IMER NEWSLETTER

Tuesday, 25 september 2007

Newsletter Nr. 8 / 2007

Content:

• IMER/UiB:Updated call: The 14 Nordic Migration Researchers Conference
• (SFI): Call for papers and registration to international conference
• Extended call: 4th ETMU DAYS: Nordic Migrations: Past & Present
• University of Witwatersrand: Forced Migration Studies Programme
• FEMM-nettverket: Invitasjon til konferanse
• (UiT) Forum Conference 2007
• UCL: Call for papers: Spaces for Difference: An Interdisciplinary Journal
• (IES): Vacancy: PhD Researcher
• Tema Etnicitet : PhD Dissertation: Dina Avrahami
• (EC): Seminar:”Equal opportunities for all: rights and practice in Norway and EU”
• Publications

(Imer/Uib) Updated call:

The 14 Nordic Migration Researchers Conference

‘“Borders and Boundaries”

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

The 14th Nordic Migration Researcher Conference will be hosted by IMER/UiB 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 and workshops.
For each of the three days, the plenaries will focus around a specific topic:

WEDNESDAY 14 NOVEMBER

“TRANSNATIONALISM AND THE RELEVANCE OF BORDERS “

Chair: Yngve Lithman, University of Bergen, Norway

09.30	Coffee
10.00	Welcome
10.15	Intro Panel
10.30	John Urry, Lancaster University, UK
	“New Mobilities Paradigm”
11.15	Coffee
11.30	Jonathon Moses, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
	“States don’t migrate, people do”
12.15	Panel discussion
13.00	Lunch
14.00	Launching of Nord Imer
14.30	Workshop sessions
15.45	Coffee
16.15	Workshop sessions(end 17.00)

 

THURSDAY 15 NOVEMBER

“MOBILITY AND GENDER “

Chair: Randi Gressgård, University of Stavanger, Norway

09.00	Coffee
09.30	Uli Linke, Rochester Institute of Technology, USA
	“National Borders, Unbound Bodies: Black Masculinities in the Carceral Zones of European Violence”
10.15	Anja Bredal, Institute for Social Research, Norway
	“Gendered violence in minority families: Something special, or just the same?”
11.00	Coffee
11.15	Laura Agustín, London Metropolitan University, UK
	“Against Essence: The Curious Cultural Corner of the ‘European’“
12.00	Panel discussion
13.00	Lunch
14.00	Workshop sessions
15.15	Coffee
15.45	Workshop sessions(end 16.30)

20.00

Conference Dinner

FRIDAY 16 NOVEMBER

“GLOBALIZING IDIOMS AND HUMAN RIGHTS”

Chair: Mette Andersson, University of Bergen, Norway

09.00	Coffee
09.30	Anne Norton, University of Pennsylvania, USA
	“On the Muslim Question”
10.15	Howard Adelman, Griffith University, Australia
	“Ducking for Cover: The Headscarf issue in Europe”
11.00	Coffee
11.15	Bruce Kapferer, University of Bergen, Norway
12.00	Panel discussion
13.00	Lunch (end 14.00)

The Organizers welcome abstracts and paper submissions! Please check out the workshoplist and note which workshop you prefer to contribute to when submitting your abstract.

Submission of abstracts: 1 October
Submission of paper: 15 October
Registration : 25 October

Abstracts will only be accepted through online submission.

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

(SFI): Call for papers and registration to international conference:

Studying ethnic minorities – methodological approaches in qualitative research

Tid:	December 5th – 6th 2007
Sted:	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:

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

Keynote speakers

1. Les Back, Professor of Sociology, Goldsmith University of London. Working with sociology of racism and ethnicity, popular culture and music, urban life, community, social divisions, class, social theory and sociological methods.
2. Ann Arnett Ferguson, former Associate Professor of African American Studies and Women’s Studies, Smith College, Massachusetts USA. Working with race/gender identification, sociology of childhood, youth and popular culture,sociology of punishment.

1. Phillip Lalander, Professor of Social Psychology, Växjö University, Sweden. Working with (ethnic minority) youth cultures, drug use and abuse.
2.  Sabine Mannitz, Phd. in Social & Cultural Anthropology, Researcher at Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF). Working with migration and transnationalization, ethnicity and culturalism, civic education, institutional socialization, armed forces and society.

