4TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

CULTURAL DIFFERENCE AND SOCIAL SOLIDARITY NETWORK
“New Directions in Reconciling Solidarity and Difference in Contemporary Societies”
www.differenceandsolidarity.org

Hosted by Middle East Technical University - Northern Cyprus Campus
June 30th – July 3rd 2015


Strategies for addressing problems of social solidarity in states and communities in a contemporary globalized world while respecting difference and diversity within the boundaries of those communities have become more important than ever with the problematization – and some would say decline – of multiculturalist solutions. In the last decades there has been a rise in moral panics about immigration and right-wing nationalist responses, whilst the emergence of new globalized labor flows and diasporic identities have given rise to cultural conflicts as well as mutual enrichment within urban settings. There has also been a sharper and more prejudicial relationship between western states and Islamic peoples, with a rise in islamophobia mirroring an apparent hardening of faith-based positions on both sides, intersecting with legitimate concerns about the contradictions and conflicts between traditional faith-based positions and contemporary human rights discourse. The political enterprise of multiculturalism appears limited and presumptive in its solutions and where multiculturalism has been embraced it has been criticized in respect of class divisions, deficiencies in recognitions and redistributions and the amelioration of tensions and conflicts through rhetoric and temporary solutions to symptoms and not causes.

This conference seeks to explore the fertile grounds within and between idealistic, cosmopolitan and ‘radical’ strategies to the more pragmatic attempts to provide solutions to particular, immanent and conjunctural problems of building solidarity with difference, and to explore the intersections between different political approaches to posing solidarity with difference and the practices that constitute everyday experience for communities of difference seeking terms of solidarity. 

This conference provides a space for scholars to take stock of the present context and share knowledge – specific or general, empirical or theoretical, with a view to develop and explore the possible ways forward to minimizing violence, discrimination, exclusion and oppression as the means by which difference is managed by political structures. It is hoped that the conference will facilitate the development of more constructive, democratic, participative and inclusive means of promoting solidarity without negating difference and diversity. The conference is intended to be interdisciplinary and welcomes papers from scholars whose research crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries. Papers and panels are sought for presentation at parallel sessions where each paper will have a strict maximum of 20 minutes presentation time on panels of 2 papers with 25 minutes per paper discussion time. 





The main themes for which papers are sought are:

 
•	Applying and critiquing theories of difference
•	Dissembling and re-presenting gender: constructions of difference and/or solidarity
•	Making solidarities in the context of difference
•	Refugees, difference, law and media representations
•	Culture and politics in representations of identity and difference
•	Digital media and the making/dissembling of social movements
•	Representing multilingualism in the linguistic landscape
•	States, sectional interests and regulatory regimes: managing difference
•	Culture, art, literature, film and the performance of difference
•	The role of technologies in making representations of difference and solidarity
•	Representations of difference or re-presentations of difference: The problem of representation
•	Language hierarchies in social space
•	Cultural products and the reinforcement or dissolution of differences – the problem of consumption
•	Difference and the construction and deterioration of communities
•	Difference and technology: the changing representation of identity and difference
 

These themes are not exhaustive and the organizers will consider other papers relevant to the conference subject. We expect to publish a post-conference edited book, derived from the papers presented and organized around themes that reveal themselves during the conference. 

There will be two keynote plenary sessions with speakers to be announced. Reflecting the conference theme in the context of the conference venue, one of these sessions will focus on aspects of these themes in Cyprus.

•	Deadline for submission of Abstracts by: March 31, 2015
•	Notification of abstract acceptances and rejections is on a rolling basis (within 3 weeks of submission)
•	Online conference registration open from March 15, 2015 to May 15, 2015
•	Conference Fees to be paid by May 15, 2015

The conference language is English and all papers and presentations should be in English.

The conference fee is 395 Euros (295 Euros for students and non-participants).
This includes:
•	Registration
•	Transport to and from Ercan Airport in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus to METU-NCC Campus
•	4 nights at Campus Guest House with breakfast
•	4 lunches
•	2 Sunset Dinners (all drinks included)
•	1 Dinner Banquet (non-alcoholic drinks included)
•	Guided Historic/Cultural Excursion

Abstracts of no more than 350 words may be submitted online only at:  www.differenceandsolidarity.org

For any questions or concerns please see our website, including the FAQ page, or contact the conference organizers at the email address below.

Conference Organisers:
Scott H. Boyd
Middle East Technical University – Northern Cyprus Campus

Paul Reynolds
Edge Hill University

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