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3(2) Conference call for papers

The Birkbeck Law Review (BBKLR) is pleased to announce a call for paper submissions for its Autumn 2015 conference titled Migration, Borders and Violence. The conference will be held over two days at Birkbeck College, University of London, Bloomsbury Campus. The confirmed dates for the conference are 13-14 November 2015. The conference will include guest lectures and panels comprised of experts and industry leaders presenting current research and critical theoretical, legal and policy perspectives. A selection of papers will be published in the Birkbeck Law Review, volume 3 issue 2.

The conference seeks to engage with the contemporary paradigm of sovereignty and its complex relationship with Migration, Borders and Violence. This year’s conference is inspired by the fact that in the last two decades, we have been confronted by increasingly militarised, surveillance-based, and deportation-managerial regimes of migration. This not only takes place at the border, but is inherent in the everyday lives of people at risk of deportation. More than half of the southern United States border is patrolled by drones, while the United Kingdom is considered a fortress with the Atlantic Ocean acting as its ‘moat’. Meanwhile, the European Union practices a common policy of ‘Fortress Europe’. These global realities highlight just a few examples of the undeniable and increasing synergy between border control, military and police practices. In this context it is crucial to critically examine encounters with theory, law and policy.

We are calling for papers and are particularly interested in the following themes:

i.    Critical and theoretical perspective;
ii.   Perspectives from the global south - a post-colonial dynamic;
iii.  UN and EU institutional approaches to immigration, security and borders; and
iv.  A practical legal perspective.

Call for submissions: 

The BBKLR is now inviting all interested researchers, practitioners, academics and students to submit an original paper on the above themes. Papers will be subject to review by a team of editors and a selection of submitted papers will be published in the journal.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

The BBKLR welcomes submissions from legal practitioners, policy makers, students, academics, and any individuals who are keen to present their paper on the topic of Migration, Borders and Violence at the main central London campus of Birkbeck College, University of London. Although the conference will take place in London, UK, we welcome and encourage submissions and participation from all persons with a keen interest and expertise in themes as set out above, from the West to the Global South, to the continent and beyond.

Submissions should be in the form of a full draft paper of no more than 8,000 words. Authors should identify the theme their paper falls under. Please ensure that papers adhere to the BBKLR's submission guidelines and the OSCOLA citation guidelines, which can be found here. Papers should be submitted using the online submissions system. 

SPECIFIC TOPIC GUIDANCE 

We would like to invite submissions on the following topics:

Critical and theoretical perspectives 
Papers in this section can seek to address the following considerations: 

•      What are the theoretical and practical implications of migration?
•      How are certain bodies of migrants racialized, gendered and targeted? 
•      Can the body be seen as both a target and as a field of resistance in continuous relation with sovereign states, law and violence? 
•      What are the critical aspects of ‘autonomy of migration’ and the concept of ‘free movement’?
•      What is the connection of rights and citizenship today, more than 50 years after Hannah Arendt wrote her famous critique of human rights?
•      How are biopolitics, violence, the militarisation of borders, detention, deportation and a managerial approach to migration interconnected?

We welcome papers engaging in the following themes:

•      Biopolitics;
•      Sovereignty, law and violence;      
•      States of exception;
•      Deportation regimes;
•      Militarisation of borders;
•      Technologies of border control;
•      Gender and migration;
•      Racism and migration;
•      Resistance, disobedience and self-organising.

Post-colonial interventions — Perspectives from the Global South 
Papers in this section can seek to address the following considerations: 

•      The relationship of the colony to the metropolis: migration as a post-colonial phenomenon; 
•      Race, gender and post-colonial migrant identities: between settlers, indigenous peoples and hybrids 
•      The precariat: migration and new forms of slavery in post-industrial capitalism;
•      Forced migration: just a phenomenon of the Global South or new reality in Europe;
•      European Muslims: discrimination, violence and (still) Orientalism; 
•      Migration from former African colonies to Europe through the Mediterranean Sea; 
•      The progressive turn to the left in the European South and its possible impact on the freedom of movement; 
•      Epistemologies of the Global South: new forms of knowledge and ways to think spatial movement and migration;
•      Beyond the age of apologies: the claim for reparations for transatlantic slavery.

We welcome papers engaging in the following themes:

•      Postcolonial studies; 
•      Subaltern studies;
•      World systems;         
•      Latin American studies;      
•      Imperialism;   
•      Orientalism;
•      Spatiality and borders;        
•      Anti-colonial struggles and social movements;
•      Epistemologies of the Global South;        
•      Reparations for past injustices.

