The Influence of Colonialism and Decolonization on the Migration of Minority Populations

The late 19th and 20th century witnessed profound waves of migration and displacement on a global scale. Colonial empires often served as destinations for migrants. The decades between the 1910s and the 1990s- stretching from the decline of the Ottoman Empire to struggles for independence across Africa and Asia- were marked by colonial expansion and decolonization, extreme violence, the Cold War. During the long era of imperial fragmentation starting after the First World War and the onset of decolonization, the breakup of the Soviet Union, the upheavals of war, genocide and political repression compelled many to seek new lives in unfamiliar places, making migration a defining aspect of the modern experience.
We invite papers which deal with migration to colonial empires sometimes sponsored by colonial powers and papers dealing with emigration either forced or voluntary from newly independent states founded after the retreat of colonial powers. Papers about migration to and emigration from the SWANA-region, sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, the Americas and the former Soviet Union are welcome.