Call for Papers
Submission Deadline - February 11, 2018
https://www.facebook.com/humanitiesconference/                    

Conceptual Crossroads
Rethinking Paradigms of Borders and Migration

With: Prof. Rhacel Salazar Parreñas (University of Southern California) and Prof. Daniel Weinstock (McGill University)

When: The conference will take place on March 23, 2018. 

What: We are pleased to invite both students and academics to participate in Utrecht University’s Humanities Student Conference “Conceptual Crossroads: Rethinking Paradigms of Borders and Migration”. During this conference, we would like to critically reflect on epistemic and ontological characteristics of the concepts of migration and borders in order to deconstruct them, broaden their implications and search for new ways of engaging with them. Our selection of these two concepts as dialectically intertwined comes from an understanding of their centrality, interrelatedness and their potential to create new insights on the matter. The conference will offer a platform to various academics and MA/PhD students from different disciplines within the Humanities, who are affiliated with the theme of migration.

Why: In the West, current debates on migration become increasingly polarized, shaping discourses on various political, economic and social issues, which in turn affects migration policies. Some questions that are central to the conference include:

- Why is the West so divided over migrants?           
- How is ‘migration’ used in different contexts? (e.g. historical, political, legal, philosophical context).
- How can borders be understood not as fixed objects but as complex and mobile forms?
- To whom do certain borders apply and in what manner?

How: please send a paper-abstract of 250-300 words which shows your affiliation with the theme, including 5 keywords, to conceptual.crossroads@gmail.com by February 11th, 2018. If selected, you will be invited to present and discuss your paper in one of four panels. The panels are intended to provide an opportunity for students and academics to share their work and will allow for a focussed debate. Those selected will receive an invitation to participate in the conference on February 16, 2018.  

Get published in Junctions!: students who are selected have a chance to get published in an edition of Utrecht University’s graduate journal of the Humanities: Junctions. For more information, see http://junctionsjournal.org/. Do not miss this opportunity! 

Questions? Send an e-mail to conceptual.crossroads@gmail.com and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

 

Keynote speakers:

Prof. Rhacel Salazar Parreñas (University of Southern California)

Parreñas is a professor of Sociology and Gender Studies. Her areas of research include labor, gender, international migration, the family and economic sociology. Situated in the intersections of human trafficking and labor migration, her more recent works focus on the construction of migrant workers as "unfree labors."

Prof. Daniel Weinstock (McGill University)

Weinstock's research explores the governance of certain types of liberal democracies, and the effects of religious and cultural diversity from an ethical perspective on the political and ethical philosophy of public policy. His areas of interest include social and political philosophy; ethics of public policy; ethics of nationalism; foundations of international ethics politics of language and identity.