During the Great Recession immigration has been hotly contested in the United States, as elsewhere. Politicians, advocacy groups, and social movements have debated federal proposals for comprehensive immigration reform and new immigration controls. Meanwhile, many state and local jurisdictions have taken matters into their own hands-passing legislation that in some cases makes it more difficult for unauthorized immigrants to find work and go about their daily lives, and in other cases facilitates immigrants' political and economic participation.

This workshop seeks to place current immigration debates and policymaking in historical perspective. Historically, economic downturns have sharpened existing migration debates and prompted new ones, concerning both international and internal flows. A wide range of groups, from formal state actors to informal associations of individuals, have engaged in these debates and attempted to reform migration policy and practices.

We welcome the contributions of historians, historically-minded social scientists, and policy analysts who study conflicts over migration and policy developments during economic downturns. The workshop will focus on the United States in the period from the 1930s to the present, but we are also interested in contributions that provide a geographically or temporally comparative perspective on the subject.

Some questions that papers might address include:

Discourse: How has public discourse over migration changed during economic downturns? To what extent has the debate responded to actual demographic and labor market shifts? How have social scientific research and public opinion shaped reform proposals?

Politics and Policy: How have migration policies and practices changed during economic downturns? What has distinguished reforms that were enacted from those that were not? What role have state and non-state actors played in reforming migration policies-from transnational coalitions and supranational bodies to national political leaders, bureaucracies and courts, local officials, citizens groups, and voluntary organizations?

Experience: Have policies enacted during economic downturns had their intended effect? How have migration patterns and migrants' ability to participate socially, economically, and politically changed during economic downturns? How have the experiences of different migrant groups diverged-depending on their place of national origin, skill-level, and family structure, for example? How have immigrant entrepreneurs, laborers, and professionals fared during economic downturns? To what extent have the experiences of internal migrants paralleled those of immigrants? Finally, how have policy changes during downturns redrawn the boundaries of belonging, or citizenship?

The workshop will be held April 4-5, 2014. Please send an abstract of no more than 500 words and a short CV to Susanne Fabricius (Fabricius@ghi-dc.org). The deadline for submission is January 15, 2014. Participants will be notified by early February. The workshop will be held in English. Expenses for travel and accommodation will be covered, as necessary.

For questions about the workshop, please contact:

Elisa Minoff
Fellow in Economic and Social History
German Historical Institute
1607 New Hampshire Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20009
202-552-8952
minoff@ghi-dc.org