1. Ann Phoenix, Professor of Social and Developmental Psychology, The Open University London. Working with motherhood and the social identities of young people, including those of ‘race’, ethnicity and gender.

 For more information and to download registration form go here

Extended call: 4th ETMU DAYS: Nordic Migrations: Past & Present

Nordic Migrations: Past & Present

Extended Call for Papers and Registration

Tid:	October 26-27, 2007
Sted:	Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland

The theme of the fourth annual ETMU Days is Nordic Migrations. The theme can be approached from following directions: ethnicity, international mobility, multiculturalism, integration, indigenous and national minorities, minority rights, citizenship, nationalism, racism, refugees, education, upbringing and comparable topics.

The keynote speakers at the conference are Professor Thomas Hylland Eriksen (University of Oslo), Professor Charles Westin (University of Stockholm), Dr Diana Mulinari (University of Lund), Dr Ali Najib (University of Uppsala), Dr Garbi Schmidt (Danish National Institute of Social Research), Professor Max Engman (Åbo Akademi University) and Professor Martin Scheinin (Åbo Akademi University).

The preferred language of the conference is English. Presentations are also possible in Finnish and Swedish.

Several workshops dealing with the above mentioned themes will be held at the conference. Researchers, research groups and students of the field may suggest abstracts for these workshops. The length of the paper abstract is ca. 200 words and the proposals can be sent to either directly to the session organizers or to the conference organisers. The abstract should also include the name of the participant, contact information, organisation and the name of the workshop, if known. The organisers reserve themselves the right to move papers between sessions. Suggestions should also specify the language of the paper to be used and are to be submitted by 5th October 2007.

Workshops

• Citizenship and civic culture
• Cultural policy and cultural diversity
• Family, gender and generations: How migration reconfigures intimate relations?
• Housing, cities and ethnic minorities
• Living, working and studying in lingua francae in the Nordic countries: the case of migrants
• Migrant labour in rural areas
• Migration and Ethnicity in Nordic History
• Moving beyond nations – anthropological perspectives on migration and transnationalism
• Position of immigrants in the labour market
• Postcolonial Feminist Perspectives on the Nordic Countries
• Refugees, transnationalism and diaspora
• Religion, migration and diaspora

Paper proposals can be sent by email

Contact person: Gabi Limbach

University of Witwatersrand:

Forced Migration Studies Programme

Migration and displacement affect societies around the world. Nowhere are their impacts more evident than in Africa, where movements of people as a result of war, poverty, and persecution are central to the region’s economics and politics. While migration is transforming Africa, the continent lacks the capacity to understand and manage these movements. The Forced Migration Studies Programme at the University of the Witwatersrand is designed to address this need.

The Forced Migration Studies Programme are designed for students and practitioners seeking greater insight into the experience of displaced persons, international humanitarianism, and communities being transformed dy human mobility. For those new to the field, they provide an introduction to key issues and themes. For those with practical experience, they offer an opportunity for critical reflection. Seminars taught by visiting scholars, workshops, and outreach activities add further depth to students’ experience at the FMSP. Moreover, all students enrolling at the Masters level participate in one of the FMSP’s ongoing research initiatives where they receive specialised attention and mentorship.

Applications are now being accepted for registration in February 2008. More information..

FEMM-NETTVERKET: INVITASJON TIL KONFERANSE:

“Makt og motstand – Kva tyding har kjønn i relasjonar på tvers av
minoritet og majoritet?”

Tid:	10. og 11. januar 2008
Sted:	Universitetet i Oslo

Minoritets- og majoritetsrelasjonar i eit fleirkulturelt samfunn er
blant anna relatert til etnisitet, religion, landbakgrunn og
urfolksgrupper. Konteksten vil ha tyding for på kva grunnlag
gruppedanning skjer og kva konsekvensar det har. Målet for denne
konferansen er å analysera og diskutera minoritetar og majoritetar i lys
av kjønn og klasse. Fokuset vil bli retta mot både mot symbolske
representasjonar, sosiale relasjonar og samfunnsstrukturar, samt korleis
dette er relatert til kvarandre. Ulikskapsdimensjonar som etnisitet,
religion og landbakgrunn kan vera grunnlag for diskriminering,
mobilisering og forestillingar om ”oss” og ”dei andre”. Korleis blir
minoritets- og majoritetsrelasjonar konstruerte innanfor institusjonar,
organisasjonsliv, media og forsking?

