Centre for Theology and Religious Studies at Lund University is pleased to announce the International Conference on Migration and Identity, which will be held on August 20-22, 2025, at Lund University in Lund, Sweden. The conference’s aim is to deepen our understanding of postmigrant societies in Europe through an exploration of parallels between migration experiences in the past and present by correlating the dynamics of migration in 20th-century Europe with those of the recent years.

This conference aims to situate contemporary European migration within a broader historical context, highlighting the enduring relevance of past experiences and perspectives in understanding current migration dynamics. By fostering methodological dialogue, we seek to generate fresh insights into migration as a catalyst for identity formation and negotiation.

The program addresses diverse dimensions of migration—including economic migration, political exile, displacement due to ethnic, racial, or religious persecution, environmental migration, and other forms of mobility. A central focus is the examination of mechanisms of social inclusion and exclusion, both historically and in the present, to identify the factors and dynamics that promote social integration and cohesion.

The conference features two keynote lectures and nearly fifty presentations from a wide range of disciplines. Sessions will be organized into parallel panels to facilitate interdisciplinary exchange and in-depth discussion.

Keynote lectures:

August 20, 10:00 – 11:15 Esra Özyürek (University of Cambridge): Subcontractors of Guilt: Holocaust Memory and Muslim Belonging in Post-War Germany

August 21, 09:30 – 10:45  Marcos Silber (University of Haifa), Navigating Belonging: Discourse, Networks, Culture and Identity Construction - The case of Mandatory Palestine, Israel and Poland

Please note that the conference will take place in the LUX building, Helgonavägen 3, Lund. All the “general” sessions (opening and closing remarks, keynote lectures, etc.) take place in C126, and the parallel sessions in C126, B251, and B336.

For further details and full program, please contact us at migrationpostmigrant@gmail.com. You can also directly contact the coordinators Magdalena Dziaczkowska (magdalena.dziaczkowska@ctr.lu.se, CTR) and Dorota Choińska (dorota.choinska2@uwr.edu.pl, University of Wroclaw, Open University of Catalonia).