IMER NEWSLETTER

(LOVA): call for panels and papers:

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE:

“Ethnographies of Gender and Globalization”

Time:	July, 3-4, 2008
Place:	Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Globalization is the result of the rapid exchange of ideas, peoples, goods, capital, information and technologies, and the general compression of distances and time. Globalization processes have a large impact on people’s everyday lives. Even in the most remote parts of the world, people and locations are being connected to each other. This interconnectedness can be seen as the core feature of globalization. In turn, people respond to new challenges and opportunities offered by globalization. Their daily actions produce, transform and determine the specific directions that globalization processes may take.

The last decade, anthropology and other social sciences have produced an impressive body of literature on globalization. Globalization from a gender perspective, however, is still an exciting and innovative area to explore. Gender and feminist anthropology is a discipline par excellence that can make understandable how globalization and everyday life are interrelated, especially through its ethnographical methodology. Feminist scholarship has shown that globalization is not a gender-neutral phenomenon. Globalization has different outcomes for women and men. It challenges them in different ways and offers them different opportunities. Gender constructions shape globalization processes, which in turn confirm, construct and change gender notions. These developments result in profound changes in family life, family composition, cultural expressions, gender relations, and the way people interact with each other.

With this conference LOVA wishes to create a forum for anthropologists, social scientists and other experts who study the interweaving of gender and globalization from an ethnographical perspective. How do women and men understand globalization and how do they experience globalization processes in their everyday lives? What are the challenges they face and what opportunities open up to them? How does globalization confirm and reconstruct existing gender and other social inequalities? Does it have a potential for the empowerment of women and men and their social mobility or not? How does globalization influence constructions of femininity and masculinity and how do these constructions in turn give direction to processes of globalization? And, last but not least, is globalization still a useful theoretical concept or have we entered a new, post-globalization era and are we in need of new conceptualizations? Participation and registration

LOVA invites social science scholars to participate in this international conference by presenting their research in an individual paper or panel. We particularly encourage participants to submit audio-visuals and other alternative ways of presenting their research.

Participants may register through sending individual paper or panel proposals to LOVAnetwork@hotmail.com before February 1, 2008.

Visit our LOVA’s website for more information

LOVA is the Netherlands Association for Gender and Feminist Anthropology and provides a professional network for its members since 1979.

(ÅBO AKADEMI UNIVERSITY) : call for sessions and papers:

19th Nordic Conference in Sociology of Religion

“Urban Diversity and Religious Traditions”

Time:	13-15 August 2008
Place:	Åbo Akademi University, Turku/Åbo, Finland

Deadlines:

Call for sessions, deadline December 15th, 2007
Call for papers, deadline April 30th, 2008

The theme of the conference is religion in a contemporary urban setting.
How are religious traditions and practices influenced by the
contemporary city, and what is the role of religion in the late modern
“cityscape”? The pluralistic situation in a modern city is characterized
by ethnic minorities, but also by various other subcultures. The role of
media and consumption is most evident in urban settings. And in the
centre of town, we find a cathedral. What are the strategies of the
mainstream churches amidst the new urbanism? In short, how does religion
fit into the contemporary city and what happens with religion in this
environment?

The plenary speakers of the conference are Professor Linda Woodhead
(University of Lancaster, UK), Professor R. Stephen Warner (University
of Illinois at Chicago, USA), Professor Inger Furseth (Centre for Church
Research, Norway) and Doctor Pasi Mäenpää (University of Helsinki,
Finland). The language of the conference is English.

Go to the conference web page for more information

first announcement and call for panel proposals:

Fifth International Conference

“Hierarchy and power in the history of civilizations”

Time:	June 23-26, 2009
Place:	Moscow, Russia

Center for Civilizational and Regional Studies of the Institute for African Studies under the Russian Academy of Sciences in co-operation with the School of History, Political Science and Law of the Russian State University for the Humanities is organizing in Moscow on June 23-26, 2009 the Fifth International Conference “HIERARCHY AND POWER IN THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATIONS”.

The aim of the Conference, like that of the four previous ones, is to bring together the researchers doing the respective problematics in the whole variety of its contexts, within the framework of different academic schools and traditions from the positions of a wide range of disciplines: social anthropology, archaeology, history, political science, sociology, philosophy, psychology, etc.

