IMER NEWSLETTER

Monday, 23 April 2007

Newsletter Nr. 4 / 2007

Content:

(Imer /Unifob Global) Updated call: The 14 Nordic Migration Researchers Conference
Unifob Global/UiB: 2 new PhD scholarships available on the EUROSPHERE project
IMER/Bergen ‘Exploring Diversity’-seminar: May-Len Skilbrei, 27th April
Call for manuscripts for the autumn issue: Norwegian Journal of Migration Research
PhD Visiting Scholarships at SPIRIT/Aalborg University,Denmark
Danish National Institute of Social Research: Call for papers: Studying ethnic minorities – methodological approaches in qualitative research
Conference on “Europe: Development through Migration and Integration”, 10 May 2007, UNESCO Paris
UiT/Dept. of Social Anthropology: Post Doctoral research fellowship in comparative indigenous studies
Culcom: Forskingsseminar på Lysebu 14.-16 juni: Transnational relations and transnational laws
Publications

(Imer/Unifob Global) Updated call:

The 14 Nordic Migration Researchers Conference

‘“Borders and Boundaries”

Time:	14-16 November 2007
Place:	Bergen, Norway

Updated and extended call for abstracts and workshop proposals

We are happy to announce that the conference registration and abstract submission service are now open!

Due to a great interest for the 14th Nordic Migration Researcher Conference we have extended the deadlines for submission of workshop/subplenary proposals to June 15th.

The 14th Nordic Migration Researcher Conference will be hosted by IMER/Unifob Global at the University of Bergen. The theme for the Nordic Migration Researcher Conference points to issues of sovereignty, demarcation, distinction, exclusion and discrimination, but also to issues of transience, communication across distinction, and acceptance. Aspects of ‘the global turn’ and the Europeanization of Europe, not least as manifest in migration and migrant populations, have brought border and boundary issues to the forefront not only in social science and humanities scholarship, but also placed them with exceptional prominence on the political agenda.

The conference will be organized in plenaries, subplenaries, and workshops.
For each of the three days, the plenaries will focus around a specific topic. The following topics have been defined:

Transnationalism and the relevance of borders

Specifically, the relevance of state/European borders in our attempts to understand migratory movements and migrant population ‘integration’. What reshapings of the sovereignty regimes do we see, and why? Do we see a development towards a sociology of mobility? Or do we see a re-nationalization within Europe? Borders, boundaries and identity construction are crucial issues here.

Speakers:
*Jonathon Moses, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
*John Urry, Lancaster University, UK

Mobility and gender

Increasingly, there has been a stronger and much needed focus on gender within studies in international migration and ethnic relations. This plenary will deal with, and tie together, some ways in which gender constructions are tied to imaginaries of community, and gendered distinctions in agency and the quality of life.

Speakers:
*Uli Linke, Rochester Institute of Technology, USA
*Laura Augustin, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Liverpool, UK
*Anja Bredal, Institute for Social Research, Norway

Globalizing idioms and human rights

Increasingly, globalizing and essentializing idioms, especially religious and ethnic ones, have been seen as major impediments to reasoned resolutions to conflicts and controversies. These idioms have been largely contrasted with human rights perspectives. The plenary will explore these issues, with particular attention also to the essentializing dimensions in the human rights discourses.

Speakers:
*Anne Norton, University of Pennsylvania, USA
*Craig Calhoun, New York University, USA (invited)
*Bruce Kapferer, University of Bergen, Norway

The Organizers welcome proposals for sub-plenaries and workshops. The sub-plenaries will generally be short lectures, intended to be of interest to a set of workshops. Proposals to arrange workshops are welcome. In addition, the organisers will arrange workshops so that all participants who want to give workshop contributions will have an opportunity to do so.

Submission of workshop proposals and subplenaries : 15 June
Submission of abstracts: 1 September
Submission of paper: Open: 1 June – Close: 1 October

Abstracts will only be accepted through online submission.

