Post-Immigration Minorities, Religion and National Identities
14-15 November, 2008
University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
CALL FOR PAPERS
From the 1950s and early 1960s there have been migrations of people, especially from former colonies, into the European urban centres.
Subsequently, discourses of 'assimilation' and 'integration' were opened up, in different countries of Europe. As the idea of a multicultural society emerged, these discourses, together with traditional ideas of citizenship and national identity, have been challenged. Historic concerns about class inequalities have been complicated by new policy and legislative programmes on racial, ethnic and latterly religious exclusions.
The slow movement towards eliminating such exclusions, especially as measured in terms of educational and economic outcomes, have raised questions about to what extent the social capital possessed by different groups, especially when gendered, is a determinant of social (im)mobility.
As the non-white minority populations have grown and their concentration in certain localities has exceeded expectations, anxieties have surfaced as to whether laissez-faire segregation will increase deprivation and/or conflict between communities. The political assertions of minorities have produced contested and emergent identities as mobilisations based on colour have been eclipsed by those of ethnic origins and religion. As these groups have struggled for respect and justice and for acceptance as British, they have become a source of transformation but also tension about what it means to be British today, whether the country has become 'too diverse' and whether multiculturalism has simultaneously impeded integration whilst devaluing the indigenous, white majority. Significantly, this stress is being experienced across the political spectrum as it has come to focus on whether Muslim identity politics is challenging the privileged position of
Christian culture and/or secularism that for many people is part of British national identity.
The Leverhulme Programme team will address topics based on the following
themes:
" Ethnic Enclaves and Economic Integration
" Social Capital, Gender and Differential Educational and Economic Outcomes
" National Identity, Citizenship and Religious 'Difference'
" Majoritarian Identities and Resentment of Multiculturalism
Keynote speakers will address issues in relation to contemporary issues on minority ethnicity, religion, integration and national identity, and
include:
" Professor Zygmunt Bauman (Leeds)
" Professor Craig Calhoun (New York University and President of the Social
Science Research Council)
" Professor Nilufer Gole (L'École des Hautes études en Sciences Sociales -
EHESS) (TBC)
" Professor Reina Lewis, (London College of Fashion)
" Professor Lord Bhikhu Parekh, (Westminister)
We are inviting scholars from all relevant disciplines to submit papers for this conference that complement the above themes and topics.
Please send your abstract (no more than 250 words) to Sara Tonge
Deadline for submissions: 9 May 2008
The Leverhulme Programme on Migration and Citizenship at the University of Bristol and University College London (2003-08) consists of eight projects on contemporary labour mobility, post-immigration ethnicity and challenges to British national identity. This is the second of two conferences that will take place in 2008 as the Programme reaches its conclusion (the first, on Mobility in International Markets, is held on 15-16 May at UCL, London).
Further details of the Programme can be found at http://www.bristol. ac.uk/sociology/ leverhulme
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Tariq Modood, MBE, AcSS
Professor of Sociology, Politics and Public Policy, Director, University Research Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship and Founding Co-editor of Ethnicities (Sage)
For details of my new book, MULTICULTURALISM: A CIVIC IDEA, Polity, May 2007, see http://www.bristol. ac.uk/sociology/ ethnicitycitizen ship/flyer
For details of the Centre's work see
http://www.bristol. ac.uk/sociology/ ethnicitycitizen ship
For fuller details about new Leverhulme Programme on Migration and Citizenship at Bristol University and UCL see http://www.bristol. ac.uk/sociology/ leverhulme
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