5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

Inspired by the history of our host country, we invite papers that explore the nexus between sociohistorical and contemporary processes of enslavement, movement restriction, unpaid labor, and servitude in the context of migration. We are particularly interested in empirical, archival, and (auto)biographical research that examines how migration trajectories around the world have intersected with human ‘trafficking’ routes, as well as work that reconstructs how migration can, in certain sociohistorical contexts, represent an escape from conditions of, or analogous to, enslavement. What potential does migration offer individuals and collectives to contest power inequalities, and to what extent can it lead to more or less powerful positions in different societies?

We welcome research that addresses, but is not limited to, issues such as transitions from slavery and recruitment into colonial armies; indentured servitude; migration and coerced labor (e.g., mining activities, sexualized work); migration ‘sponsorship’ (e.g., kafala systems); and the development and repression of autonomous communities (e.g., Zongos, Quilombos, Mascogos, and the like).