Call for Papers

Call for Papers: Forgotten Corridors 

Submission Deadline: October 4, 2016 
Inquiries can be directed to:
Dr. Heather Johnson, h.johnson@qub.ac.uk 

The ongoing Syrian crisis has, in recent years, brought asylum and migration back to the forefront of policy thinking, state action, and public concern. In light of the ‘most significant crisis’ (for Europe) since the Second World War, our responses to asylum migration are being reimagined as new deals are being negotiated between states and extraordinary measures being undertaken in an effort to ‘manage’ the crisis – and to control the mobility of individuals. The human consequences have been immense as migrants are forced into more and more risky routes to achieve their journeys to safety, the most visible and disastrous of which has been the tragedy of the Mediterranean Sea. Death, danger, and risk are not new dimensions of the migrant journey, however, as asylum seekers navigate restrictive and securitized border regimes to reach safety and to rebuild their lives. Moreover, refugee and asylum policy and practice is not limited to the Syrian crisis; the challenges remain global, and groups and individuals move across borders seeking protection from persecution and violence. 

This Special Issue seeks to bring attention the global nature of asylum and refugee politics, and to bring attention to the ‘forgotten corridors’ that have disappeared from the political agenda in light of the Syrian emergency. Papers will focus on migrant journeys, on the corridors of mobility that are forged as they cross social, cultural, political, and geographical borders. Some of these journeys are lengthy, some very short as the mechanisms and practices of states capture mobility and prevent movement. All journeys, however, are imbued with unique stories, with confrontations with difference and the challenges of reception, and with moments of solidarity with other migrants and with local populations, activists, and workers. 

We welcome papers that examine the migrant journey, the routes and corridors of people on the move globally, and the spaces that can capture these journeys such as reception and detention centres. Papers that engage with ‘on-the-ground’ or new methodologies are particularly encouraged, and practitioner perspectives and creative interventions are very welcome.