Ep4 - Dora-Olivia Vicol and Johanna Mugler on work, migration and global relations
In this episode on work, the mobile workforce and global relations, Miranda talks to Dr Dora-Olivia Vicol and Dr Johanna Mugler. Johanna is a social anthropologist and Senior Researcher at the University of Fribourg. She is also an unusual anthropologist in that she “studies up,” spending time in large institutions with people who do not have time and do not necessarily want to share — a tricky proposition for an anthropologist. This work is especially important because it is easy to forget that in places of politics and bureaucracy there is also culture, a way of doing things. Doing anthropology with the powerful is one of the key tasks in the discipline. In this episode, Miranda talks to Johanna about her research with tax norm negotiators at the OECD — who holds power in these negotiations and why it matters, and whether supranational agreements or institutions could create global redistribution. Listeners will hear from Johanna later in the episode. Olivia is someone Miranda finds truly inspiring. Olivia became interested in employment justice while researching for her PhD in anthropology, doing fieldwork with Romanian migrants and realising there was a real need for advice and support within this community. After her PhD, instead of chasing academic posts, she set up the Work Rights Centre, a charity dedicated to helping migrants and disadvantaged Britons access employment justice and improve their social mobility. The charity has grown exponentially since it was founded. Advancing the migrant perspective is especially revealing when studying tax — how do people come to belong, and how do they navigate multiple fiscal systems? Links to Olivia’s work: https://www.workrightscentre.org/ Publications by Olivia: https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/social-analysis/64/2/sa640206.xml https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/anthropology-and-tax/becoming-the-good-migrant-how-romanian-migrants-mobilise-taxpayer-status/1868DD9E3692210265A2C93855B03AAA Links to Johanna’s work: https://www.unifr.ch/directory/en/people/446205/5c650 Publications by Johanna on international tax relations: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/anthropology-and-tax/sharing-beyond-the-state-international-tax-norm-negotiations-at-the-oecd/0E9A2AB9DFCD372CB2880498104FBA04 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07329113.2018.1557434 This is a Sonoloom Podcasts Production - www.sonoloom.com
