[Kaupunkitutkimus] Call for papers workshop in ETMU Conference Åbo Akademi University

[Hanna Heino]

Dear colleagues,

The CALL FOR PAPERS for this year's 15th ETMU (Vulnerability, Resilience and Resistance in Diverse Societies) conference (15-16 November 2018), co-hosted by the Institute for Human Rights and the Minority Research Profile at Åbo Akademi University (Turku), is now out!

We are organising the workshop on "Theoretical and empirical approaches to undocumented migrants in Finland" (see below). Please submit your abstract (300 words) and your contact information (name, title, organization, and e-mail address) to Katri Gadd (kajole at utu.fi<mailto:kajole at utu.fi>) and Miriam Tedeschi (mitede at utu.fi<mailto:mitede at utu.fi>) by 15 August 2018. Acceptances of proposals will be announced on 5 September 2018.

We look forward to receiving great contributions!

For more information about the call for papers, the workshop and the conference please follow this link: http://blogs2.abo.fi/etmublog2018/2018/06/07/cfpetmu2018/.

Thank you!
Katri Gadd
Miriam Tedeschi


Katri Gadd (kajole at utu.fi<mailto:kajole at utu.fi>)
Ph.D. Postdoc Research Fellow
URMI - Urbanization, Mobilities and Immigration
Division of geography
University of Turku

Miriam Tedeschi (mitede at utu.fi<mailto:mitede at utu.fi>)
Ph.D. Postdoc Research Fellow
URMI - Urbanization, Mobilities and Immigration
Division of geography
University of Turku


"Theoretical and empirical approaches to undocumented migrantion in Finland"

Undocumented migration is not a new phenomenon in Finland. However, since 2015 it has received more attention as Finland encountered an exceptional inflow of asylum seekers. Some of those who did not get asylum decided to stay in Finland. Jauhiainen et al. (2018) estimated that there were around 3.000-4.000 undocumented migrants in Finland in 2017, and their number is likely to grow. This has raised new questions as how the central and local governments could legally and practically address the new challenges the undocumented migrants pose. Even if the central government has declared that they are illegal, and, therefore, supposed to leave, in some cases they do not. These so called new undocumented have received final rejection to their residence permit applications by the Supreme Court (or they never got a permission to appeal to the Supreme Court). Hence, they are only entitled to urgent healthcare and social services. Thus, they rely on helping individuals, NGOs or other third sector actors. Moreover, often these people keep hiding due to the fear of authorities and deportation.

This phenomenon has not been accurately studied in Finland. Nevertheless, it has apparent consequences on the bureaucratic procedures and urban policies that local institutions (municipalities, hospitals, police, schools, non-profit associations, etc.) have to arrange. Local institutions ought to organise practices so that everyone is guaranteed the livelihoods according to the Constitution of Finland, including fulfilment of basic needs as nutrition, shelter, urgent healthcare and social services.

Due to the increasing amount of irregular migrants, and, consequently, to these legal and practical difficulties local institutions meet, the need to come to a better understanding of this phenomenon is now more compelling than ever. Moreover, the increased amount of undocumented migrants might have long-term consequences on the society as a whole, which need to be unearthed and thoroughly considered.

Thus, this workshop explores, from different theoretical and empirical points of view, how all the actors involved – undocumented migrants, local municipalities, hospitals, police, schools, non-profit associations, etc. – try to negotiate their own daily survival and socio-spatial justice with laws and regulations. Indeed, the latter is materialised and enacted in radically different, and often conflicting, discourses, narratives, languages, daily practices, and, last but not least, affects and emotions. If undocumented migrants need to find strategies to preserve their own life, public institutions also must find their way to guarantee their existence as fully-working systems. The different ways in which all these actors intertwine and might conflict produce a wide range of effects on how public policies on the one hand, and society on the other hand unfold and are challenged by the phenomenon.

We welcome oral presentation proposals addressing the undocumented migration in different ways, both theoretical and practical. They can include, but are not restricted to:
 -    survival strategies of irregular migrants
 -    human trafficking
 -    public services’ access
 -    healthcare
 -    children education
 -    immigration law
 -    safety and security
 -    ethical issues

References
Ambrosini, M. (2017) Why irregular migrants arrive and remain: the role of intermediaries. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43(11): pp. 1813–1830.
Darling, J. (2010) A city of sanctuary: the relational re‐imagining of Sheffield’s asylum politics. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 35(1): pp. 125–140.
Düvell, F. (2006) Irregular migration: a global, historical and economic perspective, in Düvell, F. (ed.) Illegal Immigration in Europe. Beyond Control, pp. 14–39. New York: Palgrave Mac Millan.
Düvell, F. , Triandafyllidou, A. and Vollmer, B. (2010). Ethical issues in irregular migration research in Europe. Population, Space and Place, 16(3): pp. 227–239.
Jauhiainen J.S., Gadd, K. & Jokela, J. (2018) Paperittomat Suomessa 2017. Turku: University of Turku.
Jönsson, J. (2014) Local restrictions to global problems: Undocumented immigrants and social work. British Journal of Social Work, 44(1): pp. 35–52.
Leinonen, J. & Toivanen, M. (2014) Researching in/visibility in the Nordic context: Theoretical and empirical views. Nordic Journal of Migration Research, 4(4): pp. 161–167.
Lundberg, A. and Strange, M. (2016) Struggles over human rights in local government – the case of access to education for undocumented youth in Malmö, Sweden. Critical Policy Studies, 11(2): pp. 146–165.
Nordling, V., Sager, M., and Söderman, E. (2017) From citizenship to mobile commons: reflections on the local struggles of undocumented migrants in the city of Malmö, Sweden. Citizenship Studies, 21(6): pp. 710–726.
Schweitzer, R. (2017) Integration against the state: Irregular migrants’ agency between deportation and regularization in the United Kingdom. Politics, 37(3): pp. 317–331.
Sigona, N. (2012) `I have too much baggage´: The impacts of legal status on the social worlds of irregular migrants. Social Anthropology, 20(1): 50–65.
Trimikliniotis, N. Parsanoglou, D. and Tsianos, V. (2016) Mobile commons and/in precarious spaces: Mapping migrant struggles and social resistance. Critical Sociology, 42(7–8): 1035–1049.
Wessendorf, S. (2017) Pathways of settlements among pioneer migrants in super-diverse London. Jounal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 44(2): pp. 270–286.