Centre for Theology and Religious Studies at Lund University is pleased to announce the International Conference on Migration and Identity, which will be held on August 20-22, 2025, at Lund University in Lund, Sweden. The conference’s aim is to deepen our understanding of postmigrant societies in Europe through an exploration of parallels between migration experiences in the past and present by correlating the dynamics of migration in 20th-century Europe with those of the recent years.

The conference will seek to contextualize contemporary European migrations within a broader historical framework, demonstrating the continued relevance of historical experiences and perspectives in understanding contemporary developments of mass migration movements. We seek to foster methodological discussions and generate new insights into migration as a vehicle for the creation and negotiation of identity, referring to various facets of mass population movements: economic migration, political exile, flight from ethnic, racial, or religious persecution, environmental migration, and others. One of the focal points of the conference will be the analysis of the mechanisms of social inclusion and exclusion in the past and today to identify factors and dynamics that facilitate social integration and cohesion. 

We encourage original contributions from researchers at different stages of their careers, from the fields of history, sociology, anthropology, political science, and related disciplines. Papers may address any aspect of 20th-century or 21st-century migration and its impact on identity, culture, and social change, including but not limited to the following subjects:

• negotiations and concealment of identity as a part of the migration process
• migration and urban transformation
• perceptions of migrants by the host societies
• dynamics of social inclusion and exclusion of the migrants in short and long time spans
• media and migration narratives
• migrations and identity in micro- and macro-perspective
• migrations in individual and collective memory
• global contexts of European migration
• methodological approaches to migration research

The conference is arranged with the support of the Centre for European Studies at Lund University. The organizers will endeavor to provide a limited number of travel grants. 

Submission Guidelines

Please submit an abstract of up to 300 words and a short biography (one paragraph) to migrationpostmigrant@gmail.com by February 28, 2025. All application materials must be submitted in English. Selected participants will be notified by March 31, 2025.

For further details, please contact us at migrationpostmigrant@gmail.com. You can also directly contact the coordinators Magdalena Dziaczkowska (magdalena.dziaczkowska@ctr.lu.se, CTR) and Dorota Choińska (dorota.choinska2@uwr.edu.pl, University of Wroclaw, Open University of Catalonia).