Beyond NGOs: Civil and Uncivil Society in the 21st Century

Goodenough College, London, UK
February 26-27, 2009
Abstracts: November 8, 2008

This international conference will be a joint cooperation between the LSE Centre for Civil Society and the CINEFOGO Network of Excellence under the 6th EU Framework Programme.

Taking as its point of departure recent debates on “uncivil” society, political society or the dark side of associational life, the conference will invite research abstracts which address themes that go beyond the equation: civil society = NGOs. The aim of the conference is to investigate the role of organizations and movements that fall outside conventional civil society analysis and to develop new perspectives on issues of transnationality, migration and citizenship in and beyond Europe.

Research is invited on instances of “actually existing” civil societies - on religious movements and faith-based organizations, migrant networks, as well as on dimensions of “uncivil” society—vigilante groups, criminal networks, gangs, trafficker networks, mafias, and border-crossing systems of kinship and patronage.

Proposals are also sought on NGOs working with already established social organisations and social movements in instances of advocacy, welfare provision and humanitarian relief. From a theoretical perspective a key concern is to explore those analytical categories which challenge existing paradigms of civil society research. The meaning of religion, violence, migration, kinship, ethnicity and new configurations of identity politics in relation to civil society theory are all themes which should be explored and investigated within the thematic framework of the conference.

There are three key strands to the conference. The first strand will explore the role of civil society organizations beyond the NGO sector. These would include churches, mosques, religious movements, migrant networks, criminal groups and gangs. This research strand will raise issues around the diversity of social and political society both in European and in developing country contexts.
The second strand will explore the engagement of governments with social organizations outside the formal NGO sector. A key focus will be on changing European government policies towards the funding and management of civil, social and religious groups. Included in this strand would be the growing interest in working with faith-based organisations, diasporas, transnational advocacy networks as well as the work and international connections of Christian and Islamic organisations.

The third strand will examine civil society theory in the light of recent challenges, which have seen notions of civil society as European or Western impositions, and criticised their deployment within European and World Bank policies. Questions of what is civil and uncivil, or what is political society versus civil society open up new social science perspectives on the value of civil society as an analytical device and possible different understandings and applications of it.

CINEFOGO members will be expected to cover their own travel and accommodation costs. Non-CINEFOGO paper-givers can apply for travel funds of up to Euros 1,000. Non-CINEFOGO paper-givers should indicate upon submission of their abstract whether they wish to apply for a travel grant.
If you wish to present a paper at the conference, please submit an abstract of 300 words + CV by 8th November 2008 to Maria Schlegel at the Centre for Civil Society at ccs@lse.ac.uk. Your abstract should indicate clearly the strand into which it falls. You will be informed by December 5th as to whether your abstract has been accepted. Conference papers should be 6,000-7,000 words in length and would need to be submitted in full by January 31st 2009.

Globalization and Human Rights in the Developing World

Asia Association for Global Studies (AAGS) 2009 Conference
Sat. March 21 to Sun. March 22, 2009, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

This conference will gather together scholars and others interested in the impact of globalization on human rights. On December 10, 1948, the United Nations issued the now famous Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the first global expression of the rights which all human beings are entitled. Containing 30 articles, the UDHR declared that all people, regardless of nationality or background, have the right to freedom, equality, and overall wellbeing. Six decades have now passed since the Declaration was first made. To what extent has globalization hindered or made possible the realization of the objectives stated in 1948? This is the main question this conference will discuss in detail, focusing on and comparing the experiences of Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Conference organizers invite paper proposals on the following themes as they relate to globalization and human rights in the above three world regions (though other themes will be considered):

• transnational corporations
• social movements
• global governance
• democracy
• labour
• health and well being
• education
• poverty and wealth
• refugees, displaced persons
• indigenous peoples
• food issues
  

Proposals should be between 150 to 200 words and include the paper's title and the author's name, affiliation, and contact information. A bio of 100 to 125 words describing the author's background, accomplishments and research interests should also accompany the proposal. Both proposals and bios should be written using the templates provided at: http://asia-globalstudies.org/templates Applications should then be submitted as email attachments to conferenceproposals@asia-globalstudies.org Documents not using the templates or following the specified format will not be accepted. Please note that we can offer no travel support or funding to participants. Thus, please only submit a proposal if you are certain you will have your own financial means to attend the conference. The deadline for proposals is December 14, 2008. Applicants will be notified of the status of their application by January 1, 2009.

