IMISCOE panel series:
Moral gatekeeping in the migration regime: family norms and imaginaries of intimacy 

This panel series will be part of the 20th IMISCOE Annual Conference on Migration and Inequalities, to be held 3-6 July 2023 in Warsaw.  It explores the role of family norms and imaginaries of intimacy in migration regimes and sheds light on the ways in which not only state actors but also intermediaries engage in “moral gatekeeping” practices (Wray 2006, Pellander, 2015) that either (re)produce, diverge from or contest norms.

Panel 1 - Moral gatekeeping in the migration regime: family norms and imaginaries of intimacy I

             Discussant:         Janine Dahinden (University of Neuchâtel) 

1. Participant(s):    Kaat Van Acker, Mieke Groeninck, Pascal Debruyne, Dirk Geldof & Katja Fournier
                                (Odisee univerity of applied sciences | KU Leuven | Unversity of Antwerp)

   Paper:                 Moralising refugees’ family-life: Contrasting conceptualizations of parenting and  childhood from the perspectives of social professionals and families.

2. Participant(s):    Mikkel Ryter (Aarhus University) & Emilie Lund Mortensen (Aarhus University)
   Paper:                 Resettled refugees and the multiplicity of normative expectations: Congolese  
                                women being reoriented towards ‘the good life’ in Denmark

3. Participant(s):   Lisa Katarina Stalder ( University of Neuchâtel)
   Paper:                 Sex work, migrant women and the multilevel gatekeeping of sexual liberty

4. Participant(s):    Sonja Evaldsson Mellström (University of Amsterdam)
   Paper:                 « Tu m’écris une attestation non? » Strategic Mobilization of LGBTIQ+ Organizations by Queer Asylum Seekers in France

5. Participant(s):    Elsemieke van Osch (KU Leuven)

   Paper:                 Family matters in asylum. Normative conceptions about family in the Belgian asylum regime and beyond

Panel 2 - Moral gatekeeping in the migration regime: family norms and imaginaries of intimacy II

              Discussant:         Mikkel Ryter (Aarhus University)

1. Participant(s):   Saskia Bonjour (University of Amsterdam) & Susan Diepenmaat (University of Amsterdam)
   Paper:                Migration lawyers and the construction of the ‘strange’ family

2. Participant(s):    Carla Mascia (Université Libre de Bruxelles)
   Paper:                 Moral gatekeeping: how hidden state actors shape and reinforce the state understanding of a “fraudulent couple”

3. Participant(s):    Gina Marie Longo (Virginia Commonwealth University)
   Paper:                 Guileless Asian Girls and Strong-Willed Post-Soviet Women: Upholding gender hierarchies, citizenship, and nation on online U.S. Spousal Reunification Forums

4. Participant(s):   Reena Kukreja (Queen’s University, Kngston, Canada)
   Paper:                 Imaginaries of the Deviant Other: Governance of Desire and Family-formation among South Asian Migrants in Greece shaped by bordering regimes of racism and Islamophobia

5. Participant(s):    Karlien Strijbosch (Maastricht University)
   Paper:                 Sex and (back in) the City: Masculinities, morality and vulnerability in the lives of Senegalese men after migrating to Europe