MINELRES: Fwd: CfP: The Challenge of Multiculturalism in the Eastern and Central
Europe, Iasi, 28-30.10.2004
MINELRES moderator
[email protected]
Tue Aug 24 18:08:16 2004
Original sender: Florian Bieber <[email protected]>
Mihaela Frunza <[email protected]>
Call for Papers
Workshop:
The Challenge of Multiculturalism in the Eastern and Central Europe
Argument:
One of the challenges the countries from the Central and Eastern Europe
have to face constantly after the fall of communism in the 1990s is the
internal and external diversity of the populations. The regrettable
example of the ex-Yugoslavian space has shown that any attempt at
questioning one�s (ethnic, religious) belonging in the name of a
presumed �national� homogeneity is a steady source of violence and open
conflict. In the same time, the populations from this area of the world
are remarkably mixed, due to the heritages of a controversial history.
To take a single example, the Romanian one: apart from the Romanians,
here live Hungarians, Germans, Roma, Jews, to name the most well-known
nationalities from a list of around 20.
One possible way of dealing with the diversity is the multicultural
solution, which has been embraced in many forms by states as different
as the USA, Canada, Australia and so on. Multiculturalism as a politics
of cohabitation represents a challenging way of managing not only the
ethnic diversity (though this is by far its mostly well-known
hypostasis) but also the other forms of diversity (the religious one,
the sexual one, etc.).
Yet, multiculturalism is by no means a unique way of responding to the
identity solicitations of someone: the various types in which it comes �
�multiculturalism of rights� (Kymlicka, Kukathas), �multiculturalism of
recognition� (Ch. Taylor), �multiculturalism of fear� (Shklar) speak for
many different ways of articulating the questions and the formulation of
solutions. Some even speak of other labels � �interculturalism�,
�trans-culturalism� as being more or less appropriate to the same
issues. What is the difference between these labels and which (if any)
one is more suitable to propose its solutions to the situation in the
ex-communist Eastern states? Is it possible to �export� multiculturalism
in Eastern states? Or maybe to �adapt� it?
Description:
The topic and issues of multiculturalism represent the research object
of several categories of disciplines, such as political science,
sociology, philosophy, history and so on. In the same time, it
constitutes the basic theory for many practitioners, ranging from
politicians to representatives of NGOs. Through this project, we attempt
at facilitating the encounter and the dialogue among all these types of
people, in a 3-day workshop and consequently in a volume with the texts
and discussions. In this way, we expect to benefit from an
interdisciplinary meeting where both the theoretical framework and the
concrete cases should be put face to face. The invitation of specialists
from the whole CEE region is meant to open up the discussion and to
bring about the consolidation of a network of people connected by their
topic of investigation.
In the same time, we intend to disseminate and multiply the information
and the practical knowledge on these issues. This is why we plan to
invite representatives of mass media to participate during the whole
event, and to a press conference. It represents another reason for
publicizing the results of the workshop in a volume.
Sections of the workshop:
Multicultural/ intercultural politics. Theoretical framework,
challenges and opportunities.
The challenge and the reality of multiculturality in the CEE region.
Case studies, threats and solutions.
Multicultural education. Achievements and prospects.
Venue:
Iasi, Romania
Date:
28-30 October, 2004.
Partners/Sponsors:
SACRI, Cluj
�Al. I. Cuza� University, Iasi, Romania
Open Society Foundation Romania
AXIS Foundation Publishing House
Eligibility:
Researchers in multiculturalism in the CEE region (sociologists,
political scientists, anthropologists, philosophers, historians)
Representatives of NGOs active in the field of pluralism and
diversity
Politicians promoting multicultural agendas
Representatives of mass media
Requirements:
Prospective participants are asked to submit the following documents via
e-mail, by September 1st 2004 the latest. All documents are to be
submitted in English.
a completed application form (the application form will soon be
available in a downloadable format on the conference website; for the
moment, send a blank message having as subject �Application form� to
[email protected])
a recent CV or resume, including a list of publications, if any;
a 300-words-abstract of the paper (please also mention the section of
the workshop where your paper fits best).
The e-mail address where the documents are to be sent is
[email protected]
Please include in the subject line of the message: �application for
conference in Iasi�
Participants are kindly asked to zip the documents that are bigger than
300 Kb J
A selection committee will evaluate the applications and will notify the
participants by September 15th 2004.
Interested participants are kindly asked to note that in the event of
being selected to participate in the conference, they will be asked to
submit the full paper in advance. Deadline for submitting the papers:
October 1st, 2004. The length of the paper should not exceed 4000 words
Important note:
The organizers have applied to different organizations in order to cover
the costs of the event. However, potential participants are encouraged
to seek for alternative funds (individual grants, institutional funds,
own contribution etc.). We are not able to cover the accommodation and
travel costs of participants coming from regions other than Central and
Eastern Europe.
For supplementary information, please contact the seminar coordinators:
Project Coordinators:
Assoc. Prof. Sandu Frunza, Babes-Bolyai University, President of SACRI
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
Phone: + 4 0741 676936
Assoc. Prof. Nicu Gavriluta, Al. I. Cuza University, SCIRI Iasi
coordinator
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +4 0740 545234
Project assistants:
Assist. Lect. Mihaela Frunza, Ph.D., Babes-Bolyai University
Executive Editor at JSRI
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +4 0744 698826
Liviu Pop, editor at Tribuna
Program assistant, Webdesigner of SACRI
Email: [email protected]
Conference website: www.sacri.ro