Migration

MIGRATION 1st Global Conference Call for Participation 2017 A Cultures, Traditions, Societies Research Stream Saturday 1st April – Monday 3rd April 2017 Lisbon, Portugal Migration has defined our age perhaps more than any other single issue, as the 20th and 21st centuries have been characterized by prolonged global mobility on a massive scale. Total estimates of the number of migrants, both international and internal, vary widely but the United Nations puts the number at approximately 300 million. The scale of this global migration and its effects are reshaping the world to the extent that in many areas, this level of mobility has created a new 'normal' or status quo that challenges the idea of the nation state and old notions of collective core identities and mainstream cultures. Migration is routinely associated with crisis, and here, the current Syrian refugee crisis comes to mind but it is by no means the only one. Other examples of crisis migration include those connected with political uprisings, wars, famine and other environmental disasters, and various global socio-economic crises in a broad range of locations that are not isolated to one single area of the world. However, crisis is not the sole factor in determining who migrates and how. The movement of these roughly 300 million individuals, living temporarily or permanently outside their place of birth, is motivated by a heterogeneous set of circumstances. So, while some are forced to flee their homes due to conflict or disaster, others leave their homes as part of the international flow of labour in increasingly globalized economies in order to escape poverty. Some leave home not because of an acute crisis but, rather, in order to pursue opportunities in education and employment. And a relatively small group of individuals with sufficient wealth/privilege constitute a kind of transnational class of global vagabonds and migrate at will for leisure as long-term visitors/'expats,' with some choosing to retire in their adopted homes. Thus, for some (for example, international refugees, exiles, and IDPs or internally displaced persons), migration is a forced, violent displacement that is accompanied by the psychological trauma of the loss of one's home/homeland, while for others it is a much more mundane necessity or even a voluntary pleasure. Therefore, any discussion of migration needs to acknowledge this hetereogeneity, since the experience of global migration is as varied as the causes for movement. Migrants who leave their place of birth permanently may come think of themselves as members of a diasporic community, or as transnational, and/or as citizens and become integrated into the national cultures of their new homes. As a result of xenophobia and other issues, there are those migrants who will remain disenfranchised and marginalized outsiders in their reluctant or indifferent host countries. Moreover, there are those migrants who will remain away from home only temporarily and return once academic degrees are complete, or upon retirement from the workforce, or once the conflict or disaster at home has abated. Regardless of the status or cause of their migration, each of these individuals is confronted with a variety of competing issues including acceptance and belonging, exclusion, exploitation, and issues of security and survival. Whatever the causes of mobility, global migration has had and will continue to have significant consequences for national identities and cultures, economics, education, food security, social infrastructure including health services, and politics and governance. This inter- and multi-disciplinary project seeks to explore the contemporary experience of migration, to pose questions about how and why people move, and study the effects of that mobility. The project seeks to examine how migration and the experiences of migration are conceived, discussed, represented, and understood, and how that understanding is subsequently applied or put into practice in governance and policy. The Migration project encourages innovative and creative interdisciplinary dialogues. We warmly welcome papers and presentations from all disciplines, professions and vocations that struggle to understand what it means for people to experience migration and to understand the effects of that global migration. We invite presentations, informal talks, performances, workshops, directed discussions, screenings and other types of interactive engagement that address topics as they pertain to migration, including but not limited to the following: Activism Child care and child development Conflict Demographics Discrimination/exploitation, inclusion vs. exclusion Economics and the global labour force Education Environment (including climate change, natural disaster) Exile Famine and food security Gender and sex Globalization Governance and policy Health and life sciences Human rights Identities ('home', community, ethnicity, race, language, religion, gender, and sexuality – includes queer and gendered identities) Indigenous peoples Internally displaced persons (IDPs) Law Leisure/tourism Nationalism and nation identity NGOs Psychology Representing migration (including the visual and performing arts, and literary and non-literary narrative representations, both oral and written) Refugees Returning Social infrastructure, social services Technology and social media Urbanization Visitors, retirees, and expats (long-term) Further details and information can be found at the conference website: http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/at-the-interface/cultures-traditions-societies/research-streams/migration/call-for-presentations/ Details about our reviewing policy can be found here: http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/at-the-interface/cultures-traditions-societies/research-streams/migration/call-for-presentations/details-and-information/ What to Send 300 word abstracts, proposals and other forms of contribution should be submitted by Friday 28th October 2016. All submissions be minimally double reviewed, under anonymous (blind) conditions, by a global panel drawn from members of the Project Team and the Advisory Board. In practice our procedures usually entail that by the time a proposal is accepted, it will have been triple and quadruple reviewed. You will be notified of the panel's decision by Friday 11th November 2016. If your submission is accepted for the conference, a full draft of your contribution should be submitted by Friday 3rd March 2017. Abstracts may be in Word, RTF or Notepad formats with the following information and in this order: a) author(s), b) affiliation as you would like it to appear in programme, c) email address, d) title of proposal, e) body of proposal, f) up to 10 keywords. E-mails should be entitled: Migration Abstract Submission Where to Send Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to both Organising Chairs: Organising Chairs: Jonathan Rollins jrollins@arts.ryerson.ca Rob Fisher: migration@inter-disciplinary.net This event is an inclusive interdisciplinary research and publishing project. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting. All papers accepted for and presented at the conference must be in English. Conference Outcomes and Outputs The conferences we organise form a continual stream of conversations, activities and projects which grow and evolve in different directions. The outcomes and 'outputs' which can productively flow from these is a dynamic response to the gatherings themselves. And as our meetings are attended by people from different backgrounds, professions and vocations, the range of desirable outcomes are potentially diverse, fluid and appropriate to what took place. All accepted papers presented at the conference are eligible to be selected for publication in a hard copy paperback volume (the structure of which is to be determined post conference and subject to certain criteria). The selection and review process is outlined in the conference materials. Other publishing options may also become available. Potential editors will be chosen from interested conference delegates. Additional possible outputs include: paperback volumes; journals; open volume on-line annuals; social media outputs (Facebook pages, blogs, wikis, Twitter and so on); collaboration platforms; reviews; reports; policy statements; position papers; declarations of principles; proposals for future meetings, workshops, courses and schools; proposals for personal and professional development opportunities (cultural cruises, summer schools, personal enrichment programmes, faculty development, mentoring programmes, consultancies); and other options you would like us to consider. Ethos Inter-Disciplinary.Net believes it is a mark of personal courtesy and professional respect to your colleagues that all delegates should attend for the full duration of the meeting. If you are unable to make this commitment, please do not submit an abstract for presentation. Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.