he nineteenth century was marked by unprecedented migration. People were forcibly or semi-forcibly relocated; traveled temporarily for pleasure or for work; and emigrated to escape war, famine, economic instability, or other crises. As people moved across Britain and the globe, they created new networks of communication and political alliances. “Migration in this period,” Josephine McDonagh writes, “was a print phenomenon [that] triggered people’s curiosity about emigration, and provided the means, the motives, and the informational framework in which their journeys took place.” Periodicals were an important site of inquiry and debate about migration and movements, but they also took on new forms and readerships as they moved across countries and oceans.
This special issue will consider how the topic of movements and migrations helps us theorize Victorian periodicals in new ways. How might migration studies and periodical studies speak to each other? What can periodical studies tell us about migration and other kinds of movement(s)? Essays could examine:
- The impact of migration, immigration, and emigration on periodicals
- The links in periodicals between physical and ideological movements
- The effects of translation, multilingualism, and translingualism within or across periodicals; or
- The function periodicals played in promoting or prohibiting forms of migration
We especially welcome essays that rethink national, regional, and methodological borders and boundaries.
Proposals are due September 1, 2026. Please send an abstract of 400–500 words and a brief (50-word) biography to guest editors Caroline Jones, Sharin Schroeder, and Jessica R. Valdez.
Full-length essays (5,000–9,000 words) will be due by May 1, 2027, for peer review. The final selections will be published in Summer 2028.
Created 18 August 2026 Last modified 4 August 2026