This conference, organized by the Groupe de Recherche sur les Ordres Coloniaux (Research Group on Colonial Orders, GROC), will be held from June 8 to 10, 2026, at the University of Bordeaux-Montaigne.

FORCED MOBILITY IN COLONIAL EMPIRES (15TH-20TH CENTURIES)

By focusing on forms of constrained mobility in the imperial context, this conference aims to highlight all the movements imposed, supervised, or limited by a political, economic, or social authority, in which individual freedom is restricted. Through this approach, the goal is to consider exiles, deportations, and forced migrations linked to precariousness or dependence. Also included in this category are movements intended to evade or subvert colonial authority. Thus, constrained mobilities encompass structural mechanisms by which empires organize, regulate, or instrumentalize movement, as well as lived experiences of individuals within imperial worlds. Whether the displaced are settlers or colonized, we aim to examine the effects of displacement on the diverse range of statuses of people engaged in mobility within empires.

The mobility approach is part of a broader turning point in the humanities, marked by the rediscovery of space as a tool for analysis. Emerging prominently in the 1980s and 1990s in the English-speaking world, the Spatial Turn in the humanities has enabled a greater consideration of the geographical dimensions of research objects, which were often neglected in favor of temporal aspects.

Applied to imperial history, the mobility approach has proven fruitful in highlighting imperial networks, the movements of actors within, between, and outside empires, as well as questions of representation and the organization of space in colonial situations. These perspectives have largely inspired the proponents of New Imperial History. The work of these historians has made it possible to rethink mobilities on an imperial scale by analysing the multiple interactions and connections between the colonies, the metropolis, and the rest of the world, moving beyond a simple dichotomy between a centre and imperial peripheries. This new angle of approach has placed a greater emphasis on previously invisible or neglected circulations by expanding  the focus to the lived experiences of individuals on the move. Scholars have also examined forms of immobility and spatial constraints accompanying these movements.

HOW TO APPLY

This call for papers is open to all researchers, including both young researchers (PhD students and postdoctoral fellows) and tenured professors. Proposals for papers, consisting of a title, a 300-word abstract, and a short biographical note, are expected by February 6, 2026, 12 p.m. (Paris time) and deposited at the following address: https://groc2026.sciencesconf.org

CALENDAR

Application deadline: February 6, 2026

Notification of acceptance: April 6, 2026