Mobilities and Precarities

Dear Colleagues,

We are writing to invite you to contribute to a Special Issue of Genealogy on ‘Mobilities and Precarities’.

We live at a time when anthropocentrism, neoliberalism and neo-colonialism alongside wars, persecution and violence are creating unsustainable modes of living and precarities that result in forced migration. At the end of 2021, the total number of people worldwide who were forced to flee their homes due to conflicts, violence, fear of persecution and human rights violations was 89.3 million, which was more than double the number a decade ago, and the most since World War II (Global Trends Report 2022). The experiences of forced migration are exacerbated for individuals, groups and communities who are located at the intersection of marginal identities of race, class, caste, religion, gender, sexuality, ability, ethnicity or nationality.

In this Special Issue, we seek to explore the manifold precarities that people experience before, during and after migration under forced circumstances. Mobilities, whether within the national boundaries or beyond, are accompanied by precarious journeys. The need to access basic services for employment, housing, health, education and the loss of social support and networks makes ‘settling’ in a new cultural and geographical place challenging. Social, economic and political precarities also shape migrants’ pathways to spaces of incarceration such as a detention centers, camps and prisons.  In many ways, the mobility across places is often accompanied by an immobility as migrants negotiate and resist both everyday experiences of marginalization and precarities created by structures and institutions.

In addition, the multiple impacts of border restrictions at the height of COVID-19 amplified the existing precarity of migrants in multiple contexts around the world. Such measures included physical restrictions on movement, forced containment in specific locations and in some cases targeting of migrant workers due to their marginal status. The implications of these measures are only now starting to be understood at social, community and governmental levels regarding migrant/refugee experiences; impacts on notions of belonging and identity; policy futures and governance of migration.

The overarching purpose of this Special Issue is to present further insights on the intersection between mobility and precarity across a range of sites, disciplines and methodological engagements to explore future implications in this field.

Papers are invited from any relevant disciplinary backgrounds, addressing but not limited to the topics listed below:

1. Forced migration and precarities;
2. Climate change induced mobility;
3. Gender-based violence, precarity and mobility;
4. Neoliberal welfare policies and mobility;
5. Transnational NGOs, humanitarian aid and mobility;
6. Socio-legalities of migration;
7. Mobility, social relations and networks;
8. Mobility, precarity and incarceration;
9. COVID-19 and mobility;
10. Solidarities/intimacies across borders;
11. Surveillance and mobilities;
12. Technology, Mobility and precarities;
13. Policing of mobilities;
14. Racism and mobilities;
15. Resistance to borders.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Genealogy editorial office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

Dr. Rimple Mehta
Dr. Melissa Phillips
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Genealogy is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• migration
• displacement
• precarity
• borders