Anthropology at UM

Join us on Wednesday for the very last Anthropology Seminar of this academic year. At lunchtime, 11.30am-13.00 Lucas Puygrenier will be presenting research on migrants in Malta.

Walk out, walk free? The ambivalence of migrants’ freedom post-detention, or the making of proletarians

Abstract: Migration scholars have extensively analysed the growth of the population deprived of their liberty in the name of border control. Focusing on Malta, the communication shifts attention to the transformations of state-sponsored coercion once migrants get “free”. It shows that the gradual release of former detainees has resulted not in their emancipation but in their proletarianization as the loss of means of subsistence through eviction from state facilities compels them to enter the local labour force. State violence is not subsumed merely in the act of incarceration. Analysing the power relations that emerge in the reverse move of excarceration, this communication suggests investigating a type of constraint that arises not against the freedom of an unwanted population but through its very extension, when the granting of liberty of movement is coupled with the imperative to serve as productive workers.

Lucas Puygrenier is a postdoctoral researcher at the Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. He completed his PhD at Sciences Po (Paris, France) on the transformation of migration policies in Malta in response to growing labour demands, and the shifts from policies of rejection to policies of subaltern inclusion. He published several articles and co-edited the book States and the Making of Others (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024).

Join us for this Roundtable on Friday 29th May at 18.00.

Here's Afnan who is taking Anthropology classes as part of her Masters programme in Humanitarian Action!

Kicking off with one of the core pillars of our University's identity: 🫶 Cultural Diversity 🫶.

Diversity isn’t just something we acknowledge; it’s something that shapes who we are. It brings fresh perspectives, fuels creativity, and builds a stronger, more inclusive community grounded in respect and understanding 🤝.

✨Beyond policies, it’s people who truly make the difference ✨.

Here’s Afnan’s story; stay tuned for more experiences throughout this month.

Equity Office UM

Programm tar-radju fejn jigi intervistat il-Professur Carmel Cassar li jghallem fid-Dipartiment taghna.

Dellijiet: Nisa, sħaħar u l-inkwiżizzjoni 🕰️🪦📜

Permezz ta’ intervista ma’ Prof. Carmel Cassar, il-programm jesplora kif l-Inkwiżizzjoni kienet inqas iffukata fuq superstizzjoni u aktar fuq il-kontroll tal-awtorità, speċjalment meta din tiġi sfidata minn nisa indipendenti. Il-każijiet juru kif id-delitt reliġjuż seta’ jintuża biex jiddixxiplina u jżomm l-ordni soċjali. Hija riflessjoni dwar il-biża’, il-poter u l-mod kif il-ġustizzja kienet taħdem fil-prattika.

Mistieden: Prof. Carmel Cassar

Fun times! UM is organising a festaghana on the 15th May at 12.30!

Let's support this Anthropology Programme that at risk of being closed down!

The Future of Anthropology Is Under Threat in Georgia. Help us to preserve it - Online petition Science is in danger in Georgia. On 16 October 2025, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced a plan to reform universities. This plan envisages the implementation of a ‘one city, one faculty’ policy, which would result in each state university maintaining only one faculty per city th...

The March edition of the University of Malta's Think magazine featured Daniela DeBono and Camilla Cardini's research on from , which looks beyond the spectacle of deportations that we see on social media. In this research, we start by mapping the field, and delve in to the effects of this state practice on deportees, people who are deportable - including those who have built lives in Malta for well over 10 years - and the ripple effects on the wider community.

Grab your copy of Think magazine from University - or access it here: https://thinkmagazine.mt/

On Monday April 27th at 6pm, at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Valletta, Prof. DeBono will be participating in a round table discussing the "Spectacularization of the border". This is part of the Repertoire in Intermedical Mode, a project by Francesco Bertele and curated by Sara d'Alessandro.

The event is open to the public - registration (see below) is required.

Guests:

Daniela DeBono (Head of Department and Associate Professor, Department of Anthropological Sciences, University of Malta)
Filippo Furri (Anthropologist, Border Forensics)
Léa Karam (Program Manager for Social Entrepreneurship)
Niccolò Parigini (Program Manager, Mediterranean Hope)
In conversation with Francesco Bertelé

The second event in the public program Repertoire in Intermedial Mode focuses on the “spectacularization of the border”, a process which turns the border and the control practices associated with it into a media event, transforming a real and systemic phenomenon – migration – into an emergency issue, and thus legitimizing measures of surveillance, exclusion and the management of bodies.

This roundtable brings together academics, researchers and humanitarian workers in a dialogue deepening a research on the intersection between the infosphere and the “border regime”, conducted by artist Francesco Bertelé.

Limited spots available: REGISTRATION REQUIRED through(https://iicvalletta.esteri.it/it/gli_eventi/calendario/repertoire-in-intermedial-mode-public-program/)

IMPORTANT: If the event reaches full capacity, you may still request to be added to the waiting list by emailing [email protected]. Any places that become available will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, with one place assigned per email received.

The event will be held in English

Check out these books generously donated by Professor Chris Hann. A tour of some of his most important contributions to anthropology.