- Yntiso Deko Gebre

You are here: INDR Home

About INDR

Search Member Profiles

Yntiso Deko Gebre

Yntiso Deko Gebre Profile Page

Online Status	OFFLINE
Member Since	11/13/2007

Additional Info

Company:	Addis Ababa University - Department of Sociology & Social Administration
Address:	P.O. Box 1176
City:	Addis Ababa
Country:	Ethiopia
Phone #:	+251-1-126029
Short Statement:	I would like to take this opportunity to raise two issues that are inadequately addressed in displacement theory, research, and policy. First, population resettlement is conceptualized as having two distinct forms: voluntary and involuntary. This approach not only simplifies complex migration processes thereby hindering conceptual clarity, but also fails to offer adequate policy/legal protection to the displaced people. Conventional wisdom provides that voluntary settlers are responsible for the consequences of their decision to migrate. Research reveals that people are increasingly lured to resettlements through deception and sustained propaganda. Authorities and interest groups behind relocation initiatives tend to portray such induced resettlements as voluntary to avoid responsibility. This warrants the need to redefine migration behaviors in a manner that would (1) clarify that genuinely voluntary migrations stand apart from induced-voluntary movements, and (2) ensure that any agency that perpetrates acts of inducement to make people leave their homes and resettle elsewhere are held accountable for the consequences. For details of the new approach, please read my article in the Journal of Refugee Studies, Vol. 15, No. 3, 2002. Second, displacement has the capacity to disrupt the lives of different categories of people: refugees, resettlers, and host populations. Policy makers, funding agencies, and researchers often overlook the implications of resettlement for host populations. For example, resettlers and refugees usually receive aid, research coverage, and policy attention, while the plight of the host people remains largely unnoticed. My recent study in Ethiopia suggests that during massive resettlements, the host people, particularly powerless communities, are likely to encounter displacement and impoverishment risks similar to that of relocatees. Therefore, the analytical categories and models used to understand the situation of resettlers, particularly the Impoverishment Risks and Reconstruction model developed by Prof. Michael Cernea, can also be employed to examine the experiences of the hosts. For details, please read my article in Human Organization, Vol. 62, No. 1, 2003."
Displacement Experience:	Conducted dissertation and consultancy researches in Metekel, Northwestern Ethiopia, to examine the implications of the 1980s controversial resettlement program in Ethiopia for the settlers and the host population, 1994 and 1998-1999; Co-organized an international symposium on “Multidimensionality of Displacement Risks in Africa,” held in Kyoto, Japan, on 2-3 November 2002.
Publications:	1) Contextual Determination of Migration Behaviors: The Ethiopian Resettlement in Light of Conceptual Constructs (appeared in Journal of Refugee Studies Vol 15, No.3, September 2002; find here soon) 2) Resettlement and the Unnoticed Losers: Impoverishment Disasters among the Gumz in Ethiopia (will appear soon in Human Organization Vol. 62, No. 1, 2003. The abstract is available at the Society for Applied Anthropology: http://www.sfaa.net/ho/main/forth.html
Accomplishments:	Lecturer, Department of Sociology & Social Administration, Addis Ababa University, 1988-1994; Research Fellow, the Center for African Area Studies, Kyoto University, 1995; 2001-2003.
Highest Degree:	Ph.D., Anthropology, University of Florida, May 2001.

Forum

Simpleboard forum component is not installed. Please contact your site administrator.

Cote d'Ivoire:Protest by Social Scientists

A large group of West Africa, Europe, and North American academics and social scientists, many of whom are students of population displacement, have signed onto an editorial written and circulated by a group of West African academics and social scientists. They argue that the former President of Cote d'Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo, is abusively clinging to power after having blatantly tried to falsifiy the recent elections. The point out that international bodies have confirmed that the opposition candidate, Alassane Ouattara, has defeated Gbagbo. Nonetheless, the Gbagbo and his military supporters prevent the access to power of the newly-elected President. The likelihood of renewed violent conflict, civil war, and bloodshed in Cote d'Ivoire is high and increasing, involving obvious risks of renewed massive uprooting and population displacement.

Login & Registration

Members Online

No Users Online