[Commlist] Lusophone Journal of Cultural Studies Call for Papers: ‘Diasporas, Mobilities and Cultures’

*The Lusophone Journal of Cultural Studies  call for papers  with the 
theme ‘Diasporas, Mobilities and Cultures’ is open from September 30, 
2026,  to December 3, 2026*

Editors:  Isabel Macedo (CECS, University of Minho, Portugal), Victor 
Barros (ALGORITMI Centre, University of Minho, Portugal) and Rosana 
Baeninger (State University of Campinas, Brazil)

In recent decades, international migration, diasporas and the multiple 
forms of human mobility and immobility have become central to the 
reconfiguration of contemporary societies. Far from being free and 
homogeneous movements, these processes are shaped by political, 
economic, legal and technological regimes that unequally distribute the 
right to move, to remain and to belong. They involve the displacement of 
people, but also the circulation — and the restriction — of knowledge, 
cultural practices, memories, affections, imaginaries and forms of 
belonging.

In the field of cultural studies, mobilities offer a privileged vantage 
point from which to observe the relationships between culture, power and 
difference. They enable us to examine how people and communities 
negotiate identities, construct memories and contest representations in 
contexts traversed by borders and hierarchies of race, class, gender and 
citizenship.

This proposal shifts the focus from transnational connections in 
themselves to the unequal conditions that make certain forms of mobility 
possible, desirable and visible, whilst others are prevented, 
criminalised or forced (Araújo et al., 2026; Cabecinhas et al., 2026). 
Diasporas are understood here as historical formations marked by 
colonialism, slavery, labour, exile and resistance. From this 
perspective, academic mobility, scientific diasporas and the 
internationalisation of higher education are also examined in the light 
of inequalities in access to resources, visas, languages of knowledge 
and circuits of legitimation.

The so-called ‘turn to mobility’ in the social sciences represented a 
paradigm shift: rather than treating territories, societies and 
identities as fixed units, it began to analyse the relationships between 
movements, networks, infrastructures and points of anchorage (Sheller & 
Urry, 2006; Urry, 2007). The critical development of this paradigm, 
however, draws attention to the inseparability of mobility and 
immobility, and to the regimes of mobility that classify people, 
authorise or block movements, and distribute risks, costs and 
opportunities asymmetrically (Glick Schiller & Salazar, 2013; Sheller, 
2018). It is therefore important to understand who is able to move, 
under what conditions, who is forced to move or to remain, and how these 
experiences are narrated and contested.

In the spaces shaped by the Portuguese language, contemporary mobilities 
cannot be dissociated from the histories of colonialism, slavery, forced 
displacement, the appropriation of territories and knowledge, 
assimilationist policies and anti-colonial struggles. This perspective 
allows us to examine both the continuities of colonial hierarchies 
(Mignolo & Walsh, 2018; Quijano, 2000) and the practices of resistance, 
translation, solidarity and creation developed by individuals and 
communities on the move (Correia Borges et al., 2025; Nardini & Macedo, 
2025).

Aim of the Special Issue

This special issue aims to bring together original contributions that 
critically analyse the relationships between diasporas, regimes of 
mobility and cultural production in Portuguese-speaking contexts. 
Preference is given to interdisciplinary approaches capable of 
articulating biographical, local, national, transnational and digital 
scales.

The aim is to understand how voluntary, conditioned and forced forms of 
mobility — and the immobility that is constitutive of them — produce 
identities, memories, representations, cultural practices and knowledge 
circuits. We are interested in analysing the infrastructures and 
institutions that govern these movements; the material, epistemic and 
symbolic forms of violence that permeate them; and the strategies of 
resistance, care, solidarity and creation through which diasporic 
subjects challenge borders and imagine alternative forms of belonging.

