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Call for Papers "Negotiating Diversity: Transatlantic Exchanges Between Canada and Europe" Interdisciplinary Conference Center for North American Studies, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt/Main (Germany) 19-21 April 2007 __________________________________________________ Convenors: Drs. Christian Lammert and Katja Sarkowsky, Center for North American Studies Keynote Lecture: Professor Lord Bhikhu Parekh, Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster In order to foster this dialogue not only on the panels and roundtables but also in the run-up to and aftermath of the conference, the organizers invite abstracts for short contributions to be published on the conference homepage in advance. Contributions should explicitly seek to engage in transatlantic and transdisciplinary exchange in the context of the focus of the conference and may include but are not limited to the following topics: - Diversity and Cultural Difference: Approaches in Cultural Studies and the Social Sciences - Diversity in Europe and Canada: Social Structures and Political Discourses - Glocalisation? Concepts of Identity, Culture, and Belonging - The Individual and the Society in Europe and Canada - Cultural Citizenship Abstracts should not exceed 300 words, full-length contributions are limited to 1500-2000 words. Deadline for abstract submittal: January 31, 2007. Final versions of accepted contributions have to be submitted by March 15, 2007. Selected papers will be published in the conference proceedings in extended form. Graduate students are explicitly encouraged to apply. Please send your abstracts to Dr. Katja Sarkowsky <[email protected]> or Dr. Christian Lammert <[email protected]> For further information on the conference and a preliminary program feel free to contact either of the organizers or see: http://web.uni-frankfurt.de/zenaf/ Conference abstract: Against the background of globalisation and denationalisation as well as world-wide movements of migration and cultural exchanges, issues of diversity and difference have re-emerged as central for the political, social, and cultural self-conception of societies in Europe and North America. Particularly after the events of 9/11 and in the context of the war on terror, new questions and concepts of diversity concern not only individual nations, but are increasingly being discussed in the context of transnational processes of diversification and integration. After over three decades of an official policy of multiculturalism, cultural pluralism is being renegotiated in Canada; and in Europe, the process of political and cultural integration poses problems that call for a critical evaluation of models previously applied nationally and Europe-wide. This interdisciplinary conference seeks to investigate ways of thinking and negotiating diversity cultural, political, ethnic, social in Europe and Canada. Taking into account a long history of exchange and mutual influence, it will look at what has been and can be learned from one another. In order to do so, it brings together Canadian and European scholars from European and Canadian Studies as well as from the social sciences and Cultural Studies. While in all of these fields diversity and concepts of managing difference have been paramount, serious transdisciplinary engagement with these questions in the context of transatlantic exchanges between Canada and Europe has been scarce. Thus, the goal of this conference is twofold: firstly, it seeks to bring into contact previously unrelated research agendas that offer new perspectives across the disciplines and political concepts across the Atlantic; secondly and consequently, it means to bring together scholars working in these different fields to enhance transdisciplinary dialogue and, hopefully, future research cooperation and exchange. Conference format In order to establish this dialogue or rather polylogue the individual panels will not be structured around full-length papers but around two 10-minute statements and responses. Statements/abstracts will be available on the conference web site to conference participants in advance in order to increase audience participation; a publication of extended conference contributions is planned. There will be two thematic foci: Diversity, Pluralism, and Cultural Difference and Citizenship, Identity, and Nation. Each focus encompasses three panels, the first investigating the conceptualization of the topic in the social sciences and cultural studies, the second looking at how the topic reflects in social and cultural realities on both sides of the Atlantic, and the third, as a round table discussion, linking the issues in a perspective of transatlantic exchange. Contact: Dr. Katja Sarkowsky and Dr. Christian Lammert Zentrum für Nordamerika-Forschung (ZENAF) Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-Universität Frankfurt Postfach 111 932 D-60054 Frankfurt am Main Germany Tel: +49 (69) 798-28538 or 798-28521 Fax: +49 (69) 798-28527 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Web: http://web.uni-frankfurt.de/zenaf/ __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://cal.polylog.org
