EDULINK research project IMMIS (African Migration and Gender in Global Context – Implementing Migration Studies)

Zeit: 24.-26.09.2009
Ort: Humboldt University Berlin
Deadline: 18.05.2009

Eastern Africa is strongly affected by internal displacements and forced migration. The region experienced various forms of migration, flight and refuge, historically as well as contemporary, including permanent, internal and external, documented and un-documented, conflict-induced and labour transitory migration.

Still – and although global interest in migration processes is rising – African migration processes are under-represented in migration research and in the global migration discourse. Migration, despite its critical relevance to Africa’s development, is often hardly recognised in academic contexts. Theorising migration and challenging predominant images of the migrant from African perspectives, by African scholars, is not yet prevalent.

Besides, apart from the humanitarian concern for women being the main victims of forced migration related to armed conflicts and natural disasters, the gender dimension of the issue is still unaccounted for. Gender relations and women’s rights are contested areas in contemporary societies and they are at the core of discourses on modernity and tradition. On an international and national level, the state of gender equality is closely linked to development and increasingly considered one of its key indicators.

Without clear theoretical fortification, it is hardly possible to explain the conditions under which people migrate, or the predominance of women in certain migration flows. The seemingly gender-neutral process of movement is, in fact, highly gendered and results in different outcomes for men and women. Consequently, the intersection of migration and gender in African societies should be considered a major field of research and professional activities.

This conference should contribute to close the research gap and to increase capacities in the field of African migration research and gender studies. It is the first in a series of three conferences on African Migration and Gender, organized by the EDULINK partnership IMMIS. Follow-up conferences will take place in Mbarara, Uganda, in June 2010 and in Omdurman, Sudan, in early 2011. For more information on the project, please visit www.immis.org

We are pleased to announce our Call for Papers, any original research on migration in sub-Saharan Africa will be considered, with a preference given to contributions on Eastern Africa and contributions addressing gender issues. We specifically encourage young and/or international academics to apply. Accommodation and meals will be covered for. Conference organizers try to subsidize travel costs. For budget reasons we might ask speakers to attend one of the follow-up conferences in Africa.

Abstracts measuring 300 to 500 words should be in English and accompanied by a short CV including contact details. Please send your files to abstracts#immis.org until 18 May 2009. Full papers are due 14 September 2009.

The conference is hosted by the EDULINK Project IMMIS (African Migration and Gender in Global Context – Implementing Migration Studies) – a joint project by Ahfad University for Women (Sudan), Humboldt University Berlin (Germany), Makerere University (Uganda), Mbarara University of Science and Technology (Uganda), Oldenburg University (Germany) and Stavanger University (Norway).

EDULINK funds cooperative projects between Higher Education Institutions in the ACP Group of States and the 15 EU Member States that are signatories to the 9th European Development Fund.
Kontakt:

IMMIS, Dr. Lydia Potts
Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg
Institute for Social Sciences
Uhlhornsweg 49-55
D-26111 Oldenburg
contact#immis.org
URL: http://www.immis.org/

URL zur Zitation dieses Beitrages: http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/termine/id=11232