Call for Chapters: International Migrations in the Victorian Era (Ed. Marie Ruiz) [Abstracts due 1 April 2016]

Call for Chapters: International Migrations in the Victorian Era, Leiden: Brill, 2017.

Edited by Marie Ruiz (Université Paris Diderot, LARCA)

Migration in the Victorian era has been identified as a paramount feature of the history of worldwide migrations and diasporas. Contrary to popular belief, the Victorian era was not only marked by an

extensive exodus from Britain to the USA and the British colonies, but the Victorians also experienced a great degree of inward migration with the arrival of Catholic Irish, and oppressed Jews and Germans among others. Inward, outward and internal movements were sometimes a  response to economic hardships and employment opportunities, but this  cannot solely explain the extent of international migrations in the Victorian era.

In the Victorian period, mass migration played a significant role in shaping the nation’s identity, as well as Britain’s relationships with the outside world. This raises the question of the impact of migrations on the Motherland, as the Victorian migration trends also attracted numerous immigrants and transmigrants, who ended up remaining in Britain rather than emigrating to the USA or the British colonies. Yet, while the origins of these immigrants and transmigrants are now difficult to trace, the question of their potential impact on

the Victorian society needs to be addressed. Fears of racial degeneracy permeated the Victorian discourses on migration, and demographic and social balances were expected to be reached through people's displacements.

This edited volume aims at offering a global perspective on international migrations in the Victorian era including emigration, immigration and internal migration within Britain. Papers relating to the following themes, though not exclusively, are welcome:

Child migration

Civilising missions

Community migrations

Cultural and artistic migrations

Emigration and philanthropy

Emigration and Trade-Unions

Emigration societies

Factors determining migration

Family migration and individual migration

Female migrants and reproductive labour

Female migration in the Victorian era

Forced migration

Free passages to the New Worlds

Impact of demographics on migration

Impact of industrialisation on migration

Indentured migration

Internal migration / rural exodus

Invisible migrants

Inward migration/outward migration

Labour transportation

Land grants

Middle-class migration

Migrant stories and diaries

Migration and Empire-building

Migration and patriotism

Migration and surplus populations

Migration in the press

Migration and the Transport Revolution

Migration and xenophobia

Migration in the visual arts

Migration on screen: representing Victorian migration

Migration regulations and public policies

Migration within the British Isles

Missions and missionaries

Networks of migrations

Patterns of migration

Ports of emigration

Poverty-related migration

Promoting migration

Religious migration

Seasonal and permanent migrations

Servitude migration

Settlement patterns

Trade migration

Transmigration through Britain

Voluntary migration / involuntary migration

350-word abstracts, along with short academic biographies, should be  submitted to mariejruiz@yahoo.fr. The deadline for submission of abstracts is April 1, 2016.