Registration link:​ https://bit.ly/3NvoxsM

Full programme, including abstracts and presenters' bios: Full programme 

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Human displacement, especially when forced, is a catalyst for crises both systemic and personal. Among the many things which may be lost along the journey of a displaced person, one of the first is often a sense of belonging. Between fading memories of the home place, the uncertainty of transit, and an obscure alloy of hope and trepidation for the future, displaced people often have little to moor themselves to along the way. At each stop along the journey, hope is resurrected, new challenges are faced, new ties are formed, and new dreams are born. But alas these ties are often be broken, and the dreams buried. On to the next stop. On to the next ‘home.’ At each stage of this Sisyphean cycle of temporality, they are met with the assurance that they are now safe, on their way to successful resettlement. Yet, what so often awaits them? Only more of the same. This state of perpetual liminality, of being endlessly ‘in-between,’ is characterized by a loss of belonging and corrosion of identity. Sustained physically by an institutional biopolitics of survival which all too often neglects the psychological and social dimensions of human thriving, displaced people are confronted with spectres of the absurd: boredom, labyrinths of bureaucracy, and an absence of the cultural, religious, and personal signifiers which once gave meaning to the passage of the days. 

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How can displaced people maintain or discover new experiences of belonging in displacement? How are displaced people counteracting the ‘absurdity of settlement’ and cultivating a sense of belonging in displacement today? How can states, international legislative bodies, and organizations active in rendering services to displaced people contribute to and facilitate this process? What role can research and academia serve in meeting these challenges? 

 

We invite academics and practitioners alike to come together and explore questions such as these, in an effort to develop a better understanding of the factors at play at each stage of displacement. More broadly we seek to explore belonging narratives beyond the realm of displacement to include other forms of migration and human mobilities. The conference is intended to facilitate discussion and dialogue on the key issues, and therefore will operate according to an open floor policy. We hope to see you on the 17th of June to share your expertise and to broaden the horizon of academic inquiry in the fields of migration and human mobility. 

 

Programme

9:30 - 9:50: Registration/Coffee.

9:50 – 10:00: Welcome (Dr Kiril Sharapov).

10:00 - 10:20: What ‘work’ does precarity do? Understanding the stigmitisation and commodification of asylum seekers in temporary housing (Dr Gavin Maclean).

10:20 -10:40: Documentary: ‘I’m still here!’ Investigating the use of temporary housing for asylum seekers in Glasgow (Dr Gavin Maclean).

10:40 -11:00: Disability, COVID19 and Displacement in Ukraine (Dr Kiril Sharapov).

11:00 - 11:20: Socioeconomic impact of Covid-19 on Syrian Refugees (Dr Fawad Khaleel & Dr Alija Avdukic).

11:20 - 12:00: Question and Answers Session.

12:00 - 12:30: Coffee/Tea/Networking.

12:30 - 1:00: Marching with Little Amal: Revisiting integration and its divergent forms (Dr Dan Fisher & Dr Hyab Yohannes).

1:00 - 1:30: Social harms in borderised spaces: the case for Lampedusa (Dr Francesca Soliman).

1:30 - 2:30: Lunch.

2:30 - 2:50: Thru-hiking as pilgrimage? Thinking with new materialism and mobilities. Performative mobilities (Dr Phiona Stanley). 

2:50 - 3:10: Of Nets and Networks: Rhythm, Ritual, and Play in Migrant Community Cultures of Care.' (Kyle Schwartz).

3:10 - 3:30: Question and Answers Session.

3:30 - 4:30: Erik & The Iban: The Ethics of an Encounter: Documentary Screening and Discussion (Dan Childs and Michelle Cullen).

4:30 - 4:45: Closing Comments (Dr Kiril Sharapov).