The Editorial Team of On_Culture presents the 10th Issue of the journal entitled “Metaphors of Migration,” guest-edited by Jörn Ahrens (Giessen) and Axel Fliethmann (Monash).

In view of the surreal times of the COVID-19 pandemic, the preparations of this issue faced hitherto unprecedented challenges. Unsparing to all of us — scholars, writers, family members — the pandemic has compelled us to (re-)consider our priorities and time investments. In order to accommodate authors who might have found themselves in stressful circumstances while still adhering to our bi-annual publication rhythm, the 10th issue of On_Culture is published in two parts: with the first part of contributions in December 2020, and the second part in spring 2021.

In line with On_Culture’s visual tradition, this issue’s teaser image aims at avoiding first-glance associations and preconceptions related to migration. The heightened blurriness of the lines seeks to move our vision beyond the assumption of linearity. Inspired by the sphere-like shape of “The Global Flow of People” by the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital, [1] the image features thinning, thickening, crossing and overlapping lines at the core instead of around the globe. Yet, by adding cut and decentered lines surrounded by flecks, we aimed to distance the image from a reductive conception of migration as movement, and to include the notions of staying, home-making, displacement and never-reaching.

As the guest-editors write in their introduction, this issue seeks to engage with some of the “less explored facets” of migration, “focusing on the idea that the lived reality of migration is always also framed by discursive formations.” We hope the readers will enjoy discovering these facets, these discursive formations On_Culture may provide.

Giessen, December 2020

The Editorial Team

_How to Cite

The Editorial Team. “Preface: Metaphors of Migration.” On_Culture: The Open Journal for the Study of Culture 10 (2020). <http://geb.uni-giessen.de/geb/volltexte/2020/15784/>.