Workshop proposals can be directed to coordinator.imer@uib.no

For questions about the academic program contact Knut Hidle or Yngve Lithman

For general queries, comments or proposals please contact Kjersti Skjervheim

For more information please visit the conference web page

Unifob Global/UiB:

2 new PhD scholarships available on the EUROSPHERE – project

One PhD scholarship in comparative politics on think tanks and one Phd scholarship in sociology on social movements is available on the Eurosphere project at Unifob Global/University of Bergen.

EUROSPHERE ”Diversity and the European Public Sphere: Towards a Citizens’ Europe” is an integrated project under the EU’s 6th Framework Programme. It is an international collaborative project between 17 European universities. The project is coordinated by the University of Bergen / Unifob Global and funded by the European Commission. The PhD-scholars will participate in EUROSPHERE’s international research activities by conducting the research work which is specified in the contract between the University of Bergen and the European Commission.

For more information about the PHD scholarship in comparative politics on think tanks click here

For more information about the PHD scholarship in sociology on social movements click here

The application deadline for both is 20 June 2007.

Information about EUROSPHERE is available at http://eurosphere.uib.no. Further information about EUROSPHERE’s scientific objectives and project plans can be obtained by contacting EUROSPHERE Scientific Coordinator Hakan G. Sicakkan (tlf. +47 480 14 166)

Imer/Unifob Global(Bergen): Exploring Diversity Seminars

May-Len Skilbrei 27/04

Time:	Friday 27.04 2007, 14.00-16.00
Place:	Seminar room, Unifob Global, (Stein Rokkans Hus, 5th floor), Bergen

“Eastern European sex workers opposing discourse”

In recent years, many researchers and social workers have claimed that being labelled “a victim” is a heavy burden to carry. It is argued that the position of “the victim” lack both agency and dignity. One of the most visible groups categorized as victims in Norwegian public debate is Eastern European women in prostitution, being understood both as possible victims of trafficking and as victims of prostitution per se. Based on interviews with Eastern European women working in prostitution in Norway, I will discuss how they relate to the discourses on trafficking and prostitution, and how they through that relates to the category of “the victim”.

May-Len Skilbrei is a sociologist, who has researched prostitution, women performing unskilled labour, and feminist theorizing concerning western feminisms’ capacity to incorporate ‘other’ women. She works at FAFO in Oslo, where she leads the research unit on trafficking and female migration. Skilbrei initiated and leads the Network for prostitution research in the Nordic countries, funded by NordFa’s Gender and Violence programme. She is currently working on the multidisiplinary research project Prostitution, Gender and Migration(PROGEMI). Skilbrei’s homepage.

Call for manuscripts for the autumn issue:

Norwegian Journal of Migration Research

The Norwegian Journal of Migration Research (NTM) is an open forum for exchanging knowledge on issues related to migration: International mobility; health and welfare of migrant minorities; labour and work relations; human rights and discrimination; migration policies; integration and integration policies; identity and identity politics; diversity and the effect of globalisation and EU and international relations on the above migration-related issues.

The journal is multi-disciplinary. Last year’s contributors included social anthropologists, general physicians, psychiatrists, historians, linguists, pedagogues, sociologists, as well as a literary and a media scholar.

The editorial responsibilities are divided between IMER Norway (Research Unit for International Migration and Ethnic Relations) at Bergen University and the Norwegian Centre for Minority Health Research (NAKMI), located at Ullevål University Hospital.

Merit: Scientific articles submitted to the journal undergo academic peer review. NTM is a level 1 scientific journal in accordance with the Norwegian standard for academic publication. In addition to academic articles, NTM accepts commentaries and book reviews.

Language: NTM aims to bring international research into a Scandinavian perspective and accepts manuscripts written in the Scandinavian languages and in English.

