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Call for Submissions
Narratives of Movement: Centering Migrant Women’s Voices in Research and Resistance
Graduate Student Symposium | Global Labour Research Centre (GLRC), York University
Date: February 27, 2026.
Location: York University (in-person/ details to follow)
Deadline: January 26, 2026, by 11:59 pm ET
The Global Labour Research Centre (GLRC) at York University invites submissions for its upcoming Graduate Student Symposium, Narratives of Movement: Centering Migrant Women’s Voices in Research and Resistance. The GLRC invites migrant women, gender-marginalized migrant students and researchers (undergraduate, MA, PhD, and recent graduates, and postdocs) to centre their own stories, theories, and resistance practices in a decolonial conversational space. The aim is to refute claims and images of victimization of these voices and underscore the power and strength in lived experiences. This one‑day symposium will take place on February 27, 2026.
Please note that this is NOT a traditional academic conference. We explicitly welcome alternative, creative, and non-Eurocentric forms of knowledge production and presentation.
Submission Categories (you may choose any one):
1. Group Conversation (roundtable-style dialogue): 3-5 participants share a facilitated 60-70-minute conversation. Suggested (and non-exhaustive) themes:
- Land, labour, and dispossession in Canada
- Ancestral and Indigenous knowledge systems in migration
- Political economy of gendered/racialized labour (Canada, South–South, Gulf, etc.)
- Refusing victimhood: agency, joy, queer migrations, migrant masculinities
- Love, care chains, and family across borders
- Challenging Eurocentric integration frameworks
2. Individual Narrative / Reflective Storytelling: 15-20 minute spoken piece (personal narrative, research reflection, poetry, monologue).
A quiet professional recording room will be available all day.
What you may Submit (by 26 January 2025)
Please submit all the required documents to this form.
1. One-page CV
2. A short abstract (250–400 words) explaining:
- Why do you want to participate
- A brief note on your positionality and lived/research experience
3. An academic OR alternative written piece (between 2-4 pages, double-spaced) that represents your voice. This can be an essay excerpt, non-fiction creative, poetry collection, auto-ethnography, manifesto, letter, or any format that feels authentic to you and upholds your voice. References are optional.
Outcomes & Alternative Knowledge Production
- All accepted contributions will be professionally recorded and published as episodes in the new GLRC podcast series “Narratives of Movement” (the GLRC and you will retain full editorial control and consent).
- Optional submission of a polished written version (1,500–3,000 words) for the GLRC Perspective Series (this is non-peer-reviewed).
Closing Workshop: “From Thesis to Book” with Professor Soma Chatterjee
The symposium will conclude with a special hands‑on workshop led by Professor Soma Chatterjee, drawing from her forthcoming book Skills to Build the Nation. Immigrant Labour Market and Canadian Nationalism. From Thesis to Book: A Practical Guide for Emerging Scholars offers an accessible, demystifying look at how graduate students and early‑career researchers can transform a thesis into a publishable monograph.
Using her upcoming book as a live case study, Professor Chatterjee will guide participants through:
- Reframing thesis research for broader academic and public audiences
- Identifying the conceptual through‑line of a book project
- Understanding the publishing landscape and approaching editors
- Navigating the emotional and political labour of writing as a migrant, racialized, or gender‑marginalized scholar
This workshop is open to all student participants and included as part of the symposium program. No prior publication experience is required.
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No jargon-heavy abstracts or full bibliography required in the proposal. We solely want to hear YOUR voice and story.
We particularly encourage submissions from Indigenous, Black, racialized, queer, trans, and working-class migrant women and gender-marginalized researchers.
Deadline:
The submission deadline is January 26, 2026, by 11:59 pm ET. Participants will be notified of the status of their proposal by February 7, 2026.
For any inquiries, e-mail: glrc.conf@gmail.com.
Registration:
Registration is free for all attendees and presenters.
Honorarium:
Presenters will receive an honorarium of $100 for their participation.
Organizing Committee:
Oleena Chaudhuri, PhD student, Social Work
Tristan Xavier Rampersaud, PhD student, Politics
Ashwin Shantha, PhD student, Political Science
Valentina Ornelas, PhD student, Political Science
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of York University's Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, as well as our co-sponsors, the Robarts Centre, the York Centre for Asian Research, the Liberating Migrant Labour?: International Mobility Programs in Settler-Colonial Contexts project, and Ethel Tungohan, Canada Research Chair funds.
The Global Labour Research Centre (GLRC) at York University promotes the study of work, employment, and labour. The Centre’s mandate is to support engaged, interdisciplinary, collaborative, and accessible research on pressing issues of economic and social justice.
The GLRC is pleased to announce its upcoming 9th annual Graduate Student Symposium: Critical Conversations in Work and Labour. This conference is designed to showcase the scholarship of new voices in labour studies across a diverse range of disciplines. It is our hope that the workshop will provide an interdisciplinary venue for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to share their research in a collaborative and supportive environment.
Highlights
- John Eleen Lecture: What is Antiracism? And Why it means Anticapitalism, by Arun Kundnani.
- On February 20:
- The John Eleen Lecture will be held in Room 519 (Kaneff Tower).
- Breakfast, Lunch, Coffee Breaks will also be held at Room 519.
- Parallel panel sessions will be held in Room 519 (Kaneff Tower) and Room 305 (York Lanes).
- The Social Event will be held at the Break Room (Underground).
- You can find the detailed symposium program (including room number for each panel session) here.
- On February 21:
- Parallel panel sessions will be held virtually, via Zoom.
- A Professional workshop will be held virtually, via Zoom. Invited panelists will talk about (i) key aspects of academic life and (ii) career paths beyond academia.
- You can find the detailed symposium program (including Zoom links) here.
- After the conference, presenters will be invited to submit their papers to Workplace: a Journal for Academic Labor.
Organizing Committee
- Alaa Abdelhamid, PhD student in Sociology, York University
- Nicole Jokinen-Hurl, MA student in Sociology, York University
- Tinu Koithara Mathew, PhD student in the School of Human Resource Management, York University
- Julie Wilson, Undergraduate student in Political Science and Work and Labour Studies, York University
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of York University's Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, as well as our co-sponsors, the Graduate Program in Development Studies, Department of Social Science, and the Geography Graduate Program, Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change.