Contemporary migration research is most often focused on the development of "transnational communities" and the ways in which international migrants maintain relationships with their sending region that precipitate a circular flow of people, ideas, and traditions across national boundaries. These patterns are also evident within the internal terrain of the nation-state, and in fact carry similar resources as translocal domestic migrants move from place to place.

This panel hopes to explore the relationship between domestic labor migrations and social movements. As such we hope to bring together scholars whose work is focused primarily on the internal migrations of African-Americans, "okies" or "hillbillies," Mexican-Americans, or other migrant populations whose work places the relationship between migration and activist social movements at its center. Panelists working on gender are strongly encouraged to participate.