See instructions for authors (pdf)

Manuscript submission:

Eirik Dahl Viggen
Editorial manager
Norwegian Centre for Minority Health Research: www.nakmi.no
e-mail: eirik.viggen@nakmi.no
mail: NAKMI – Søsterhjemmet – Ullevål University hospital – 0407 Oslo
tlf: (+47) 23 01 60 64
faks: (+47) 23 01 60 61

PhD Visiting Scholarships at SPIRIT/Aalborg University:

Up to three visiting scholarships are available at the Doctoral School SPIRIT, Aalborg University, in the Fall 2007. The application deadline is 15 May 2006.

Duration of scholarship: 15 August-15 December 2007.

Monthly stipend: DKK 7,000 (to cover rent and other living expenses during the stay). In addition to this SPIRIT will cover one round-trip ticket.

Who can apply: PhD candidates who are enrolled in a PhD program outside Denmark and whose PhD project falls within one or more of the thematic areas of the doctoral school:

Transnational orders reconstructed, focusing on the nature and origins of processes of internationalisation and globalisation, including the relationship between ‘the west and the rest’, cultural exchange through history, securitization, and alternative futures for ‘developing’ countries.
Interregional transformations, focusing on both macro-regional processes such as integration within the EU and NAFTA, and sub-national regionalism as processes related to identity, governance, and economic development strategies.
Global and local identities, focusing on conceptual and empirical studies of globalisation as a complex and conflict-ridden process, and on modern and contemporary challenges to existing socio-economic relations, political actors, entrenched identities and everyday life which are posed by new conceptions of gender, nation, class, and ethnicity.
Managing interculturalism, focusing on the challenges to private firms and public policy posed by the increasingly transnational nature of production of goods and services, international migration, and the increased cultural creolisation of consumption in large parts of the world, from everyday household goods to exotic tourism experiences.

Please visit SPIRIT’s homepage for further information.

Danish National Institute of Social Research – Call for papers:

Studying ethnic minorities – methodological approaches in qualitative research

Time:	5-6 December 2007
Place:	Danish National Institute of Social Research (SFI), Copenhagen

Within the last decades in Europe, and for a much longer historical period in the States, globalisation and immigration has led to increasingly more ethnically and culturally diverse populations, and to continuous changes of social institutions and social life within the nation states. This development confronts us as social researchers with still new challenges. The consequences of multi-cultural populations and of living in multi-cultural societies in terms of the research questions it raises are often discussed. However, much less discussed are the consequences for how we do research in a multi-cultural context.

The objective of this conference is to discuss different methodological, ethical and epistemological aspects of studying ethnic relations and ethnic minorities. Questions to be discussed are:

What role does ethnicity play in the meeting between researcher and researched from different ethnic groups or from the ethnic majority vs. minority population?
What are the challenges of this meeting?
How do we handle these challenges?
What are our experiences with these challenges?

Keynote speakers:

Les Back, Professor of Sociology, Goldsmith University of London.
Ann Arnett Ferguson, former Associate Professor of African American Studies and Women’s Studies, Smith College, Massachusetts USA.
Phillip Lalander, Professor of Social Psychology, Växjö University, Sweden.
Sabine Mannitz, Phd. in Social & Cultural Anthropology, Researcher at Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF).
Ann Phoenix, Professor of Social and Developmental Psychology, The Open University London.

Contact Rikke Plauborg (ph:+45 33 48 899) for further information or go to the SFI homepage

Conference on “Europe:

Development through Migration and Integration”

Time:	10 May 2007
Place:	UNESCO Paris

About 185-192 million of men and women are “on the move”, searching for a better life far away from their home countries. These enormous migration flows present a challenge to politics and society. How can this challenge be best addressed? This is a crucial topic for Europe today and will be the decisive one for its future.

UNESCO in cooperation with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Goethe-Institute Paris will discuss this issue during this conference. The conference will put the global geopolitical situation into perspective and will also discuss political, sociological and demographic aspects of migration. Findings from empirical research in Paris and Berlin will be presented and the gender dimensions of international migration will be highlighted to make the “invisible half” of migrants – women who for a long time were not being considered by research on migration – visible. Experts from scientific, political and cultural background, both from the north and the south, will participate in the conference.

