(Apologies for Cross-Posting)

****   Leverhulme Programme on Migration and Citizenship   ***

Joint Research Programme by Bristol University's Centre for the Study of 
Ethnicity and Citizenship and UCL's Migration Research Unit

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 
<[log in to unmask]>

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


----------------------------
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/ethnicitycitizenship/flyer

For details of the Centre's work see
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/sociology/ethnicitycitizenship
For fuller details about new Leverhulme Programme on Migration and
Citizenship at Bristol University and UCL see
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/sociology/leverhulme