Rethinking Migration. New Glances on Migration/s

Research-Workshop, Sept, 29th and 30th 2009, Graz/Austria

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Research-group Migration at the Centre for Cultural Studies (University of Graz, Austria) invites you to submit an abstract (3000 char. incl. space) for the Research Workshop “Rethinking Migration.  New glances on Migration/s” in September 2009.

Proposals from Research-groups, PhD-Students (especially teams) as well  as Post-Doc-Researchers (for presentations as well as for posters) are  welcome to be submitted to stefan.benedik-karner@uni-graz.at

 Deadline:  June, 10th, 2009

Certain theoretical approaches towards phenomena of migration tend to  result in specific focusses, which are fostering certain issues and  problems as well as hiding others. This research-workshop is based on  the assumption that the dominance of social sciences in Migration Studies still is supporting concepts of multiculturalism. Hence,

 seemingly static identities (ethnical, religious, gender, class or  others) and binary structured images (“push” vs. “pull”) persist.

 New approches dealing with concepts such as hybridity, transition,  diaspora oder community, Gender, Intersectionality, Postcolonial,  Subaltern Studies etc. challenge these perceptions: Migrations become  visible beyond teleological conceptions. Thus current approaches  emphasise decentral characteristics (e.g. in biographies), not only

when  speaking about migratory experience. Consequently transnationality, transculturalism and multilingualism are considered to be the norm –  fragmented lifes in transition and similar perceptions of space and  frontiers are no longer marginalised.

The aim of the planned research-workshop is to discuss current  approaches on migratory movements in historical as well as present  perspectives and to examine possibilities and limits of different  migration theories. The workshop is open to any research-projects  on

 migration/s (done in teams or by individuals), PhD-students as well as  Post-Docs are invited to outline their position within current  theoretical debates on migration in short presentations (app. 20  min) or  posters.

The following focusses are to be followed (among others):

 –            Cultural representation of migration/s  (imagination/narrative invention of “migrants” and their communties,  (gendered) discourses, visualisation, processes of negotiation and  functions of migration discourses)

 –            Social practices (plural self-ascriptions, labour and  migration, “global division of labour”, gendered scopes of action)

 –            Participation and Empowerment, bureaucratical  treatment of  migration/s

 stefan.benedik-karner@uni-graz.at , Deadline for proposals: June 10th,  2009

International Conference on North-South migration

The Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations (CRER) is holding a conference on African Transnational and Return Migration on June 29-30th 2009, at Radcliffe House, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL. The conference is concerned with the following themes:

Conceptual issues in transnationalism, remittances and homeland development;
Public policies affecting transnational organisations in the countries of origin and destination;
Typologies and functions of transnational organisations in destination communities and homeland development;
Transnational organisations in post-conflict reconstruction;
The future of transnational organisations and North-South and South-South cooperation.

Over the two days of the conference, 20 papers will be presented. The speakers include both eminent and early stage researchers, drawn mainly from Africa south of the Sahara. While the primary focus of the conference is on African migration and migrants, the programme includes contributions from experts in north-south migration in other contexts (e.g. North America) and specialists in migration within Europe. The papers will be published in an edited book.

The conference will bring together researchers, policymakers, funding and donor agencies and other stakeholders in international migration and development to discuss the influence of migration upon the migrant’s homeland development. It will seek to map out future North-South and South-South cooperation and initiatives with respect to research, training and dialogue on the role of African transnational organisations both in Europe and in homeland development.

The conference is being organised by Professor John Oucho (See: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/crer/afrobrain/oucho/). He is a geographer, eminent in the study of migration in Africa. He holds a Marie Curie Chair at CRER, where he is developing a programme of research (entitled “Afrobrain”), concerned with the implications of international migration to and from African countries for ‘brain drain’ and ‘brain gain’ (See http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/crer/afrobrain/ for further information).

Further details of the conference will be available on the CRER website (http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/crer/events/african/), where you can also find a booking form (http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/crer/events/african/costs/). If you wish to discuss the conference further or to enquire about presenting a paper, please get in touch with the convenor, whose contact details are as follows:

Prof. John O. Oucho
Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations
University of Warwick
Coventry, CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (0) 24 7657 4731
Mobile phone: +44 7910508411
E-mail: J.O.Oucho@warwick.ac.uk