In recent years, it has become clear that issues at the nexus between nation, ethnicity, multiculturalism, citizenship and migration are so potent that their social, political, economic and historical ramifications can be global in scale. Multidisciplinary reflection on these issues via the multiple perspectives which are provided by a range of social science, humanities and arts disciplines provides the distinctive focus of the research conducted by CRONEM.

The potency of nation and ethnicity in the modern world is evident in:

• the resurgence of nationalism
• the proliferation of ethnic conflicts
• the emergence of multicultural societies
• the social and political consequences of the prejudice, discrimination and disadvantage which are routinely experienced by minority individuals living within ethnically, culturally and linguistically diverse societies
• the political salience of refugees and asylum seekers
• the move towards (and reactions against) the formation of an integrated supranational European state
• the events of September 11th and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq

These events, phenomena and movements exhibit a level of complexity such that it is simply not possible to achieve an effective understanding of their causes, processes and consequences from the perspective of any single discipline. Instead, historical, cultural, political, sociological, economic, psychological, linguistic, religious and educational factors and processes all play a critical role. Among the key issues which can be uniquely addressed only by adopting a multidisciplinary perspective are the following:

• What processes and factors are responsible for the formation of national, ethnic, cultural and religious groups and communities? How are these factors visible in the cultural practices of these groups?
• How do these groups and communities construct, negotiate, communicate and express their identities, and what is the relationship between dominant and minority identities within different historical, cultural, political, linguistic, artistic, religious and geographical settings?
• What are the political, economic, cultural and psychological causes and consequences of migration, and how do individuals, communities, societies and nations respond to migration and cultural diversity?
• How are conceptions and practices of citizenship being reshaped under the pressures of globalisation, migration and multiculturalism?
• What are the competing visions of Europe and European identity, and how does European identity relate to cultural, linguistic, national and ethnic identities?

CRONEM's mission is to address these kinds of questions using multidisciplinary perspectives.