9th CERPE International Workshop 2026

9th CERPE International Workshop at Hong Kong Metropolitan University, 3-4 December 2026

CALL FOR PAPERS

Living Transnationally: Chinese Migration to Europe and Beyond  in Social, Cultural, and Political Perspectives

The 9th CERPE International Workshop invites papers that explore how Chinese migrants and their descendants live, negotiate, and imagine transnational lives between Europe and other world regions. We particularly welcome contributions that illuminate how identities, cultural practices, emotions, and everyday experiences are shaped across borders, and how such transnational dynamics intersect with broader social, economic, political, and historical transformations.

We encourage papers that move beyond descriptive accounts to analyze how Chinese mobilities engage with labour markets, welfare regimes, citizenship frameworks, racial formations, digital infrastructures, and shifting global hierarchies. Contributions may focus on individual, family, community, institutional, or discursive levels, adopting historical, comparative, or interdisciplinary perspectives.

Empirically grounded and theoretically informed work is welcome from sociology, anthropology, political science, history, geography, cultural studies, media studies, and related disciplines.

Possible themes include, but are not limited to:

1. Identities and Belonging Across Borders: Investigates how Chinese migrants and descendants negotiate belonging, racialisation, and everyday transnational experiences across European and global contexts.

2. Culture, Heritage, and Creative Expression: Examines how cultural practices, religion, memory, and artistic production sustain and reinvent Chinese identities across borders and generations.

3. Gender, Family, and Transnational Care: Explores how migration reshapes gender roles, family life, and caregiving, highlighting evolving forms of intimacy and social connection.

4. Digital Diasporas and Networked Lives: Analyzes how digital media and online platforms shape communication, participation, and community formation in Chinese transnational spaces.

5. Governance, Citizenship, and Diaspora Politics: Considers how states, institutions, and civil-society actors engage with Chinese diasporas through governance, policy, and practices of representation.

6. Labour, Economy, and Social Mobility: Studies how Chinese migration intersects with labour markets, entrepreneurship, and class relations, revealing new pathways and hierarchies of mobility.

7. Health, Wellbeing, and Cross-Border Care: Focuses on physical and mental health, medical mobility, and care infrastructures that connect migrants and communities across national boundaries.

8. Research Approaches and Methodological Innovation: Encourages reflection on new and interdisciplinary methods—including digital, collaborative, and arts-based approaches—that advance the study of transnational Chinese lives.

Submission details

Please submit an abstract of 300-400 words for a 20-minute presentation, accompanied by a short biographical note (name, institutional affiliation, and main research interests). Abstracts should clearly indicate how the paper contributes to broader questions of power, inequality, governance, or cultural transformation in relation to Chinese transnational experience.

Submissions should be sent to the CERPE Organising Committee at cerpe2026@hkmu.edu.hk by 31 March 2026. Notifications of acceptance will be sent in late April 2026.

Further details regarding the programme, travel, and accommodation will be announced following the selection process.