This event is the follow-up of a conference cycle on the notion of ecotones. Initially used in physical geography, an “ecotone” is a transitional area between two or more distinct ecological communities. The aim is to revisit this ecological metaphor and see how it sheds light on the transformations inherent in the social sciences such as in migration, diaspora, and settlement studies, while also investigating the hybrid cultures created in the ecotones discovered in literary studies, and explorations into the transitional spaces brought on by ecological changes.

Ecotones can be analysed through their effects on who and what occupies them, through their relations with the spaces beyond them, through the transformative processes they induce. This second conference seeks to investigate further this avenue of research by focusing on migrant subjectivities and how it intersects with ecotonic contexts.

The organizing committee welcomes papers addressing social, cultural and artistic dynamics in relation with migration and transformative ecotones. We encourage the submission of papers exploring’ subjectivities and their expression through different narrative forms (art pieces, novels, administrative narratives, or stories collected by ethnographic research). Our intent is to open a cross-feeding multidisciplinary dialogue. We welcome examinations of literature, comparisons of artistic expression, investigations of anthropological discoveries, as well as analysis within the political sciences, history and geography.

Full programme

Co-converners of the ‘Ecotones’ programme

Dr Thomas Lacroix (MIGRINTER, CNRS-Poitiers) thomas.lacroix@univ-poitiers.fr

Dr Judith Misrahi-Barak (EMMA, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3) judith.misrahi-barak@univ-montp3.fr

Prof. Maggi Morehouse (Coastal Carolina University) morehouse@coastal.edu