Stigmatization, Stereotyping and the Struggle to Belong: Yemenis of African Descent in Yemen

Lecture by Dr. Marina de Regt (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam).

In this presentation Marina de Regt will share the preliminary findings of a research project about so-called “muwalladin” (people of mixed descent) in Yemen, carried out under the auspices of the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies with funding of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The study focuses specifically on Yemenis of mixed Yemeni-African descent. Since the start of the civil war in Yemen, stigmatization and discrimination on the basis of one’s family background has increased and so have racist practices against people of African descent. What are the main social, economic and security challenges that Muwalladin are facing since the outbreak of the war? How are Muwalladin navigating their identities in war-torn Yemen? And which role do gender and generation play? 

Marina de Regt is Associate Professor at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She specializes on gender and migration in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa with special attention for Yemen and Ethiopia. She is the author of Pioneers or Pawns: Women Health Workers and the Politics of Development in Yemen (Syracuse University Press 2007), and she published extensively about migrant domestic workers in Yemen.

This event will be held online, please register in advance: https://tinyurl.com/5xswd368