CFP Cultural Encounters_Exeter 21-22 May 2011

Call for Papers

Cultural Encounters: Researching Ethnicities, Identities, and Politics in a Globalised World

Host institution: Exeter Centre for Ethno‐Political Studies, University of Exeter

Dates: Saturday 21st –Sunday 22nd May 2011

The Exeter Centre for Ethno‐Political Studies (EXCEPS) is pleased to announce its inaugural postgraduate conference. We aim to bring together high‐quality postgraduates from the UK and abroad, working in the field of ethno‐politics. This event will allow young researchers to discuss questions of methodology, approach and general research ideas and issues that arise in the field.

Breaking from traditional conference formats, the conference will function more in terms of a large‐scale workshop. Students will be given the chance to present their work and engage in a group discussion, exchanging ideas about research in ethno‐politics. The overall hope is to form a research community at the postgraduate level to enhance networking and collaboration across universities and disciplines.

In EXCEPS, we aim to undertake and promote advanced empirical and theoretical research by integrating methodologies and approaches from a wide range of disciplines within our activities. We seek to problematise notions of ethnicity and identity, and explore how and why political and social life is affected by agendas and aspirations defined by 'ethnicity' or the sense of belonging to a particular community.
Students working at the postgraduate level in a field related to ethnicity, broadly defined, are invited to submit an abstract of their research. Prospective sub‐themes might include, but are not limited to:

• Migration and Diaspora
• Belonging and Otherness
• Conflicts and Regulation
• Ethnopolitics and International Law
• Terrorism and Mobilisation
• Gender and Ethnonationalism
• Culture and Memory

The conference will emphasise active involvement in an interactive, informal setting, focusing on discussion of methodology and challenges in ethno‐political research in a cross‐disciplinary context. A presentation might consist of a thesis chapter, a research proposal or a subtheme of the dissertation. For interested delegates, there is the possibility to submit their paper to the EXCEPS Working Paper series for consideration.

Please send your abstract of about 250 words along with relevant information about place of study and degree to Christine Difato at cad209@ex.ac.uk by 25 March 2011. To facilitate a worthwhile discussion, only a limited number of places are available.

Any further questions can be addressed to Christine Difato (cad209@ex.ac.uk) or Anaïd Flesken (af299@exeter.ac.uk)

For more information about our activities, see the EXCEPS web site and the PGR Network Ethnicity blog.