Home, Migration and the City - New Narratives, New Methodologies
Sverige, Linköping
Tid: 6-10 augusti 2010
Plats: Scandic Linköping Väst, Linköping
Arrangör: Diaspora
"Chaired by:
Dr. Ayona Datta - London School of Economics, UK
Co -Chair:
Dr. Kathy Burrell - De Montfort University, Leicester, UK
There has been a recent surge of scholarship from human geography,
sociology, history, architecture, and cultural studies that focuses on
migration as a social, political, cultural and material process. This
area of research on migration examines migrants’ transnational spatial
practices, social and political identities and relationships with the
state. Central to this research has been a recognition that at the heart
of migration lies a fundamental transformation in spaces and places that
are linked to the social and cultural meanings of home and belonging.
This conference takes ‘narratives’ – broadly defined as stories,
diaries, myths, photographs, music, films, media images and
representations of movement – as the analytical starting point for new
research on migration. Narratives have several dimensions. Firstly,
migrant narratives need to be understood as inherently spatial. As is
widely acknowledged, migrants’ stories of movement are often stories of
different places at different moments, and thus are essentially ‘spatial
stories’. Secondly, this spatiality of migration narratives is
multi-scalar; it can relate to belonging on a national, political scale,
represent locality dynamics, more small-scale, personal experiences of
migration, or even the material narratives of migration, such as stories
of significant objects and material culture. Thirdly, the performative
element of migrants’ narratives is very strong; not all narratives are
textual but instead are enacted through music, theatre, film, food, or
dance. Finally, such narratives can also be highly visual, corporeal,
and embodied, whether through media representations, artwork, or
architecture. Such a broad conceptualisation of migrant narratives
demands new interdisciplinary theories and methodologies to understand
the interconnected landscapes of home, migration and the city.
This conference thus aims to question and compare such narratives and
counter-narratives, in different contexts within Europe and beyond,
through interdisciplinary perspectives from the humanities and social
sciences. Methodological perspectives will therefore be central to the
discussions during this conference, to encourage and disseminate
interdisciplinary approaches to researching migration. The following
questions will help to shape this conference:
• How are narratives of migration used, shared, remembered,
materialised, performed and represented in different contexts?
• How do narratives shape belonging and attachment, inclusions and
exclusions, around ideas of home(s) and the city?
• How do we examine these diverse narratives of movement through
theoretical and methodological innovation?
Details
This conference invites paper and poster presentations which investigate
one more of the three conference themes; narratives of migration;
materialities of home and movement; and cities, places, locations. It
also invites submissions for a panel discussion with six young
researchers working with new cross-cutting methodologies around these
three themes.
Theme 1: Narratives of Migration
The first theme of the conference will deal with a range of
methodological approaches to understanding the narratives of home –
textual, aural, performative, and visual, which scrutinise, document and
theorise migrants’ perspectives of migration. This may include oral
histories, autobiographies, personal photographs, memorabilia, food
recipes, artwork, music and films, as well as a range of other
non/textual material that attempt to redefine the social, political,
cultural and imaginative constructions of migration and movement.
Theme 2: Materialities of Home and Movement
This theme will consider the varying constructions of home and sites of
travel, by inviting a diverse array of approaches and methodologies. The
questions we ask are – where do home-spaces end – how far do they extend
– and how are the spaces between home, locale, and homeland experienced?
How is home narrated, and how can researchers tap into this? How can
sites of travel be researched?
Theme 3: Cities, Places, Locations
Situated within broader debates around place and displacement, location
and mobility, settlement and return, this theme will examine the various
locations within migrant landscapes and the ways in which they reflect
and influence cultures, politics, identities and narratives. The focus
will be particularly on the varieties of ways that such landscapes are
transformed and negotiated from the scale of the home, to
neighbourhoods, to cities and homelands.
For more information, to send abstracts, and to register please see
http://www.esf.org/activities/esf-conferences/details/2010/confdetail317.html
Young researchers are particularly welcome. The conference has limited
funds to fully or partially support expenses of young researchers.
Deadline for abstracts: 16 April 2010
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Diaspora.fi
http://www.diaspora.fi/