Editors:
Tamara Pavasović Trošt (University of Ljubljana)
Julija Sardelić (Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington)
Deadline for abstract submission: 10 December 2025
Synopsis
This special issue invites papers that examine how the ‘new’ labour migration contributes to shifting boundaries of belonging and deconstructs traditional understandings of “migrant sending” and “migrant receiving” countries. Due to demographic decline, previous emigration, and other factors, in the last decade, even the countries that have traditionally been studied as 'migrant-sending' countries are now experiencing labour shortages. For instance, Bosnia-Herzegovina, considered one of the countries with the highest number of both labour and forced migrants, issued close to 10,000 work permits to nationals of Turkey, Nepal, India, and Bangladesh in 2025. Thus, while having rich, yet often neglected, histories of global migratory exchange, countries in post-socialist Europe and the Global South are entering a global competition for migrant workers. The implications of migration due to labour shortages in these countries traditionally considered as ‘migrant-sending’ states have only received partial attention by researchers: much of the previous migrant studies literature has focused on the racialised and precarious labour of migrant workers in Western Europe, while recent policy papers highlight that economies beyond the West are increasingly experiencing the need for migrant workers, though generally provide a narrower focus on the cost/benefit analysis of labour shortages and migrant work. This special issue aims to consider a broader societal impact: how labour shortage migration trends affect societies (previously studied primarily as migrant-sending) on the ground, including changing understandings of belonging within a community or to a state, and redrawing boundaries between insiders and old/new outsiders.
Possible papers could consider: a) State-led, legal, and hard boundaries: Analyses of changes in national legislation and the existence of pathways to citizenship;, and how political elites and stakeholders determine which migrant backgrounds are more readily accepted, and the structural accommodations, such as housing and welfare, offered to different groups; b) Boundaries between and within groups: On-the-ground processes of ethnic and racial stereotyping (as well as more structural racism) and how these interact with existing hierarchies to shape social positioning; c) Migrant agency: Comparative studies of boundary work of the migrant workers themselves, and how they navigate, resist, or adapt to exploitative conditions and precarious work environments
Rather than focusing on a specific geographic area, this special issue adopts a thematic approach centred on locations, regions, and states traditionally conceptualised as ‘migrant-sending’. In doing so, it challenges rigid classifications that separate ‘migrant-receiving’ from ‘migrant-sending’ countries, offering a more nuanced understanding of migratory constellations. It also interrogates whether the societal impacts of new labour migration unfold differently or similarly compared to the extensively studied contexts of Western Europe and North America.
Timeline
Submission of abstracts (approximately 250 words): 10 December 2025
Notification about abstract selection: 15 December 2025
First paper submission to editors 1 April 2026
Online workshop: First week of June 2026
Comments from the editor: 15 June 2026
Submission to peer review: 15 September 2026
Outcome of the peer review process. 15 November 2026
Planned publication in 2027
Publication plan
The papers will be submitted as a special issue to one of the Q1 migration studies journals.
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