The editors of TRANSIT at the University of California, Berkeley invite submissions for the inaugural issue of the multidisciplinary, web-based journal TRANSIT, to be published February 15, 2005.

OPEN CALL FOR PAPERS
We welcome submissions relating to the critical inquiry of travel, migration, and multiculturalism in the German-speaking world spanning all time periods and media. TRANSIT covers the work of all those who have experienced the irresolvable tension between home and dislocation—whether explorers, adventurers, refugees, or exiles. We invite critical work, in English or German, from all areas in which movement and transition are major forces.

CALL FOR PAPERS
Special Topic: Migration, Culture, and the Nation State
In recent years mass migrations have challenged and dramatically changed nation states around the globe. The German-speaking world in particular epitomizes the tensions ascribed to immigration. Millions of immigrants, “guest workers”, and asylum seekers have become residents of German-speaking countries in the last fifty years alone. Increasingly, their presence calls into question the concept of a national community based on ancestral lineage and cultural heritage. For some, the presence of so many foreign-born residents spells the end of German culture. For others, a multiethnic nation evokes a long tradition of cosmopolitan openness. Is multiculturalism the key to resolving current issues of national identity in Europe?

TRANSIT invites English or German language submissions that explore the following questions:

Why has multiculturalism become such a contested concept today? How are political, social, and cultural borders negotiated in a rapidly changing Europe? How can the extensive German debates surrounding nationalism, ethnicity, and mobility contribute to current international debates?

Papers should be submitted as a Microsoft Word email attachment by Nov. 1, 2004.

Please send submissions and inquiries to transit@berkeley.edu.

This issue is presented in conjunction with the international conference Goodbye Germany? Migration, Culture, and the Nation State to be held 28-30 October 2004 at UC Berkeley.