Integration, Globalization and Racialization: Theories and Perspectives on Immigration

The Sixth Annual Social Theory ForumUniversity of Massachusetts, Boston, USA April 8-9, 2009

Abstracts: January 15, 2009

The conference will explore the relationship between immigration and the changing cultural, political, and social landscape of the global North. The conference organizers seek papers that use thick descriptions and rigorous analyses of the dynamics of immigration, especially to re-examine some of the guiding assumptions and core propositions of modern social theory.We seek papers that relate to any of the following themes.

• Immigration enforcement, national security and the debate over civil liberties/ human rights (before or after 9/11)
• Re-theorizing immigrant integration and cultural pluralism
• Becoming Awhite@, Ablack@Y AAmerican@Yor not?
• The politics of racial/cultural assimilation and identity construction among immigrant populations
• Refugees, stateless peoples and the dynamics of marginality on the global stage
• Analyses of the legal discourse on immigrant/human rights and its consequences for paradigms of national sovereignty
• The impact of immigrant incarceration and deportation on immigrant communities
• Transnational migrant communities and ethnic diasporas
• The new immigration and the transformation of citizenship
• The racialization of new immigrant populations
• Patterns in social inequality/stratification that revolve around differences in legal status between immigrants, temporary workers, unauthorized migrants and citizens
• Immigration and new social movements
• Theorizing the nation, the border, and the meaning of Asecurity@
• Immigration and the social construction of gender, race, class and sexuality
• Immigration policy and strategies of governance: neoliberalism, popular nationalism and other variations
• The discursive construction of immigration as a Asocial problem@
• Immigrant labor markets and the global economy: centers and peripheries

The conference will feature both invited and submitted papers and presentations, as well as audiovisual materials. Please send a one-page abstract or proposals as email attachment (MS Word Format) to Jorge.Capetillo@umb.edu or Glenn.Jacobs@umb.edu by January 15, 2009. Upon selection and notification of approval by the organizing committee, submitters must send completed presentation paper manuscripts (around 12-15 pages, preferably double-spaced in Times 12 typeface) by March 15, 2008.

Whose Cosmopolitanism Launch Festival, March 2009

The Research Institute for Cosmopolitan Cultures (RICC) at the
University of Manchester will be holding its launch festival, Whose
Cosmopolitanism, from 2-6 March 2009.

This cultural and academic festival includes:

Debating Cosmopolitan Cultures: Common Places/Imagined Politics, with
Prof David Harvey (City University of New York)
Prof Tariq Ramadan (St Antony?s College, Oxford)
Prof Jacqueline Rose (University of London)
Tuesday 3 March, Manchester Town Hall, 2-5pm

The Right to the City: Belonging and Exclusion, with
Don Flynn (Migrants? Rights Network)
Irene Khan (Amnesty International)
Sir Richard Leese (Manchester City Council)
Alex Poots (Manchester International Festival)
Katya Sander (Danish Academy of Art)
Gary Younge (The Guardian)
Tuesday 3 March, Manchester Town Hall, 6.30-8.30pm

There will also be:
Writers' night with Jackie Kay and Joe Pemberton (with The Centre for
New Writing)
Preview Screening of Jia Zhangke's 24 City/Ershisi chengji (2008)
Present Pasts: Ruinous Recollections of Manchester Art Exhibition
'If you read this, I'll give it to you', Katya Sander
Workshops with David Harvey, Tariq Ramadan and Jacqueline Rose.

Please see attached the poster for more information. Although these
events are free, you need to register through the following website:
http://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/ricc/aboutus/launch/



Dr. Darien Jane Rozentals
Research Coordinator
Research Institute for Cosmopolitan Cultures (RICC)
Level 2, Arthur Lewis Building
The University of Manchester
+44 (0) 7853 915 424

Migration, Mixing and Ethnic Integration

Call for papers

A session of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Annual Conference

Manchester, 26-28th August 2009

Sponsored by the Population Geography Research Group and the ESRC Understanding Population Trends and Processes (UPTAP) programme


To offer a paper to the session, submit your details (name, institution, email address) and an abstract (max. 250 words) to
Nissa.Finney@manchester.ac.uk by Friday 23rd January 2009.

Session organisers: Nissa Finney (University of Manchester), Gemma Catney (University of Manchester), John Stillwell (University
of Leeds)

Session description

In Britain and other European countries, recent years have seen a shift in ethnic integration policy from multiculturalism to community cohesion. With this shift has come a renewed emphasis on place and residential mixing. This session explores two themes
of these debates. The first theme is patterns of settlement of immigrants and their subsequent migrations that are changing sub-national ethnic geographies. What factors and processes influence these patterns of settlement and migrations? Do they differ between ethnic/migrant groups? What are their implications for ethnic integration, residentially and otherwise? The second theme of the session is the meaning of ethnic residential mixing. Is residential mixing associated with greater integration in other spheres? What are the causal connections between the residential composition of areas and structural and social integration in these locales and beyond?

