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Asia, as both a migrant generating and migrant receiving region, offersrich experiences for migration and diaspora studies. Since the late 19thcentury there has been continuous movement of people across countrieswithin the region as well as from Asia to other parts of the world due tocolonial rule, warfare, political turmoil, the Cold War, and poverty invarious places in Asia. Asian migration is not only large in scale, butalso extremely diverse in experience. Large migrant groups to the West,such as the Chinese, Indians and Vietnamese have received much attention assettlers in other countries. Yet much recent research suggests they mustalso be understood as diasporic communities in continuous transnationalmovement. There are also many other smaller migrant populations, oftenminorities in their own countries, whose migration trajectories representthe interaction of very specific historical conditions as well as generalglobal changes.Against the background of earlier migration waves, this conference willfocus on newer migrants, especially those who migrated in the second halfof the last century. We would like to provide an overview of recent trendsand waves of Asian migration, and the forms of diaspora these migrants haveformed in Asia and around the world. Furthermore, while many Asianscontinue to move to the ‘rich’ West, attention is also needed to the trendsof intra-regional migration within Asia, whether for education, work (bothlow-wage labor and highly skilled professionals),  marriage,  familyreunion, or tourism (both short- and long-stay).Besides migrating out, many Asian migrants are returning back to Asia,often to their home countries. New trends of return migration, retirementmigration, and root-seeking migration have been taking place in Asia bythose who moved away when they were young, or by their children andgrandchildren. This is changing the very meaning of migration and thedynamics and pace through which diasporic communities develop, flow, andebb.The conference will examine the following issues:       The variegated channels through which new migration has occurred;       The relationship between old and new migrant groups of the sameorigin;       Identity, settlement patterns, gender relations, livelihoodstrategies and family in new migration waves;       How migrants as diasporic populations continue to express theircultural distinctiveness and linkage to homelands;       What impacts migrants as diasporic populations have had on theeconomic and political development of their origin countries;       How governments in both origin and destination countries have beenshifting their attitudes and policies towards migrant groups.By looking into these different aspects, the conference will address issuesnot only related to migration and diaspora studies, but also the shiftingsocio-political and economic landscapes in the region overall. With themuch applauded growing economies in Asia since WWII, for example, a numberof Asian countries have become desirable migration destinations whether forstrictly economic or more life-style oriented reasons. It is against thisbackground of the dynamics of development in Asia that this conferenceaddresses the new and diverse migration trends within the region.In addressing migration in Asia, this conference will include a wide rangeof topical concerns: political diaspora, regimes of remittances,transnational nationalism, shifting home country-migrant relations, migrantshortage, human trafficking and migrant rights, multiculturalism andcosmopolitanism, borderland migration, and gender and family patterns intransnational fields. Panelists should feel free to focus on such issues,but should also try to weave those issues into the conference’s broadergoals.Panel and individual paper proposals are both welcome. Please send yourabstract of not more than 250 words to: fschan@cityu.edu.hkDeadline for abstract: 30 April, 2013Letter of acceptance will be sent to you by 20 May, 2013Deadline for full conference paper: 16 Aug, 2013The conference is co-organized by SEARC and IOM