Call for paper – Transnationalizing returns

An issue of Émulations. Revue de sciences sociales, to be published at the end of 2020 by the Presses universitaires de Louvain, will be dedicated to the theme “Transnationalizing returns: towards new directions in research on contemporary return migration”, coordinated by Anda David (Agence française de développement), Audrey Lenoël (Collège de France) and Annalisa Maitilasso (École des hautes études en sciences sociales).

 

 

In the field of migration studies, return - defined as the movement of an individual going from a country of destination to his or her country of origin - has long been neglected by international migration theorists, most often considering this phenomenon in a peripheral way, as an indicator of the success or failure of migratory projects (Carling et al., 2011; de Haas et al., 2015). The transnational approach has helped to change the way we look at return migrations; highlighting how these are not necessarily permanent moves and could only be stages in migratory trajectories (Ley and Kobayashi, 2005; Petit, 2007). Today, return migration is the subject of a growing number of studies, surveys and research programs that have facilitated our understanding of returns through a variety of perspectives, including those of the strategies implemented by the migrants themselves (Quiminal, 2002), the impacts of returns on societies of origin, particularly in terms of development (Black, King, 2004; Akesson, 2011),  and the implementation and impacts of public policies aimed at supporting both voluntary  (Boccagni and Lagomarsino, 2011) and forced returns (David, 2017; Flahaux, 2017).

 

In this issue, we would like to develop these perspectives further by inviting researchers to examine the transformations regarding the “transnationalization” of returns in order to rethink this phenomenon in the light of current awareness regarding the fluidity, circularity and temporal segmentations of migration journeys. Return is understood here in its entirety, encompassing the migratory phenomenon as a whole, from decision-making to the actual return and its consequences on individuals and communities. Additionally, this framework will help question all the other phenomena and practices that link return migration to the transnational space, such as financial and social (Levitt, 1998) remittances, information flows, or networks. We would also like to examine recent transformations in return migrations in relation to the political and socioeconomic changes in host and origin countries. One of these developments concerns the precarious situation of many migrants in the host country.  Over the past decade, the economic crisis in Europe has transformed how return is viewed by both migrants themselves and public institutions in countries of arrival and departure. While the return tended to be considered either as a distant moment corresponding to the end of the working life, or as the accomplishment of the migratory adventure, for many vulnerable migrants, it has become an exit strategy, an imposed reality or an unattainable horizon. Social precariousness and legal uncertainty characteristic of the lives of many migrants directly affect their prospects, possibilities as well as the representations of “sustainable resettlement” in the context of origin. The increase in temporary returns, remigrations and pendular movements has also led to a necessary transformation in how social sciences tackle this phenomenon.

 

This issue will bring together the contributions, in French or English, from researchers of different disciplinary backgrounds. Interdisciplinary and comparative approaches are particularly welcome, as are proposals based on empirical research and recently collected data. We also encourage contributions adopting a gender perspective, including those that address the gendered segmentation of return trajectories or the differential effects of male and female returns on the reconfiguration of gender roles in the households and communities of origin. In the interest of thematic coherence, we will limit the scope of contributions to the returns of people whose initial emigration was voluntary.

 

We propose to address these questions in four non-exclusive cross-cutting perspectives.

 

  1. Lived experiences, representations of return and migratory imaginaries of individuals

 

The individual will be at the centre of this first approach, the objective of which is to understand on the one hand, how the decision to return is made in an increasingly complex environment, and, on the other hand, how increased exposure to information shapes both perceptions of returns and expectations about the environment in countries of origin. We also invite contributors to document the factors (related to sociodemographic characteristics and migratory experiences) that determine the socioeconomic integration of migrants after their returns.

 

  1. The role of institutions in return migration

 

In a context where circularity appears to be the new political paradigm for managing migration in Europe (Triandafyllidou, 2013), several questions arise: how do the practices of stakeholders evolve? Are they in line with the political and institutional discourse regarding returns?  How are institutional frameworks adapting to these new realities? What are the barriers, constraints, and opportunities that characterize returns today? Contributions in this area may particularly focus on new trends in political discourse and recent initiatives at the institutional (national, international or local) or associative levels concerning returns. They may also consider how returns are affected by the changes in legal, socioeconomic and political frameworks, in different national contexts.

 

  1. Returns to the prism of the family and the community

 

As migration not only affects the individuals who migrate, but also their families and community environments, we are interested in how the family and community dimensions can both determine and be reconfigured by such returns. We wish to explore here returns as a phenomenon that can shed light on other key issues such as the evolution of gender roles in access to mobility, the metamorphoses of family structures facing the challenges of transnational mobility, and generational or gender balances.

