Seas of (im)mobility, solidarity, and resistance

Call for Participants

Seas of (im)mobility, solidarity, and resistance

Aston University, Birmingham, United Kingdom

12 February 2026

Organising committee: Pat Rubio Bertran and Georgie Holmes.

Throughout history, the Mediterranean sea and other maritime geographies have been spaces of capture and escape, grief and joy, and violence and resistance. Today, at the forefront of these struggles, resisting the necropolitical violence of borders, are people on the move and those who stand in solidarity with them. However, the invisibilisation of these maritime struggles has made it even more important to recognise, document, and challenge the violence of criminalisation, disappearances, and carcerality that permeate these spaces, and to recognise and celebrate acts of resistance and solidarity.

In June 2025, a group of people from Sudan who had fled Libya by sea sent a distress call. The sailing ship Madleen, which journeyed across the Mediterranean aiming to break Israel’s siege on Gaza, answered it. Through that encounter, as the world followed the journey of the Madleen, the everyday necropolitics of maritime bordering unexpectedly took to the global stage. Before the Madleen arrived on scene, a so-called Libyan Coast Guard vessel arrived at the scene and captured the people from Sudan to return them to Libya. Only four of them escaped successfully, by jumping from the boat and swimming towards the sailing ship. This encounter in the high seas managed to tie together systems of oppression, solidarity, and resistance, bringing forward discussions on who is made visible, who is made invisible, whose lives are deemed worthy, who is allowed to move, why, and put focus on the interconnectedness of all bordering systems and its liberation movements.

In this context, “Seas of (im)mobility, solidarity, and resistance” aims to bring together scholars and activists for a one-day conference, to discuss research and first-hand experiences in solidarity and resistance at sea and its shorelines, as well as how bordering practices and technologies, among others, connect different struggles. We encourage expressions of interest from all maritime spaces and routes, particularly the Mediterranean, the English Channel, and the Atlantic route. This interdisciplinary conference will serve as a collaborative environment composed of panels where activists and researchers can share their work, workshop spaces to discuss ideas in development, and a public event roundtable to discuss current solidarity and resistance efforts at sea. Suggested themes for papers and activist engagement are:

• Mobility and immobility / spectrums of mobility

• Visibility and invisibility struggles

• The global interconnectedness of liberation movements

• Spaces of support and resistance

• Transnational solidarities and resistances

• Histories of sea movement

• Deaths and disappearances at sea

• Carceral systems and carcerality

• Criminalisation and repression

• Global infrastructures of violence

If you would like to participate, contribute, or just attend, please complete the application form by October 24th. Selected participants will be invited by the first week of November. If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at seasof2026@gmail.com.

Funding: This conference is funded by the Economic Social and Research Council (ESRC) and it is free to attend. Limited travel and accommodation support is available and offered to activists, early career scholars, or participants who cannot access institutional funding.

Solidarity accommodation: We might have the option of Birmingham-based friends offering their homes and sofas/spare rooms for participants. If this is an option you would be open to, do let us know through the form.

Visas: If you need support with a visa application, we can provide an invitation letter. Remember that EU passport holders also need a visa to enter the UK as of April 2025.

Languages: While the main language of the conference is English, we can try to provide interpretation when needed. Do reach out if language barriers are a concern.