In view of the 23rd IMISCOE annual conference to be held on 29 June - 2 July 2026 in Girona and online on the topic of “Strengthening Migration studies through community engagement”, we are gathering papers for the panel proposal below on "Tourism and Migration: Intersections, Inequalities, and Community-Engaged Alternatives".
Panel Organisers: Prof Nick Mai (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) and Prof Russell King (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )
Deadline for abstract submission: 15 September 2025
Panel abstract: This panel explores the often-overlooked intersections between tourism and migration, highlighting how both are shaped by racialised, gendered, and neoliberal regimes of mobility. While tourism is typically framed as desirable and voluntary, migration is increasingly problematised, securitised, and criminalised. Yet in many tourist destinations, the two are deeply entwined: migrant labour sustains tourism economies, while both migrant and resident communities are transformed or displaced by processes of touristification.
We invite contributions grounded in participatory, anti-racist, and community-based research that examine how the tourism–migration nexus impacts social cohesion, solastalgia, labour precarity, and belonging. The panel seeks to move beyond extractive research models to centre co-production and solidarity between scholars, activists, and affected communities.
Particular attention is given to questions of epistemic justice. How can research challenge Eurocentric and colonial hierarchies and foster inclusive, community-driven alternatives to dominant policy frameworks? What are the ethical and political dilemmas of working across institutional and grassroots spaces—with NGOs, social movements, artists, or educators?
In line with the conference theme, this panel aims to foster dialogue across disciplines and geographies, with an emphasis on place-based, co-created responses to the social and ecological crises unfolding at the intersection of tourism and migration.
Please share your abstracts to the panel organisers (details above) by the 15th of September 2025.