As some countries have gotten over the first wave of the pandemic and are bracing themselves for a possible second wave, we are only starting to grapple with the impacts and the responses to this pandemic. One of many impacts we have seen so far were the COVID-19-related border closures, which limited free movement and thus have shaken the foundation of the European Union. Border closures took effect not only in Europe. Many migrants, as well as international students, were and are affected profoundly as they were not able to return and hence are trapped in their destination countries – often without income. Since many migrants work in critical sectors, such as the health care sector, the important role they play in the crisis response increases their exposure to the virus. Data from New York showed, that, due to income inequality and marginalization, migrants are overrepresented in neighborhoods most affected by the virus. Further, this pandemic makes existing inequalities more visible and it amplifies them as the strong and worldwide BLM protests show. However, we also experienced that things considered impossible until very recently, suddenly now are indeed possible. Nothing is set in stone and inevitable, we are able to not only to bounce back but to bounce forward to an improved state.
This conference still proposes to zoom deeper into people’s migration experiences by foregrounding how migration is connected to culture and language. We still intend to explore the nexus of migration, and culture in more depth by asking how migration is lived, experienced, mediated, and reflected in general and through everyday cultural, linguistic, and artistic practice. We are still interested in deepening our understanding of the complexity and diversity of migration experiences on the one hand, and the possibilities of connecting different migrant experiences and groups of people on the other. However, in light of the current developments, this cannot be achieved without extending our focus. Hence, for the 18th IMISCOE-Conference, we also invite your contributions on inequalities in general and on health and racial inequalities in particular.
Panels and papers will be grouped together thematically throughout the conference program
SC Reflexive Migration Studies
SC Migrant Transnationalism
SC Migration, Citizenship and Political Participation
SC Superdiversity, Migration and Cultural Change
SC Older Migrants
SC Gender and Sexuality in Migration Research
SC Immigration, Immigrants and the labor market in Europe
SC Migration Politics and Governance
SC Education and social inequality
SC Methodological Approaches and Tools in Migration Research
RI Privileged Mobilities: local impacts, belonging and citizenship
RI Revisiting Return Migration in Shifting Geopolitics
RI Norms and Values in Migration and Integration
Key Note Speakers
Jaan Valsiner
Aarborg University
Mulki Al-Sharmani
University of Helsinki
I-Panelists
Marco Martiniello
University of Liège
Wiebke Sievers
Austrian Academy of Sciences
Dudziro Nhengu
Africa University
Francio Guadeloupe
University of Amsterdam
Dean of University St. Martin
Conference fee for the online conference
We are excited to inform you that we can offer you a onetime only reduced conference fee for this year’s conference participation and one-year membership: Early bird: April 30-June 10, 2021
Discount fee (for Ph.D. candidates and scholars in a precarious situation only): € 65.
To be included in the conference program, presenters need to have registered by June 10, 2021. Presenters who fail to register by June 10, 2021, will be removed from the program.
Registration after July 2 or on the conference days is not possible.
The regular fee is the minimum required to cover the cost to organize the conference. The benevolent fee includes the solidarity support for the network.
All fees include a One-year IMISCOE membership and access to the online conference 2021. To learn more about the benefits associated with a membership of the IMISCOE-Network, please follow this link: https://www.imiscoe.org/about-imiscoe/members/becoming-a-member Another positive note that we would like to share with you in this message is that we will offset the carbon footprint of this year’s annual conference. €5 of your conference fee will go towards planting trees in the rainforests of Costa Rica. While video conferencing does emit less carbon than f2f-conferences, nothing has zero emissions and a digital conference is not automatically green. It is still difficult to calculate exactly how much carbon emissions videoconferences create, but there are estimates. For example:
A one-hour standard-definition video call consumes about 270 MB per person.
The standard-definition video calls would emit 0.6 kg of CO2.
If you have a disability or special need that may affect your participation in the conference, please contact Nicole Holzapfel-Mantin ( nicole.holzapfel-mantin@uni.lu )