 

  1. Conceptualizing return migration today

 

Based on empirical analyses focusing on one or more of the above-mentioned perspectives axes, we also encourage papers focusing on the discourses on return migration today, and questioning the concepts they mobilize. Such contributions could address the following questions: does return represent a relevant category to describe the complexity of the trajectories of transit, settlement, and resettlement in geographies that are no longer bipolar, but multipolar? What are the implications of revising the conceptual scope of this concept, and what can be the contributions of alternative concepts such as fragmented migration (Collyer, de Haas, 2012) or onward migration (Ahrens, Kelly, van Liempt, 2014) to reflect structural fluidity in the construction of migratory trajectories?

 

Submission guidelines:

 

Proposals for articles should not exceed 1000 words. They will include the proposed title, the abstract of the proposal, as well as a short biographical note (100 words maximum), and will indicate the discipline and the institutional affiliation of each (co-)author(s) of the article. Proposals should be sent simultaneously to the three issue coordinators, Anda David (davida@afd.fr), Audrey Lenoël (audrey.lenoel@college-de-france.fr) and Annalisa Maitilasso (annalisa.maitilasso@eacnur.org), as well as to the journal’s editorial staff (redac@revue-emulations.net) by the 15th May 2019 at the latest.

 

Proposals will be evaluated anonymously. The first full drafts of the articles (30 000 to 40 000 characters, including spaces) should be submitted no later than the 1st September 2019, for publication in 2020.

 

For authors’ guidelines (in French), see https://ojs.uclouvain.be/index.php/emulations/cfp/consignes.

Please contact us if you need these guidelines in English.

 

Timeline

 

15th May 2019: deadline for submission of proposals for papers

15th June 2019: notification of decisions to authors

1st September 2019: sending V1 manuscripts (30 000 – 40 000 characters)

1st October 2019: reviewers’ reports to authors

15th January 2020: sending the revised version of the articles (V2 manuscripts)

15th February 2020: reviewers’ reports to authors

1st May 2020: sending the final version of the manuscripts to the journal

December 2020: Publication of the paper and online versions of the issue

 

References

 

Ahrens J., Kelly M., Van Liempt I. (2016), « Free movement? The onward migration of EU citizens born in Somalia, Iran, and Nigeria », Population Space Place, vol. 22, n° 1, p. 84-98.

Akesson L. (2011) « Making migrants responsible for development: Cape Verdean returnees and northern migration policies », Africa Spectrum, vol. 41, n° 1, p. 6-83.

Black R., King R. (2004), « Transnational migration, return and development in West Africa », Population, Space and Place, vol. 10, n° 2, p. 75-83.

Boccagni P., Lagomarsino F. (2011), « Migration and the global crisis: new prospects for return? The case of Ecuadorians in Europe », Bulletin of Latin American Research, n° 30, p. 282-297.

Carling J., Mortensen E.B., Wu J. (2011), A systematic bibliography on return migration, Olso, Peace Research Institute Oslo, PRIO Paper.

Collyer, M., De Haas, H., (2012) « Developing dynamic categorisations of transit migration », Population Space Place, vol. 18, n° 4, p. 468-481.

David A. (2017), « Back to square one: socioeconomic integration of deported migrants », International Migration Review, vol. 51, n° 1, p. 127-154.

De Haas H., Fokkema T., Fassi Fihri M. (2015) « Return migration as failure or success?: the determinants of return migration intentions among Moroccan migrants in Europe », Journal of International Migration and Integration, vol. 16, n° 2, p.415-29.

Flahaux M.-L. (2017), « The role of migration policy changes in Europe for return migration to Senegal. » International Migration Review, vol. 51, n° 4, p. 868-92.

Levitt P. (1999), « Social remittances: a local-level, migration-driven form of cultural diffusion », International Migration Review, vol. 32, n° 124, p. 926-49.

Ley D., Kobayashi A. (2005), « Back to Hong Kong: return migration or transnational sojourn? », Global Networks, vol. 5, n° 2, p. 111-127.

Quiminal C. (2002), « Retours contraints, retours construits des émigrés maliens », Hommes et Migrations, vol. 1236, p. 35-43.

Triandafyllidou A. (2013), « Circular Migration: Introductory Remarks », in A. Triandafyllidou (dir.), Circular migration between Europe and its neighbourhood: choice or necessity?, Oxford, Oxford University Press. p. 1-21.