Conference Announcement "Politics and Ethnicity: Communities, the State and Managing Changing Relationships" International Conference 21st Century Trust Trudeau Foundation Merton College, University of Oxford Oxford (UK) 1-9 April 2005
Lord Durham famously described what would become Quebec as two nations warring in the bosom of a single state, a phrase which could apply in myriad locations worldwide. Durhams nineteenth-century solution assimilation has been widely resisted, especially by minority communities. The problem, however, remains and has become increasingly acute over the last 15 years in what, in some parts of the world, has been an era notorious for ethnic cleansing. The relationship between communities is of prime concern now as states are reconstructed after conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, and as the crisis in Darfur has unfolded. The relationship between the state and diverse communities is also under renewed scrutiny in many parts of the West. Even in countries such as the Netherlands, so long renowned for its liberal consensus, the political ground has been shifting on this issue. There is therefore renewed urgency in questioning how to balance the rights of diverse minority and majority religious and ethnic groups (nations, so to speak) within a state, in a world where the nation-state is still a fictive norm in and around which institutions are built. What are the problems and strengths inherent in the concept of minority rights as distinct from individual rights? When is multi-culturalism the best approach? Or how far are its critics right that it tends to institutionalize, or even increase existing divisions, and give power within communities to leaders who are not necessarily representative? Through case studies, the conference will consider different strategies both of the state and of groups as to claims on state attention and resources, and the impact of these on the country as a whole. This latter question is complicated in many states by a growing split between cosmopolitan urban areas and more mono-cultural rural ones, with even the possibility of the horizontal territory, the nation state, losing out to vertical conurbations, increasingly autonomous cities. Finally, the conference will assess the significance of hybridity - newly developing cultural syntheses, accepting neither the one-way street of assimilation into a majority culture nor the boundaries of multi-culturalism - and the set of issues which it in turn may bring to the fore. For more information, or for an application to attend this event, contact: John Lotherington, Director 21st Century Trust 25 Museum St. London, WC1A 1JT UK Tel. +44(0)207-323 2099 Fax: +44(0)207-323 2088 Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.21stCenturyTrust.org _________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org/ Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://agd.polylog.org/cal/
