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Call for Papers Theme: Diversity in Organizations, Communities and Nations Type: 12th International Conference Institution: Common Ground Publishing University of British Columbia Location: Vancouver, BC (Canada) Date: 11.–13.6.2012 Deadline: 10.11.2011 __________________________________________________ The Twelfth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities and Nations will be held in Vancouver, Canada from 11-13 June 2012. This Conference will address a range of critically important themes in the study of diversity today. Plenary speakers will include some of the world’s leading thinkers in the field, as well as numerous paper, workshop and colloquium presentations by researchers and practitioners. Participants are also welcome to submit a presentation proposal either for a 30-minute paper, 60-minute workshop, or jointly presented 90-minute colloquium session or a virtual session. Parallel sessions are loosely grouped into streams reflecting different perspectives or disciplines. Each stream also has its own talking circle, a forum for focused discussion of issues. Presenters may choose to submit written papers to The International Journal of Diversity in Organizations, Communities and Nations, a fully refereed academic journal. Virtual participants also have the option to submit papers for consideration by the Journal. All registered Conference participants receive a complimentary online subscription to the Journal when registration is finalised. This subscription is valid until one year after the Conference end date. Background The Conference has a history of bringing together scholarly, government and practice-based participants with an interest in the issues of diversity and community. The Conference examines the concept of diversity as a positive aspect of a global world and globalised society. Diversity is in many ways reflective of our present world order, but there are ways of taking this further without necessary engendering its alternatives: racism, conflict, discrimination and inequity. Diversity as a mode of social existence can be projected in ways that deepen the range of human experience. The Conference will seek to explore the full range of what diversity means and explore modes of diversity in real-life situations of living together in community. The Conference supports a move away from simple affirmations that ‘diversity is good’ to a much more nuanced account of the effects and uses of diversity on differently situated communities in the context of our current epoch of globalisation. In addition to linguistic, cultural, ethnic and ‘racial’ diversity, the Conference will also pursue its well established interest in other aspects of diversity, including the intersecting dynamics of gender, sexual orientation, (dis)ability, locale and socio-economic background. The Conference looks at the realities of diversity today, critically as well as optimistically and strategically. The Conference will be a place for speaking about diversity, and in ways that range from the ‘big picture’ and the theoretical, to the very practical and everyday realities of diversity in organizations, communities and civic life. In the realm of civic life, local and national communities daily negotiate the diversity resulting from immigration, refugee movement, settlement and indigenous claims to prior ownership and sovereignty. And at the same time, communities increasingly recognise and negotiate a plethora of other intersecting and sometimes contrary diversities. At the local level this may create a kind of civic pluralism, a new way of living in community. Nationally, governments sit uneasily between increasingly demanding local diversities and the cultural and political forces of globalisation. And within organizations, ‘diversity management’ has emerged as a field of endeavour to negotiate human resource and customer relationship issues arising from differences of gender, ethnicity/race, sexual orientation and disability (to name a few aspects of diversity). To what extent, however, do these remain marginal managerial concerns? Could or should diversity become a ‘mainstream’ issue for the whole organisation? The Diversity Conference is a presenter’s Conference, comprised of numerous parallel sessions. The Conference organising committee is inviting proposals to present 30-minute papers, 60-minute workshops or 90-minute colloquium sessions. These may be academic or research papers, or presentations describing educational initiatives. Themes Special Theme: Social Justice, Care, and Difference. Theme 1: Dimensions of Diversity - Defining the dimensions of difference — ethnicity, gender, race, socio-economic, indigenous, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability. - Locating diversity — individuals, groups, intersections, identity layers, notions of place. - Intersections of difference and points of intensity. - Identifying the dynamics of diversity — exclusion or inclusion,assimilation or pluralism. - Localism, nationalism and globalism. - Inequalities: causes, effects and remedies. - Social Justice: economics, education and providing access to all. - Diversity and homogeneity in theory and practice. - The limits of diversity. - ‘Political correctness’ and its critics. - Marginalisation: its causes, processes and consequences. - Moving beyond the ‘-isms’: racism, sexism, heterosexism, ageism, ableism, nationalism, capitalism, socialism and communism. - Cultural history, oral history and cultural ‘renaissance’: challenges and dilemmas. - Democracy and diversity: questions of representation and voice. - Between faith and state: religious freedom, intolerance or suppression. - Marriage: civil right or religious institution? - Globalising medicine: education, research, knowledge, socioeconomic factors, genetics, environmental factors, bio-ethics. Theme 2: Governing Diversity — Community in a Globalising World - Responding to global human movement and its consequences — immigration, asylum seekers, refugees, diasporic communities and settlement. - Defining and assuring access to basic human rights: housing, medicine,immigration, food, water. - Responding to racism — its representation, causes, effects and remedies. - ‘The Struggle’: civil rights movements and human rights abuses. - Developing a public service for a diverse community — towards a civic pluralism. - ‘Mainstreaming’ versus services based on unique cultural identities. - First nations and indigenous peoples — strategies for community development. - The politics of community leadership — challenges for local government. - Truth and reconciliation — examining the past for the sake of the future. - The globalisation of human rights and local sovereignty. - Environmental justice. Theme 3: Representing Diversity — The Influences of Global Tourism and the Global Media - The ‘other country’: tourism, culture and difference. - Cultural tourism and its consequences. - Levels of intervention: the nature of ecotourism. - Media representations of diversity and globalisation. - Representing the terror wars. - Non-English media: from Al Jazeera to Zee TV. - The media monoliths: from Hollywood to Bollywood. - Local media, community media, national media, transnational media. - Indigenous (and non-indigenous) representations of the Indigenous. Theme 4: Learning Diversity — Education in a World of Difference - The civil right to education. - Multicultural, cross-cultural, international and global education. - Identity, belonging and the cultural conditions of learning. - Diversities in the classroom: cultural, gender, (dis)ability. - Education for first nations or indigenous peoples. - Education across cultural worldviews. - ‘Mainstream’ and ‘minority’ learning: redefining the terms. - Languages learning: ‘foreign’, ESL, bilingual, multilingual, global. - Civil Rights and education. - Education of women. Theme 5: Working Diversity — Managing the Culture of Diversity - Managing diversity — what does it mean to talk about ‘productive diversity’? - Managing and developing a diverse human-resource base. - Diversity measures — the future of equal employment opportunity and affirmative action. - Beyond legislative and regulatory compliance — disability, harassment,discrimination. - Mediation — cultural assumptions and practical outcomes. - Developing multicultural policies and practices. - Who manages culture? Celebrating differences while maintaining identity. - Levelling the playing field: global economics, fair trade,outsourcing, equal opportunity, and coping with global markets. Submissions You may submit a proposal to the Conference Review Committee for an In-Person Presentation, or a Virtual paper at the Diversity Conference. If your Conference proposal is accepted you may submit a written paper to The International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations. The deadline for the current round in the Call for Papers is 10 November 2011. Proposals received during earlier rounds, when accompanied by a paid registration, will be given scheduling priority. For more information about the conference please visit the conference website: http://ondiversity.com/conference-2012/ Contact: Conference Secretariat Email: [email protected] Web: http://ondiversity.com/conference-2012/ __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://cal.polylog.org __________________________________________________
