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Events

Conferences

Internal Network Meeting in Mainz

Kick-off Workshop in Mainz, April 28 - April 29 2022

Program

Thursday

13.-14.00

  • Welcome and Organisational Matters
  • Goals and Opportunities of this Network
  • Short Round of Introduction 

14.15-16.45 Break-Out Group Discussion and Plenum Discussion

17-18 Project Presentations: Megha Amrith, Vicktoria Kumala Sakti & Franzisca Zanker

19-21 Dinner and Chats

Friday

9-10.30 Group Discussion: New Methods for Data Collection in Times of Covid-19: What works and what doesn't?

10.45-12.45 Group Discussion: Our Expectation for this Network and the coming Meetings

  • Which specific Topics to focus on
  • What Outputs to reach out for (Special issues, Co-Authoring)
  • Who to invite as Guest Speakers

13:00 Lunch and Departure

Workshop in Bielefeld, January 18.-20., 2023

Program

Wednesday Afternoon

  • 14-18h Writing Retreat

19h Joint Dinner

Thursday Morning

  • 9.00-9.15h Meet & Greet
  • 9.15.-10.45h Q & A with Biao Xiang (MPI, Halle)
  • 11.15-12.45h Maurice Stierl (Osnabrück University)

12.45- 14.15 Lunch

Thursday Afternoon

  • 14.15 -15.45h Talk by Amrita Datta (Siegen University)
  • 16.15-17.45h Presentations by Magdalena Suerbaum, Dora Sampaio & Dilshad Muhammad

18h Joint Dinner

Friday Morning

  • 9.00-9.15h Meet & Greet
  • 9.15.-10.45h Q & A with Thomas Faist (Universität Bielefeld)
  • 11.15-12.45h Exchange on Publications and Projects & Brainstorming for the Subsequent Meeting

12.45-14.00h Lunch and End of the Workshop

 

Workshop in Göttingen, November 9.-11., 2023

Program

Thursday, 9 November

Til 17:30 arrival and welcome


DISENTANGLING THE MULTIPLICITY OF CRISES (PART I)

  • 18:00 Keynote: “Migration world-making practices engaging with mutually independency through abolitionist horizons”, Martina Tazzioli (University of Bologna)

19:30 dinner

 

Friday, 10 November

09:00 coffee and conversation

  • 09:30 Round of introduction, where we’re currently at? – news from our network’s members

 

DISENTANGLING THE MULTIPLICITY OF CRISES (PART II)

  • 10:00–10:30 Invited guest talk: “Crisis as Exception or Context? Covid-19 in the Somali regions and in the diaspora”, Nauja Kleist (DIIS Copenhagen), with colleagues
  • 10:30–11:00 “The desire to control ‘crisis anxiety’- Migrants social positioning strategies in transnational spaces”, Inka Stock (University of Bielefeld)
  • 11:00–11:30 “Crisis that spans a life-time (and beyond): Parenting practices in displacement”, Magdalena Suerbaum (University of Bielefeld)
  • 11:30–12:00 Discussant note by Megha Amrith (MPI-MMG Göttingen)
  • 12:00–12:30 plenary round of reflection

12:30 lunch


DISENTANGLING THE MULTIPLICITY OF CRISES (PART III)

  • 14:00–14:30 “Trapped! Immobility and second flight in war-torn Ethiopia”, Magnus Treiber & Mulu Getachew Abebe (LMU München & Addis Ababa University)
  • 14:30–15:00 “The ‘crisis’ of migration: mobility norms in Africa”, Franzisca Zanker (ABI Freiburg)
  • 15:00–15:30 “Crisis as usual. Producing migration control policies in the long run in Niger”, Laura Lambert (ABI Freiburg)
  • 15:30–16:00 discussant note by Antje Missbach (University of Bielefeld)
  • 16:30–17:00 plenary round of reflection

19:00 dinner

 

Saturday, 11 November

  • 10:00 Round of discussion: where will we go next? Conferences, publication plans, joint applications?

