CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

CRONEM's 2008 conference will address issues bound up with nationalism, ethnicity and citizenship from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Multicultural societies raise crucial challenges for traditional conceptions of nations and citizenship. Ethnic diversity can mean that significant numbers of people are excluded from national projects, while the 'melting pot' metaphor belies the complexities of societies in which minority communities seek to protect their heritages and resist incorporation into the nation or state.

At the same time, conceptions of citizenship appear to be undergoing transformation. Civic engagement and participation is frequently viewed as being more effective in achieving social change than traditional forms of political representation. Levels of both civic and political participation vary significantly across ethnic communities, while political institutions are required to adjust to accommodate marginalised communities more effectively into democratic processes.

At the international level, the sovereignty of the nation state has been increasingly challenged in the name of protecting or asserting universal human rights. Regimes, deemed oppressive by powerful external actors, have been subjected to sanctions or military intervention. The question of national citizenship, with its attendant rights and obligations, is being reframed in the light of new expectations. The implications of this process for the future of states and their citizens remain unclear, but they appear to encourage the erosion of national sovereignty in favour of participation at both sub-national and international levels.

Confirmed speakers

Professor Lord Bhikhu Parekh, Labour Member of the House of Lords and Professor of Political Philosophy, University of Westminster
Professor Nick Emler, Professor of Psychology, University of Surrey

Paper proposals

As in previous CRONEM conferences, there will be ample opportunities for papers to be presented in parallel panel sessions and for poster presentations. Panel proposals (including a general introduction panel of about 300 words, plus 300-word abstracts of each of the papers) and proposals for individual papers and posters (300-word abstracts) are invited on any aspect of nationalism, ethnicity or citizenship, particularly those addressing the following themes:

• Conceptualising citizenship in ethnically diverse societies
• Comparisons of old and new forms of citizenship
• Political versus civic engagement and participation
• Incorporating marginalised groups into democratic processes
• The concepts of intercultural, multicultural and cosmopolitan citizenship
• Citizenship and religion
• Citizenship and migrants
• The role of civic/citizenship education in multicultural societies
• National citizenship and universal human rights
• Ethnic conflict regulation and the roles of international actors

In addition, there will be a roundtable discussion in which experts from different disciplines will address a common problem from the perspectives of their own disciplinary backgrounds.

When: 30 June - 1 July, 2008
Where: University of Surrey, Guildford, UK
Please send your submissions to Mirela Dumic m.dumic@surrey.ac.uk

Deadline for submissions: 1^st February 2008
Notification of acceptance will be sent to presenters by 3rd March 2008.
Registration details will follow soon. Please check our website for updates.
http://www.surrey.ac.uk/Arts/CRONEM/
https://outlook2003.surrey.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp URL=http://www.surrey.ac.uk/Arts/CRONEM/>