The objective of the Conference is to discuss the following issues:

– hierarchical and net structures in the history of cultures and civilizations;
– civilizational and evolutionary models of socio-political development;
– historical and ethno-cultural variability of the forms of
socio-political organization;
– from simple societies to the world-system: pathways and forms of
political integration;
– socio-political and cultural-mental factors of social transformations;
– cultural and socio-biological foundations of dominance in human societies;
– ideology and legitimation of power in different civilizational contexts;
– cultural models of power’s perception in different civilizations;
– violence and non-violence in the history of political institutions;
– access to information as a means of political manipulation and
mobilization;
– power, society, and culture in the era of globalization;
– the study of “hierarchy and power”: schools, trends, and methods.

Suggestions for discussion of any other aspects of the general problematics of the Conference reflected in its title, are also welcomed.

The working languages of the Conference are Russian and English.

The Organizing Committee will be glad to consider any panel proposals (within 500 words in any of the Conference working languages) which will be received by February 1, 2008. The information to be submitted alongside with the proposal, includes the panel convenor’s full name, title, institutional affiliation, full mail and e-mail addresses, and fax #, as well names, institutional affiliations, and e-mail addresses of not less than two other possible participants of the panel, at least one of which should represent a country other than that of the convenor.

The Organizing Committee will inform the applicants about the results of their panel proposals’ consideration by February 15, 2008.

All the correspondence should be sent for the Conference Secretaries, Dr. Oleg I. Kavykin and Ms. Anastasia A. Banschikova, preferably by e-mail (conf2009@conf2009.ru), or either by fax (+ 7 495 202 0786), or by ordinary mail (Center for Civilizational and Regional Studies, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, 30/1 Spiridonovka St., 123001 Moscow, Russia). The telephone number is: + 7 495 291 4119.

(TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY):new master programme in international development:

The MID Programme —A Great Opportunity for Foreign Students Who Are Interested in China’s Recent Development

The School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China is excited to announce the launch of a master programme in International Development (The MID Programme). This programme will be taught in English. Foreign students can benefit from several aspects through joining this programme:

1. Two years experience in China
2. A Master Degree offered by China’s top university
3. A number of scholarships are available
4. Chinese language training
5. The programme focuses on development in general and China’s recent development in particular
6. The programme will be taught by some leading intellectuals in contemporary China.

Visit the MID Programme’s web site for more information.

(CERI): call for submissions:

Symposium:

“Categorisation and Migration”

Time:	March 13 and 14, 2008
Place:	CERI, Paris, France

“Immigrant”, “alien”, “refugee”, “emigrant”, “primary migrant”, “second generation”, “asylum seeker”, “undocumented”, “flows” or “stocks” are words meant to explain migratory processes. They are both practical categories being used by actors in the migration field, including both policy-makers and individuals, and analytical categories for researchers in order to label migrations. These two fields should be distinguished. Moreover, historical, social, political, as well as cultural processes at stake in the construction of these categories should be questioned.

Deadline for submissions: 15 december

Please visit CERI’s website for more information or send an email

Scientific committee : AWAD Ibrahim, Directeur Division des migrations, BIT
CABRAL Alcinda, Professeur Université Fernando Pessoa de Porto (Portugal)
DUFOIX Stéphane, Maître de Conférences, Université de Nanterre. Institut
universitaire de France
FASSIN Didier, Directeur d’études, EHESS / ENS
GREEN Nancy, Directrice d’études, EHESS / Michigan State University
MA MUNG Emmanuel, Professeur, MIGRINTER, Université de Poitiers
NDIAYE Ndioro, Directrice générale adjointe OIM
QUARTEY Peter, Professeur, ISSER, (Ghana)
SAKHO Papa, Maître-assistant de géographie, FLSH, Directeur des études de
l’Institut de Population, Dakar (Sénégal)
WENDEN Catherine de, Professeur, CERI, IEP de Paris

Organisation committee :  AUGUIN Estelle, Paris V/ Popinter
BRAUX Adeline, IEP Paris/CERI
DIA Hamidou, Paris V/ Popinter
MASSOT Sophie, IEP Paris/CERI
VAPNE Lisa, IEP Paris/CERI

(CRONEM):call for submissions:

“Nationalism, Ethnicity and Citizenship: Whose Citizens? Whose Rights?”

