Symposium | Migration: Points of Entry, Points of Departure

3420 Walnut St,Philadelphia PA 19104

25 February, 2022

Description

Consider the past, present, and future of migration in this day-long symposium featuring artists, scholars, advocates, and organizers. Wolf Humanities Center • University of Pennsylvania 2021–2022 FORUM ON MIGRATION Symposium | Migration: Points of Entry, Points of DepartureMigrants—forced and voluntary, documented and undocumented, domestic and international, permanent and temporary—have transformed geo-political boundaries, nation states, cities, and civilizations throughout history. Our contemporary era is defined by unprecedented levels of global migration, with more people than ever living outside their place of birth. Migrants contend with new languages and cultural norms, racial and ethnic categorization, and discourses of citizenship that often cast them out as the “other.” These new contexts give rise to experiences of alienation and anxiety, loss and longing, hope and optimism. Through these experiences’ migrants transform the very places and cultures they come to inhabit—by laboring to establish cross-community ties and anchor themselves in new contexts. At our unique historical juncture, we will consider the past, present, and future of migration. More information: https://wolfhumanities.upenn.edu/events/migration-symposium Cosponsored by Penn's Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy; Annenberg School of Communications; Departments of Anthropology, History, and South Asia Studies; Center for the Advanced Study of India; South Asia Center; and Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.9:40-11:00 am | Diasporic Worlds In 1993, Giorgio Agamben wrote that refugees are the central figures of our political history. Today, during a time of exacerbated refugee crises, his words ring as true as they did three decades ago. Foregrounding the figure of the refugee, this panel will dwell on the costs of war, genocide, and displacement that compel human movement across national borders. While considering how nation-states and humanitarian institutions are implicated in creating and managing the system of refugees, we will also throw light on the aspirations, hopes, and acts of resilience, solidarity, and resistance by those forced to flee their homelands. We ask: How do shifts in human cartographies impact the culture, history and social fabric of spaces that witness these shifts? How are memories, lives and community relations dismantled and recast under shifting geopolitical conditions? Moderator: Grace L. Sanders Johnson (Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania) Cheikh Babou (History, University of Pennsylvania)Susan Thomas (Cultural Foundations in Education, Syracuse University)Tukufu Zuberi (Lasry Family Professor of Race Relations, Sociology, University of Pennsylvania) 11:15 am -1:00 pm | The Making of the Refugee This panel will explore and interrogate the concept of diaspora as a tool for describing the history of human mobility and community-building. The relatively recent growth of Diaspora Studies has brought new nuance to this ancient word, yet the study of diasporas continues to exist in a tension between the real and ideal, or the specific and the general. Given the unique relationships that every diaspora has with homeland, culture, religion, state power, the economy, and more, is it possible to speak of diaspora as a trans-historical category? What does diaspora mean, and who gets to define it? In this panel, we invite scholars of diaspora to share insights from their own research and reflect on its relation to the broader field. Eleanor Paynter (Migrations Postdoctoral Fellow, Cornell University) Navine Murshid (Director, International Relations Program; Professor, Political Science, Colgate College)Anooradha Iyer Siddiqi (Architecture, affiliated faculty, Columbia University)2:30 - 4:15 pm | Immigration Rights This roundtable brings together immigrant rights advocates, scholars, and organizers across campus and the greater Philadelphia area to discuss the future of immigrant rights, with a special focus on students and workers. Participants will engage in a conversation about the state of immigrant rights. They will discuss the work their organizations have done to assist documented and undocumented students and workers, their ongoing projects, and the direction in which their organizations are headed.” Joceline Perez Hernandez (Graduate Student Chair, Penn for Immigrant Rights, University of Pennsylvania)Michael Jones-Correa (President’s Distinguished Professor of Political Science; Director, Center for the Study of Ethnicity, Race and Immigration, University of Pennsylvania) Biju Mathew (Business Administration, Rider University; Co-founder, Forum of Indian Leftists (FOIL); Co-founder and organizer, New York Taxi Workers Alliance)4:20 - 4:30 pm | Closing Remarks 5:00 - 6:30 pm | Keynote **PLEASE REGISTER SEPARATELY** Kukuli Velarde is a Peruvian artist based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She specializes in painting and ceramic sculptures made out of clay and terra-cotta. Velarde focuses on the themes of gender and the repercussions of colonization on Latin American history, with a particular interest in Peru.Image: Detail, Boat People; painting by Claes Gabriel. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required. In accordance with Penn’s COVID-19 Guidelines, all in-person attendees are required to wear a mask; display their PennOpen Pass or PennOpen Campus green pass before entry; attest to having been vaccinated; and register their contact information with the organizers in the case that follow-up from contact tracers is needed.The Wolf Humanities Center values inclusivity and we aim to create a welcoming environment for people of all backgrounds. Please feel free to note any accessibility needs or concerns in your registration, or connect with us by email or phone (215.573.8280). The Wolf Humanities Center is the University of Pennsylvania's main hub for interdisciplinary humanities research and public programming. Please join us in considering our common stake in the "thinking arts!"