Call for Papers
Boundaries and Borderlines: Migration and Nationhood
SCHOOL OF ENGLISH STUDIES & SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
UNIVERSITY OF THE BAHAMAS
NASSAU, BAHAMAS
MAY 5-8th, 2027
The University of The Bahamas invites scholars, policy makers, technical experts, activists, artists, civic leaders and concerned citizens to submit proposals for the 2027 Future of Democracy Conference. Throughout the West, anti-immigrant sentiment has been a key feature of rising conservative politics. In The Bahamas the issue of immigration, especially Haitian immigration, has been a touchstone for decades. However, the modern Bahamas as we know it could never have come into existence without the movement of people into, out of and within these islands. Migration, forced and voluntary, is integral to the Bahamian story. Scrutinizing the issue of immigration in The Bahamas requires us to consider how it intersects with race, class, gender, culture, politics, economics and religion. This conference seeks to explore the many dimensions of migration in The Bahamas: the negative, the positive and the misunderstood or misconstrued.
Areas for discussions can include but are not limited to the following:
- Is Bahamian Identity in Peril?
- Statelessness and Human Rights
- Alienation, Demolition and Political Misdirection
- The Role of West Indian Immigrants in Bahamian Nation Formation
- Asian Immigration in The Bahamas
- Are Bahamians Voting with their Feet?
- Immigration: Health and Education Impacts
- Bahamian Mamas, US Babies
- Immigration, Citizenship and Electioneering
- Bahamian Identity and the Art/Act of Forgetting
- Multilingualism in The Bahamas
- Bahamian Brain Drain
- Enforcement, Detention and Repatriation
- Climate Refugees and Climate Justice
- The Role of Race and Class in Immigration Tensions
- Immigration, Tourism and the Costing of Living
- Who Can Squat?
- Religion, Inclusion and Diversity
- Realities of The Labor Market
- Population Trends and Immigration
- “True-True Bahamians”: Narratives of Erasure
- The Political Economy of Scapegoating
- Sex Traffic, Human Trafficking and Bahamian Capitalism
- Immigration, Gender and Politics
- Leaving, Returning and Changing the Nation
- Cultural Assimilation, Cultural Appropriation
Presentations should be 20 minutes in length. A 50-100 word abstract/summary of your proposed presentation can be sent to fodc242@gmail.com or ian.strachan@ub.edu.bs by January 31, 2026.
THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY CONFERENCE 