Call for Papers for Young Scholars and Early Career Academics

The global migration research agenda mainly focuses on migration from states in the ‘Global South’ to the ‘Global North’, although much migration occurs among countries within the ‘Global South’. Migrants and refugees within the ‘Global South’ migrate to neighboring states or far beyond seeking refuge, as skilled or unskilled labor, entrepreneurs among others. Simultaneously, citizens from the ‘Global North’ migrate to the ‘Global South’ for work, retirement or as a lifestyle choice. Migration to, through and among countries within the ‘Global South’ may involve multiple trajectories, transit spaces or destinations as migratory policies change, or economies fluctuate. Providing a space for discussion, we call upon researchers to reflect on migratory practices, experiences of displacement and forced migration in the ‘Global South’.

Celebrating the 15^th anniversary of the founding of MiReKoc, this conference builds on existing scholarship and engagement focused on migration in the ‘Global South’. We anticipate submissions focusing on migration contexts and questions of the ‘Global South’ exploring but not limited to the following themes:

Diverse Issues in Migration and Development  

The intersection between migration and development continues to be a crucial issue of debate for various actors involved in the ‘Global South’. For many actors, including non-state or state bodies, development is a tool to counter ‘illegal’ migration or reincorporate deportees back into their home countries. These debates are complicated as transnational families have become more the norm than the exception and as migratory regimes become stricter making temporary mobility as labor difficult for many people across the world.

• As such old questions continue to be relevant, is development an effective tool to stop or limit illegal migration?
• Does migration foster development in the ‘Global South’?

Urban Migration: Cities, Labor, Processes of Othering and Forms of Belonging

Some urban neighborhoods with large migrant or refugee populations are marked by their “superdiversity” as spaces of encounter. Research on relations between migrants and refugees and citizens in the ‘Global South’ raise questions about what these studies may offer to conceptual debates (or critiques) of integration or citizenship.

• How are concepts such as cosmopolitanism, diversity or co-existence articulated (or not) in the ‘Global South’?
• How do racism, discrimination and exclusionary politics (heavily visible currently) emerge in local contexts in the ‘Global South’?

Forced Migration in the ‘Global South’: Legal Frameworks, Actors and Experiences

While debates continue about alternatives to current international protection regimes and the implications of border externalization processes, most refugees fleeing conflicts remain in countries that neighbor their country of origin and which offer varying forms of protection. Some refugees chose to migrate onwards to seek asylum in countries in the ‘Global North’, but many others continue their lives in the ‘Global South’ under different statuses and regimes of protection. Multiple actors, international and national, including local NGOs or UN agencies play a prominent role in the lives of refugees’ in the ‘Global South’.

• How do migratory politics of the ‘Global North’ influence asylum policies and migratory regimes among countries in the ‘Global South’?
• How does refugee related humanitarianism play out in contexts in the ‘Global South’? What are refugee experiences and relations with state and non-state actors in the ‘Global South’?

Methodological Innovation and Terminology in Migration Research on ‘Global South’

We use the term ‘Global South’ here with quotation marks to highlight that the concept is articulated by an agenda of an elsewhere to the designated geography.  There are many spaces within the ‘Global South’ that are enacted and experienced as spaces of the ‘Global North’ and vice versa, complicating a simplistic binary approach. This issue influences research methods and ethical practices used in studies on migration.

• Migration researchers draw on diverse epistemologies and methods, but what methodological innovations emerge from ‘Global South’ contexts?
• How can migration terminology be nuanced or what terms can be produced to examine mobilities in, from or through the ‘Global South’ without taking the ‘Global North’ as the point of reference?

Research Collaboration Across Geographies and Institutions in the ‘Global South’ and ‘Global North’

Collaboration and cooperation across institutions in the ‘Global South’ and ‘Global North’ has come to mark research as communication and access have increased. In many cases collaboration is not only necessary but a requirement of some research funding bodies.

• What kind of relations form in collaborative projects between scholars based in the ‘Global South’ and ‘Global North’?
• How do global research agendas and funding body priorities influence research partnerships and relations?

Abstracts and biographies due: June 19, 2019.

Applicants must email the following to mirekoc@ku.edu.tr:

• Title of panel they wish to be considered under
• Maximum 300 word abstract
• Maximum 250 word biography
• Details about their institutional affiliation and country of residence

Accepted papers will be notified by August 06, 2019

Full papers must be submitted for circulation among participants by September 29, 2019