"New Keywords: Migration and Borders" is a collaborative writing project aimed at developing a nexus of terms and concepts that fill-out the contemporary problematic of migration. It moves beyond traditional and critical migration studies by building on cultural studies and post-colonial analyses, and by drawing on a diverse set of longstanding author engagements with migrant movements. The paper is organized in four parts (i)

Against the background of the research project entitled ‘Transit Migration’ (2002–2004), on migration regimes in Turkey, Greece and the Balkan region, the article will discuss methodological and conceptual problems and challenges of qualitative studies of transit migration. By analysing diverse practices and conditions of ‘transit migrations’ the article will argue against attempts to qualitatively define the phenomena. Rather, it suggests applying the concept of ‘precarious transit zone’ in order to grasp the complexity, unsteadiness, and multi‐directionality of many migrational ‘transit‐biographies’. On an ethnographic level the concept of ‘transit zone’ allows a consideration of different figures of transit migrants from those in the traditional sense of the term, visa‐overstayers or rejected asylum seekers transiting diverse countries on their way forward and increasingly also on their difficult way back to their countries of origin as well as the increasing number of migrants ‘stuck in mobility’. Moreover, the concept urges migration research to adopt an ‘ethnographic regime approach’, which implies a multi‐dimensional research design. It combines ethnographic research with discourse analyses and an analytical focus on the macro level. This shows that transit migration is not only shaped by migration related policies by the EU, nation‐states and international/ intergovernmental organisations, but it is shaped by ‘economies of transit’. Additionally an ethnographic regime approach also analyses the impact of academic research itself in re‐constructing categories used by the governing bodies. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Trace DNA is often found in forensic science investigations. Experience has shown that it is difficult to retrieve a DNA profile when trace DNA is collected from clothing. The aim of this study was to compare four different DNA collection techniques on six different types of clothing in order to determine the best trace DNA recovery method. The classical stain recovery technique using a wet cotton swab was tested against dry swabbing, scraping and a new method, referred to as the mini-tape lifting technique. Physical contact was simulated with three different "perpetrators" on 18 machine-washed garments. DNA was collected with the four different DNA recovery methods and subjected to standard PCR-based DNA profiling. The comparison of STR results showed best results for the mini-tape lifting and scraping methods independent of the type of clothing. The new mini-tape lifting technique proved to be an easy and reliable DNA collection method for textiles.

The migrations of 2015 have led to a temporary destabilization of the European border and migration regime. In this contribution, we trace the process of destabilization to its various origins, which we locate around the year 2011, and offer a preliminary assessment of the attempts at re-stabilization. We employ the notion of "border (as) conflict" to emphasize that crisis and exception lies at the very core of the European border and migration regime and its four main dimensions of externalization, techno-scientific borders, an internal mobility regime for asylum seekers, and humanitarization.

The au pair program in general is still known as a form of cultural exchange program and a good possibility for young women to spend a year abroad, although it has undergone great changes during the last 10 years. This article argues that due to different socio-economic and cultural processes in Western postindustrial societies as well as in the eastern and southern parts of the world the au pair program is becoming a form of domestic work with quite similar working and living conditions to that of live-in migrant domestic workers. This article which is based on two empirical studies on the globalizing au pair business in Eastern and Western Europe as well in the United States looks into the motivations and expectations, the living conditions and interactions between the au pairs and the employer families and contrasts these findings with the discourse of the au pair agencies still advertising au pair as a form of cultural exchange. In doing so the paper can show that it is the still dominant image of au-pair as a cultural exchange program (disarticulating the work aspect) that leaves the young au pair women even more vulnerable to exploitation: 'big sisters' are the best domestic servants. This article draws attention to the racialized economization of the private sphere and care work, the inherent traps and exploitative features of this very specific work place. keywords gender; globalization; transnational migration; domestic work; au pair; new division of reproductive labor feminist review 77 2004

<p>Las migraciones del año 2015 y la lenta e inadecuada respuesta por parte de la Unión Europea ha generado una grave crisis política. Las instituciones y las políticas en relación al régimen de fronteras y migraciones europeas que han evolucionado desde los tratados de Schengen de 1985 y 1990 y la inauguración del Sistema Europeo Común de Asilo con el Tratado de Amsterdam (1997) no han sido capaces de formular, y menos aún de implementar, una respuesta rápida y apropiada. Consideramos que pese a la actual percepción de la “crisis de los refugiados”, la Unión Europea se enfrenta a una crisis más profunda y sistémica de sus políticas de migración y fronteras, enrizada no tanto en el fenómeno migratorio de 2015 sino en el colapso del régimen de frontera mediterráneo durante la primavera árabe de 2011. Esta generó una serie de controversias en torno a cuestiones como la parcialidad de los mecanismos de distribución de los refugiados del sistema de Dublín, así como la creciente indignación publica frente a las tragedias en el mediterráneo, ejemplificado por la operación Mare Nostrum lanzada por Italia a finales de 2013. Actualmente, observamos perspectivas heterogéneas para resolver la crisis. No todas pueden ser compatibles con el sistema Schengen en la medida en que la re-institución de los controles fronterizos nacionales es parte de su fundamento. Otras perspectivas implican, en algunos casos, un cambio radical hacia una mayor europeización de las políticas de migración y fronteras, como la creación de la Oficina de Asilo Europea y la Vigilancia Europea para las Fronteras y las Costas. En base a una investigación etnográfica del sureste de la Unión Europea, analizaremos estos desarrollos en torno a las dinámicas actuales de de- y restablecimiento de Schengen.</p><p><strong>Recibido</strong>: 19 mayo 2016<strong><br /></strong><strong>Aceptado</strong>: 21 junio 2016<br /><strong>Publicación en línea</strong><span>: 28 mayo 2018</span></p>

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