Mahanirban Calcutta Research group

The living archives on Calcutta Research Group is a digital repository of various aspects of migration, forced migration and refugee issues, labour migration, environmental disaster, ethnic conflict, politics, ethics, care and the regime of protection. The special focus of this archive is on the recent challenges faced by the migrants and refugees due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The archive is a collection of news articles from newspapers, web magazines, blogs, etc., on the issues faced by the migrant labourers during the pandemic. It also has a collection of You Tube videos on lectures on COVID-19 and other related issues. The archive will continue to grow with subsequent additions.

The links to the entries in the archive are classified alphabet-wise to make it useful for the students, researchers, activists, and journalists working on the same issues. This digital repository will help them understand the manifold nature of the crisis faced by the migrants and refugees in the time of COVID-19.

Index for COVID Resources... Click here

• Webinar on "Afghanistan: Transition and Justice ".

• Public Lecture by Achin Chakraborty on "Perspectives on Human Mobility: Normative and Political " 

• A CRG Series in the Corona Times: Six Lectures on Migrants and Refugees , in collaboration with Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, South Asia & Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna.

• Public Lecture by Prof. Ranabir Samaddar 'A Pandemic and the Politics of Life' organised by the Kerala Council for Historical Research.

• Keynote Lecture by Prof. Ranabir Samaddar in the "Young South Asia Scholars' Meet 2021" organised by the Graduate Institute, Geneva.

• A Conversation with Ranabir Samaddar on “Karl Marx and the Postcolonial Age".

• Refugees & Border Securitization: The EU-India People's Summit LIVESTREAM with Ranabir Samaddar 

• Dr Ranabir Samaddar, a political scientist who has long observed the state and its shifts, says this fight is about culture. “Cultural battles are going on everywhere,” he says in this podcast interview with Sidharth Bhatia. He thinks that will play a role but whatever the political outcome, those conflicts will continue to take place.

• Tale of a Migrant City (...Ekti Porijayee Sohorer Itikotha) is the second in CRG's series Calcutta: Migrant City. Funded by Institute of Human Sciences, Vienna, this educational film addresses the growth and development of refugee colonies in South Calcutta.

• Here's the updated and longer look at CRG's 2020 journey. With Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung and IWM - Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen #bordersofanepidemic #rosaluxemburgstiftung.

• Women Surviving COVID in Africa­­ Renu Modi, University of Mumbai in India, and Amina Hersi, Oxfam International , Kenya on 29 December 2020 Supported by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Institute of Human Sciences, Vienna, and several other Universities and Institutions in India 2020. ,

• The Mahesh Chandra Regmi Lecture 2020­­Ranabir Samaddar on The Present Epidemiological Moment and Bio-Politics.

• Webinar Five: The Dalit: In Search of a Homeland Supported by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Institute of Human Sciences, Vienna, and several other Universities and Institutions in India 2020.

• Webinar Four: Covid 19 in South Asia: Regional Perspectives on Vulnerabilities and Dispossessions Supported by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Institute of Human Sciences, Vienna, and several other Universities and Institutions in India 2020.

• Webinar Three: Covid 19 and Migrant Labour: Laws, Policies, Practices Supported by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Institute of Human Sciences, Vienna, and several other Universities and Institutions in India 2020.

• Webinar Two: COVID 19: Redrawn Borders, Redefined Lives Supported by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Institute of Human Sciences, Vienna, and several other Universities and Institutions in India 2020.

• Webinar One: COVID 19: Public Health Crisis and Borders of an Epidemic Sudden Visibility of Migrant Workers Supported by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Institute of Human Sciences, Vienna, and several other Universities and Institutions in India 2020.

• Borders of an Epidemic

• A CRG Documentary Film on " Calcutta a Migrant City" Supported by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, 2019.

• Politics of aid and protection in Afghanistan: The discussion during the interview with Orzala Nemat, Director of the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, Kabul, centred on how various international actors and aid workers in Afghanistan often serve their own strategic interests in the name of providing protection to war victims. The interview was conducted by Madhurilata Basu, Assistant Professor of Sarojini Naidu College for Women, Kolkata (25-30 November 2019).

• Refugee Squat in City Plaza, Athens: An interview with Olga Lafazani, Lecturer in the University of Thessaly, Volos and one of the main coordinators of the refugee squat in City Plaza, Athens discussed how they planned the large-scale housing squat for refugees in City Plaza in Athens and how it became a focal point for refugee solidarity movement in the region. The interview was conducted by Rajat Roy, eminent journalist and a member of the Calcutta Research Group, Kolkata (25-30 November 2019).

• Labour Migration in South Africa: Yordanos S. Estifanos, Independent Researcher, Addis Ababa, was in discussion with Sarah Nandi, a Fulbright scholar affiliated to the Sanskrit College and University of Kolkata. Estifanos discussed his research on labour migration in South Africa and the vagaries of the informal labour market (25-30 November 2019).

• Protection of Women in Armed Conflict in Bangladesh: The Making of a National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, a talk on the refugee protection regime in Bangladesh, by Meghna Guhathakurta of the Research Initiatives Bangladesh, Dhaka, stressed on the need of gender sensitive protection mechanisms(25-30 November 2019).

• Documentary Film on Research Workshop and International Conference on the State of the Global Protection System for Refugees and Migrants organised by the Calcutta Research Group in collaboration with the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (25-30 November 2018).

• A discussion on reimagining fortress North America and fortress Europe in the context of the recent global migration flows and shifting imaginaries of borderland with Jennifer Hyndman, Departments of Social Science and Geography, & Centre for Refugee Studies, York University, Toronto, William Walters, Department of Political Science and Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Carleton University, Ottawa and Federico Rahola, DISFOR, University of Genova, Genova .

• Special Lecture  by Brett Neilson, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University on “ Data Centres as Logistical Infrastructure and the Geopolitics of Automation”, dated 2 September, Kolkata.

• Special Lecture by Nelli Kambouri, Centre for Gender Studies, Panteion University, Athens on “Politics of Infrastructure: The case of ‘Piraeus’ “dated 3 September 2018.

• Lectures by Petar Bojanić, Nilüfer Göle, Ranabir Samaddar on " New Practice of Theory".

• Lecture by Ranabir Samaddar on " The Case of India and the Global Refugee Regime".

• Discussion by Nilüfer Göle, Sandro Mezzadra, Ranabir Samaddar on " The Global Left between Race and Religion- Competing of Converging Categories?"

• A Roundtable discussion on the NRC on 30.07.2018, that deemed more than 40 lakh people to be non-citizens. Mr. Rajat Ray moderated the discussion between Prof. Ranabir Samaddar, Prof. Samir Das and Mr Subir Bhaumik.