Topics of Interest

Contributions that articulate culture, power and inequality are 
particularly welcome, including the following themes:

Diasporas, families, forced displacement, labour and cultural production;

Mobility regimes, borders, visas, detention and deportation;

Immobility, waiting, confinement and the right to remain;

Racism, coloniality, violence and hierarchies of citizenship;

Memory, heritage, archives and migratory narratives;

Media, digital platforms and disputes over the representation of migration;

Academic mobility, scientific diasporas and inequalities in the 
circulation of knowledge;

Intersectionalities of race, class, gender, sexuality, generation and 
legal status;

Cultural, linguistic, scientific and educational policies in migratory 
contexts;

Resistance, activism, care, solidarity and transnational political 
participation;

Art, literature, film, music and other cultural expressions of diasporas.

References

Araújo, E., Schrooten, M., & Barros, C. (2026). Transnational lives: 
Culture, vulnerability and care across borders. Revista Lusófona de 
Estudos Culturais, 13(1), Article e026011. 
https://doi.org/10.21814/rlec.7476

Cabecinhas, R., Lins, L., & Macedo, I. (Eds.). (2026). Migration and 
Communication in the Global Age: Debates and Actions. CECS/UMinho 
Publishing. https://doi.org/10.21814/uminho.ed.196

Correia Borges, G., Simões, C., & Posch, P. (2025). The Lusophone 
digital diaspora and the presence of Black cultures in the media: A 
study based on interviews with the founders of BANTUMEN. Comunicando 
Journal, 14(2), Article e025025. 
https://doi.org/10.58050/comunicando.v14i2.470

Glick Schiller, N., & Salazar, N. B. (2013). Regimes of mobility across 
the globe. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 39(2), 183–200. 
https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2013.723253

Mignolo, W. D., & Walsh, C. E. (2018). On decoloniality: Concepts, 
analytics, praxis. Duke University Press.

Nardini, A., & Macedo, I. (2025). ‘The Struggle Continues’ by the Prétu 
de Xullaji Project: An analysis of the video manifesto as a narrative of 
political resistance. E-Journal of Intercultural Studies, (13), 1–30. 
https://doi.org/10.34630/e-rei.vi13.6319

Quijano, A. (2000). Coloniality of power, Eurocentrism, and Latin 
America. *Nepantla: Views from South*, 1(3), 533–580.

Sheller, M. (2018). *Mobility justice: The politics of movement in an 
age of extremes*. Verso.

Sheller, M., & Urry, J. (2006). The new mobilities paradigm. Environment 
and Planning A: Economy and Space, 38(2), 207–226. 
https://doi.org/10.1068/a37268

Urry, J. (2007). Mobilities. Polity Press.

Call for Papers (Full Manuscript): 30 September to 3 December 2026

LANGUAGE

Articles may be submitted in English or Portuguese. Articles selected 
for publication will be translated into Portuguese or English, 
respectively, and will be published in full in both languages.

PUBLICATION AND SUBMISSION

The Lusophone Journal of Cultural Studies is an open-access academic 
journal, operating in accordance with rigorous peer-review standards and 
employing a double-blind peer-review process. Each submitted paper will 
be assigned to two reviewers who have been invited in advance to assess 
it, based on its academic quality, originality and relevance to the 
objectives and thematic scope of this issue of the journal.

Manuscripts must be submitted via the journal’s website 
(https://www.rlec.pt/ <https://www.rlec.pt/>). If you are accessing the 
Lusophone Journal of Cultural Studies for the first time, you must 
register in order to submit your article (register here 
<https://rlec.pt/rlec/pt/user/register>).

The guidelines for authors can be found here 
<https://rlec.pt/rlec/pt/about/submissions>.

For further information, please contact: (rlec /at/ ics.uminho.pt) 
<mailto:(rlec /at/ ics.uminho.pt)>

*No payment from the authors will be required*

---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please use it responsibly and wisely. The commlist has no responsibility for any damage caused by its postings. Subscription to the list automatically implies agreement with this rule.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ commlist.org)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------