Call for Papers - REMHU, volume 35, 2027 (rolling pass)

- DOSSIER 1 (2027): “Contemporary African diasporas: transnational mobility and relationalities” -

Andréa Lobo (UnB, Brasil), Claudio Furtado (UniCV, Cabo Verde) (eds.).

Deadline for submission of articles: 01.10.2026 - 31.05.2027.

Contemporary African diasporas are one of the most complex and multidimensional phenomena in the field of migration studies. Whilst, on the one hand, the dispersion of African populations across the world has increasingly been a focus of attention in the social sciences – with particular emphasis on approaches centred on identity, the formation of transnational communities and structural racism – on the other hand, the relational dimensions that underpin and redefine these processes have received a more uneven level of attention. This dossier proposes a theoretical and empirical framework for examining contemporary African diasporas through the lens of relationalities, understood as the set of ties, practices and negotiations that constitute, and are constituted by, processes of transnational mobility.

The concept of relationality, which has been applied in various ways in anthropology, sociology and feminist studies, enables us to capture the intrinsically relational dimension of the migratory experience: rather than simply considering who moves and where, it involves reflecting on how emotional, family, marital, community and care-based bonds are reorganised when individuals, groups and collectivities cross borders. In this sense, relationalities are both the foundation that makes migration possible and the territory that it transforms.

Among the analytical dimensions considered, gender plays a central role. Mobility is a deeply gendered experience, which gives rise to different subjectivities, different forms of agency and different vulnerabilities for men and women, adults and children, in different social and geographical contexts. At the same time, gender intersects with generation, class, racialisation and ethnic belonging in shaping the concrete conditions under which diasporas are formed and reproduced. This special issue is therefore concerned not only with the experiences of women – although these are central to many of the routes and arrangements that structure contemporary African migration – but also with masculinities, childhoods, mixed marriages, long-distance parenthood and the processes of ageing within the diasporic context.

This proposal comes at a particularly fruitful time for the field. Recent research has shown that contemporary African migration cannot be understood without considering the relational dynamics that underpin it, whether in decisions about who migrates and who stays behind, in strategies for the redistribution of care, in the tensions and reconfigurations of long-distance family and marital ties, or in the ways in which children move, are raised and develop a sense of belonging in contexts of dispersion. By proposing relationality as its central theme, this dossier seeks to bring together this diverse range of experiences around a common question: how does mobility transform, and is transformed by, the bonds that structure social life?

From a geographical point of view, the dossier takes a deliberately broad perspective. Without limiting themselves to Atlantic routes or the Americas, the editors propose to examine mobilities across the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, as well as intracontinental and South–South mobilities, which have been receiving increasing attention in the specialist literature. This approach makes it possible to highlight the internal diversity of African diasporas and to challenge hasty generalisations about ‘the African diasporic experience’.

From a disciplinary perspective, the dossier is guided by the interdisciplinary nature that defines REMHU. We welcome contributions from the fields of anthropology, sociology, demography, history and migration studies, provided they are grounded in original empirical research based on ethnographic fieldwork, the analysis of demographic data, historical research or innovative methodological combinations. The dossier is particularly keen to provide a platform for research produced by researchers from Africa and other regions of the Global South, thereby helping to shift the focus of knowledge production on the diaspora away from the traditional European and North American centres.

 

Thematic areas:

Articles submitted for this special dossier may be based on the following themes, although this list is not exhaustive:

— African transnational families: arrangements, practices and negotiations across borders

— Motherhood, fatherhood and parenthood in contexts of mobility and dispersion

— Mobility of children, fosterage and transnational African childhoods

— Care work, domestic work and mobility: women’s and men’s experiences

— Transnational marital relationships: affections, tensions and gender negotiations in the diaspora

— African masculinities in diasporic contexts

— Ageing, care for the elderly and mobility in transnational African families

— Intracontinental mobility in Africa: relational dynamics in local and regional migration

— Networks of reciprocity, solidarity and belonging in contemporary African diasporas

— African and Global South epistemologies on family, gender and mobility

— Research methodologies in African transnational networks: ethical and analytical challenges

 

Articles may be submitted in Portuguese, English, Spanish, French or Italian, in accordance with REMHU’s editorial policy. Particular value will be placed on contributions that combine rigorous theoretical perspectives with original empirical research, and that foster dialogue between diverse disciplinary and geographical traditions.

 

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- DOSSIER 2 (2027): "Contemporary Migration Policies and Legislation: Between Securitization and Rights Guarantee"

Deadline for submission of articles: 01.10.2026 - 30.04.2027.

 

The current migration context is characterised by increasingly restrictive and selective migration policies, not only in countries of the Global North, such as the US and those belonging to the European Union, but also in countries of the Global South.

Policies and legislation aimed at defending and protecting human rights are being replaced by others with a distinctly security-oriented focus, where the primary emphasis has shifted back to national security, protection against the risk of cultural contamination and even so-called ‘ethnic replacement’. The aim is not only to reduce immigration, but also to deport, expulsed or ‘remigrate’ immigrants and their descendants. Physical and non-physical walls are being erected in numerous countries around the world, accompanied by narratives of hatred and the criminalisation of people who leave or flee their countries.

These narratives also resonate amongst individuals and solidarity-based groups, who are frequently accused of having ulterior motives, of involvement in human trafficking, or even of treason. Once labelled as naïve or idealistic, activists and solidarity organisations, today, activists and solidarity organizations worldwide face an increasing criminalization of their actions.

This reality is accompanied by the return of war as a common means of resolving disputes or conflicts, including economic and cultural ones. The logic of war reintroduces the spectre of the foreign enemy, leading to increased suspicion regarding the loyalty of immigrants in the event of conflict.

Traditionally regarded as a region characterised by more flexible migration policies, Latin America is also facing an erosion of migrants’ rights, with an increase in legislative restrictions and, indeed, xenophobia and racism, affecting both migrants from the continent and, above all, those from outside the continent.

In this challenging reality, there is no shortage of examples of resistance, both from civil society organisations showing solidarity and from migrant collectives. These actions are aimed both at preserving and strengthening ‘democratic values’ – and, therefore, the democratic systems themselves – and at defending and promoting the rights of migrants.

From an interdisciplinary perspective, this dossier aims to examine recent reconfigurations in migration laws and policies, placing the lived experiences and epistemologies of migrant subjects, as well as civil society solidarity networks, at the center of the analysis.

Some topics to be addressed:

- Reformulations of migration legislation and policies from a security perspective: physical and non-physical walls

- Policies of outsourcing and ‘remigration’

- Erosion of the right to refuge and asylum

- Racialisation of migration policies

- Deportability

- Selectivity and religious discrimination in migration control (particularly Islamophobia).

- The impact of deportation, expulsion and return policies on the wellbeing of migrant children and second- and third-generation migrants

- The warmongering and the reinvention of the ‘foreign enemy’

- Narratives that guide and reinforce policy changes

- Practices of resistance by organised civil society and migrant collectives in defence of their rights and democratic rights

- Solidarity networks

 

Articles may be submitted in Portuguese, English, Spanish, French or Italian, in accordance with REMHU’s editorial policy. Contributions that combine rigorous theoretical perspectives with original empirical research, and that foster dialogue between diverse disciplinary and geographical traditions, will be particularly valued.