7 – 10 September 2022 – Rabat, Morocco | Submission Deadline: 1 March

As conveners of the track, Modernity, Aspirations, and the Culture of Migration in India within The Migration Conference, we welcome papers for a special session on India’s experience with migration in its varied aspects. The overarching goal of this track is to bring India to the centrestage of migration conversations, as a country of origin and destination.  

Over the last century, political divides, civil wars, development and economic policies in the Indian sub-continent have been the driving force for migration, both internal and international. India today is both a major country of origin for migrants as well as a popular destination for people from neighbouring countries.

Of the total migrant population, around one-in-twenty are Indian born. With about 18 million people living outside their country of birth, the Indian diaspora remains one of the largest in the world. Migration has also created new national identities, economic opportunities, and led to the formation of a culture of migration among many communities today. In addition to international migration, internal movements have also continued within India’s borders and more than 37 percent of the population is internally mobile according to the 2011 census data.

This track is designed to explore research on how the culture of migration in India has evolved and shaped aspirations over the past century. Some of the questions we hope to engage with but are limited to include, how has modernity shaped the movement of people within and out of India? What factors have enabled this mobility? How does forced displacement due to climate, conflict, and political instability fit into the discussion? We welcome papers and submissions that examine the intersections of gender, displacement, economics, politics, and conflict that continually shape migration cultures across the region and any other aspect of mobility throughout post-independent and contemporary India.

We look forward to receiving your contributions. Please submit at:  submit.migrationconference.net

Selected papers will be included in a book published by the Transnational Press London.