8:45 a.m.
Dear colleagues,
Jörg Plöger and I are organizing a session at the 2020 IMISCOE conference in Luxemburg on
The (re)production and (de)valuation of migrants' skills. If you are interested in
presenting in the session, please send your abstract to us by Thursday, November 21st
2019. The CFP is included below.
Best wishes,
Micheline and Jörg
IMISCOE, 30 June – 2 July 2020, Luxemburg
Call for Papers
Session Title: The (re)production and (de)valuation of migrants’ skills
Session Organisers:
• Micheline van Riemsdijk – Department of Social and Economic Geography, Uppsala
University
• Jörg Plöger, ILS – Research Institute for Regional and Urban Development,
Dortmund
Skills have become a key element of migration research, especially as states are competing
to attract the ‘best and brightest’, and high-income states are experiencing skill
shortages in various professions. In different spatial contexts and at various scales of
decision-making (supra-national, national, regional, local), policy-makers have adopted
skills approaches to address shortages of skilled labour, demographic challenges or to
engage in the competition for ‘talent’. In addition, states have developed instruments to
assess the value of educational and professional qualifications that have been obtained
abroad. In an era of “large flows” it is increasingly complicated to value the skills of
migrants.
Yet, what exactly is meant by skills is open for discussion, varies depending on the
context and may be answered quite differently by different actors.
How do employers shape their recruiting practices with regard to securing a sufficiently
skilled workforce? How do policy-makers respond to labour shortages in specific
professions or sectors? How do cities or regions position themselves in the competition
for ‘talent’? How and by whom are skills of migrants (formally or informally) recognised?
What are the roles of labour unions and employer organizations as “gatekeepers” for
professions? How and by whom are skills produced (e.g. educational institutions)? How to
deal with the devaluation of skills and the lack of recognition of skills and
qualifications?
Our session addresses these questions around the (de)valuation of skills from the
perspectives of various actors and geographical contexts.
If interested, please send your abstract (250 words maximum) including title,
institutional affiliation and contact details (including email) to micheline.vanriemsdijk
at kultgeog.uu.se<mailto:micheline.vanriemsdijk at kultgeog.uu.se> and joerg.ploeger
at ils-forschung.de<mailto:joerg.ploeger at ils-forschung.de> by Thursday November
21st 2019.
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