United Nations and European Union institutional approaches to immigration, security and borders 
Papers in this section can seek to address the following questions: 

•      What impact do international organisations have on domestic immigration, security and border policies?
•      What role do international organisations play in creating secure borders?
•      What is the status of the Dublin Convention in the aftermath of recent tragedies in the Mediterranean? 
•      What is the responsibility of the EU when push-back operations take place?
•      What is the practical interplay between EU institutions, the ECHR and the UN in the field of migration? 
•      What are the implications of the privatisation of border control, detention facilities and deportation?

We welcome papers engaging in the following themes:          

•      EU and external borders: the land and the sea; 
•      Detention in the EU and through the European Neighbourhood Policy;
•      Migration and the dynamics of the EU and/or the UN;
•      Migration and international human rights institutions;
•      Counter-terrorism restrictions on the movement of people and/or money within and across borders. 

A practical and legal perspective 
The ‘practical legal perspective’ portion of the conference seeks to critically analyse the headline topic, Migration, Borders and Violence, by focusing on developments in law and legal practice. The BBKLR is keen to have an international (but certainly welcomes a domestic) focus for this portion. Issues might involve, but are not limited to, addressing the following concerns: 

•      As the global fight against terrorism intensifies, how are legislatures developing laws to expand and/or restrict freedom of movement? 
•      How are law, policy and practice developing and being applied so as to hamper migration? 
•      Given the rapid proliferation of conflicts in West Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, has this intensified the use of detention as a means of controlling opposition? 
•      How can we critically analyse, with a view of legally challenging, the legitimacy of such detention? 
•      What roles have judges, practitioners and NGOs played in interpreting and developing the interplay between migration, detention and violence? 
•      How have practitioners, whether for example through direct involvement in test cases or by submitting amicus briefs, sought to challenge the exploitation of those caught up in inhumane detention facilities? 
•      What role does race, ethnicity and culture play in the detained-detainer paradigm? 
•      What tangible and concrete role, if any, does human rights play when challenging state imposed restrictions on migration? 
•      From an international law perspective, is sovereignty still relevant or truly enforceable in this globalised world? 
•      Are states applying policy in place of law; if so how can we challenge this practice? 
•      What role has European Law, regional law and international law played?

The BBKLR is keen to receive submissions dealing with the following themes:

•      Case studies (domestic/regional/international) from practitioners who have prosecuted and/or defended in cases which dealt with migration and violence;
•      Detention, international conflicts and due process;
•      Detention and freedom of movement;
•      Lengthy and unlawful detention;
•      Sexual and physical abuse against women, men and children during detention;
•      Detention and disability;
•      Detention and legal obstacles in practice;
•      Migration, detention, trafficking and smuggling
•      Migration, politics and policy;
•      Country specific focus;
•      ‘Burden’ sharing and detention centres;
•      Detention and discrimination on the grounds of race, ethnicity, sex and gender 


**If your expertise does not fall in either one of these four topics, the BBKLR is also willing to consider other topics within Migration, Borders and Violence**

DEADLINES

•      Deadline for paper submission: 21 May 2015
•      Notification of paper selection acceptance: 15 June 2015
•      Final paper submission: 1 September 2015
•      Date of publication: TBA


The full call for submissions can be downloaded in .doc and .pdf formats, as can a shorter version (.doc, .pdf), for easy sharing. Please help us spread the word about this exciting and immensely important event.



Call for Submissions - version for 3(1)

The Birkbeck Law Review (BBKLR) is pleased to announce a call for submissions for the first issue of its third volume, to be released in April 2015.

The Editorial Board invites submissions from all areas of law. As part of the selection process, priority will be given to articles drawing on Critical Legal Studies (CLS) or presenting an interdisciplinary approach to legal questions. We are also open to receiving papers that examine a legal question from a political, sociological or interdisciplinary perspective. We especially encourage submissions which are original and innovative, and those which provide added value to on-going legal debates both in the UK, Europe and internationally.  

Submission Guidelines

The BBKLR welcomes submissions from legal practitioners, policy makers, students and academics. Papers should be approximately 5,000 words and conform to the OSCOLA citation method (note, papers that do not follow the OSCOLA method will be returned to the authors to be amended).

Article selections will be made by our Editorial Board through a double-blind review process based on the clarity, accuracy, originality and academic merits of each piece.

Deadline for Submissions: 30 January 2015

Notification of Acceptance: 16 February 2015

Date of Publication: April 2015  

Submissions Criteria

Articles, book reviews, case studies and commentaries are acceptable material for submission. All articles submitted should be between 4,000 and 10,000 words (book reviews and commentaries should be between 3,000 and 5,000) and must be submitted online through our electronic submissions system, below. Documents must only include identifying information on the cover page.

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