Originally, the IMISCOE Conference should have taken place in Luxembourg in July 2020. However, due to the COVID-19-Pandemic, the conference had to be rescheduled to July 7-9, 2021. We warmly invite you to sent in your abstract or proposal and join us, face to face in Luxembourg for the 18th annual conference on July 7, 8 and 9, 2021.
Invitation to submit an individual paper, panel or workshop proposal
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 marginalisation, migrants are overrepresented in neighbourhoods 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.