Ringvorlesung: Labor Migration in and from Eastern Europe

Eastern, Central, and Southeast Europe offer a critical vantage point for under­standing the complexi­ties of migration, one of the defining forces of our time. Labor migration in and from this region has shaped economies, social structures, and poli­ti­cal debates across Europe and beyond. Yet these move­ments are often over­looked or oversimpli­fied in public discourse.
Since the nineteenth century, people have moved to, from, and within Eastern Europe in search of employ­ment and social mobi­lity. In many of the region’s cities and locali­ties, labor migration has trans­formed local economies, altered poli­tical dyna­mics, and reshaped everyday social life. In destin­ation countries, these movements have contri­buted to the formation of new diaspora communities and in­creasing­ly inter­connected labor markets. At the same time, migrants have built trans­national net­works and sustained cross-border cultural and economic ties that link work­places, house­holds, and communi­ties across Europe.

This lecture series explores labor migration in and from Eastern Europe, broadly conceived, from a wide range of discipli­nary and geographic perspec­tives. Across fourteen lectures, anthropo­logists, historians, socio­logists and scholars from related fields trace key themes in labor migration from the nineteenth century to the present. Topics include border regimes and the raciali­zation of migrants, precarity, infor­mality, and remittances, as well as return migration and gendered dimensions of care and domestic work.

Online-Ringvorlesung

Diese Ringvorlesung wird in englischer Sprache und online (via Zoom) durchgeführt. Die Vorträge werden aufgezeichnet und stehen anschliessend als Podcasts zur Verfügung. Mehr Informationen hierzu finden Sie auf der Website des Instituts für Slavistik und Osteuropastudien (ISOS): 
ISOS: Ringvorlesung Labor Migration

Programm: 

Programm

22.9.2026, 18:15: Labor Migration and Development in Socialist Yugoslavia: State Visions and Migrant Experiences

Sara Bernard (University of Glasgow); Ort: https://www.isos.uzh.ch/de/studium/ringvorlesungen/labor-migration.html

29.9.2026, 18:15: Globalizing Border Controls and the Conflict over Labor Migrants: The 1913 Canadian Pacific Affair

Tobias Brinkmann (Pennsylvania State University); Ort: https://www.isos.uzh.ch/de/studium/ringvorlesungen/labor-migration.html

6.10.2026, 18:15: Labor Migration and Ethnic Hierarchies in the Soviet Union

Jonathan Raspe (Cornell University); Ort: https://www.isos.uzh.ch/de/studium/ringvorlesungen/labor-migration.html

13.10.2026, 18:15: Nowhere and Nothing: The Entangled Lives of Migrants and Locals in Boston, Lincolnshire

Dace Dzenovska (University of Oxford); Ort: https://www.isos.uzh.ch/de/studium/ringvorlesungen/labor-migration.html

20.10.2026, 18:15: Tajik Labor Migration to Russia in the Wake of the War in Ukraine

Mariana Peixoto Irby (University of Warsaw); Ort: https://www.isos.uzh.ch/de/studium/ringvorlesungen/labor-migration.html

27.10.2026, 18:15: Understanding Internal Displacement in Ukraine: Between Housing and Employment

Oleksandra Tarkhanova (University of St. Gallen); Ort: https://www.isos.uzh.ch/de/studium/ringvorlesungen/labor-migration.html

3.11.2026, 18:15: Border Regimes and Differential Inclusion/Exclusion in and of the Balkans: The Case of Serbia

Marta Stojić Mitrović (Institute of Ethnography SASA, Belgrade); Ort: Online via Zoom

10.11.2026, 18:15: Building Austria’s “Cucumber Capital”: The Past, Present, and Future of Migrant Farmwork in Austria’s Agrifood System

Paul Sperneac-Wolfer (University of Barcelona); Ort: https://www.isos.uzh.ch/de/studium/ringvorlesungen/labor-migration.html

17.11.2026, 18:15: Made a Refugee: Yugoslav Labor and Suspended Recognition in Switzerland

Sandra King-Savić (University of Zurich); Ort: https://www.isos.uzh.ch/de/studium/ringvorlesungen/labor-migration.html

24.11.2026, 18:15: Business as Usual? Normalizing the Economization of Ukrainian Migration to Poland: From Covid-19 to War in Ukraine

Marta Kindler (University of Warsaw); Ort: https://www.isos.uzh.ch/de/studium/ringvorlesungen/labor-migration.html

1.12.2026, 18:15: “Fit for Beauty”: Racialized Labour, Skill, and Depletion in Migrant Nail Salon Work

Daria Krivonos (University of Helsinki); Ort: https://www.isos.uzh.ch/de/studium/ringvorlesungen/labor-migration.html

8.12.2026, 18:15: Class, Space, and Race: Related Dimensions of Subalternization at the Eastern and Southern Peripheries of the European Union

Ivan Kalmar (University of Toronto); Ort: https://www.isos.uzh.ch/de/studium/ringvorlesungen/labor-migration.html

15.12.2026, 18:15: Conclusion: Labor Migration in and from Eastern Europe - Continuities, Ruptures, and Open Questions

Sandra King-Savić (UZH); Ort: https://www.isos.uzh.ch/de/studium/ringvorlesungen/labor-migration.html