Conference on 'Minority Politics within the Europe of Regions' in Cluj-Napoca (Kolozsvár, Klausenburg), Romania.
The ECPR Standing Group on Federalism and Regionalism, together with the Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania and the Romanian Institute for Research on National Minorities (ISPMN), will organize an international conference entitled 'Minority Politics within the Europe of Regions' on 17-20 June 2010.
Within the European space, issues related to ethno-regionalism and the legal status of national and ethnic minorities are covered by several models, such as federalization, self-rule and autonomy. In the recent decade these models and their consequences influencing European architecture have been widely studied in all sorts of theoretical and empirical frameworks. After the expansion of the EU with the Central and Eastern European countries in 2004 and 2007, and with the coming integration of the Western Balkans and possibly other states from Eastern Europe, there has been a proliferation of multi-ethnic regions and national and ethnic minority cases within or in the close vicinity of the Union. Researchers and speakers from a broad spectrum of scientific disciplines, including social and political sciences, history, linguistics, law, economy and area studies will be invited to present empirical and theoretical studies on the minority issue in the European space. The organizers will especially welcome studies on ethno-regionalist politics, as well as on institutional arrangements and policies concerning national and ethnic minorities in the new Member States and the Eastern parts of Europe.
The organizers will select 30 papers for presentation in the following four panels:
(1) Ethno-regionalism in Europe - where the history of ethno-regionalism in the old Member States of the Union and the present state of affairs will be discussed
(2) Models of self-rule and autonomy with respect to national, ethnic and linguistic minorities in the Union: this panel will address the institutional solutions and rights benefiting minorities in old and new Member States and the solutions that are provided form by the Union's transnational structure.
(3) The historical and the present status of national and ethnic minorities in Central and Eastern Europe - focusing on the historical, social and economic and linguistic aspects of minorities' situation
(4) Minority regimes at work - the implementation and the practical consequences of the policies concerning national and ethnic minorities in Central and Eastern Europe.
The deadline for submitting abstracts (300 words) is 28 February 2010. Applicants will receive feedback on the acceptance of their paper by 10 March. Papers (5000-7000 words) must be submitted by 1 June 2010. The organizers intend to publish the proceedings of the conference.
The official language of the conference is English. In the case of papers presented in other languages (e.g. Hungarian, Romanian) simultaneous translation will be available.
Participants whose abstracts have been selected are expected to cover travelling expenses only, the organizers will provide for food and accommodation. Cluj-Napoca has excellent infrastructural facilities, such as an international airport that can also be reached by low budget airlines.
Please send abstracts to both of the following e-mail addresses: mineureg@ispmn. gov.ro, mineureg@sapientia. ro
For further information, please visit http://kv.sapientia.ro/en/mineureg or www.ispmn.gov.ro/en/mineureg.
Conference organizers:
Klaus Detterbeck, University of Magdeburg, ECPR Standing Group on Federalism and Regionalism
Istv€ ¦án Horv€ ¦áth, Romanian Institute for Research on National Minorities, Cluj-Napoca
László Marácz, University of Amsterdam
Márton Tonk, Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, Cluj-Napoca
Call for Papers
Conference on Concepts and Consequences of Multilingualism in Europe 2
From October 7-10, 2010 the Scientific Research Center of the SEE (South East European) University of Tetovo (Macedonia) and the research group 'Babylonian Europe' of the University of Amsterdam will organize a conference hosted by the SEE University of Tetovo in the Republic of Macedonia. The conference is a follow-up meeting of the conference on the Concepts and Consequences of Multilingualism in Europe 1 that took place in September 2009 in Budapest hosted by the Budapest College of Communication and Business.
The organizers will select 30 papers for presentation in the following four panels: (1) multilingual institutions and organizations; (2) multicultural societies; (3) a tool-kit for transnational communication and (4) free space. In the first panel the analysis of multilingual institutions and organizations is focused on. The central question is: how do collaborators of multilingual organizations and institutions communicate. Not only the analysis of European institutions and organizations, like the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of Europe is welcomed but in fact all sorts of international organizations, like the UN, NATO, CIS, etc. can be presented. This topic is inspired by the SEE University of Tetovo itself for this university which is a multilingual institution, including teaching in Albanian, Macedonian and English. In the second panel, the consequences of multilingualism for society are discussed. How is the formal communication between citizens and the state institutions and between citizens organized? Is there a communicational language involved, a so-called lingua franca? What about the role of culture and discourse, including literature, performing arts and media in a multicultural society? The third panel concentrates on the solutions of multilingualism in Europe. Several options come to mind, including English-only; regional lingua francae and lingua receptiva. In the latter case the speakers communicate by using each their L1 being comprehensible for the receiver. What are the advantages and disadvantages of these solutions? In the fourth panel any topic that has to do with multilingualism in Europe can be put forward.
The deadline for submitting abstracts (300 words) will be May 1, 2010. By the end of May the participants will receive a definite answer on the acceptance of their paper. The deadline for submitting papers (5000-7000 words) will be September 1, 2010. The conference organizers have the intention to publish a proceedings of the conference.
Accommodation for conference speakers and participants will be available in the hotels near the campus of the University for a modest price. Conference participation requires no fee. Tetovo can be reached by plane via the international airport of the capital of Macedonia, Skopje. Low budget airlines frequently fly to Skopje. A visit to the beautiful lake Ohrid will be included into the program.
Conference organizers:
Amra Alik, conference coordinator (amra.alik@live. com)
Mustafa Ibrahimi, Director of the Scientific Research Center of the SEE University of Tetovo (m.ibrahimi@seeu. edu.mk)
László Marácz, chairman of Babylonian Europe RG, European Studies, University of Amsterdam (l.k.maracz@uva. nl)
Please quote 10 Academic Resources Daily in your application to this opportunity!
