Migration, Place/making and Belonging

A conference of the ISS21 Migration and Integration Research Cluster
5 & 6 June 2025 at University College Cork

Plenary Speakers:

Registration is now open here. 

Migration is an integral part of contemporary global societies and of how we, in our societies and communities, relate to the places in which we live, how we develop a sense of belonging and how place itself is constructed. Reflecting a politics of place and belonging/not-belonging, different forms of migrations and movements across borders can be prioritised, preferred, stigmatized, demonized or even ignored in public and academic discourse. Place can become a focus of anti-immigration sentiment whereby contested notions of belonging are utilized to other and exclude. But through placemaking processes, place can also be an integral part of building community, conviviality, connection and belonging in contexts of migration and mobility.

This interdisciplinary conference brings together scholars and practitioners to discuss the intersections of migration, place/making and belonging (in Ireland and beyond). Papers from a wide range of international contexts will address the following themes (not exclusively), to advance theoretical and empirical understandings of these intersections:   

• Migration, the city and urban space
• Politics of inclusion/exclusion, place/making and belonging
• Intersectionality (gender, class, race, etc.) and place/making in migration
• Place un-making and unbelonging
• Schools as spaces of belonging/not-belonging and placemaking
• Advancing methods for researching migration, place(making) and (un)belonging
• Migration, home and materiality
• Migration, rural im/mobilities and place/making
• Superdiversity, conviviality and place
• Digital spaces, migration and belonging
• Climate change, mobilities and place

We welcome perspectives from social sciences, cultural studies, law and related disciplines as well as from practice and activism. This will be an in-person event.

The ISS21 Migration and Integration Cluster brings together researchers with an interest in issues of migration, integration and cultural diversity, from a wide range of disciplines including Applied Psychology, Applied Social Studies, Education, Geography, Languages/Literatures/Cultures, Law, Philosophy, Sociology and Study of Religions. The Cluster and ISS21 represent UCC as a full member of IMISCOE (International Migration Research Network).

Conference Planning Committee: Mark Chu, Mastoureh Fathi, Shirley Martin, Meiyun Meng, Caitriona Ni Laoire

Contact us by email: ISS21Migration@ucc.ie