Call for Papers

Labour mobility and growing up with/across borders

Panel at the 3rd Transmobilities-Development Conference

“Life phases matter: new imaginaries of transnational mobilities”

29-30 November 2018

Utrecht University, The Netherlands

Panel convenors: Bianca Szytniewski (Radboud University Nijmegen) and Maggi Leung (Utrecht University)

Nowadays, many young people study and/or work abroad. Motivations and experiences of these young migrants are diverse. While some young people need to move for livelihood, some others migrate or travel more for adventures. Their mobility trajectories also vary, depending on their social background – as intersections of one’s class, gender, nationalities and ethnicities etc. – and how they are embedded in the migration networks. Mobile youth share, however, that mobility is part of their growing up. This panel focuses on young people who have left ‘home’ to work. It aims to uncover how they experience their transnational/cross-border lives in another context that might be different in many ways (social, cultural, economic, political) from where they come from.

Specifically, our contribution will take a close look at the meaning of borders in shaping young migrants’ transition to adulthood. We also welcome contributions that concern other age groups, as ‘growing up’ does not only happen during youth. Analyses on the impact of borders and mobilities in (re)defining age-related notions, such as ‘youth’, ‘adulthood’, ‘seniority’ etc. would be particularly intriguing in this respect.

We encourage researchers working in different geographical contexts, on various work sectors and employing a wide range of methodologies – both quantitative and qualitative. We will consider and debate issues including - but not limited to - the following:

• How does labour mobility affect young people’s transition to adulthood? What is the meaning and impact of borders?

• What are the hopes and dreams of young labour migrants? What opportunities and constraints do they face in working towards these hopes and dreams? What kind of threats and vulnerabilities do they face?

• How do mobile youth, as active agents, build their lives across borders, in complex migration networks? How are they related to other actors and institutions in the migration industries?

• In what way do mobile youth participate in their new and old ‘homes’?

• How do borders and mobilities in (re)defining age-related notions, such as ‘youth’, ‘adulthood’, ‘ageing’ etc.?

Please submit abstracts (250 words maximum) to Bianca Szytniewski <[log in to unmask]> and Maggi Leung <[log in to unmask]> by noon 15th October 2018 (CET).

The conference will take place at Utrecht University. Other panels calling for papers (deadline: 15 October) are:

1. Transnational mobilities and parental practices
2. Visualizing imaginaries of (im)mobilities
3. Student mobilities from the Global South
4. Imagining migration anew: organisational framing of life course and transnational mobilities
5. Shifting imaginaries of displaced youth

More information on the conference and other panels is available here:

https://www.uu.nl/en/news/life-phases-matter-new-imaginaries-of-transnational-mobilities

Registration for the conference is free-of-charge. Participants are expected to cover their own travel and accommodation costs.