Conable Conference 2016: Migration Crisis? What Crisis? Why Crisis?, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York
Conable Conference 2016: Migration Crisis? What Crisis? Why Crisis?
Thinking, Framing, and Theorizing Mass Mobility in a Globalized Age
March 31 and April 1, 2016
Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York
CALL FOR PAPERS
The Fifth Conable Conference in International and Global Studies will
explore the conceptualization of contemporary global mass mobility as a
“crisis.” What does it mean to frame human migration with sensational
terminology, such as crisis? How does language often associated with
intractable problems, such as humanitarian or environmental disasters,
or political stalemates, shape the responses to rapidly expanding
transnational human mobility?
The Conable Conference proposes to examine the nature of the “crisis,”
the implications of framing migration as a “crisis,” and the history and
present of “crisis” frameworks, management theories, and
problem-solving. Employment of the “crisis” conceptualization is global
in scope, but it is often applied regionally and nationally, such as the
Australian response to refugee movements in the oceans north of the
island-nation, the Mexico-US border, or the Mediterranean and Balkan
overland routes into the Europe Union. Crisis language ushers in hasty
responses, stimulates fraught political rhetoric, and resonates with
persistent national and international political, economic, social,
cultural, and religious tensions. But crisis language also mobilizes
diverse resources, garners journalist and public attention, and
instantiates emotional, moral, and ethical engagement.
Possible topics or themes include, but are not limited to:
Metaphors of crisis and disaster
Role of imagery, media, social media of mobility and crisis
Public Responses to human mobility
National and regional governmental responses
Role of NGOs and other non-state agents in migration management
History and present of mass mobility
Comparative analyses of humanitarian responses
Migration, borders, and border securitization
Nationality, citizenship, statelessness, documentation, and identity
Human rights rhetoric
Trafficking, smuggling, and migration syndicates
Migration, health, and disability
Coercion and exploitation
Gender and migration
Family, children, and migrant mobility
We welcome abstract submissions based on new unpublished research from
any disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspective. Abstracts of no more
than one page or up to 500 words accompanied by two-page résumé of
professional and/or scholarly background, should be submitted online by
January 15, 2016 (web portal to open shortly). Conference registration
is $30.00 USD. Decisions will be announced by email and on the
conference website by January 31, 2016. Modest funding support for
travel or accommodation may be available to those in need. Previous
conferences have resulted in peer-reviewed publications.