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14 February 2025

CALL FOR PAPERS: International Congress Crime, Surveillance and Mobilities in the Atlantic, 19th and 20th centuries (Lisbon: CIES - Iscte – Lisbon University Institute, 10-12 SEP 2025) [DEADLINE 1 MAR 2025]

 

From 1870 onwards, there was an increase and diversification of mobility in the Atlantic, facilitated by developments in maritime transport that presented different characteristics from the transport of enslaved people from Africa to the Americas or the commercial connections from the eighteenth-century. Geographically, there was an increasingly intense population flow involving Europe, in particular Southern Europe, and the Americas, regions with old colonial connections. In addition to include several other elements, such as the sharing of knowledge and the intensification of commercial relations, the increase in mobility also entailed new and worrying risks for Nation-States and Empires.

The increase in the circulation of people, goods and ideas also meant greater ease in the mobility of individuals who were dedicated to criminal practices. Moreover, the representation in the mass media of criminal risks that transcended national and imperial borders, forced the authorities of each country to develop collaboration strategies that went beyond its own borders, as the historiography dedicated to the study of the repression of anarchism and communism, as well as the different cross-border types of theft, fraud and forgery has demonstrated. From the end of the 19th century there was an increase in national and international debates about illegal criminal activities - or in criminalization proceedings - that transcended national or imperial borders and the development of a broad perception of the expansion of criminal behaviours of a shifting and itinerant character. Among these activities were, in addition to the traditional smuggling, enhanced by events such as wars and economic crises, human and drug trafficking, counterfeiting of money and other forms of financial fraud, or arms trafficking, to name just a few examples.

In political terms, the first decades of the 20th century witnessed a period of forced migrations related to revolutionary political dissidence, especially after the Russian Revolution and the “red triennium” in the Americas, but also motivated by the world wars and fueled by the emergence of authoritarian regimes in several countries. The perception of the increasing number of victims of forced mobility and the economic, social and psychological impact they had on individuals, but also in the places of departure and arrival, gave rise to broader discussions about these phenomena. Laws restricting the entry of migrants and the deportation of foreigners were passed in different countries across the Atlantic world, while transatlantic surveillance began to be organized at international police congresses held from New York and Rome to Buenos Aires.

Aspects such as the revolutionary threat, criminal risks and forced mobility demonstrated that the world was facing new political and social risks, which posed challenges to traditional forms of surveillance. These phenomena gained increasing importance and notoriety in the press, in the security policies of each country and in international institutions such as the League of Nations. The relationship between increased mobility and the circulation of political dissidents, criminalized subjects and populations forced to migrate, such as refugees, has acquired greater protagonism in practices and representations at a global level and demonstrated the need to rethink surveillance regimes in order to guarantee the safety of populations and observance of the law. States and their police forces, but also diplomacies and non-governmental actors, engaged in the prevention and repression of these threats, internationalizing dialogues and collaborations, which resulted in the development of international and transnational forms of surveillance of people, goods and information, in the exchange of knowledge in criminal investigation or extradition of criminals.

As part of the project International collaborations: crime and police cooperation in the Ibero-American Atlantic, 1870-1940, financed by the  of the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation of Portugal and hosted by CIES-Iscte, this international meeting aims to bring together researchers working in the study of criminal behaviours of a transnational nature, transnational mobilities and the development of forms of international and transnational political and cross-border surveillance, involving the Atlantic and connecting Europe, the Americas and Africa, during the 19th and 20th centuries. This congress aims to contribute to the expansion and deepening of the historiographical debate surrounding the transnational movement of people and the surveillance of international crime in the Atlantic axis. Proposals should follow the following thematic axes:

·       Forms of transnational criminal behaviour, such as economic-financial crimes, counterfeit currency, human trafficking, drugs and weapons, etc.

·       National, imperial and international control and surveillance on migration and mobility.

·       Internationalization of political, technical and public debates around the criminal question.

·       Development of forms of international police cooperation, such as information sharing schemes, exchange and international circulation of police officers and development of international policing institutions.

·       Development of forms of international judicial cooperation, such as international legal discussion associations, development of cooperation mechanisms between judicial systems and international development of common judicial policies.

·       Expansion of political surveillance by state agents and cooperation in terms of combating political movements such as anarchism and communism.

·       Non-governmental surveillance mechanisms developed, for example, by civil society groups, banks and other private companies.

·       Activities developed by international institutions such as the League of Nations, the United Nations or the International Criminal Court.

 

Paper proposals may be written in Portuguese, Spanish or English and must include the author's name, institutional affiliation, the title of the proposal, the abstract (maximum 500 words), three keywords, a biographical note (maximum 200 words) and electronic contact. Proposals must be sent by March 1st, 2025 to the following email: congressocrivimo.cincra@gmail.com. Papers may be presented in Portuguese, Spanish or English.

Check our website: International Congress CINCRA

Local Organizing Committee:

Fábio Alexandre Faria (CIES - Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)

Gonçalo Rocha Gonçalves (CIES – Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)

Maria João Vaz (CIES - Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)

Emmanuel Berger (CIES - Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)

Fernando Cepulli (CIES - Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)

Mariana Mesquita (CIES - Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)

Rebecca Dias (Instituto Diplomático e CIES - Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)

Scientific Board:

Cristiana Schettini (Universidad de San Martin – Argentina)

Diego Galeano (PUC – Rio de Janeiro - Brasil)

Diego Pulido Esteva (Colegio de Mexico - México)

Emmanuel Berger (CIES - Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)

Fábio Alexandre Faria (CIES - Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)

Gonçalo Rocha Gonçalves (CIES – Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)

Irene Vaquinhas (Universidade de Coimbra)

Marcos Bretas (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro – Brasil)

Maria João Vaz (CIES - Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)

Mariana Cardoso Ribeiro (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia – Espanha)

Martin Albornoz Crespo (Universidad San Martin – Argentina)

Mikel Aizpuru Murua (Universidad del País Vasco – Espanha)

Pedro Oliver Olmo (Universidad de Castilla – La Mancha - Espanha)

Yvette Santos (Université de Lyon)

More information here.

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