The Societal Challenge of Migration
Migration figures high on the political agenda and generates fierce political and societal debates. In academia migration evolved into an important topic in research and education, that needs multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches. During this seminar, both researchers and students will share their insights on the topic. (English / SG-Certificate*)
Time: 15:30-17:00 hrs.
Admission is free.
Societal challenge
Over the last three decades, migration increasingly diversified, becoming one of the most complex societal phenomena. Despite the political discourses on international migration, an accurate and balanced response to increased migration flows remains absent. Interventions are increasingly characterized by a lack of solidarity, efforts to prevent migrants from reaching the shores or borders of one’s own state and keeping them in countries far away.
Academia
In academia migration evolved into an important topic in research and education that needs multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches. Tilburg University, engaged with societal issues, adopted migration as the theme for its education Honors Program since January 2021 and created an interdisciplinary research group TiMiCo (Tilburg Migration Community).The community brings migration scholars from the different schools together to share knowledge and ideas and to inspire each other in furthering research on migration. TiMiCo held its first meeting in February 2020 and with this seminar we aim to reconnect post- corona.
Seminar
During this seminar both the Honors Program and TiMiCo are given the stage. Students in the Honors Program will present their interest in the topic and two migration scholars of Tilburg University will reflect on migrants’ experiences in the asylum procedure from different perspectives, followed by a debate with the audience.
Speakers
-
Odile Heynders
Professor Comparative LiteratureOdile Heynders is Professor Comparative Literature at Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences. Her field of interest is contemporary literature, media and politics, authorship and (new) publics. Her current research project is on experiences of migration in literature and in particular on how literary texts provide knowledge that can be used in various research disciplines.
-
Conny Rijken
Professor of Human Trafficking and GlobalisationConny Rijken is Professor of Human Trafficking and Globalisation at Tilburg Law School. Over the last twenty years Rijken conducted extensive research on various aspects of Trafficking in Human Beings including the European perspective, migration, labour exploitation and human rights and inclusion and exclusion through migration. Central in her research is the focus on human rights and engagement with the position of the individual.
-
Max Spotti
Ethnographer and associate professor at Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences,Max Spotti is ethnographer and associate professor at Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences, Department of Culture Studies, working on, amongst other topics, implications of the internet for the process of asylum seeking practices and the politics of suspicion
-
Mario Braakman
Professor at Tilburg Law SchoolMario Braakman specialized in cultural psychiatry and ethnology, worked for many years as a psychiatrist and psychotherapist at a clinic for refugees with severe mental disorders, before he was appointed professor at the Tilburg Law School, department of criminal law.
-
Christof van Mol
Assistant Professor of SociologyChristof Van Mol is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Department of Sociology. His research interests are international migration processes, patterns and outcomes, with a specific focus on international student mobility. He published extensively on international student mobility and migration.
Program
15:30 Welcome and presentation of the Honors Program by Odile Heynders
15:45 Presentation of TiMiCo by Conny Rijken
15:50 Presentation by Max Spotti: Trapped into the matrix of narrative immobility: language, identity and the internet in an asylum seeking center
16:10 Presentation by Mario Braakman: Clinical reflections on language and identity of asylum seekers
16:30 Debate with the audience moderated by Christof van Mol
17:00 End
More information
This event is organized by Studium Generale, Honors Program The Societal Challenge of Migration and Tilburg Migration Community.
Contact: Annelieke Koster (Studium Generale).
* For students, this event may count towards the SG-Certificate. Check the SG-Certificate website for all the terms and conditions. There will be no recording of this event available afterwards, so make sure you attend!