The conference is part of the collaborative research project, “Art, Culture and Politics in the ‘Postmigrant Condition’”, funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark The conference is organized by Associate Professor Dr. Moritz Schramm, Associate Professor Dr. Sten Moslund, PhD Fellow Anna Meera Gaonkar and Post.doc Dr. Hans Christian Post.

Debates on migration and integration dominate most European societies today, often generating polarization and strong antagonisms. In recent years, the notion of ‘postmigrant societies’ – or, more encompassing, the ‘postmigrant condition’ – has emerged as one attempt to describe such conflicts and struggles. Sociologists Juliane Karakayali and Vassilis S. Tsianos argue that the notion ‘postmigrant society’ refers to...the political, cultural and social transformations of societies with a history of post-colonial and guest worker immigration.... The adjective postmigrant does not seek to historicize the fact of migration, but rather describes a society structured by the experience of migration—which is also relevant for all current forms of immigration (such as flight, temporary migration), both politically, legally and socially.

In this respect, the notion of postmigration or postmigrant society seeks to develop a new perspective on transformations caused by migration, including the obsession in contemporary societies with migration and integration and the new forms of exclusion and new nationalisms that follow. At the same time, it also seeks to overcome binary distinctions between the migrant/non-migrant and to challenge the ‘demarcation-line between migration and non-migration’ (Naika Foroutan).

To begin with, the term ‘postmigration’ derives not from academic scholars or researchers, originates in artist circles in Berlin where theater director Shermin Langhoff, among others, successfully began to refer to their work as ‘postmigrant theater’. More and more artists, intellectuals and activists began to refuse to be made into simple objects of national ‘integration’-politics with labels like ‘guest workers’, ‘migrants’, ‘foreigners’ or ‘immigrants’. Instead they would insist on the overall plurality of life-stories and backgrounds as a fundamental condition of modern society and the social and cultural interaction among all its members. In academic research the term is often employed as a new perspective on migration and its consequences, contributing to a ‘radical questioning but of the conventional view on migration’, according to sociologist Erol Yildiz. In this reading, postmigration describes ‘the re-narration and re-interpretation of the phenomenon “migration” and its consequences’.

At the conference we want to examine this new concept in relation to the arts, culture and politics – and compare its validity in different European societies. In which way, we ask, do the notion of a ‘postmigrant society’ and the idea of a ‘postmigrant perspective’ contribute to the overall attempts to comprehend and describe the ongoing struggles and conflicts unfolding in European societies? What roles do art and culture play in recent sociocultural negotiations (of e.g. identities, belongings and participation)? How do art and culture depict contemporary forms of exclusion and mechanisms of racism, and how can art and culture contribute to the difficult tasks of overcoming persistent forms of nationalism and racism? Can we describe a ‘postmigrant aesthetic’ (Myriam Geiser)?

For the conference we invite papers addressing some of these questions. We also welcome methodological discussions of the new terminology and its possibilities and impacts. Contributions that want to explore contemporary European artistic and cultural expressions (including literature, film, theatre and art) which address the issues and consequences of the postmigrant condition are very welcome, as well as discussions on concepts linked to the postmigrant condition like othering, belonging, participation, racism, nationalism, diversity, intersectionality, integration and transnationalism. As a supplementary perspective, we also want to invite papers dealing with the challenges that cultural institutions such as museums and galleries are confronted with in relation to the postmigrant condition.

We therefore invite proposals for papers of 20 minutes, addressing general questions such as (but not limited to):
What are the differences and similarities in various European countries in relation to the postmigrant condition, and how can those similarities and differences be explained and described?
How can art, culture and academia reflect the ‘postmigrant condition’ and its inherent struggles and conflicts – and how may we conceive of the similarities and differences across European societies?

– How can art and culture contribute to a better understanding of the conflicts and struggles that take place in the postmigration condition, and how can they develop strategies for political impact in response to the contemporary challenges and conflicts that influence European societies?

– Is it possible to identify specific (trans-)national genres of e.g. postmigrant literature, art and film; and, if so, how can we describe those genres and their ‘postmigrant aesthetics’?

– How do concepts from migration studies like ‘identity’, ‘multiculturalism’, ‘transnationalism’, ‘othering’, ‘race’, ‘belonging’, ‘integration’, ‘difference’, ‘border politics’ and ‘hybridity’ change and come to work in new ways in a postmigrant perspective?
How does the term postmigration relate to other ‘-posts’: post-other, post-ethnic, post-race, post-national and post-colonial?

– In which ways do postmigrant perspectives change our focus on memory, heritage and national self-understanding? And how does postmigration affect the production of national narratives?

– How does postmigrant theory offer new analytical perspectives on readings of art, film, theatre and literature (etc.)? What are the pitfalls and problems related to the new terminology and what kind of problems do we face when operationalizing postmigrant theory?

– How does postmigrant theory relate to and affect discussions on cultural citizenship, mulitlinguality as well as the study of diversity policies in cultural institutions and problems of representation and visibility?

Keynote participants include (among others) Naika Foroutan, Erol Yildiz, Riem Spielhaus, Roger Bromley and Marsha Meskimmon.
Please send short proposals for papers (no longer than 350 words) and a short bio (150 words) no later than 24 August 2018 to Anna Meera Gaonkar (amg@hum.ku.dk).

Conference fee: 150 Euros for members of academic institutions. The conference is free for artists, students and independent scholars, but you will have to register on the conference- homepage: https://www.sdu.dk/da/om_sdu/institutter_centre/ikv/konferencer+og+seminarer/2018 -postmigrantcondition

The conference is part of the collaborative research project, “Art, Culture and Politics in the ‘Postmigrant Condition’”, funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark (see: http://www.sdu.dk/en/postmigration).

The conference is organized by Moritz Schramm, Sten Moslund, Anna Meera Gaonkar and Hans Christian Post.
For questions contact Moritz Schramm (mosch@sdu.dk) or Anna Meera Gaonkar (amg@hum.ku.dk).