12:00 departure

Workshop in Freiburg, 26.-28. June 2024

Program

Wednesday

17.00 Arrival

18.00-19.45 Keynote: Repairing infrastructures of (im)mobility - lessons from the Covid-19 crisis by Dr. Gunjan Sondhi

20.00 Dinner

Thursday

9.00-9.30 Coffee and conversation

9.30-11.00 Looking Back: Long-term Covid-19 impacts on migration/mobility in the Global South

  • Zahra Babar (Georgetown universitx Qatar): Reflecting on the Pandemic Two Years On: Mobility and Migration in Gulf
  • Anita Ghimire (Nepal Institute for Social and Environmental Research): Old policies for new aspirations: Nepali Migration policy and changing female migration in Nepal
  • Joyce Takaindisa (University of the Witwatersrand): Examining the relationship between COVID-19 impacts and the Zimbabwean Exemption Permits for migrants in South Africa: Post-Pandemic Interplay Between Xenophobia and Policy Oscillation
  • Luisa Gabriela Morales Vega (Autonomous University of Mexico State): The Tightened State Migration Control in Mexico: A COVID-19 Pandemic Remnant.

11.00-11.15 Short Break

11.15-12.45 Small-group work/ interactive walk

Input: Inka and Antje on how scholars imagined the “new normal” and the post-pandemic era.

  1. How does Covid-19 continue to influence global migration and (im)mobilities?
  2. Which prognoses, made in the early stages of the pandemic have materialised and which not? And why?
  3. How do mid to long-term consequences of the pandemic affect in our respective areas of interest and our research interests?
  4. What findings has the network contributed?

13.00 Lunch

14.30-17.30 Writing Retreat Part 1

19.30 Dinner

 

Friday

9.15-12.30 Writing Retreat Part 2

  • Feedback session
  • Moving Forward 

12.30 Lunch and Farewell 

Authors' Workshop in Bielefeld, 9-10 October 2025

Pandemics and Mobilities

Program 

Authors' Workshop

Pandemics and Mobilities (Brill, 2026)

Dates: October 9-10,2025

Time: 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM CET (Day 1) & 09:00 AM - 04:00 PM CET (Day 2)

Venue: X-C3-107, Bielefeld University, Germany (hybrid)

 

Day 1: Thursday, 9 October, 2025

09:00 am - 09:30 am Inaugural Session (Room: X-C3-107)

  • Welcome by the editors of the book Pandemics and Mobilities: Amrita Datta, Bielefeld University, Germany, Jonathan Ngeh, University of Cologne, Germany and Arani Basu, Krea University, India  
  • Insights into the Faculty of Sociology and the DFG Network “Migration and Im/Mobility in the Global South during a Pandemic”: Antje Missbach, Speaker of the network, Bielefeld University, Germany 

09:30 am - 11:00 am Cluster 1: Pandemic Histories, Pandemic Mobilities 

  • Unekwu Friday Itodo, Kogi State University, Nigeria: “The 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Northern Nigeria”  
  • Habib Khondker, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, UAE: “Two Horsemen of Apocalyses and Mobility”
  • John Mathew and Rutuja Rokade, Asian University for Women, Chittagong, Bangladesh: “Pandemic Mobilities in India b/w the late 19th and early 21st centuries”   
  • Chair: Laavanya Kathiravelu, University of Oslo, Norway

11:00 am - 11:15 am Coffee Break

11:15 am - 12:45 pm Cluster 2: Shifts in Labour Migration 

  • Sourina Bej, University of Bonn, Germany: “Pandemic, contractors & paradoxes in labour migration pathways from Indian Sunderbans”
  • Arnab Roychowdhury, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia and Ahmed Abidur Razzaq Khan, ULAB Dhaka, Bangladesh: “COVID-19, Migrant Workers & their Families: A Case Study of Local Civil Society Intervention in Bangladesh”  
  • Faudzan Farhana, Athiqah Nur Alami, Tri Nuke Pudjiastuti, R.Aj. Rizka Fiani and Prabaningtyas, Irin Oktafiani, National Innovation Agency, Indonesia: “Indonesia, Indonesian Migrant Workers RepatrianPolicies during COVID 19”      
  • Chair: Antje Missbach, Bielefeld University, Germany

