Gender perspectives on time and temporality - call for paper 

The theme of the 19^th IMISCOE Annual Conference is ‘Migration and Time’, considering temporalities of mobility, governance and resistance. The Gender and Sexuality in Migration research (GenSeM) standing committee would like to invite paper proposals for a panel focussing on the gendered temporalities of migration.

Temporality is becoming increasingly recognized as a valuable analytical lens through which to understand the migratory experience, which represents a key theoretical development and what Baas and Yeoh (2019) consider a ‘significant and possibly paradigmatic shift’. Much thought is being given to the way in which past, present and future interact as part of the migratory experience, as both a backwards- and forward-looking process. Cwerner’s (2001) ground-breaking article, The Times of Migration, highlighted that temporalities were not just experienced in diverse ways, but migrated with people across transnational space. Despite the significance of this work, temporalities did not feature strongly in migration research over the following ten years, until around 2010, when increasing mentions of time and temporalities could be observed. Nonetheless, the focus of this analysis has largely been on the timing of migration rather than on lived experiences of time (Carling and Collins 2018). There is much scope for further exploration of a gender perspective on time and temporalities in migration studies. A feminist approach to temporalities in migration studies also has methodological implications, including promoting longitudinal, multi-sited research and mitigating against the gendered time poverty which may affect research participants.

Through this panel, we wish to showcase research which applies a gender analytical lens in order to unsettle existing conceptualisations of time and temporalities within migration studies.

This call for papers invites researchers to submit proposals for research papers on topics including, but not limited to, the following themes:

• The way in which migration interacts with gender norms over time.
• Migrants’ gendered experiences of liminality, temporariness and/or immobility.
• Fresh perspectives on transnational care practices through a temporal lens.
• Migrant workers’ temporal experiences of work, including precarious work.
• Second-generation migrants’ experiences across both space and time, including multi-sited and longitudinal studies.
• Temporariness as a (gendered) disciplinary practice of the state, executed through immigration policies and visa regimes, for example.

 Please send your abstract of up to 250 words, your title and institutional affiliation to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Deadline for application: Friday 19 November 2021

Notification of acceptance: Friday 3 December 2021