Approaching Contemporary Challenges of Global Migration

International Conference

 

School of Languages, Law and Social Sciences, Technological University Dublin

 

 18-19 June 2020

 

Research suggests global migration has become more diverse and complex in terms of both geographic scope and volume. The scale of the transition is perhaps most pronounced for refugees, asylum seekers and economic migrants. The experiences of those fleeing war, persecution and starvation merit international scrutiny and action. However, when the media and others highlight the traumatic experiences of migrants risking their lives to cross oceans and borders, politicians argue —often demagogically— about the correct response, and policy and practice sometimes fall short.   

 

In engaging with the experience of migration, we are compelled to critically examine immigration and asylum policies around the world. In Europe, for example, problematic discrepancies in asylum processing procedures have left refugees and asylum seekers stranded in inhumane conditions, obliged to wait anxiously for bureaucratic decisions to determine their fate. In the light of widely publicised criticisms of the treatment of refugees and the processing of asylum applications, the political, social and psychological implications for the individual have also received critical attention.

 

In our contemporary age of global migration, notions of home and homelessness, statelessness, otherness/alterity and culture and identity have come to the fore. We have witnessed further destabilising of already precarious notions of stable, static or self-contained culture that seek to act as unifying and identifying categories of belonging. Despite increasing efforts by governments and societies to support, and in fact, encourage integration, profound cultural segregation and “ghettoization” have increased rather than decreased in European societies. As such, the experience of migration in all its forms and manifestations requires society, sometimes unwillingly, to critically assess notions of belonging and the possibilities and limits of integration. The grounds for establishing identity and the processes by which identification is achieved continue to be fluid.

 

The migrant experience exposes the vulnerability of human rights and the vulnerability of identity itself. Fear of the Other and the perceived need to protect supposedly stable demarcations have fuelled a rise in right-wing populism, nationalism and xenophobia. Unfounded assertions about the fears of national citizens have magnified the potential for misunderstanding and conflict in many areas of Europe and America. This potential for conflict has emerged in a variety of spheres including law, politics, society and identity. Conflicts and tensions are apparent in the responses of sovereign states and in the limitations and practice of international law. Our global responsibilities have shifted, how we respond calls for greater consideration of a broad range of issues from legislation and policies in relation to migration and integration to how notions of self and identify are theorised about.

 

We thus welcome contributions in the following fields of investigation, but will also consider other related topics:

 

1) International migration/asylum/integration law, policies and initiatives

 

2) Theorising migration, integration, culture and identity

 

3) Conflict resolution perspectives on migration

 

4) Migration, conflict resolution and identity in literature and the visual arts

 

5) Identity, integration and multiculturalism

 

 

Please send an abstract of approx. 250 words and a short biographical note of about 50 words to: globalmigrationconference@gmail.com

 

 

Deadline: 20 December 2019

 

Conference Organisers:

 

Dr Gene Carolan, TU Dublin (gene.carolan@tudublin.ie)

Dr Fiona McSweeney, TU Dublin (fiona.mcsweeney@tudublin.ie)

Dr Pilar Molina, TU Dublin (pilar.molina@tudublin.ie)

Dr Daphne Seemann, TU Dublin (daphne.seemann@tudublin.ie)

Dr Catherine Spencer, TU Dublin (Catherine.spencer@tudublin.ie)