CfP: Refugee Crisis in South East Europe​

British International Studies Association Working Group on South East Europe
Aston Centre for Europe, Aston University
Workshop

Refugee Crisis in South East Europe
Convenors: Jelena Obradovic-Wochnik, Catherine Baker and Gemma Collantes Cellador
21 June 2016, 13.30-18.00
Aston University, Birmingham

Southeastern Europe – including Turkey, Greece and the former Yugoslav space – has become a focal point in the recent refugee crisis.
This workshop examines the impact of EU border regimes and explore the lived realities of individuals, refugees and activists in South Eastern Europe. The workshop aims to bring together academics, activists, policymakers and other non-academic audiences together, and facilitate dialogue between these different groups. We are interested in receiving contributions covering all aspects of the refugee crisis as it developed and took shape in South East Europe, including Turkey, Greece and the Western Balkans. We welcome contributions from PhD Students, academics, practitioners and activists (especially those with field experience or empirical engagement in the area), and submissions from across the social sciences.
We are particularly interested in the following themes:
The impact of wider EU policies and the migration-security nexus (such as border closures, changes to FRONTEX and search and rescue missions) on the development of the crisis in South East Europe.

Solidarity networks, grassroots and civil society responses to the refugee crisis
Narratives of ‘crisis’ and securitisation, such as media and policy framing of the refugee flows
Digital communications and responses to the ‘crisis’
Dynamics of race and racialisation in South East Europe
Policy shifts within South East European states to the refugee crisis
Site-specific analyses of locations and their dynamics (e.g. reception centres and EU-labelled ‘hot spots’ of crisis)
Evocations of 1990s displacements during the present moment
Intersections of oppression such as gender and disability
Past and present transnational solidarities between South East Europe and refugees’ countries of origin
Format
This is a half-day workshop, starting at 1.30pm and ending at 18.00. Presenters will be required to submit a paper ahead of the workshop. The organisers will also aim to submit the presented papers as a special issue of a peer-reviewed journal.

Funding
There is no fee to attend the workshop.
Limited travel funding is available for PhD Students, early career academics and unwaged activists and academics, presenting papers at the workshop.
In most cases we will be unable to reimburse travel funding in full, especially for those travelling from outside of the UK as unfortunately, our funding is very limited.
If you are interested in applying for travel funding, please let us know how much your travel costs are likely to be, and we will let you know how much we can reimburse.
Please send 300 word abstracts to by 20 April 2016 to j.obradovic-wochnik@aston.ac.uk
More information about the BISA South East Working Group can be found here: https://bisasoutheasteurope.wordpress.com/author/southeasteruopewg/