Staff Profiles

Module Coordinator for:

• Culture Language and Society
• Placement Year
• Researching Cross-Cultural Experiences
• Spanish C1(1)
• Spanish C1(2)
• Globalisation in the 21st Century

Also Coordinator of the Dialogue in Migration and Refugee Studies Lecture and Seminar Series

Modules taught

 Undergraduate

• Culture Language and Society

• Business Environment in Europe

• Researching Cross-Cultural Experiences

• Independent Study in Applied Languages

• Spanish C1(1)

• Spanish C1(2)

• Translation Skills

Postgraduate

• Globalisation in the 21st Century

• EU Institutions and Policies

 

Areas of interest

• Migration and diasporas
• Latin America and the Middle East
• Student experience

My research interests focus on migration, identity and diasporas: the way communities perform, produce and reproduce belonging, and the spaces they create and recreate. My main areas of study cover Latin America and the Middle East, and the links between the two regions. In addition, I am interested in the experiences and sense of belonging of students during and after their year abroad, including issues around identity and integration. I am currently researching the Venezuelan migration within Latin America.

My PhD thesis research focused on the active Colombian-Lebanese community in Bogota, focusing on their identity and the importance of social class and religion for their belonging. It followed an ethnographic approach researching the community’s organisations and the divisions that social class and religion caused within it. 

Research group membership

Migration and Refugees

Networks and Localities

Journal articles

• Devis-Amaya E, 'The Venezuelan Migration and the Maduro Regime = La Migración Venezolana y el Régimen de Maduro'
  Dialogo : Digital Military Magazine 2020 (2) (2020) pp.22-27
  Website 

Book chapters

• Devis-Amaya E, 'Demonstrating ethnicity and social class: the Colombian-Lebanese in Bogota' in Montero-Diaz F, Winter F (ed.), Citizenship in the Latin American Upper and Middle Classes: Ethnographic Perspectives on Culture, Politics, and Consumption, Routledge (2019)
  ISBN: 9780815353928 eISBN: 9781351134316
  Abstract

  The Colombian-Lebanese community in Bogota, composed largely of upper- and middle-class families, has existed for over 100 years and maintains several cultural, social, and religious organisations. First arriving in Colombia in the late-nineteenth century, Lebanese immigration has greatly diminished since the 1930s, excepting slight temporary increases during Middle Eastern conflicts and hardship. Lebanese migrants were – and continue to be – diverse in terms of background, political ideology, religious beliefs, ethnic identification and economic means; however, today, the community’s active members are all upper- and middle-class individuals. This chapter focuses on those active community members who are vocal about their membership to the community. It builds on Alfaro-Velcamp’s (2013) argument that descendants of Lebanese immigrants in Latin America have used their Lebaneseness as a mark of foreignness to strengthen their position in society. This mechanism works in a dual capacity: their foreignness allows them to maintain their position in society, whilst their upper- and middle-class status helps them maintain the status of the community, promote its interests, and largely portray their ethnicity on their own terms. Based on ethnographic research and interviews, the chapter explores expressions of citizenship through participation in public demonstrations as an example of this duality.
  

  Website 
• Devis-Amaya E, 'A Perfect Day [encyclopedia entry]' in Ed. Alex Pinar and Salvador Murguia (ed.), Encyclopedia of Contemporary Spanish Film, Rowman and Littlefield (2018)
  ISBN: 9781442271326 eISBN: 9781442271333
  

Other publications

• Devis-Amaya E, 'The Venezuelan Migration in Context: integration and migrant "desirability"'
  (2020) Abstract

  The current situation in Venezuela has been labelled a ‘Humanitarian Crisis’ by different UN organisations as
  well as the International Organisation for Migration (IOM October 2019), which estimates that seven million
  Venezuelans currently need humanitarian assistance - around 23% of the population. According to the United
  Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, to date 4.5 million Venezuelans have left the country (UNHCR,
  October 2019). They have migrated all over the world, but most live within Latin America – with Colombia
  having the largest share. I will argue that there have been two migration waves: one from 1999 to 2014 (starting from the rise to power of President Chavez in Venezuela), and one from 2014 to date (from the start of the intensification of the emigration flow).

  This paper explains the context of the situation that has led to the migration of more than 10% of the
  Venezuelan population; it evaluates the migration patterns and analyses the issues surrounding the integration of Venezuelans into local societies in Latin America. 

