CUDM

The Moroccan British Society, the British Council (Morocco) and the University of Cambridge are jointly organizing an international conference on Migration to Morocco and the UK which will take place at the Bibliothèque Nationale, Rabat, Morocco on 29^th January 2015.

Morocco is an historical site of transit and migration for many people heading to and from Europe, Africa, America and the Middle East. For a number of reasons, regional and global migration to Morocco has intensified recently. A new Moroccan immigration policy was announced in September 2013.

For a long time, the UK has been a destination for migrants from Asia and Africa. Since decolonization the UK has attempted to develop policies that facilitated adaptation to British society whilst respecting cultural and religious difference.UK migration policies were for a long time based on a definition of integration set by Home Secretary Roy Jenkins as ‘not a flattening process of assimilation but as equal opportunity accompanied by cultural diversity in an atmosphere of mutual tolerance’ (Rose 1969)[1].

The conference seeks to address (1) changes in UK migration policy: successes and failures to inform future Moroccan policy (2) migrant perspectives: Moroccans outside of Morocco and non-Moroccans inside Morocco (3) inter-generational and long term migration shifts: from migration to diaspora.

This Moroccan British symposium will explore migratory movements and settling across perspectives of policy-making and the everyday lived realities of migration in relation to rights, work and cultural practice. The intersection of dominant thinking around migration-integration with contemporary economic and political crises will serve as context. The symposium also seeks to question policy in relation to socio-economic integration and its impact on second and third generation migrant descendants. The conference aims to bring together cross-disciplinary researchers and practitioners from Morocco and UK to reflect on and explore shifts in migration from, across and to Morocco in relation to global crisis and map these changes beyond national borders.

Themes of the conference may include but are not limited to

1. Moroccan and European legislations on migration: settlement policies and integration
2. The impact of the EU-Morocco Mobility Partnership (2013)
3. UK policies towards migration
4. Experiences of migration in the UK
5. Return migration, transnational marriage and identification
6. Socio-cultural comparison of Moroccans in Europe and the Americas/Asia
7. Migrant work, entrepreneurship, and economic integration
8. Financial remittances and national economic contribution among Moroccan Diaspora

Submission of Abstracts:

Contributors are invited to submit an abstract of 250 words and a short biography in English or French by 21 December to Professor Mohamed Laamiri (mlaamiri@hotmail.com) and Dr Sami Everett se8@soas.ac.uk. Invited applicants will be requested to submit papers of 5000 words, for publication following the conference.

Organizing Committee:

Paul Anderson,

Mohamed Laamiri,

Khadija Elmadmad

Sami Everett.

NB. Travel and accommodation bursaries will be available.