CFP: Borders and Migration

CFP: Borders and Migration

Puncta: Journal of Critical Phenomenology

www.punctajournal.org

Puncta is seeking contributions for a themed issue on the critical phenomenology of borders and migration.Migrants, border-crossers, and border-dwellers find themselves at the intersection of some of our time’s most pressing issues. Questions of global capitalism and capitalist production, democracy, the surveillance state, settler colonialism, race, sex, and class, not to mention issues like climate change and war, all converge in the figure of the migrant. Additionally, there are more international migrants today than ever before, with the total number reaching 272 million or 3.5 percent of the world’s population in 2019. As a journal committed to phenomenology not as a mere descriptive practice, but as a critical interrogation of the concrete conditions that structure lived experience, thinking, and the enactment of critique itself, Puncta hopes, with this themed issue, to cultivate a space in which phenomenological analysis responds to and confronts highly timely and urgent questions concerning borders and migration.

We invite submissions that apply phenomenology to socio-political phenomena concerning borders, migration, refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented immigrants, human rights, statelessness and/or rightlessness; that use such phenomena as a point of departure for reflections on the method of (critical) phenomenology; that engage the phenomenology of borders and migration from the point of view of (im)migration ethics; or that critically engage with philosophical figures who address topics related to migration and borders in their work. We also solicit submissions that discuss questions of border and migration in relation to the Coronavirus pandemic and the changing conditions we find ourselves living in and with.

We welcome articles on questions that may include but are not limited to:

● How can phenomenology respond to and confront phenomena such as increased border regulation and immigration control, “refugee crises” and overcrowded refugee camps, the undermining of the right to asylum, and/or the situation of undocumented immigrants?

● What does critical engagement with such socio-political phenomena teach us about the practice of phenomenology, or about the relation between theory and praxis?

● How can phenomenology reflect on the nature, practice, and limits of or relations between concepts such as human rights, citizenship, statelessness, and rightlessness?

● How does a critical phenomenological engagement with experiences of refugees, asylum seekers, and undocumented immigrants challenge traditional theories of human rights?

● How and to what extent can phenomenological work on borders and migration by authors such as Hannah Arendt, Gloria Anzaldúa, María Lugones, and others, contribute to reflect on the specific and concrete socio-political situations of (im)migrants, refugees, and/or asylum-seekers today?

● Can phenomenology and/or phenomenological tools complement philosophical work that is currently being done in (im)migration ethics, and if so, how?

We accept extended abstracts, but prioritize full papers. Extended abstracts can be between 500 and 800 words. Full paper submissions should be no longer than 8000 words, inclusive of notes and works cited, and prepared for anonymous review. Full paper submissions should be accompanied by an abstract between 150 and 200 words. Submissions may be sent via email [email protected]. Please include “Borders and Migration” as a subject line. Submitted papers must follow the author guidelines found on the website. All contributions will be peer-reviewed by anonymous referees. All questions and inquiries regarding submissions should be sent [email protected]. General questions about the journal should be directed [email protected]. Please note that any submission received before the submission deadline will not be reviewed until after the deadline.

Our two first issues can be found at www.punctajournal.org

Deadline for submission: September 14, 2020.

Full papers of accepted abstracts will be due January 15, 2021.