Coming home? Conflict and return migration in twentieth–century

An International conference hosted by the Centre for Transnational Studies, Department of Modern Languages, University of Southampton, and supported by the AHRC
1-3 April 2009 

The question of return has long been thought to be central to an exilic discourse and yet relatively little is known about how return migration is actually experienced and subsequently remembered by exiles and also by migrants more widely. In order to mark the 70th anniversary of the ‘official’ end of the Spanish Civil War and the start of the Second World War, events which led to the mass displacement of refugees, this conference explores the broad theme of conflict and return migration in twentieth-century Europe. Taking Europe as a point of arrival or departure, papers will address aspects of the the following questions:

  • What were the motivations for returning? How did institutions, political and social networks influence return? How was return organised?
  • What strategies did migrants adopt to deal with the impossibility of return?
  • How were migrants received, perceived and represented by the authorities and communities upon their return?
  • To what extent were attitudes and post-return daily practices (e.g. rituals, cultural practices, language etc.) influenced by the experience of migration? In what ways, if at all, did migrants re-construct questions of home and homeland upon their return?
  • How does return relate to the wider migratory process? To what extent does return signify the end of exile, diaspora, and the closure of the migration cycle?
  • How has return been remembered at an individual and group level? Does this vary between different categories of migrants?
  • How has return been represented in literature, art and film? What are the epistemological and ontological implications of these representations? Does an adequate representation or performance of return exist?

Keynote speakers

  • Alicia Alted Vigil, Professor of History, UNED, Madrid
  • Geneviève Dreyfus-Armand, Historian and Director of the BDIC, Paris
  • Franziska Meyer, Associate Professor of German Studies, University of Nottingham   

Organisers
Organised with The Exilio Network: Research into Refugees and other Migrations, which is supported by the AHRC, and Outcast Europe.

Venue
A selec The conference is hosted by the Centre for Transnational Studies, Department of Modern Languages, Avenue Campus, University of Southampton, UK.
Click here for: getting to Southampton
Click here for: location map and travel details
      
Internet access
All conference participants will have Internet access on campus included in the conference fee. All seminar rooms are fully equipeed with bench PCs with PowerPoint facilities 

For further information or queries regarding accommodation, or travel please contact:

Nicky Robbins
Email: N.E.Robbins@soton.ac.uk

For all other queries please contact:
Dr Alicia Pozo Gutiérrez
Email: apg@soton.ac.uk
Dr Scott Soo
Email: ssoo@soton.ac.uk