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RGS-IBG Annual Conference, Edinburgh, 3rd-5th July 2012 MIGRATION, COMMUNITY AND CONFLICT (Sponsored by the Geographies of Justice Working Group) Session organisers: Deborah Phillips (University of Oxford/Leeds) and David Robinson (Sheffield Hallam University) Discussion of the experiences and outcomes of new migration has been largely placeless. Analysis of the impacts of migration has tended to focus on the national context at the expense of local geographies of change, or has been aspatial and failed to consider how consequences are manifest and managed in different ways in different places. Analysis of the arrival stories and settlement experiences of migrants has rarely ventured beyond description to consider how migrants understand and negotiate the opportunity structures within the places they move through and live. This session will address this lacuna by considering how migration can transform places and how the context of reception can shape migrant experiences. In particular, attention will focus on the interplay between migration and community relations. This will involve attention to the uncertain process of negotiation involved in everyday encounters within spaces of new migration, which can result in greater understanding of difference and promote positive social interactions, but can all too often reinforce prejudices, create insecurities and exacerbate tensions. Papers are invited that seek to critically analyse the ways in which the nature of the neighbourhood and city inform migrant experiences of incorporation and shape community relations. Contributions engaging in comparative analyses are particularly welcome. Papers exploring the theory and practice of limiting tensions and resolving conflicts that might emerge between existing residents and new migrants are also invited. This includes analysis of how contemporary cosmopolitanisms might be forged, as well as papers exploring more practical interventions designed to nurture positive relations between new and longer-standing residents. Session format: The session will take the form of an 'interactive short paper' session. It will centre on the presentation of six 10 minute papers, and the remaining time will be used to generate discussion around substantive issues raised by the papers. Please email abstracts of no more than 200 words to Deborah Phillips ([log in to unmask]) and David Robinson ([log in to unmask]) by 23rd January 2012.