Identities, Circulations, Migrations
Identités, circulations, migrations
A Cultural History
Une histoire culturelle
Published on Tuesday, November 18, 2025
Abstract
Based on the observation that all societies have been shaped by the movement of human beings, ideas and beliefs, goods and capital, the organizers wish to build an international scientific meeting around this central theme. More specifically, they wish to examine the relationship between these movements (particularly those of all individuals who physically cross state borders) and identities, at all levels that deserve to be considered: identities of the people who move as well as those of the host and home countries, local, national, international and transnational, and even civilizational identities.
Announcement
Argument
In 2026, the ADHC and ISCH associations will hold their annual congress together in Paris/Aubervilliers. The theme chosen for this meeting is: Identities, Circulations, Migrations - a Cultural History.
Based on the observation that all societies have been shaped by the movement of human beings, ideas and beliefs, goods and capital, the organizers wish to build an international scientific meeting around this central theme. More specifically, they wish to examine the relationship between these movements (particularly those of all individuals who physically cross state borders) and identities, at all levels that deserve to be considered: identities of the people who move as well as those of the host and home countries, local, national, international and transnational, and even civilizational identities. We welcome proposals about all historical periods, in comparative approaches across regions and times,as well as about the contemporary period (19th-21st centuries). In addition, we welcome methodological and epistemological proposals.
A large number of books on the theme of identity, whether or not the expression appears in their title, have appeared in recent years. Polemic essays, scientific studies, novels, plays, films, and more recently web-related productions, have seized upon a polysemic and polemic notion for which there are several possible definitions. If we define identity as a system of representations of the self and others through which a certain form of recognition by the group and permanence over time is constructed, this editorial effervescence could well be evidence of a crisis, or at the very least of a questioning of the traditional methods of identification and the institutions that support them. This crisis affects the entire Western world and is detectable globally. It can take on different forms depending on the country and culture, which do not all give the same meaning to the concept of identity. Salman Rushdie pointed out that in India, “identity” tends to mean religious identity, “at the heart of the Hindu nationalist attempt to reinvent the idea of India in purely Hindu terms, excluding members of all other religions”. In the United States, it is questions of racial and sexual identity that dominate the debate. In Europe, there is more concern about defending national identities, supposedly threatened by uncontrolled immigration or by Brussels bureaucracy. These concerns are exploited by hate mongers of all stripes who manipulate fantasies or nostalgia for a closed, pure, fixed identity. That is why a scientific and historical, international and transnational reflection on questions of identity and their links with movements and mobilities of all kinds seems expedient and even urgent.
In order to address the various ways of gathering around characteristics perceived as common in certain cultures, groups, and periods, the historical approach will favor arguments attached to the construction, development, or even the end of systems of identity representation. Beyond the analysis of discourses and struggles of representation, attention may be focused on the different practical modalities of identity belonging, on the phenomena of socialization, exclusion and marginalization of groups, on historical and contemporary mobility and fluidity, on conflicts and the paroxysmal moments of identity fever, as well as on the history of institutions and public policies dealing with issues related to migration phenomena (language policy, immigration museums, etc.).
Submission guidelines
Proposals for individual papers and panels, in PDF format of no more than two pages (600-700 words in 12-font Times New Roman, double-spaced), in French or English, should be sent to this adress by January 20, 2026 : adhc.isch2026@gmail.com
Proposals will be evaluated by a scientific committee. Participants will be notified in early March 2026. Registration for the conference will be open from March 1st, 2026. Registration for the conference will open on March 1.
Scientific committee
- Evelyne Cohen (prof. émérite ENSSIB)
- Anaïs Fléchet (prof. IEP Strasbourg)
- Pascale Goetschel (prof. Université de Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)
- Laurent Martin (prof. Université de Paris 3 Sorbonne-Nouvelle)
- François Robinet (MCF Université de Versaille Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines)
- Julie Verlaine (prof. Université de Tours)
- Alina D. Weber (prof. Florida State University)
Subjects
Places
- Campus Condorcet Place du Front populaire, 93300 Aubervilliers
Aubervilliers, France (93)
Event attendance modalities
Full on-site event
Date(s)
- Tuesday, January 20, 2026
Keywords
- histoire culturelle, identité culturelle, migration, circulation
Contact(s)
- Laurent MARTIN
courriel : adhc [dot] isch2026 [at] gmail [dot] com
Reference Urls
Information source
- Laurent MARTIN
courriel : adhc [dot] isch2026 [at] gmail [dot] com
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Identities, Circulations, Migrations », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Tuesday, November 18, 2025, https://doi.org/10.58079/155z9