12:45 pm - 01:45 pm Lunch Break 

01:45 pm - 05:00 pm Cluster 3: Marginalizing the Mobile Body as the Risky Body 

  • Debangana Baruah, Tata institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India: “Pandemic Vulnerability of Sylheti-Muslim Migrants in Mumbai”    
  • Samanwita Paul, Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi, India and Rohini Mitra, University of Bonn, Germany: “Rohingya refugees during COVID 19 in India”  
  • Laavanya Kathiravelu, University of Oslo, Norway: “Tamil Low Wage Migrants and the individualisation of resilience”  
  • Luisa Piart, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Salle, Germany: ”The Crew Change Crisis and Seafarers’ Disrupted Travels Home during the Pandemic” 
  • Arjab Roy and Manjusha Kausik Duarah, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, India: “Interface between Migrant Labourers and the Indian State during COVID-19”
  • Tu Huynh and Mamelang Mmutlwane, Jinan University, China: ““We Became the Virus”: Race, Risk, and the Margins of Mobility in Pandemic Guangzhou”  
  • Chair: Irudaya Rajan, The International Institute of Migration and Development (IMAAD), Kerala, India 

07:30 pm Formal Dinner 

 

 

Day 2: Friday, 10 October, 2025 

09:15 am -  11:15 am Cluster 4: Role of Media, Communication and Technology (Room: X-C3-107)

  • Michaela Pelican and Sophia Mayer, University of Cologne, Germany: “African migrants’ engagement with competing narratives about the Covid-19 pandemic” 
  • Istikhar Ali, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Germany: “Impact of Islamophobia on the Indian Muslims during the pandemic”    
  • Marshia Akbar, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada: “Media Portrayal of International Students in Canada’s Post Pandemic Housing Crisis Debate”   
  • Claudia Minchilli, University of Groningen, The Netherlands: “Migrant and refugee women navigating the lockdown. Social class, digital practices and the pandemic in Italy” 
  • Chair: Habib Khondker, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, UAE

11:15 am - 11:45 am Coffee Break 

11:45 am - 12:45 pm Cluster 5: Gendering Mobilities in Pandemic Times  

  • Sreedeep Bhattacharya, National Capital region, India: “Self in Home with Covid-Commodities in Covid-Conditions”  
  • Ghurni Bhattacharya, Bielefeld University, Germany: “Return Migration in Indian Sunderbans during COVID 19”     
  • Chair: Wayne Palmer, Bielefeld University, Germany 

12:45 pm - 01:45 pm Lunch Break

01:45 pm - 03:45 pm Cluster 6: Mobility catalyst, Anti-mobility and post-pandemic outcomes 

  • Radhika Mathrani Chakraborty, The University of Manchester, The United Kingdom and Shruti Gupta, Independent Scholar: “Mobility aspirations, uncertainties, and belonging in post-pandemic UAE and Hong Kong"
  • Arokkiaraj Heller, Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, India and Gunjan Sondhi, Open University, The UK: “International medical education: experiences of Indian students in China"
  • Amanda Lubit, Dublin City University, Ireland: “Reconfiguring the Mobilities of Refugee Women through the COVID-19 Pandemic"
  • Shu Wan, University at Buffalo, The USA: “Chinese Iowans' Community Resilience to the Covid-19 Pandemic"
  • Chair: Michaela Pelican, University of Cologne, Germany

03:45 pm - 04:00 pm Vote of thanks.

End of the workshop. Thank you all!

 

Further Information: https://blogs.uni-bielefeld.de/blog/soziologie/entry/call-for-papers-for-quot

 

 

 

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