Staff Profiles

Module Coordinator for:

• Culture Language and Society
• Spanish B2(1)
• Spanish B2(2)
• Spanish 6
• Spanish C1(1)
• Spanish C1(2)
• Globalisation in the 21st Century

Modules taught

 Undergraduate

• Culture Language and Society

• Business Environment in Europe

• Independent Study in Applied Languages

• Spanish 6

• Spanish C1(1)

• Spanish C1(2)

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.

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

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)