See the detailed programme and list of speakers.

Registration is compulsory.

Contact: migrationeurope@unesco.org

UiT/Dept of Social Anthropology:

Post doctoral research fellowship in comparative indigenous studies

The University of Tromsø has a position vacant from 01.07.2007 as post doctoral research fellow in Comparative Indigenous Studies. The position is attached to the Department of Social Anthropology, within the Faculty of Social Science.

The Department has a general orientation towards social and cultural anthropology, and more specifically on cultural diversity, identity management and modernisation, with a particular focus on ethnic relations and indigenous issues. The post doc is a new position that shall enhance the department’s capability in comparative research and publications on indigenous issues.

Questions on the vacant position can be directed to the Head of the Department prof. Sidsel Saugestad, (ph +47 77 64 54 45) or associate prof. Bjørn Bjerkli (ph: +47 77 64 52 32).

Application deadline: 14 may 2007

Go to full job description

Go to the department homepage

Culcom: Forskingsseminar på Lysebu 14.-16 juni

Transnational relations and transnational laws

The aim of the seminar is to explore cultural complexity in the new Norway through the lenses of plural legal forms and contestations in the context of new transnational social, economic and political relations. The conference participants will through empirical cases search for better overarching frameworks to link analysis of the growing cultural complexity of Norway to legal processes beyond the nation-state.

Mer informasjon

Påmeldingsfrist 15. mai! Ver tidleg ute. Det kan bli fullt før påmledingsfristen.

Key note speaker: Saskia Sassen

Other speakers include: Marie-Claire Foblets , Katja Franko Aas , Anne Griffiths , Anne Hellum , Samia Bano , Unni Wikan , Alexa Døving , Lena Larsen , Olivier Remaud , Thomas Hylland Eriksen, Knut Papendorf, University of Oslo and Kristian Andnæs, University of Oslo

Konferansen kostar kun kr. 500 inkludert alle forfriskningar og måltid. Det vil vere felles middag for alle deltakarar om kvelden fredag den 15. juni. (Sjå programmet). Deltakaravgifta dekker ikkje overnatting. Påmelding via konferansesidene

Publications

Herzig, Pascale(2007) “South Asians in Kenya. Gender, Generation and Changing Identities in Diaspora”. Lit Verlag, Germany. For more information..

Fred Dervin / Eija Suomela-Salmi(eds)(2006). Iintercultural communication and education: Finnish Perspectives. Peter Lang Verlag, Switzerland. For more information..

The Rama People: Struggling for Land and Culture.

This book about the Rama people from the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua is a joint product of a cooperation between The University of Tromsø and URACCAN, a University in Nicaragua , through the NUFU financed project “Cultural revitalization, environment and the natural resources of the indigenous peoples of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua.” For more information..

Kneebone, S. & Rawlings-Sanei, F. (eds.)(2007) New regionalism an asylum seekers: challenges ahead. Volume 20, Forced Migration Series. Beghahn Books, UK. For more information..

Migliorino, Nicola(2007) (Re)Constructing Armenia in Lebanon and Syria:
Ethno-Cultural Diversity and the State in the Aftermath of a Refugee Crisis. Volume 21, Forced Migration Series. Beghahn Books, UK. For more information..

Anita Fábos(2007) “Brothers” or others? Muslim Arab Sudanese in Egypt. Volume 21, Forced Migration Series. Beghahn Books, UK. For more information..

Wheatley, Jonathan. (2007) The Economic Dimension of Minority Participation in Europe.ECMI Issue Brief #15 Download

– Protsyk, Oleh, Andrei Volentir and Igor Bucãtaru. Addressing the Transnistrian Conflict: Competing Stances of Moldova’s Political Parties and Expert Community. ECMI Working Paper #37 Download

–Implementing Human Rights in Serbia and Montenegro. Materials in English and Serbian of joint ECMI-Danish Institute of Human Rights project. Download