Special Collection Editors

Ana Belén Martínez García, University of Navarra, Spain

Monika Arnez, Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci, Czech Republic

Anita Lunić, University of Split, Croatia

We are proud to announce the forthcoming Special Journal Collection on Navigating Migration, Memory and Media: Identity Documentation and Identity Dilemmas. We now welcome pioneering proposals for publication in this collection in the Gold Open Access Cambridge journal Memory, Mind & Media.

We invite contributors to engage deeply with the three core features of the journal: memory, mind, and media. How do migratory experiences shape individual and collective memories? How do psychological processes influence the perception and documentation of identity? In which ways do various media forms facilitate or complicate the narratives surrounding migration and belonging?

This collection encourages scholars to explore the changing landscape of identity regimes. We are committed to the ethical principle of "Nothing About Us Without Us,"[1]  ensuring that those impacted are actively involved. In partnership with NGOs that engage with citizens across the EU facing the challenges of modern identity frameworks, we examine how these documents can hinder access to services and impede mobility.

We explore the relationship between psychological constructs of individual and collective memory and the realities of migration and identity documentation. We aim to illuminate how migrants and their advocates create narratives—through auto/biographical storytelling and multimodal artistic expressions—to navigate a complex web of linguistic and institutional barriers. We are interested in the dynamic interaction between cultural and communicative memory (Pentzold, Lohmeier and Birkner, 2023), which shapes and is shaped by the political and cultural factors influencing mobility dynamics at national borders and their impact on memory practices.

Understanding the mind's role becomes essential as we confront the pressing implications of technological advancements, including automated border control mechanisms driven by AI and drones. We invite contributions on how these innovations affect the practical aspects of migration and influence psychological well-being, identity formation, and how individuals perceive their narratives in a rapidly changing environment. In this context, we invite our contributors to consider the following questions: What can autobiographical practices and multimodal expressions reveal about identity documentation and migration? To what extent can curating personal narratives provide critical engagement with the migration experience? How can we listen in a manner that fosters a sense of belonging and honors memories, and what approaches can we take to ensure this is done with sensitivity? Which ethical considerations should guide our engagement as scholars with these narratives? (Gardner 2023, 40).

Memory studies underscore the significance of understanding cultural memory as a transnational and evolving entity (Rothberg 2014; De Cesari and Rigney 2014; Assmann 2014; Erll 2011). Recent studies on digital migration and memory point to the interconnectedness of individual narratives and collective memory, emphasizing the importance of creative expressions like autoethnographies and participatory films as integral to Europe’s evolving collective memory (Horsti 2024, 47). This special collection will analyze how traditional and innovative media forms interplay, presenting personal and collective narratives that challenge and reshape existing memory frameworks.

That effort is in line with Chiara De Cesari and Ann Rigney (2014, 2), who stress the need to investigate the significance of boundaries within memory studies, calling for a deeper examination of the political and cultural factors that shape migration dynamics and the roles of national borders in these complex narratives.

Drawing on work on autoethnography, autofiction, autobiographical meaning-making, and autobiographical self (Fivush 2019, Wang 2013) can be insightful to understand better how psychological notions of individual and collective memory intersect with work on migration and identity documentation.

This collection seeks to promote an inclusive and empathetic approach to identity and migration, addressing the dilemmas that arise from memory, media, and identity documents while championing social justice and human rights. To address these and other concerns, we welcome abstract proposals (max. 500 words) for innovative and interdisciplinary interventions that offer original research/insights on one or more of the topics mentioned above and/or below. Article types may include: Research Articles (6-8K words); Short Research Articles (up to 4K words); Field Reviews; Case Studies; Commentaries; Dialogues; Responses; Editorials; Images, Artworks, and Video Essays (full details here: https://shorturl.at/g6sef).

 

Topics

Interdisciplinarity in the Migration Studies

Relationship between collective and individual identities

Individual and cultural memory

Migration memorialisation and forgetting practices

Migration data, archives, documentation practices

Digital technologies: social media

Disinformation and migration

Auto/biographical memory

Autofiction

Autoethnography

Psychological notions of individual and collective memory

Amnesia and therapeutic remembrance

Identity and Identity documents

The future of migration: the techno-border and drone surveillance

Law, regulation, and governance of migration

Media and mediation in the context of migration

Social justice and accountability: (scholar) activism

NGO memory work: reclaiming the past to address present injustice, shape better futures

Traditional vs. innovative media forms

Human rights: awareness-raising campaigns

Border(ing): the EU and the New Pact on Migration

Narrative and meaning-making

Participatory methodologies

 

Timeline and procedure

500-word abstracts should be sent to the guest editors (abmartinezg@unav.es, monika.arnez@upol.cz, and alunic@ffst.hr) by 28 February 2025 (but abstract submissions sent earlier will be replied to earlier).

If your abstract is accepted, we will invite your submission at any time, with publication in around 15 weeks following the successful completion of peer review.

Abstracts should indicate:

• Topic coverage, key research questions, ideas
• Theory and method as appropriate (key references)
• Originality and interdisciplinary contribution (relevance to the key features of this journal)

Please also state the article type (see above list) and provide 6-8 keywords.

Feel free to consult with the Special Collection Editors about your article ideas and potential angles or approaches.

Invited paper submissions will be submitted directly to the submission site for Memory, Mind & Media: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/mmm where they will undergo peer review following the usual procedures of Memory, Mind & Media.

[1] This collection emerges from a roundtable workshop titled “’Nothing About Us Without Us’ – Identity documents & identity dilemmas”, which was held in Brussels as part of the COST Action initiative HIDDEN: The History of Identity Documentation in European Nations (CA21120).