[URBANTH-L] CFP: Graduating as a Migrant? Professional and Labour Mobility Since 1989

[Angela Jancius]

Call for papers

Graduating as a Migrant? Professional and labour mobility since 1989

With the accession of Central and Eastern European countries to the  
EU the flows and perceptions of professional and labour mobility  
and migration have changed noticeably. One need only think of the  
issue of access versus restriction for Western European labour  
markets or the influx of students and graduates from Eastern  
Europe. Arguably, this story goes back to 1989.. And is also  
embedded in the wider European trends of encouraged mobility. Is a  
new and mobile generation of Europeans emerging? Does education 
and labour migration across Europe, possibly repeated, mean  
Europeanization?

For example, we are seeking research and review articles that do  
one of the following (other topics may be proposed and such  
proposal would be very welcome - this is also an open search for  
ideas):

- Clarify how, worldwide, the flows and perceptions of mobility and  
migration have changed since 1989 and the end of the Cold War, the  
collapse of state socialism, the rise of globalism and so on. For  
example, with the end of East-West rivalry, students and graduates  
seemingly are viewed less as souls to be won than as customers for  
higher education and this is true even for Indian students in Australia.
- Examine how the face of migration has changed in Western Europe  
(e.g. from post-colonial to intra-European migration, plus former  
Soviet Union; from South to East and so on), in particular in  
relation to graduate and professional mobility. Various Western  
European countries are seeking to attract or repel migrants as  
public discourse and policy changes..
- Deal with policy and conflicts in the European Union, possibly  
contrasting policies for higher education (and research) with those  
of the wider labour market, including the persistent calls of  
employers for better conditions for mobility;
- Consider the consequences of this new professional mobility and  
migration for the receiving countries, the sending countries and  
the migrants themselves;
- Contrast to new East-West mobility with second-generation  
migrants and their education (social/professional mobility).

Particularly welcome at this stage would be studies that are either  
comparative and relatively broad, giving an overview of flows and  
perceptions across Europe, review sending or receiving countries,  
or discuss the issue at the European level. On the other hand, it  
would be interesting to hear more about the lives of the  
professional mobile and the migrants (life histories, interviews,  
ethnography etc.). Finally, cases that discuss new significant  
professional migration outside Europe (e.g. Chinese or Indians to  
Australia) or to Europe would be welcome to round off the picture.

This call for papers is embedded in ongoing publishing and  
conference projects of the Research Network 1989 and is intended to  
lead to further research. Among these are:
- A panel on the integrated flows but possible divisive perceptions  
of East-West migrants, as part of a conference on the impact of  
1989 on Europe, which is to be held at the European University  
Institute in November 2008;
- A working paper series as well as a publishing programme, which  
includes a book publication for 2009;
- Participation in further conferences in 2009 that revolve around  
the 20th anniversary of 1989.

A good selection of information is available online and interested  
authors are asked to have a look at these materials.

Please email your expression of interest to: chris.armbruster at  
eui.eu

Responses are requested in the form of an abstract by 10 October  
2008. One page with contact details is sufficient in the first  
instance. Authors are encouraged to indicate how their ideas are  
relevant to a wider audience of scholars and of the public.

Chris Armbruster
Executive Director, Research Network 1989
http://www.cee-socialscience.net/1989/

Full papers available on the Internet:

Discerning the Global in the European Revolutions of 1989
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1261202

Explaining 1989 - Soviet Imperial Breakdown and Structural Stasis
http://ssrn.com/abstract=790524

Only a Bright Moment in a Century of War, Genocide and Terror? On  
the Significance of the Revolutions of 1989
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1261193

The Quality of Democracy in Europe: Soviet Illegitimacy and the  
Negotiated Revolutions of 1989
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1153416

Soviet Relations Of Domination: Legitimate or Illegitimate?
http://ssrn.com/abstract=790508