  Website 
• Devis-Amaya E, 'Contextualising the Venezuelan Migration Flow'
  

  Article for the Academic Blog of the Oxford Latin American Centre (LAC), University of Oxford

  (2020) Website 
• Devis-Amaya, E, 'The construction of identity and community - performing ethnicity: who are the Colombian-Lebanese?'
  (2014)

Areas of expertise

South-South migration

Migration in Latin America

Migrant identity and migration politics

Conferences

CONFERENCES AND GUEST LECTURES

Universidad del Rosario – November 2021

Online – Bogotá, Colombia. Guest Lecturer for the International Migration Programme.  Open Lecture: ‘No tan nuevo como pensamos: La migración árabe hacia Colombia en perspectiva’.

 

LASA 2021 (Latin American Studies Association) – Crisis global, desigualdades y centralidad de la vida – May 2021

Online, University of Vancouver. Organised and chaired a double-panel and a round table on Venezuelan migration. The round table was called Knowledge interchange on the Venezuelan Migration – lessons from other migrations, times, and contexts; and the double panel was called Venezuelan Migration in a Time of Crisis. I presented a paper titled: ‘Desired and undesired migrants – comparing the experiences of the first and second waves of Venezuelan migration into Colombia’.

 

56th Annual Conference of the Society of Latin American Studies (SLAS) – April 2020

Online, University of Amsterdam. Organised a panel called ‘Challenges of the Venezuelan Migration in Latin America / Desafíos de la migración venezolana en América Latina’ and presented a paper titled ‘La migración venezolana y el régimen de Nicolás Maduro’.

 

Academia Naval de Estudios Estratégicos / Colombian Naval Academy of Strategic Studies – January 2020

Bogotá, Colombia. Gave the inaugural lecture of the lecture series for the Naval Academy of Strategic Studies. My paper was titled “Fenómeno de la Migración Venezolana: Retos, Oportunidades e Impacto en la Seguridad y Defensa de Colombia”.

 

Border Trouble: Moving Through, Between, Within, and Beyond History and Anthropology Workshop – Institute of Latin American Studies (ILAS) – June 2019

Institute of Latin American Studies, University of London. Presented a paper on ‘Barriers to Migrant Integration in Latin America: comparing Arab and Venezuelan migration in the region’.

 

Cultures, Identities & Divisions Seminar Group – February 2019

Oxford Brookes University.  Presented a paper titled ‘Desired and Undesired Migrants: The Lebanese Diaspora in Colombia’ to staff and students from HSS.

 

56th International Conference of Americanists – July 2018

University of Salamanca. Presented a paper entitled: ‘Social and ethnic categorisations: identification and elitism in the Lebanese diaspora’

 

54th Annual Conference of the Society of Latin American Studies (SLAS) – March 2018    

University of Southampton. I was a member of the organising committee, and chair and discussant for two panels on Latin American migration.

 

52nd Annual Conference of the Society of Latin American Studies (SLAS) – April 2016

University of Liverpool. Presented a paper entitled: ‘Demonstrating elite status: The political activism of the Colombian-Lebanese community in Bogota’ on a panel on Migration and Identity.

 

University of Navarra, Pamplona – March 2016

Guest speaker at the University of Navarra to give a talk on the refugee crisis and the EU response.

 

MEXSU ‘Mexico Weekend Study Day: Mexico Today – May 2014

University of Southampton. Presented and led a discussion of the film La Ciudad, directed by David Riker.

 

24th Annual Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism (ASEN) Conference ‘Nationalism and Belonging’ – April 2014

London School of Economics (LSE). Presented a paper titled ‘Dual Belongings, Contesting Identities and Maintaining Social Status: the Colombian-Lebanese in Bogota’ on the panel Belonging in South America

 

7th Annual Humanities Postgraduate Conference: Adaptation And Assimilation – March 2014

University of Southampton. Presented a paper titled ‘Identity Construction and Social Status: the fluid adaptation of the Colombian-Lebanese in Bogota’ on the panel Adaptation and Assimilation of National Identity

 

5th Annual Humanities Postgraduate Conference: ‘Interactions And Identity’ – March 2012

University of Southampton. Presented a paper titled ‘Political events, Ethnicity and Society: the case of the Colombian-Lebanese community in Bogota’ on the panel Negotiating Inclusion.

 

Sussex Centre for Migration Research Graduate Students Workshop ‘Migration Research in Progress’ – July 2011

University of Sussex. Presented a paper titled ‘The influence of religion on the Colombian-Lebanese community in Bogota’ on the panel Integration, Ethnicity and Religion.

 

18th Sociolinguistics Symposium – September 2010

University of Southampton. I was part of a team of helpers at the Symposium, attended by more than 600 delegates. Duties included liaising with chairs and presenters, answering delegates’ questions and solving arising problems.  

 

46th Annual Conference of the Society of Latin American Studies (SLAS) – April 2010

University of Bristol. Presented a paper titled ‘The re-identification of the Colombian-Lebanese community in Bogota’ on a panel on Migration and Identity.