There exist a growing body of literature, academic and policy interest on migrant status, conditions and involvement in the labor markets of the host societies. The labor market and its institutions provide one of the most visible political arenas, in which the position of the migrant is being negotiated, defined and governed. It has long been noted that recent and temporary immigrants ‘self-exploit’ or allow themselves to be employed under conditions which native workers would not accept (Piori 1979), and migrants from Albania and Kosovo have been no exception to this. Nonetheless, as time goes on and integration proceeds immigrants begin to demand the same security and protection as natives. There is little research on the status, attitudes and strategies Albanian migrants from Albania and Kosovo employ to integrate and succeed in the labour market in diverse EU countries. During the past few years, labor mobility from Albania and Kosovo toward EU countries has intensified while new trends of return and circular migration have emerged. Notions of identity, belonging, integration and (several forms of) citizenship are challenged by the new forms of mobility. How do these impact the development of industrial citizenship among migrants from Albania and Kosovo? This conference aims to contribute to this ongoing debate and proposes to draw together studies that engage with the current transformation of the politics of labor migration, the meaning of ‘migrant(s)’ and their changing positionality into the labor market in the host society. It intends to explore the formation of industrial citizenship for Albanian labor migrants (both from Albania and from Kosovo) in the time of austerity. It gives more nuances to the woes of (often) unprotected migrants and focuses on the strategies and attitudes Albanian labour migrants in several EU countries, such as Italy, Greece, Switzerland and Germany, employ in the search for economic security. The conference further discusses:
- Labor migration flows (permanent, temporary, circular and return) at different levels; for example how migrant workers negotiate and express their industrial citizenship, (e.g., in implicit and explicit, actions, attitudes or behaviours).
- How the global economic crisis has affected migrants in EU labour markets?
- What are the migrant strategies of adaption?
- What the union strategies to organize and represent migrants are?
- How migrants respond to competitive labor market norms.
- How the normative dimension affects the incorporation of migrants in the host country society and labor market?
- What the measures and policies governments take to foster migrant issues, etc. are?
This conference is organized as joint collaboration between University of New York Tirana, University of Prishtina and the University of Jyväskulä, in the framework of the project “Industrial Citizenship and Migration from Western Balkans: Case studies from Albania and Kosovo migration towards Greece, Germany and Switzerland”. This project is supported by Regional Research Promotion Programe.
Eligibility
The Conference will hold specialized paper presentation panels. The conference will attract scholars of migration with different disciplinary backgrounds. The aims of the call is to bring together leading academic scientists, researchers, policy-makers, students, and practitioners and research scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results about all aspects of migration. The organizers plan to combine empirical and theoretical work to answer these questions but slightly favour papers with an empirical approach in disciplines where such research is done.
Topics of interest include:
- Labor migration and industrial citizenship
- Labor market segmentation – Precarious and flexible work
- Negotiate the boundaries of legitimacy/illegitimacy
- Union strategies to organize and represent migrants
- Agency of migrant workers – Between integration and stigmatization
- Return Migration and reintegration strategies
- Citizenship, identity and migration
- Diasporas, social and financial remittances
- Feminization of labor migration
- Gender, family and migration
Costs
No participation fee will be charged for participants as the conference is supported financially both by RRPP and University of New York Tirana.
Important Dates
05.10.2015 Submission deadline for all abstracts
05.11.2015 Full paper deliverance
25.10.2015 Notification of selection for abstracts
01.11.2015 Deadline for registration
13.11.2015 Opening of the Conference
Application
The official language of the conference is English. If you wish to present a paper at the Conference please submit an abstract in English language (no more than 300 words) and a short bio to ICMwesternbalkan@unyt.edu.al. Please subject the heading “ICM_Name_Surname” and attach abstracts. Use APA style. All abstracts will be evaluated by members of scientific committee.
For more information, please visit the official web-page.
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