaker’s definition the most useful: Ethnic migration should be comprehended in a broad sense. In addition, every migration can be considered as “ethnically” motivated where ethnicity plays a dominant role as a cultural and symbolic capital.

Transferrin immunoextraction for determination of carbohydrate-deficient transferrin in human serum by capillary zone electrophoresis

CZE-based assays for carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) in which serum is mixed with an Fe(III) ion-containing solution prior to analysis are effective approaches for the determination of CDT in patient samples. Sera of patients with progressed diseases, however, are prone to interferences comigrating with transferrin (Tf) that prevent the proper determination of CDT by CZE in these samples. The need of a simple and economic approach to immunoextract Tf from human serum prompted us to investigate the use of a laboratory-made anti-Tf spin column containing polyclonal rabbit anti-human Tf antibodies linked to Sepharose 4 Fast Flow beads. This article reports extraction column manufacturing and column characterization with sera having normal and elevated CDT levels. The developed procedure was applied to a number of relevant hepatology and dialysis patient samples and could thereby be shown to represent an effective method for extraction and concentration of all Tf isoforms. Furthermore, lipemic sera were delipidated using a mixture of diisopropyl ether and butanol prior to immunoextraction. CDT could unambiguously be determined in all pretreated samples.

Three Shades of Embeddedness, State Capitalism as the Informal Economy, Emic Notions of the Anti-Market, and Counterfeit Garments in the Mauritian Export Processing Zone

Purpose This paper furthers the analysis of patterns regulating capitalist accumulation based on a historical anthropology of economic activities revolving around and within the Mauritian Export Processing Zone (EPZ). Design/methodology/approach This paper uses fieldwork in Mauritius to interrogate and critique two important concepts in contemporary social theory – “embeddedness” and “the informal economy.” These are viewed in the wider frame of social anthropology’s engagement with (neoliberal) capitalism. Findings A process-oriented revision of Polanyi’s work on embeddedness and the “double movement” is proposed to help us situate EPZs within ongoing power struggles found throughout the history of capitalism. This helps us to challenge the notion of economic informality as supplied by Hart and others. Social implications Scholars and policymakers have tended to see economic informality as a force from below, able to disrupt the legal-rational nature of capitalism as practiced from on high. Similarly, there is a view that a precapitalist embeddedness, a “human economy,” has many good things to offer. However, this paper shows that the practices of the state and multinational capitalism, in EPZs and elsewhere, exactly match the practices that are envisioned as the cure to the pitfalls of capitalism. Value of the paper Setting aside the formal-informal distinction in favor of a process-oriented analysis of embeddedness allows us better to understand the shifting struggles among the state, capital, and labor.