Migration, Adaptation and Memory - 2nd International Interdisciplinary Conference

2nd International Interdisciplinary Conference in Gdańsk, Poland

 13-14 June 2019

Deadline for proposals: 30 April 2019

Organizers / Scientific Committee:

InMind Support (Poland)

Professor Wojciech Owczarski - University of Gdansk (Poland)

Professor Polina Golovátina-Mora - Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (Colombia)

Amanda Chalupa - McGill University: Social & Transcultural Psychiatry (Canada)

CFP: Migration, Adaptation and Memory

How do we remember and represent our migration experiences? Who is involved in these processes? How does history remember these events? What helps migrants and societies to adapt? The significance of these and related questions have made their way into our daily lives, from the refugee crisis to policy decisions, individual psychotherapy to (re)building identities, communities, and memories. 

During the conference, we are going to turn our attention to processes that are integral to human experience: migration, adaptation, and memory. We are interested in all aspects of migration and adaptation, in their individual and collective dimensions, in the past and in the present-day world. We would like to examine the role of memory, the processes of migrating and adapting to various dynamic life circumstances, across time, space, culture, language, and discipline.

Therefore, we strive to represent and discuss the crossroads of migration, adaptation, and memory in their multiple representations: psychological, social, historical, cultural, philosophical, religious, neurological, organizational, methodological, economic, political, and many others. We will also devote considerable attention to how these phenomena appear and transform in artistic practices: literature, film, theatre, and visual arts. This is why we invite researchers representing various academic disciplines: anthropology, history, psychiatry, psychology, psychoanalysis, sociology, politics, philosophy, economics, law, literary studies, theatre studies, film studies, design, project management, memory studies, migration studies, consciousness studies, dream studies, gender studies, postcolonial studies, medical sciences, cognitive sciences, and urban studies, to name a few.

Different forms of presentations are encouraged, including case studies, theoretical inquiries, personal reflections, problem-oriented arguments, comparative analyses, and creative expressions.

We will be happy to hear from experienced scholars and young academics, doctoral and graduate students, as well as professionals from various disciplines. We also invite all persons interested in participating in the conference as listeners, without giving a presentation.

Our repertoire of suggested topics includes but is not limited to:

I. Arts

- Literature, poetry, film, theatre, etc. as adaptive    mediums

- Adaptation through artistic creation and       destruction

- Artistic imagination and adaptation

- Migration as represented in arts

- Art created during migration

- Creative expression through memories

II. History

- Adaptation across history

- Memory processes in writing history

- Documenting history and memories in migration

III. Humanitarian work,  Governments and   NGOs  

- Roles and responsibilities

- Management of temporary and transitory spaces

- Project management and evaluation

- Best practices

- Welcome contexts

IV. Medical sciences

- Genetics/epigenetics in adaptation processes

- Neurobiology and biochemistry of adaptation and memory

- Evolutionary approaches to memory, adaptation and migration

- Chronic diseases, memory, and adaptation

V. Philosophy and Worldviews (Eastern, Western, Indigenous...)

- Epistemology and metaphysics 

- Existential and postmodern adaptation

- Ethics in migratory context

- Philosophy of memory

VI. Political Sciences and Law

- Policies related to migration and adaptation

- Human rights and migration

- Bureaucracy in relation to migration policies

- Judiciary systems

- Political agendas, memory and migration

- Objective vs. subjective memory in politics

- International politics and adaptation

VII. Psychology and Psychiatry

- Mental health and adaptation

- Abnormal behaviors and adaptation

- (Mal)adaptive memory processes

- Social and transcultural psychiatry

- Perception/cognition/attention

- Personality

- Psychoanalysis

VIII. Sociology and Anthropology

- Cultural determinants and adaptation

- Race/ethnic identity and adaptation

- Religion, adaptation and migratory experiences

- Gender, adaptation and migratory experiences

- Social networks and adaptation

- Language of adaptation, memory and migration

- Family relations and adaptation

- Urban planning and adaptation

- Diaspora and community development

IX. Economics and Business

- Adaptation and job security

- Private sponsorship and adaptation

- Adaptation in economics (Marxist, Capitalist…)

Deadline for paper proposals: 30 April 2019

Notification of acceptance:  3 May 2019

Deadline for registration: 28 May 2019