Intersections of tourism and migration 22-23 April 2016

Serdecznie zapraszamy do zgłaszania się na anglojęzyczną konferencję międzynarodową poświęconą nieoczywistym związkom między turystyką i migracją, która odbędzie się w kwietniu 2016 roku w Gdańsku. Organizatorami konferencji są Uniwersytet Gdański i Uniwersytet Islandzki, a wspiera ją FSS. Termin zgłoszeń upływa 15 lutego. Adres korespondencyjny anna.horolets[at]ug.edu.pl

The conference aims at better understanding of mobility practices through abolishing dichotomous classifications. We suggest that tourism and migration understood as practices and discourses are intertwined and mutually influence one another. The boundary between them is not clear-cut similarly to the boundary between work and leisure. The deeper understanding of the intertwinement of these two practices is vital not only as a heuristic exercise but also as an important tool of social critique since the dichotomous vision of tourism and migration may result in an discriminatory practices towards selected groups of mobile subject experiences (e.g. undocumented migrants) while other groups enjoy social privilege (e.g. “expatriates”). The intersections between tourism and migration need to be studied at the level of individual experience as well as at the level of institutions and environment, in which they unfold. The idea of crossing boundaries - symbolic and material - so vital for all types of mobility can be translated and adopted as an idea for studying mobility as such.  

We invite papers that address a variety of topics related to the broadly defined intersections of tourism and migration:

-discourses and practices of human and non-human mobility,

-symbols, myths and representations of mobility and mobile subject,

-leisure and work in mobility context,

-diaspora tourism/Visiting Friends and Relatives tourism (VFR) – anthropological dimensions,

-formality and informality in mobility,

-research methods and limitations, mobile methods, transdisciplinarity,

-different types of mobile subjects (migrants, refugees, expats, tourists, travelers etc.),

-nature as a scarce resource, experience, embodiment and attraction in mobility context,

-meeting points/environments  of mobile and static subjects,

-genius loci and mobility; social practices and empowerment by place

The paper proposals containing the names and mails of the authors, paper title and an abstract of up to 200 words should be sent at the mail: anna.horolets[at]ug.edu.pl

The deadline for paper proposals is February 15, 2016.  There is no conference fee, however participants are expected to support their travel and living expenses during the conference self-dependantly.

The conference is a part of the Project „Leisure practices and perception of nature. Polish tourists and migrants in Iceland” (http://mobility-leisure.edu.pl)

The conference is supported by a grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norway Grants and co-financed by Polish funds.