Encounters and Intersections: Religion, Diaspora and Ethnicities Conference

9th-11th July, 2008 (NB: after the Making the Connections Conference, 3-4th July, Loughborough)
St Catherine’s College, Oxford

The Diasporas, Migration and Identities Programme is hosting a joint conference with the AHRC/ESRC Religion and Society Programme, and the ESRC Identities and Social Action Programme. The conference will be entitled: Encounters and Intersections: Religion, Diaspora and Ethnicities, and will be held at St Catherine’s College, Oxford from 9-11 July, 2008.

Below you will find some information about the conference, and I look forward to hearing from you if you are submitting an abstract (details below), which needs to reach me by email by 28 February 2008 (k.a.roche[@]leeds.ac.uk). A booking form is also attached, which should be returned to Kerry Carter at the address given.

This conference takes encounter and intersection as its frame. It explores the nature of relations between different faith and ethnic groups, between diasporic and indigenous citizens and between convivial, and not so convivial, multicultures in current, complex, post colonial contexts. We are interested in patterns and trends in contemporary identity practices, the intersections between social identities and how intersection and multiplicity are experienced and lived.

Encounters can be hostile, intimate, violent, anxious, celebratory, defensive, banal or historic. Participants can feel consumed, tolerated, included, marginalised or empowered. In policy terms, encounters can be read through the lens of ‘community cohesion’, the ‘duty to integrate’ or the ‘clash of civilisations’. How do different forms of encounter organise (and how are they organised by) particular relational spaces? How do they create and reflect ‘contact zones’? How do people negotiate multiple identities of faith, class, ethnicity, gender, nationality, place, etc? What are the social, political and ethical consequences?

This conference is organised by the ESRC/AHRC Programme on Religion and Society ( www.religionand society.org.uk), the AHRC Programme on Diasporas, Migration and Identities ( www.diasporas.ac.uk ) and the ESRC Programme on Identities and Social Action (www.identities.org.uk). It will show-case the interdisciplinary research taking place in the UK on these themes across the arts, social sciences and humanities.

The conference includes a keynote address from Prof. Paul Gilroy (London School of Economics) and author of After Empire; The Black Atlantic and Ain’t no Black in the Union Jack.

There will be panels on Living Intersections – New British Identities and Encounters – Materials, Spaces and Performances highlighting the research being conducted in the three Programmes. The conference will include parallel sessions of paper presentations, photographic and poster exhibitions, a conference dinner, drinks receptions and many opportunities for discussion and networking with researchers from a wide range of disciplinary and intellectual perspectives.

We welcome submissions to present papers (20 minutes plus 10 minutes for questions) on the conference themes. Your paper might present some empirical findings, it might consist of a performance, a theoretical review, critique and new argument; it might consist of a textual analysis, raise provocative questions or analyse one case, site or context. Abstracts should be submitted to Katie Roche (k.a.roche[@]leeds.ac.uk) by the 28th of February, 2008 including full contact details for all authors.

Left luggage

Image (c) John Perivolaris, all rights reserved

Image maker's subgroup co-ordinator Jon Perivolaris has launched a year-long photographic project/blog on the theme of objects of migration, entitled Left Luggage. As he explains:

"An empty suitcase lent for a month each to a series of collaborators. Each one fills the suitcase with objects of their choice and according to the project’s key terms. These are:

Homeland
Journey
Arrival
Destination

The idea for the project was sparked when my mother gave me my grandfather’s monogrammed, leather suitcase. For several months it sat empty on the floor by my desk like an absent presence by my side.

I knew that the suitcase had travelled around the world with my grandfather, who was a sea captain with the Greek merchant navy. Why should it not continue on its travels as a tribute to the memory of Captain John Perivolaris, whose birthday was on the same date as mine?"

see: http://leftluggage.wordpress.com/