CALL FOR PAPERS
IMISCOE Annual Conference, Prague 30 June –2 July 2016
Workshop convened by the IMISCOE Research Initiative “INTEGRATION IN TURBULENT CONTEXTS -Analysing the impact of exogenous factors on integration dynamics and intergroup relations”
“The effects of the external shocks on integration”
The diffusion of the concept of integration in the field of migration studies was embedded in a specific historical contingency, marked by relatively continuous and sustained economic growth, and by relative geopolitical stability. Such key contextual aspects indirectly shaped theoretical approaches and research agenda-setting. In fact, in spite of a wide scholarly consensus on the reversible nature of integration, this fundamental assumption has seldom been developed into clear hypotheses and research paths.
Over the last decade, wider international dynamics have strongly impacted on migrants’ integration in European societies in various and unforeseen ways. Specifically, the global economic crisis and the highly mediatised and politicised ‘mixed’ inflows from Africa and the Middle East to Europe interact with pre-existing dynamics in affecting integration processes. The recent escalation of transnational jihadist terrorism is still another exogenous factor whose impact on integration is not negligible although still hard to assess.
On one hand, these phenomena may impact on the integration of established migrant minorities by affecting attitudes and relational dynamics. On the other hand, they can generate specific hurdles as, for instance, labour market integration outcomes of forced migrants admitted for humanitarian reasons are generally worse than for those who entered through other channels.
As organisers of this panel, we are interested in papers empirically investigating and theorising integration in ‘turbulent contexts’. Our aim is to start gathering evidence and reflections on a dimension of integration which is still relatively unexplored but which announces itself as ever more important in an increasingly unstable and mediatised international context. Although our main focus is on contemporary developments, papers analysing the impact of external shocks on migrants’ integration in an historical perspective will also be considered.
Paper proposals should include author names, title and a max. 250 word abstract. Please send your proposals to Ferruccio Pastore (
Co-organisers of the panel:
•Joaquin Arango, Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Instituto Universitario Ortega y Gasset
•Maria Lucinda Fonseca, IGOT-Instituto de Geografia e Ordenamento do Território, Universidade de Lisboa
•Eleonore Kofmann, Social Policy Research Centre, Middlesex University, London
•Ferruccio Pastore, FIERI, Torino
•Nando Sigona, University of Birmingham