Nationalism, Ethnicity and Citizenship: Whose Citizens? Whose Rights?

Wednesday 21 May 2008

Multicultural societies raise crucial challenges for traditional conceptions of nations and citizenship. Ethnic diversity can mean that significant numbers of people are excluded from national projects, while the 'melting pot' metaphor belies the complexities of societies in which minority communities seek to protect their heritages and resist incorporation into the nation or state.

At the same time, conceptions of citizenship appear to be undergoing transformation. Civic engagement and participation is frequently viewed as being more effective in achieving social change than traditional forms of political representation. Levels of both civic and political participation vary significantly across ethnic communities, while political institutions are required to adjust to accommodate marginalised communities more effectively into democratic processes.

At the international level, the sovereignty of the nation state has been increasingly challenged in the name of protecting or asserting universal human rights. Regimes, deemed oppressive by powerful external actors, have been subjected to sanctions or military intervention. The question of national citizenship, with its attendant rights and obligations, is being reframed in the light of new expectations. The implications of this process for the future of states and their citizens remain unclear, but they appear to encourage the erosion of national sovereignty in favour of participation at both sub-national and international levels.

A number of leading authorities from a range of different disciplines have agreed to give keynote addresses including:

• Hans van Amersfoort, Emeritus Professor, Cultural Geography and Population Geography, Universiteit van Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Michael Byram, Professor of Education, Durham University
• Nick Emler, Professor of Social Psychology, University of Surrey
• Jonathan Friedman, Professor of Social Anthropology, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, IRIS, Paris, France
• Montserrat Guibernau, Professor of Politics, University of London
• Lord Bhikhu Parekh, Labour Member of the House of Lords and Professor of Political Philosophy, University of Westminster
• Oren Yiftachel, Professor of Political Geography, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel

For paper titles and keynote abstracts please visit: http://www.surrey.ac.uk/arts/cronem

For more information and registration, please contact Mirela Dumic, Tel: 01483 682365 or E-mail: m.dumic@surrey.ac.uk

Media Enquiries

Peter La, Press Office at the University of Surrey, Tel: +44 (0)1483 689191, or Email mediarelations@surrey.ac.uk