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Migration and Mobility: Views from Past and Present

By 24th October 2019 October 29th, 2019 No Comments

DATE

20th November 2019

TIME

10.00am – 5.00pm

Cross-Faculty postgraduate and early career researcher workshop

The impacts of migration and mobility are some of contemporary society’s most pressing topics. This cutting edge workshop will bring together researchers from different disciplines to explore how we can better understand the current historical moment in which discussions and debates surrounding migration appear so important. The event will explore the following themes in-depth: the lived experiences of migrants in different parts of the globe and at different moments in history; the complex links between migration and empire; and contemporary experiences of migration.

We are pleased to announce that Professor Louise Ryan of the University of Sheffield will be joining us. Professor Ryan has extensive research expertise in the area of migration, social networks, gender and religion which she will draw on in her session ‘A funny feeling of deja vu: learning lessons from migration
history’:

In the current context of Brexit, changing migration regimes, and uncertainty about migrants’ rights to remain in the UK, it is tempting to think that we are in completely unprecedented times.

Indeed, we are facing particular challenges today, but nonetheless we can still learn from the past. The history of migration to and from the UK has been long and varied. The construction of migrants as ‘aliens’ threatening the British way of life is nothing new. In this presentation, Professor Louise Ryan will consider what social scientists can learn by adopting an historical lens to analyse migration. Focusing on key moments in the twentieth century, she will examine how the problematisation of migrants as ‘aliens’ was
underpinned by particular economic, political and social processes within British society. Far from being isolated historical events, we can observe repeated patterns over time – though the leading characters may change.

The workshop will be interactive and enable attendees to engage with important discussions surrounding migration across disciplinary boundaries. We invite postgraduates, early career researchers and academics at any stage of their career with an interest in migration and mobility to register.

Provisional Schedule

10.00am – 10.15am

Arrival and registration

10:15am – 10:30am

Welcome – Professor Martial Straub

10:30am – 11:45am

Paper session 1: Lived experiences of migration

Dr Linn Normand – ‘Documenting the undocumented:’ immigrant minority testimonials of lived experiences in America
Maria Vasquez-Aguillar – ‘Living with out suitcases packed:’ the political activism of Chilean exiles in the UK post-1973
Isabelle Carter – Moving histories of multi-storey council estates in post-war Sheffield and Manchester

11:45am – 12:00pm

Tea and coffee break

12:00pm – 1:15pm

Paper session 2: Empire and migration

Sarah Elmammeri – Migration and historical legacies; the journey of a postcolonial subject
Dr Gareth Roddy – Travelling westwards: modernity and national identities in the western peripheries of the British-Irish Isles, c 1880-1940
Dan Royle – ‘The Most Pestiferous Land:’ Fernando Po, Deportation and Exhile (1866-1868)

1.15pm – 2.00pm

Lunch

2:00pm – 3:00pm

Professor Louise Ryan Session

A funny feeling of deja vu: learning lessons from migration history

3:00pm – 3:15pm

Tea and Coffee Break

3:15pm – 4:30pm

Paper session 3: Contemporary migration

Dennis Sane-Ackah – ‘Migration and Mobility: EUROPE, ‘The Paradise’ of Death Zone for African Migrants’
Mücahit Aydemir – Understanding the Factors Influencing the Migration of Academic Staff to Britain

This conference is free to attend. Refreshments and lunch will be provided.