As part of the study day "Attractiveness and Mobility Networks," PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and scholars are invited to explore the dynamics of attractiveness in individual and collective mobilities, from the Bronze Age to the modern era. The event focuses on the legal, political, and social mechanisms implemented to attract, welcome, and integrate individuals into networks. It also examines the formal and informal circulation of information, as well as the processes of community clustering. Particular attention will be given to both the successes and failures of these mechanisms of attractiveness.

Study day “Attractiveness and mobility networks: seducing, welcoming and integrating”, 10 October 2025, Lyon (France) - (on campus and online)

Overview

In recent decades, network analysis has taken on an increasingly prominent role in humanities and social science research. As both a conceptual and methodological tool, it has fostered a wide range of interdisciplinary studies—spanning history, archaeology, economics, and sociology—particularly focused on the dynamics of geographic mobility. As part of the Archipels junior laboratory, this study day aims to examine social and spatial interconnections, as well as economic and technological exchanges, through the lens of network theory. We will explore the movement of populations with a specific focus on attractiveness—understood from the perspective of the destinations and communities that receive them. 

The study of both individual and collective mobility has undergone a significant historiographical shift over the past twenty years. The publication of The Corrupting Sea by P. Horden and N. Purcell (2000) played a key role in introducing network-based approaches to the study of the Mediterranean as a connected space. This perspective informed the work of C. Moatti (2001, 2007, 2009), who investigated the diversity of mobile individuals and the systems of control regulating movement from Antiquity to the modern era. This approach has since expanded to include studies on identity (C. Georg, 2015; I. Malkin, 2018), communities (C. Taylor and K. Vlassopoulos, 2015; C. Rapp and Y. Stouraitis, 2024), and underutilised sources such as archaeological materials and Semitic languages (C. Broodbank, 2013). More recently, hospitality and the regulation of otherness have become focal points in analysing how uncertainty surrounding mobile individuals is managed (C. Fauchon-Claudon, M.-A. Le Guennec, 2022; Simona Cerutti, 2012). This renewed interest in mobility is also evident in Southwest Asian contexts, particularly in the study of hospitality and welcome networks (e.g., O. Remie Constable, 2004). The broad application of network theory has sparked both methodological debate (F. Kerschbaumer et al., 2020) and the emergence of new research questions.

This body of work has highlighted the wide variety of mobility patterns—temporary or permanent, forced or voluntary—driven by an equally diverse set of motivations, including economic, social, marital, and political factors. While movement is often shaped by necessity or constraint, it is also influenced by attractiveness—factors that steer decisions and help build networks. This raises a central question: Whom do we attract, and how?

We aim to explore the mechanisms and strategies used to attract individuals—whether developed by state institutions, local communities, or social groups. These may include legal frameworks and policies that promote mobility and exchange, such as economic agreements (e.g., protection from seizure, favourable tax policies, trade treaties)¹ or political and legal provisions safeguarding individuals (e.g., isopolite agreements, asylia conventions, treaties of friendship or hospitality). These measures are often made public through proclamations, posted notices, or distributed copies to ensure they reach their intended audiences. Communities and individuals also play a role in fostering attractiveness by creating and maintaining social, professional, and economic networks that newcomers can join². They help circulate information—whether through private correspondence, rumours, or formal recruitment campaigns—about the conditions and opportunities available in receiving areas. This may include anything from informal word-of-mouth to deliberate reputation-building strategies akin to soft power in the Hellenistic sphere.

Submissions are encouraged to examine how these attractiveness strategies are perceived by the individuals they target, particularly in how they influence settlement choices. Beyond institutional frameworks and solidarity networks, the integration of migrants into socio-professional structures (such as guilds, workers’ associations, or religious groups)³, often depends on the presence of community clustering—based on shared regional, cultural, ethnic, or religious identities. While mobility is typically shaped by multiple factors, and true “free choice” can be hard to determine, people displaced by war, exile, or social marginalisation may still make strategic decisions under pressure. Interestingly, even state entities generally hostile to certain groups have at times implemented favourable and widely known measures—such as free ports or designated districts—to attract and host them. After the destruction of their city, for example, Thebans often migrated to Greek cities offering protection and integration. Similarly, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities were sometimes welcomed through targeted treaties, even when these agreements-imposed restrictions on their rights or mobility.

Eventually this study day will also examine failures in attractiveness strategies and settlement processes—whether at the individual, group, or state level. These may include difficulties accessing existing networks, choosing alternative destinations, competition between host communities, or expulsions following an initial reception phase⁴. 

Chrono-Cultural Scope

Papers may address any period from the Bronze Age to the modern era and may focus on the Mediterranean basin or Southwest Asia.

Suggested Topics Include:

• Urban and regional attractiveness: institutional structures, legal and political measures, and mobility-fostering policies

• Formal and informal dissemination of information: reputation, private correspondence, proclamation, etc.

• Setting up and welcoming of individuals and communities: community groups, personal and professional networks

• The failures of the attractiveness and installation processes 

Submission and Participation Guidelines:

• Eligibility: Open to PhD candidates, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty members from French or international universities

• Submission deadline: 30 June 2025

• Languages: French, English

• Length of Papers: 20 minutes

• Submission terms: a working title, an abstract of 300 words maximum and a CV.

Please send your proposals by email to archipels.labojunior@gmail.com,

by 30 june 2025.

Organisation team

• Mathilde Defosse, HISOMA, Université Jean Moulin-Lyon 3
• Rachel Hédan, HISOMA, Université Lumière - Lyon 2

Footnotes

1 On this topic for instance, Guillaume Calafat, Une mer jalousée : juridictions maritimes, ports francs et régulation du commerce en Méditerranée (1590-1740), 2013.

2 On the importance of community networks in the Jewish and Greek communities, see Francisco Javier, “Venetian trading networks in the Medieval Mediterranean”, 2023. 

3 Among other similar types of work: Mathieu Grenet, La fabrique communautaire. Les Grecs à Venise, Livourne et Marseille, 1770-1840, 2016.

4 For instance, Daniel Iancu-Agou (dir.), L’expulsion des Juifs de Provence et de l’Europe méditerranéenne (XVe-XVIe siècles). Exils et conversions, 2005.