[Discussion] Mapping Migrations

[Gönül Pultar]

CALL FOR PAPERS

To be presented at the Third Annual MRG Graduate Students' Conference on



Mapping Migrations

May 7, 2004

at the University of California, Los Angeles

Sponsored by the UC Transnational and Transcolonial Studies
Multicampus Research Group



Deadline for submission of abstracts:  January 5, 2004



Theme:

Migrations consist of movements of individuals and groups under
voluntary conditions and/or duress, and the term is used here to
refer to all types of movements of peoples (immigration, forced
migration, displacement, etc.) as well as movements of ideas,
practices, and cultural productions.  How have various migrations
been liberating and/or confining, and how have these "crossings"
challenged or re-articulated the boundaries and definitions of the
nation-state, culture, and identity?



Papers might address, but are not limited to, the following questions:



*  Migrations and Space

             How are borders and spaces mapped or imagined?  Are
migrations limited to models of "the center and periphery" or
"departure and return"?  How do we analyze internal and external
migrations, exilic experiences, and indigenousness in regional,
national, and global contexts?  How do migrations alter or affect
notions of displacement and emplacement, home/homeland, inclusion and
exclusion, or mobility and paralysis?



*  Migrations and the Market

             What is the identity of the "worker" in relation to
multi- and transnational corporations, migrant labor, and tourism?
How have globalization, technology, and consumerism profited from
and/or exploited migrations, and in what ways have migrations opened
up new possibilities for economic and social improvements?



*  Migrations and Subjectivities

             How has the proliferation of migrant or migrating
identities (exiles, refugees, diaspora, homeless, orphans,
immigrants, nomads, guests, strangers, etc.) altered concepts of
nationalism, (post)colonialism, ethnicity, citizenship, gender and
sexuality?  How do nationalisms reconcile themselves with
post-national subjectivities or ideas of global citizenship?



*  Migrating Ideas and Ideologies

             How do cultures, practices, and ideas migrate, and how
are they changed by migrations?  Given models of transnational
economies and subjectivities, how do we conceptualize a transnational
literature (i.e. a literature that is not housed in a single national
language or national identity)?  How do ideas and ideologies like
modernism, multiculturalism, feminism, and socialism migrate and
circulate?  How are these ideas/subjects treated in representations
and narratives of migrations in literature, film, and the arts?



We encourage work from a variety of disciplines and approaches,
especially literary and cultural studies, and work that bridge Ethnic
Studies and Area Studies.  Please submit a one-page abstract for a
20-minute (7-8 pages) presentation no later than January 5, 2004
either electronically to mapping_migrations@yahoo.com, or in hard
copy to the following address:



Chris Cao

MRG Conference Planning Committee

UCLA Comparative Literature Department

212 Royce Hall

Los Angeles, CA 90095



Reimbursement will be offered for select travel expenses.

For more information, please see our website:
http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/transnation/