Description and Objectives

As in the last decade nation- states have strengthened deportation measures, reinscribed conditions of liminality and prompted opposition from migrants and civil societies, we have organised a day of studies on the themes of deportation, its contestations and its aftermath.

This one-day conference brings together graduate students and early-career scholars from various institutions across the world to unpack three main issues raised by deportation:

• evolving state measures of border enforcement, and the processes of racialisation that they (re-)produce;
• innovative forms of contesting enforcement measures across different national contexts;
• and the aftermath of deportation set within wider socio-political dynamics in migrants' countries of origin.

By sharing new approaches and analyses of these topics across different geographical contexts, this conference fosters mutual learning and aims to establish an international network of scholars on deportation studies.

The conference would be of particular interest to students and academics in Migration/ Refugee Studies, Criminology, Politics, International Relations, Geography, Sociology, and Anthropology, as well as all those who have reflected upon, and grappled with, recent political events around migration.

Registration

The event will take place via Zoom and is free. Please register via the 'register' function. You will then receive a confirmation email. You will then be contacted within 48 hours of the event when you will receive the and the full conference program containing the zoom links and passcodes to access the conference sessions.

Contacts and media

• Email: If you have questions please contact the Oxford Migration and Mobility Network at: migration-mobility@torch.ox.ac.uk
• Twitter: To receive updates regarding the conference via social media, please follow Oxford Migration and Mobility Network on Twitter at @MigMobNetwork
• Newsletter: We will also send updates via the newsletter of the network. You are welcome to sign up by dropping an email requesting to be added to the newsletter at: migration-mobility@torch.ox.ac.uk

Conference agenda

Please notice all timings are BST

9.00-9.30 Welcome and introductions

The Conference organisers will explain the aims of the Conference, briefly introduce the papers, facilitators and sponsor, and set out the structure of the day.

• Diletta Lauro (Department of International Development, University of Oxford)
• Guadalupe Chavez (Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford)
• Domiziana Turcatti (COMPAS, Oxford Migration and Mobility Network Convener, University of Oxford)

9.30-11.00 Panel 1: The Architecture of Deportation

Facilitator: Dr Francesca Esposito, Newton International Fellow, Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford

Speakers and papers:

• Samuel Singler (Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford): “Hierarchy, Agency, and Contestation in the Global Deportation Regime: The Role of the IOM and MIDAS”
• Bani Gill (COMPAS, University of Oxford): “Migrant ‘Illegality’, Race, and Deportation Infrastructures in India’”
• Hallam Tuck (Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford): “Because we are deportable people’: logics of deportation within US Criminal Alien Requirement prisons”

11.00-11.30 Coffee Break (online)

11.30-13.00 Panel 2: Contesting Deportation

Facilitator: Dr Diletta Lauro, DPhil in International Development, Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford

Speakers and papers:

• Angela Smith (The University of New South Wales): “Contesting Air Deportation from the Settler Colony
• Franzisca Zanker (Arnold-Bergstraesser Institut) and Judith Altrogge (IMIS/University of Osnabrück) “A Sovereign Right? The Gambian Moratorium on Deportations”
• Rocío Martínez Antúnez (CIESAS, Mexico): “Researching from within enforced (im-)mobility’”

13.00-14.00 Lunch Break (offline)

14.00-15.30 Panel 3: Experiences and Dynamics of Return Migration

Facilitator: Guadalupe Chavez, DPhil Candidate in Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford

Speakers and papers:

• Ali Ahmad SAFI (Danube University Krems): “From Austria to Afghanistan: Forced Return and a New Migration Cycle”
• Jackie Owigo (United States International University, Nairobi) “Return migration to Somalia during Covid-19 pandemic: The Experience of Somali Refugees”
• Claudia McHardy (University of Oxford): “Disciplining the deportee: New Zealand's Returning Offenders Act 2015"

15.30-15.45 Coffee Break (offline)

15.45-17.00 Closing Remarks, Q&A, Discussion

The facilitators will share their reflections on the themes discussed during the day and outline the remaining questions arising from the panel discussions. The conversation will be then opened up to the audience, allowing conference participants to ask questions and share comments on the topics explored, the challenges of conducting deportation research and the emerging lines of enquiry for future studies.

Organisers

• Guadalupe Chavez (Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford)
• Diletta Lauro (Department of International Development, University of Oxford)
• Oxford Migration and Mobility Network