The session is sponsored by the ESRC’s Understanding Population Trends and Processes (UPTAP) programme. It aims to showcase research being undertaken within the Ethnicity stream of this programme and to present a forum for dialogue between UPTAP
researchers, other researchers in the UK and overseas, and policy makers. Speakers are welcome from outside the UPTAP programme, and UPTAP will cover conference costs for all speakers.

Particular topics of the session may include:

Settlement and secondary migration of recent immigrants (e.g. EU Accession immigrants, dispersed asylum seekers/refugees)
Internal migration patterns of ethnic groups: reinforcing or reducing residential segregation?
Housing and migration experiences of immigrant/ethnic groups
Differences in migration experiences for immigrant/ethnic groups for different life stage, social classes, family contexts
Motivations for migration and characteristics of migrants
Mapping and monitoring migration of minority groups
The significance of ethnic residential mixing for health, employment, experience of crime, relationships, social mobility.

http://www.rgs.org/WhatsOn/ConferencesAndSeminars

http://www.uptap.net/index.html

Nissa Finney
Research Fellow

CCSR, School of Social Sciences, The University of Manchester, Kantorovich Building, Humanities Bridgeford Street, Manchester, M13
9PL

0161 275 4738

http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/staff/nf.htm

AFRICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND International relations

Call for papers

*African Journal of Political Science and International Relations
(AJPSIR)*is currently accepting manuscripts for publication. AJPSIR
publishes
rigorous theoretical reasoning and advanced empirical research in all areas
of the subjects. We welcome articles or proposals from all perspectives and
on all subjects pertaining to Africa, Africa's relationship to the world,
public policy, international relations, comparative politics, political
methodology, political theory, political history and culture, global
political economy, strategy and environment. The journal will also address
developments within the discipline. Each issue will normally contain a
mixture of peer-reviewed research articles, reviews or essays using a
variety of methodologies and approaches.

Manuscripts must be sent as e-mail attachment to
ajpsir@academicjournals.org or
ajpsir.acadjourn@gmail.com. AJPSIR editorial board makes an objective and
quick decision on each manuscript and informs the corresponding author
within four weeks of submission. If accepted, the article is published
online in the next issue.

AJPSIR is an open access journal and all articles published are available
online without restriction to scientific researchers in the public and
private sectors, government agencies, educators and the general public. The
journal also provides a medium for documentation and archiving of research
articles. AJPSIR papers are exposed to the widest possible readership.

Our objective is to inform authors of the decision on their manuscript
within four weeks of submission. Following acceptance, a paper will normally
be published in the next available issue.

Please visit
http://www.academicjournals.org/AJPSIR/contents/2008cont/November.htm to
view our current issue.

GSA 2009 North American Conference

Globalization and the Struggle for Peace and Human Rights
Co-Sponsored by the Peace Studies Program

Florida Atlantic University at Boca Raton
May 8-10, 2009

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS INCLUDE:

• Ginette Apollon
• Farshad Araghi
• Steve Bronner
• Micheline Ishay

Submit a 100-word abstract by March 10, 2009 to Jerry Harris at gharris234@comcast.net.

All topics will be considered.

Further information at:

http://www.net4dem.org/mayglobal/

2009 Annual Conference of the Global Studies Association

Challenging globalization: new perspectives, alternative visions, emerging agendas

The Conference will be hosted by the Centre for Global and Transnational Politics

Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surry, TW20 0EX, Uk

Deadline for submission of abstracts: 30 April 2009

Confirmed keynote speakers include:

* Faisal Devji (New School, New York)

* Stuart Elden (University of Durham)

* Jonathan Friedman (Lund University)

* Robert Holton (Trinity College, Dublin)

* Ronnie D. Lipschutz (University of California, Santa Cruz)

* Walter D. Mignolo (Duke University)

Key themes:

* alternative/multiple modernities and globalization

* anti-globalization: bottom-up challenges?

* the rise of the global non-West

* teaching globalization: challenging students

* global fragments/fragmented globalizations

* the challenge of Transnational Studies

* my global self: globalization and subjectivity

* the limits of globalization theory

*one world/multiple worlds

* globalization in one country

* the challenge of cosmopolitanism

* rethinking global/local relations

* towards a more critical global studies

Find further information at:

http://cgtp.rhul.ac.uk/gsa-annual-conference-2-4-sept/