CRONEM Annual Conference 2012

When?

Tuesday 26 June 2012 to Wednesday 27 June 2012

Where?

University of Surrey

Open to:

Public, Staff, Students

Speaker:

Professor Mary Hickman, London Metropolitan University; Professor Ted Cantle CBE, Coventry University; High profile panel: Professor Lord Bhikhu Parekh, Professor Tariq Modood, Professor Per Mouritsen, Dr Paul Thomas, Dr Geoffrey Braham Levey, Dr Nasar Meer and Dr Varun Uberoi

Multiculturalism as a policy approach to managing the cultural diversity of contemporary societies is once again under siege by national politicians and public commentators across Europe. Public concern about the impact of migration on social structures and cohesion has led to renewed calls for integration policies that are based greatly on ideas of assimilation rather than a desire for a genuine reciprocal integration. Furthermore, nationalist ideology or presuppositions frequently underpin the specific content of those policies.

Recent attacks on multiculturalism have coincided with increasing focus on security and securitisation in response to the threat of terrorism and political violence. Indeed, for some cause and effect is undeniable, with multiculturalism directly responsible for the recent increase in radicalisation among disaffected minority youths. While such claims are highly contentious, the links that have been drawn between multiculturalism and the growth of ideological extremism have further fuelled public anxieties concerning the suitability of multiculturalist policies.

Within Europe, two actors have been at the forefront of the debate. The European Union and the Council of Europe have to engage in a new dialogue about the position of migrants and minorities within the European social and political sphere. The focus of both organisations has been on “Intercultural Dialogue” as an alternative to multiculturalism. The aim is to establish an acknowledged form of respectful and open exchange between individuals and groups from different cultural backgrounds. This is seen as crucial for promoting tolerance and understanding, preventing conflicts, enhancing societal cohesion, and ensuring the democratic participation of all individuals in the cultural, social and economic life of the states in which they reside. In the case of the EU, 2008 was the Year of Intercultural Dialogue which sought to establish a framework of soft policy measures to support this new approach/strategy.

The conference seeks to provide an opportunity for interdisciplinary debate on:

• the different forms of multiculturalism identifiable in Europe and beyond; 
• critiques of multiculturalism; 
• alternative policy approaches – including intercultural dialogue – for the management of cultural diversity issues;
• the intertwining of security and securitisation issues and the debate on multiculturalism;
• sources of radicalisation, political violence and terrorism;
• the relationship between multiculturalism, social exclusion, democratic citizenship and political participation;
• the impact of international policy networks on national “integration” policies;
• comparative perspectives on states’ experiences of multiculturalism;
• political challenges to multiculturalism, migrant communities and intercultural dialogue;
• responses to migration: legal, economic and political;
• current migration trends and policy approaches;

Confirmed speakers:

26 June

Professor Mary Hickman

Professor of Irish Studies and Sociology, London Metropolitan University

Director of the Institute for the Study of European Transformations (ISET)    

Britishness, Social Cohesion and 'Suspect Communities' 

Professor Mary Hickman home page

Respondents: Dr Chris Allen, University of Birmingham and Mr Don Flynn, Director, Migrants' Rights Network, UK

26 June

Professor Ted Cantle CBE

Institute of Community Cohesion (iCoCo), Coventry University

Interculturalism as a new narrative

Professor Ted Cantle home page

27 June

Panel chaired by Professor Lord Bhikhu Parekh:

The conference will also feature a high profile panel ‘The 'Retreat' of Multiculturalism?’ chaired by Professor Lord Bhikhu Parekh, University of Westminster.

This double panel explores whether, how and where multiculturalism has retreated, whether such a retreat precludes 'multiculturalist advances' and whether replacements for multiculturalism are necessarily different from it. Chaired by Bhikhu Parekh, the papers presented will be based on research either recently published or soon to be published.

Panel participants: 

Professor Lord Bhikhu Parekh, Professor Tariq Modood, Professor Per Mouritsen, Dr Paul Thomas, Dr Geoffrey Braham Levey, Dr Nasar Meer and Dr Varun Uberoi