Tag Archives: ASEN

Video of Rogers Brubaker on Language, Religion and the Politics of Difference

Monday’s Ernest Gellner Memorial Lecture, given by Professor Rogers Brubaker on “Language, Religion and the Politics of Difference”, is now available on YouTube (just follow this link ).

The Gellner Lecture is an annual event sponsored by the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism (ASEN) and published by Nations and Nationalism, in memory of Professor Ernest Gellner. You can find out more about the Gellner Lectures here.

The Gellner Lecture also precedes the annual ASEN conference, which this year has been dealing with the topic of “Nationalism, Ethnicity and Boundaries”. You can find out more about the ASEN conference by visiting the conference website.

Ethnicity, Nationalism and the Politics of Gender: ASEN Seminar Series 2012

Leave a Reply

By Durukan Kuzu, ASEN and ASEN Seminars Co-chair

The theme of ASEN’s 2012 seminar series is “Ethnicity, Nationalism and the Politics of Gender”. The overall aim of this seminar series is to scrutinize the relationship between the politics of gender, nationalism and ethnicity. It has been argued that gender inequality is inherent in nationalism as “all nationalism, tends to be conservative,” and ‘conservative’ often means ‘patriarchal’. This is partly due to the tendency of nationalists to be ‘re-traditionalisers’ and to embrace tradition as a legitimating basis for nation-building and cultural renewal. Civic-secular, liberal, and multicultural formulations of nationalism have been claimed in order to rectify gender inequalities, yet these formulations of nationalism have brought about new problems with respect to gender equality and liberation. Seminar speakers are invited to discuss whether the civic/secular, liberal or a multicultural formulation of nation is able to promote gender equality.

Continue reading →

Nationalism, Ethnicity and Boundaries: ASEN Conference 2012

Leave a Reply

By Jennifer Kimberly Jackson and Lina Molokotos-Liederman, ASEN 2012 Conference Chairs

The 22nd Annual ASEN Conference “Nationalism, Ethnicity and Boundaries” will take place at the London School of Economics and Political Science from the 27 to29 March 2012 and will feature an exciting range of keynote addresses and workshops.

The central concerns of this year’s conference are the origins, formulation, enforcement and conflicts related to national boundaries. Disputes arising from claims over boundaries both originate and intensify nationalist assertions and actions in pursuit of such claims. The second thrust of the conference is a focus on social and symbolic boundaries and how they influence nationalist behaviour within nation-states. Citizenship rules, symbolic representations of the national, and practices of discrimination highlight and enforce many kinds of boundaries which often cut across the physical boundaries of nation-states and national homelands. A third focus point of the conference is the fluidity of boundaries – where boundaries may once give rise to fierce conflict, they can at another time either be forgotten or transformed into a site of agreement and reconciliation.

Continue reading →

Brief: The 21st Annual ASEN Conference, Forging the Nation

Leave a Reply

The Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism (ASEN) held its 21st annual conference on 5-7 April, 2011, at the London School of Economics and Political Science. The theme of this year’s conference was on the role of ritual and performance in the (re)production of the nation. ASEN was delighted to host six keynote speakers: Anthony Smith (LSE), Jon Fox (University of Bristol), Carol Duncan (Ramapo College of New Jersey), Tim Edensor (Manchester Metropolitan University), Jeffrey Alexander (Yale University) and Paul Connerton (University of Cambridge); the two workshop hosts, John Breen (School of Oriental and African Studies) and Andrew Higson (University of York); as well as more than 100 panel speakers from around the globe.

Continue reading →