FEMM-nettverket er eit nettverk som arbeider med spørsmål knytt til
feminisme, multikulturalisme og antirasisme. 10. og 11. januar 2008
arrangerer nettverket konferanse for forskarar, studentar, aktivistar,
institusjonar og frivillige organisasjonar. Deltakarar er inviterte til
å senda inn skriftlege framlegg til presentasjon på konferansen. Frist
for å senda synopsis er 1. oktober og for skriftleg framlegg 1. november.

Meir informasjon om konferansen vil leggjast ut på FEMM-nettverkets
heimesider etterkvart. Sjå
http://www.skk.uio.no/forskning/nettverk/FEMMnettverk.html

Hovudtema og problemstillingar for verkstader:

Medborgarskap
Medborgarskap kan tolkast i vid forstand, relatert til rettar, plikter,
ressursar og deltaking. Korleis kan omgrepet medborgarskap analyserast
og brukast i forsking og aktivisme? Korleis kan ein utvikla ei forståing
av medborgarskap i ein fleirkulturell kontekst som tek høgde for
dimensjonane kjønn og klasse? På kva måte blir personar og grupper
ekskludert frå fullt medborgarskap? Korleis kan ein mobilisera for å
sikra likeverdig medborgarskap for alle? På kva måte er medborgarskap
knytt til religion og sekularisering?

Representasjonar og forestillingar
Korleis blir bileta av ”dei andre” konstruert innanfor forsking og
media? Kva tyding har forståingar av kjønn og likestilling i
representasjonar av minoritetar? Kva roller speler religion og
sekularisering i forståingar av og forsking på minoritetar? Kva
konsekvensar har stereotypiar og diskriminering for minoritetar og
korleis reagerer ein på dette? Kva type privilegium er knytt til
majoritetsposisjonen i ulike samanhengar?

Tematiske verkstader vil bli organisert på grunnlag av innsendte framlegg.

Blant hovudtalarane er:
Benita Roth, professor i sosiologi og kvinnestudier ved Binghampton
University, New York. Professor Roth har studert kjønn, rase og klasse i
sosial protest og mobilisering. Ho har mellom anna skrive boka Separate
Roads to Feminism: Black, Chicana, and White Feminist Movements in
America’s Second Wave, og arbeider for tida med to prosjekt relatert til
sosial protest og mobilisering i eit historisk og eit samtidig perspektiv.

Christine M. Jacobsen, post doc ved institutt for sosialantropologi,
Universitetet i Oslo. Jacobsen arbeider med prosjektet Prostitution,
Gender and Migration. Prosjektet skal undersøkja grenseoverskridande
prostitusjon. Det empiriske fokuset er på russiske kvinner som sel sex i
Noreg, og målet er å undersøkja korleis kjønn samspeler med andre
ulikskapsdimensjonar som klasse, etnisitet og nasjonal tilhøyrsle.

Arrangørar:

FEMM-nettverket i samarbeid med Kulturell kompleksitet i det nye Norge
(culcom) og Nordisk Institutt for kvinne- og kjønnsforskning (NIKK).

(UiT) FORUM CONFERENCE 2007

“Indigenous Peoples – Migration and Urbanisation”

Time:	October 18-19, 2007
Place:	University of Tromsø

This year’s conference will focus on aspects of migration and urbanisation. We have asked for papers that will trace the reasons for migration, including push factors that range from poverty to forced eviction, and pull factors such as access to education and new economic opportunities. We also focus on urban living conditions and the basis for social and political organisation.

Central in the Indigenous struggle has been the close ties to the land and the quest for control over traditional territories. Still, an increasing number of Indigenous people live outside their traditional land and/or derive their means of livelihood from sources other than customary land use. A central question will then be to explore how indigenous identity is expressed and maintained in new urban settings. The speakers will in different ways address the questions above.

Among our speakers is Irma Alicia Velásquez Nimatuj who was born in the city of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. From 1986 to 1997 she worked as a journalist and later as editor of the weekly newspaper El Nuevo Quetzalteco in the city of Quetzaltenango. In 1998 she entered the Graduate School of the University of Texas at Austin, and received a Master’s degree in Anthropology. Then she enrolled in the Ph.D. Program in Anthropology. She conducted the dissertation field research in the Departments of San Marcos and Retalhuleu in Guatemala.

