This inter- and multi-disciplinary project seeks to explore thecontemporary experience of Diasporas – communities who conceive ofthemselves as a national, ethnic, linguistic or other form ofcultural and political construction of collective membership livingoutside of their 'home lands.' In particular, key issues to beaddressed include: what are the defining characteristics ofDiasporas and what distinguishes one from the other? What role do'home' and 'host' cultures play in developing relationships betweencommunities in a global environment? How new is the concept ofDiasporas; does it capture new global realities or designate oldphenomena in a new way?
The project will also assess the larger context of major worldtransformations, for example, new forms of migration and themassive movements of people across the globe, as well as the impactand contribution of globalisation on tensions, conflicts and thesense of acceptance, rootedness and membership. Looking toencourage innovative trans-disciplinary dialogues, we warmlywelcome papers from all disciplines, professions and vocations thatstruggle to understand what it means for people today to havediasporic experiences and a multiplicity of social, political andcultural memberships.
Papers, workshops, presentations and pre-formed panels are invitedon any of the following themes:
1. Defining and Grasping the Concept of Diaspora * What are thecriteria, processes and key elements that define a Diaspora? *Identifying the role of culture and politics; home and host; spaceand time; centre and periphery; numbers and collective imagination;class, opportunities, money and new communication technologies *Are all migratory communities Diasporas? What are the significantdifferences between being a migrant and a member of a diasporiccommunity? * Has the concept of Diaspora evolved and developed?What have been the latest developments? * What is shared amongDiasporas? What is not shared among Diasporas? Who has access todiasporic membership in home and host contexts?
2. Migration, Settlement and Identity * What does it mean, today,to belong to a nation, to an ethnic, religious or linguistic group,to a culture and to settle in a place that one does not call home?* New migratory flows and massive movements from peripheral tocentral countries and their impact on the formation of Diasporasand the emergence of multiple senses of identity * Communities onthe move, uprootedness and identity. How do identities getpreserved? * Are Diasporas an indication of the possibility ofpost-national realities or a different way of affirming the placeof the nation in our sense of identity? * How do Diasporas connectto social movements, new rebellion and alternative global politics?*What distinguishes the diasporic from the post-national, thetransnational or the nationless?
3. Culture, Belonging and Collective Imaginations * What are therecent changes in geographical movements, space, home-hostconceptions? * The impact and implication of communicationtechnologies on identity formations and the sense of belonging *Globalisation and the claims of Diasporas. What are theimplications for traditions, language, literature, arts, cinema,television and other forms of representation and culturalproduction? * New forms of global exclusion. Who can claimbelonging to a Diaspora? * Sustaining belonging: home, homeland,roots and rootedness, feelings of connectedness or alienation,nostalgia and the need for returning home * Identity and belongingas destiny and as choice * Distinctions between inter- andintra-national Diasporas. How does the current critical language ofDiaspora take into account the displacement of indigenouscommunities/nations within the superimposed borders (whethercontested or recognized) of other nations? How does the language ofDiaspora address the loss of homeland that is not a transborderconstruct elsewhere?
4. Instructions and Design * What are the institutions that allow,maintain and reproduce Diasporas? What are the structures andforces which work against their formation? * Economic disparities,institutional injustices and the making of diasporic realities.Tensions, contradictions and conflicts – political, economic andcultural forms of citizenship and their place in the Diasporas'imagination and organization * The cultural and political contextof host countries: acceptance vs xenophobia, fear and ignorance vsopenness and knowledge * Diasporas in the making of social andpublic policy in host and home countries: remittances and economicdependencies, professions and commodity exchanges, social andcultural interlacing, policies of mutual recognition * role of theState and divided loyalties
5. Citizenship and Multiculturalism *What are the methods by whichnations integrate Diasporic and other ethnic groups into the hostsociety on the basis of participation in social, economic, andpolitical life? *What impact does multiculturalism have onDiasporic and migrant communities in terms of their own local andethnic identity in these host countries? *With reference tomulticultural citizenship in individual countries, what are themechanisms of influence (and exclusion from such processes of powerof certain groups) as this relates to Diasporic communities? *Whatare the successes and challenges of multicultural policies andpractices globally as a basis for comparing models of integration?*How does multiculturalism influence various types of participationin a host society? *How is citizenship connected to social,economic, and political participation? *Does multiculturalismencourage a sense of citizenship, loyalty, and commitment to a hostcountry? *Is a Diasporic community's sense of belonging within thehost country/community stronger in a multicultural society? *Arecertain Diasporic communities able to access political andrights-based processes more easily than others, and if so, whatdrivers exist to explain their successes and what barriers existfor other communities?
6. Generational Change, National Consciousness and IdentityFormation *Has generational change impacted on the concept ofdiaspora? *In what ways has the concept and discourse of diasporabeen modified by the national narrative and consciousness of thegenerational descendants of diasporic groups? * How is the conceptof diaspora and its related assumptions about ethnicity, homelandand identity formation linked to the policies and practices ofhegemonic nation-states? What are the key facets of diaspora thatare deployed here? * Have new generations of diasporic groups begunto question the use of this concept as a term that defines theiridentity? * Can diaspora be used to define 'national' formations,as opposed to 'transnational', 'non-national' or 'anti-national'configurations? * Can diaspora be used to describe the changingnature of social identification, in particular the narrative ofnational 'rootedness' and identity of new generations among ethnicminority groups? *What are the new definitions of homeland,ethnicity and national identity vis-à-vis the generationaldescendants of diasporic groups? *Has diaspora reached the limitsof its usefulness as a tool for emancipatory politics?
The Steering Group particularly welcomes the submission ofpre-formed panel proposals. Papers will also be considered on anyrelated theme. 300 word abstracts should be submitted by Friday14th January 2011. If an abstract is accepted for the conference, afull draft paper should be submitted by Friday 27th May 2011.
Abstracts should be submitted simultaneously to both OrganisingChairs; abstracts may be in Word, WordPerfect, or RTF formats withthe following information and in this order: a) author(s), b)affiliation, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body ofabstract E-mails should be entitled: DIAS4 Abstract Submission.Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from usingfootnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (suchas bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answerto all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a replyfrom us in a week you should assume we did not receive yourproposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to lookfor an alternative electronic route or resend.
Organising Chairs Dr S. Ram Vemuri School of Law and BusinessFaculty of Law, Business and Arts Charles Darwin University DarwinNT0909 Australia E-mail: Ram.Vemuri@cdu.edu.au Rob Fisher NetworkFounder and Leader Inter-Disciplinary.Net Freeland, Oxfordshire,United Kingdom E-mail: dias4@inter-disciplinary.net
The conference is part of the 'Diversity and Recognition' series ofresearch projects, which in turn belong to the At the Interfaceprogrammes of ID.Net. It aims to bring together people fromdifferent areas and interests to share ideas and explore variousdiscussions which are innovative and challenging.
All papers accepted for and presented at the conference will bepublished in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers may be invited to goforward for development into 20-25 page chapters for publication ina themed dialogic ISBN hard copy volume. For further details aboutthe project please visit: "http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/at-the-interface/diversity-recognition/diasporas/">http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/at-the-interface/diversity-recognition/diasporas/For further details about the conference please visit: "http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/at-the-interface/diversity-recognition/diasporas/call-for-papers/">http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/at-the-interface/diversity-recognition/diasporas/call-for-papers/
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