Annual Conference 2008

Time:	30 June – 1 July, 2008
Place:	University of Surrey, Guildford, UK

 

The Centre for Research on Nationalism, Ethnicity and Multiculturalism (CRONEM)’s 2008 conference will address issues bound up with nationalism, ethnicity and citizenship from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Multicultural societies raise crucial challenges for traditional conceptions of nations and citizenship. Ethnic diversity can mean that significant numbers of people are excluded from national projects, while the ‘melting pot’ metaphor belies the complexities of societies in which minority communities seek to protect their heritages and resist incorporation into the nation or state.

At the same time, conceptions of citizenship appear to be undergoing transformation. Civic engagement and participation is frequently viewed as being more effective in achieving social change than traditional forms of political representation. Levels of both civic and political participation vary significantly across ethnic communities, while political institutions are required to adjust to accommodate marginalised communities more effectively into democratic processes.

At the international level, the sovereignty of the nation state has been increasingly challenged in the name of protecting or asserting universal human rights. Regimes, deemed oppressive by powerful external actors, have been subjected to sanctions or military intervention. The question of national citizenship, with its attendant rights and obligations, is being reframed in the light of new expectations. The implications of this process for the future of states and their citizens remain unclear, but they appear to encourage the erosion of national sovereignty in favour of participation at both sub-national and international levels.

Confirmed speakers:

* Professor Lord Bhikhu Parekh, Labour Member of the House of Lords and Professor of Political Philosophy, University of Westminster * Professor Nick Emler, Professor of Psychology, University of Surrey

As in previous CRONEM conferences, there will be ample opportunities for papers to be presented in parallel panel sessions and for poster presentations. Panel proposals (including a general introduction panel of about 300 words, plus 300-word abstracts of each of the papers) and proposals for individual papers and posters (300-word abstracts) are invited on any aspect of nationalism, ethnicity or citizenship, particularly those addressing the following themes:

· Conceptualising citizenship in ethnically diverse societies
· Comparisons of old and new forms of citizenship
· Political versus civic engagement and participation
· Incorporating marginalised groups into democratic processes
· The concepts of intercultural, multicultural and cosmopolitan citizenship
· Citizenship and religion
· Citizenship and migrants
· The role of civic/citizenship education in multicultural societies
· National citizenship and universal human rights
· Ethnic conflict regulation and the roles of international actors In addition, there will be a roundtable discussion in which experts from
different disciplines will address a common problem from the perspectives of
their own disciplinary backgrounds.

Please send your submissions to Mirela Dumic
Deadline for submissions: 1st February 2008
Notification of acceptance will be sent to presenters by 3rd March 2008.
Registration details will follow soon. Please check CRONEM’s website for updates.

Publications:

– Bader, Veit.(2007) Secularism or Democracy? Associational Governance of Religious Diversity
More information

– Mole, Nuala(2007) Asylum and the European Convention on Human Rights (Human Rights Files No. 9)
More information

– Jentsch, Birgit.(2007) Migrant Integration in Rural and Urban Areas of New Settlement Countries: Thematic Introduction.
Download

-The Situation of Migrants in 28 Countries

The Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) measures policies to
integrate migrants in 25 EU Member States and 3 non-EU countries. It
uses over 100 policy indicators to create a rich, multi-dimensional
picture of migrants’ opportunities to participate in European societies.
The latest update of the bi-annual index has been published on October,
14 th.

More information
– ECRI has published a study on “‘Ethnic’ statistics and data protection
in the Council of Europe countries”, which was prepared for ECRI by Mr
Patrick Simon, researcher at the Institut National d’Etudes
Démographiques (INED). The study presents an overview of the existing
legal and practical framework for ethnic data collection in Europe and
provides a basis for answering the question of whether the data
protection laws really hinder the collection of the data needed to
combat racial discrimination, or whether the unsatisfactory state of
statistics on this type of discrimination is due to other factors.

More information