Another of our speakers is Geraldine Doco from the Philippines. She is Regional Council member in the Cordillera Peoples Alliance. Geraldine Doco is Spokesperson and writer on major issues and concerns, and situation of urban poor communities in Baguio city. Both as an activist and writer Geraldine Doco has been concerned with Indigenous urban poor communities and on Indigenous People’s rights and interest.

From South Africa: Dr Petro Esterhuyse an anthropologist from the University of the Free State, with experience in research on migration and identity; Priscilla De Wet an indigenous activist and academic, with a Masters in Indigenous Studies from  University of Tromsø and currently involved with the KhoeSan Culture and Memory Project at the University of Free State; Jean Burgess a pioneer activist, detainee during apartheid and leader of the Gonoqua Khoekhoe in Eastern Cape will focus on the situation of the Khoekhoe who were amongst the first Indigenous Peoples to experience urbanisation. The speakers will present different aspects from both an academic and an activist point of view.

“Forum for Development Cooperation with Indigenous Peoples” was established in 2000, and is a meeting place for researchers, development workers, administrators and activists working with indigenous peoples’ issues, and where they can share experiences from their work with different development projects related to indigenous peoples. The Forum has a Board located with the Centre for Sámi Studies at the University of Tromsø, with external representation from other research institutions, Indigenous advocacy NGOs and the Sámi Council.  The Forum provides a focus on national and transnational strategies concerning indigenous peoples, and how this influences the capacity and ability of indigenous peoples to shape and control their own development.

The conference program and information will be published on this homepage: http://www.sami.uit.no/forum/. The conference languages will be English, Spanish and Sami. Please register for this year’s Forum conference by using the registration form on our web pages: http://www.sami.uit.no/forum/. The number of participants is limited to 200. The registration deadline is set to October15th 2007.

Preliminary program for the conference:

http://www.sami.uit.no/forum/2007/program.html

Invitation:

http://www.sami.uit.no/forum/2007/invitasjon.html

Please register for this year’s Forum conference by using the registration form:

http://dmzweb.uit.no/konferanse/registrering.asp

UCL: CALL FOR PAPERS

 

Spaces for Difference: An Interdisciplinary Journal

Spaces for Difference: An Interdisciplinary Journal is a
peer-reviewed, open access, journal that seeks to publish research
that expands our understanding of issues relating to race and racism,
racial and gender ideologies, and social activism. Spaces for
Difference represents a conduit for scholars to bridge the traditional
disciplines including, but not limited to: Anthropology, Art,
Education, English, Ethnic Studies, Film Studies, History,
Linguistics, Literature, Music, Political Science, Psychology,
Religious Studies, and Sociology. As such, we welcome alternative
forms of presenting research including, but not limited to,
photography and digital media. Space for Difference seeks to: (1)
highlight work that challenges the traditional canons and established
perspectives and (2) bridge disciplinary work around issues of race
and racism, gender and sexuality, social activism, and
intersectionalities.

Papers may be submitted online. Go to website for
further details.

(IES): VACANCY: PhD RESEARCHER

Call for PhD projects in the field of Migration, Diversity and Development

The Institute for European Studies (IES) invites applications for the
position of a PhD researcher for a maximum duration of four years
(beginning in November 2007). The IES is a Jean Monnet Centre of
Excellence of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). Its research focuses
on the role of the EU as a global actor and on the interaction between
the internal and external dimensions of EU policies and between EU
policies and other international institutions and organisations.

More information

Deadline for application: 30 September 2007

TEMA ETNICITET : PhD DISSERTATION: DINA AVRAHAMI

“We don’t dance on the table Lesbian immigrant women in Sweden: stigmatization & pride”

Time:	Friday 5 October, 10.15-12.00
Place:	K2, Kåkenhus, Campus Norrköping

Go here for more information or contact Eva Rehnholm.

(EC):INVITATION TO SEMINAR:

“Equal opportunities for all: rights and practice in Norway and EU”

Time:	9. October 2007 08:30-12.00
Place:	Clarion Hotel Royal Christiania, Oslo

The EU’s anti-discrimination legislation is one of the most extensive in the world. How does it function? In what way is the Norwegian legislation different? What are the experiences of EU Member States? What can we learn from good practice from the business world?

2007 is the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All. The European Commission Delegation to Norway and Iceland and the Equality and Anti-discrimination Ombud in Norway invite you to the seminar “Equal opportunities for all: rights and practice in Norway and EU”.