Mobile People & Diverse Societies: Places in the Making

What motivates us?

Myriad forms of migrations and mobilities of people characterize our today’s world, contributing to an interconnection of diversities and identities. This blog explores the situatedness of migrations and mobilities from below, from the viewpoint of local communities, substate actors and territorial politics. It reflects upon the mutual impact that diverse territorial realities have on migrations and mobilities as well as on the governance of them. The blog also looks at the way migrations and mobilities impact on the linguistic landscapes of a given territory and on how linguistic diversity is conceptualized, dealt with and leveraged in increasingly heterogeneous educational systems. In this regard, the blog addresses the complexities of promoting a more inclusive environment where multiple forms of diversities and languages, including migrant and minority languages, are recognized as an asset for further development.

Why are we writing this blog? From the micro to the macro, we ask how local conditions and diverse territorial capitals shape migration trajectories and how mobilities and diversities impact upon established local realities. Our blog includes bottom-up perspectives on the governance of migration, views of state and non-state actors from below and individual and collective assessments/narratives of migrations, mobilities and diversities. As such, this blog contributes to disentangling the complexities of a global phenomenon from an interdisciplinary approach.