Call for Papers: 26th Annual Conference of ASEN

“Nationalism, Migration and Population Change”

19th-21st of April 2016 at the London School of Economics and Political Science

Until the mid-19th century, with limited exceptions such as the Atlantic slave trade, long-distance migration usually took place within civilisations. This changed with world wars, widening disparities in levels of economic development and transformations in communications and transportation. One of the aims of this year’s conference is to address the history of nationalism in relation to migration, a topic which has up until now received less attention compared to that of the historical causes of migration.

Another aspect, on which this conference aims at focusing, is contemporary problems. Today the developed world is ageing at an unprecedented rate while 97% of the world’s population growth takes place in developing countries. This creates a steep population gradient, which in turn leads to increasing inter-civilisational migration. In developed countries, immigration, integration and questions of national identity have risen up the policy agenda. Moreover, new populist right parties have emerged at the political scene of several countries, gaining significant public support. Developing countries worry about the loss of some of their most energetic people, many of whom form immigrant diasporas which play an important role in their homelands’ nationalism. This conference therefore also focuses on the effects of contemporary migration on nationalism.

Migration affects nationalism, but nationalism can also produce population change. Some countries engage in policies of demographic engineering in order to increase their population – or at least that of their dominant ethnic group. Other countries seek to protect their “national culture” from large-scale immigration. Uneven demographic transition is a phenomenon noticed not only between but also within countries. This can lead to internal shifts in the balance between ethnic groups, as in the cases of Northern Ireland and Cȏte D’ Ivoire, which in turn may result in ethnic conflict.

This conference seeks to combine a focus on nationalism with a consideration of migration and population change. Applicants are asked to consider the interplay between nationalism and population changes such as migration, differences in population growth rates and urbanisation. We welcome both historical and contemporary perspectives from a wide array of disciplines.

Each of the three days of the conference will be punctuated by plenary sessions consisting of presentations given by distinguished academics. The first plenary usually has a general theoretical focus; the second a historical one while the final is concerned with contemporary policy issues. Each of them will provide different perspectives on the conference’s central theme of the interrelation between nationalism, migration and population change.

Those wishing to participate in the conference are encouraged to reflect on the many different forms, in which nationalism, migration and population change interact. A range of possible themes is outlined below. Please submit your abstract online by the 5th of January at asen.ac.uk/submit-an-abstract.

Your abstract should be no longer than 250 words and include your name, institutional affiliation and title, when appropriate. Please ensure that you highlight how your paper relates to the conference theme and its central questions.

Themes

-Migration and long-distance nationalism

-Immigration and populist nationalism

-Emigration and nationalism

-Return migration

-Shifts in the conceptualisation of national identity in response to immigrant diversity

-Demographic engineering and pronatalism

-Immigrant societies and nation-building

-Policies of inclusion (assimilation/integration)

-Immigration, national identity and multiculturalism

-Differential ethnic population growth and conflict

-‘Sons of the Soil’ conflicts

-Internal migration, urbanisation and ethnic conflict

-Warfare, boundary making and population movements

-Banal nationalism, migration and the language of the media

-The relationship between ‘old’ (established) and new minorities

For any queries or additional information, please email conference@asen.ac.uk.

From Misrecognition to Maldistribution: Ethnic discrimination and the Politics of Difference

Call for Papers: Child Poverty in Times of Crisis

Salzburg, 25. & 26. August 2016

Keynote speakers: Mario Biggeri (Florence) & Lucinda Platt (LSE)

The aim of this conference is threefold: (1) to discuss how different crises (like the recenteconomic downturn, political instability, natural disasters or (civil) war) affect child poverty; (2) to reveal the consequences such crises have on children living in poverty and their familiesas well as to show how they respond; and, finally, (3) to provide suggestions for international, national and local policy designs for the reaction to such crises. We are interested in bringing together empirical and theoretical papers and in discussing the normative and ethical issues attached to child poverty and related policy making.

Please send your proposal (250 words) to cepr@sbg.ac.at until January 31, 2016.

Organised by the Centre for Ethics and Poverty Research at University of Salzburg (CEPR) and the Austrian chapter of Acadamics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP).

For more information please go to:

Conference Homepage: www.uni-salzburg.at/childpoverty2016

ASAP Homepage: http://academicsstand.org/ CEPR Homepage: www.uni-salzburg.at/cepr

Upcoming Symposium: “National symbols across time and space”

University of Oslo, September 17-18, 2015

Despite the evident weakening of the nation and the national during these times of cultural globalization, nationalisms are not disappearing in the world. Instead, they are reappearing in a range of new forms utilizing both new and renewed symbols. Or perhaps we are witness to a reconstruction of old forms and old symbols? Symbols are often understood as abstract universals (Piercy 2013) raising the question of whether or not national symbols reflect universal patterns in symbolic systems. Or, is the analysis of symbols most usefully understood in relation to the particularities of different national discourses? We are interested not only in discussing concrete symbols (like objects or persons) representing a nation, but also in abstract symbols (like language and ideas).

Symbols give form to the invisible and describe the intangible, constituting in effect a masked pattern of culture. But while symbols can unify a group of people, the interpretation of symbols can also divide them. Contested symbols may be linked to “discursive battles” as to their meaning, acceptance, or rejection. Arguably, self-identified groups wish to avow their own symbols meaning that symbols become an avowed pattern of culture subject to disputation and conflict. In our workshop we would like to discuss different faces of the national symbols and their role in a construction or a deconstruction of the nation.

Organizers particularly welcome interdisciplinary approaches to national symbols, and contributions concerned with symbols in discourse.

Paper proposals should take the form of an abstract (maximum 300 words) in English. The abstracts should clearly state the research questions, and outline the research and the methods used.  Please, add to the proposal your name, institutional affiliation and address (email), as well as your discipline.

Important note: If you would like to participate without presenting a paper, please sign up by sending a message to the project assistant, Mikhail Markelov <mmarkelov@gmail.com>, before September 1st, 2015.

Click here for more information.

Call for Papers: “Between Colonial, National and Ethnic Networks: Elmaleh and his Counterparts, 1900-1967”

An International Workshop at Tel Aviv University, November 9-10, 2015

In recent years, many scholars focusing on Jewish intellectuals in the Muslim world have employed new analytical categories in comprehending the intellectual ideas and worldviews that make up the legacy of their subject matter. Quite often, this is done in concert with the general ongoing shift in Humanities and Social Sciences. As a consequence, once rigidly formulated identity categories such as “Judeo-Arabs”,”Zionists”, “Sephardic”, “Westernized”, “secular”, “Mizrahim” are gradually being replaced by more nuanced conceptions and means of interpretation. “Between Colonial, National and Ethnic Networks” seeks to contribute to these ongoing efforts, by exploring the evolution of Jewish intellectual writing and activities as addressed above, from a dynamic, social networks perspective.

The workshop will take place both in Hebrew and English. It will be held on Monday-Tuesday, November 9-10, 2015 at Tel-Aviv University. Researchers from all disciplines are invited to submit a proposal. Please send a 300-400 words abstract together with a short CV to Dr. Aviad Moreno at aviad.moreno@gmail.com, no later than August 22, 2015.

Click here for more information.

Doctoral Fellowships: University of Oslo

The project “Discourses of the Nation” will announce two doctoral fellowships in June. Successful applicants should develop a sub-topic closely linked to the “Discourses of the Nation” umbrella project and will be part of it. Doctoral fellowships at the University of Oslo are for three years and entail regular employment with no other duties than joining the Ph.D program and writing the dissertation.

Click here for more information.