Oliver Kühschelm (Centre for Historical Migration Research/IGLR), Anne Unterwurzacher (UAS St. Pölten), Annemarie Steidl (Univ. of Vienna), Mirjam Milharčič Hladnik and Aleksej Kalc (Slovenian Academy of Science and Arts) (Web)

Time: 04.–05.05.2023
Venue: St. Pölten, Austria
Proposals by: 15.11.2022

Migration is, most crucially, movement between spaces over the course of time. The May 2022 conference centered on “Spaces and Locations of Migration” (Web), this conference will explore the temporal aspects of migration: What are the specificities of time in this respect, and how can we investigate these using a contemporary and historical perspective?

In the early 2000s migration research expanded to embrace a broad conception of mobility that included short distances, circular movements, and no movement at all. This paradigmatic shift sparked interest in the myriad ways that time and temporality intersect with the experience and regulation of migration, and proposed a wealth of categories and distinctions to begin opening up this line of research (eg. Cwerner, 2001).

That notwithstanding, migration research often contrasts the present with an undifferentiated past seemingly characterized by less mobility, slower communication, and a comparative lack of transnational practices. Social media and air travel, for example, are credited with producing new migrant experiences of time. Communication and transport technologies are just two factors that shape migrants’ experiences. Whether time flies or stands still depends on agency, which follows no linear course of development. This necessarily leads to questioning simplified distinctions between then and now. The conference aims to stimulate discussion between a disciplinarily diverse range of scholars active in the historical and social sciences.

The organizers invite presentations that address the following questions and topics: Read more and source … (Web)