Rights and Might: Cultural counter-narratives of the migrant and refugee experience | University of Westminster_Refugee week 22-25 June 2017

Dear all,
it's my pleasure to announce the upcoming conference I've had the pleasure to co-organise with a number of colleagues from the University of Westminster.

You can find all details in the eventbrite page, where you can also register.

For a draft programme see below

Frontiers and borders of superdiversity: theory, method and practice_University of Birmingham 23-24 June 2016

The Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS) at the University of Birmingham is organising the second international interdisciplinary conference on superdiversity. The aim of the conference is to map the state of the art in knowledge on superdiversity and reflect on the analytical and heuristic uses of the concept, its potential and limits.

The conference includes an exciting line-up of keynote and plenary speakers:
Prof Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (journalist, writer, University of Lincoln)
Prof Gurminder Bhambra (University of Warwick)
Prof Dan Hiebert (University of British Columbia)
Prof Nira Yuval Davis (University of East London)
Jonathan Xavier Inda (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Prof Angela Creese (University of Birmingham)
Prof Adrian Blackledge (University of Birmingham)
Dr Susanne Wessendorf (University of Birmingham)

All details (including how to register) here.

Borders/Frontiers: A contemporary Interdisciplinary Exploration_Goldsmiths 23-24 June 2016

“What we have come to call a globalized world harbors fundamental tensions between opening and barricading, fusion and partition, erasure and reinscription. These tensions materialize as increasingly liberalized borders, on the one hand, and the devotion of unprecedented funds, energies, and technologies to border fortification, on the other.”
(Wendy Brown (2010), Walled States, Waning Sovereignty)

While Brown is specifically discussing walls and physical barriers in her book, what is clear from this introductory quote is the tension between borders and frontiers, or openings and closings in our contemporary world. This conference seeks to interrogate these concepts in an interd...isciplinary manner, asking: what is a border, what is a frontier, and are they the same thing? Looking to space, the body, economics, sovereignty, citizenship and genealogy, this conference will examine these similar yet connotationally different terms through the lense of our world today. 

This interdisciplinary conference is open to artists and academics interested in interrogating and contesting concepts of borders and frontiers.


23 June - 24 June 2016, LG01 Professor Stuart Hall Building
Centre for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths. 

Participation is free, all welcome.
Click here for the Facebook event.
Contacts: goldculturalstudies2016@gmail.com

Refugees - Conference UCL 13 March 2015

Dear all,
I have been invited to contribute to this half-day conference organized by the Psychoanalysis Unit at UCL. Come along if you can.

Conference: ‘Boat Refugees’ and Migrants at Sea: A Comprehensive Approach Integrating Maritime Security with Human Rights 23-24 June 2014

The Refugee Law Initiative, University of London, and the Department of Law at Queen Mary University of London, with the financial support of the University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES) and the Human Rights Consortium (HRC) at the School of Advanced Study, will hold a conference on "'Boat Refugees' and Migrants at Sea: A Comprehensive Approach - Integrating Maritime Security with Human Rights," June 23-24, 2014, at Senate House, London. Registration is now open. The program is here. Here's the idea:

This conference aims to comprehensively address the contemporary phenomenon of ‘boat migration’ with a holistic approach. We will consider its multiple facets, combining knowledge from several disciplines and regions of the world, with a view to making a decisive contribution to our understanding of current trends, against the background of the fragmentary responses adopted and innumerable tragedies occurred thus far.
The final goal is to unpack the tension between security concerns and human rights in this context. Therefore, our joint reflections will build on recent developments in law and case law regarding the applicability of human rights at sea and take account of past and present policy experiences to help placing on-going discussions within a comprehensive framework. The objective is to trigger an inter-regional and multidisciplinary dialogue with contributions from Law of the Sea, maritime security, migration and refugee studies, and human rights, to address the position of ‘migrants at sea’ from an integrated perspective, bridging current gaps in knowledge and policy responses, ranging from how to conceptually categorise ‘boat migrants’, to how to respond to differing needs and entitlements and how to reconcile them with State obligations and security constraints.
The conference is projected following a logical flow, which starts with the joint identification of the subject matter, moving on to the analysis of core issue-areas and policy initiatives adopted in the EU and beyond, and closing with the identification of outstanding problems, pointing the way ahead in which research should move to contribute to the development of sustainable policy, mindful of both State interests and the rights of refugees and migrants. Attention will be drawn to the instruments, actors and institutions involved to yield insights on how migration by sea has been and should be governed. To this end, each session will regroup panelists from a variety of backgrounds, who will be asked to deal with a common question.

"Displacements: Forced Migration and the Arts" Aarhus University 3-5 October 2013

hi there!
please find here useful information about an upcoming event organized by a research network based at the University of Aarhus (Denmark). They are doing lots of interesting things around the topic of migration and culture.

Between the 3rd and the 5th of October I'll join the conference called "Displacements: Forced Migration and the Arts'. Among the keynote speakers there will also be Hamid Naficy and Parvati Nair. You can find full details by clicking on the link above.

Migration, Discrimination and Belonging Transnational Spaces in Post-colonial Europe (Warwick University 6th of March, 2013)

Registration is still open for the IAS Seminar on “Migration, Discrimination and Belonging”, to be held at the University of Warwick on the 6th of March 2013.

Full details here

Network for Migration and Culture

Dear all,

exciting news from Denmark! The Network for Migration and Culture: The Interrelations of Migration, Culture and Aesthetics (NMC) - a national/ international network funded by the Danish Council for Independent Research - is organizing two exciting conferences revolving around the issue of the aesthetics of migration.

Please see below for details:

1. The first is called Displacements. Forced Migration and the Arts, and will be held at Aarhus University, Denmark, 3-5 October 2013.
This is the call for paper (deadline 15 April 2013)
Confirmed keynote speakers include: Hamid Naficy, Parvati Nair and Madeleine Dobie.

2. The second is called Crossroads - Europe, Migration and Culture, and will be held at the University of Copenhagen, 24-25 October 2013.
This is the call for paper (deadline 31 January 2013)

Gender and Migration - Marmara University (Istanbul) 11-13 May 2013

Another excting upcoming conference called Gender and Migration: Critical Issues and Policy Implications that will be held at Marmara University (Istanbul), 11-13  May 2013.

The conference is organised by the London Centre for Social Studies (LCSS) in collaboration with the Gender Institute at the London School of Economics (LSE), the Centre for Migration Policy Research at Swansea University, and the Department of Sociology at Marmara University.

This international conference invites expert contributions on the following areas:

• Transnationalism, diasporas and gender
• Gender and labour migration
• Gender-based violence and forced migration
• Migration and gender in the media
• Healthcare and migrant women
• Gender and migrant family relations
• Gendered experiences in Turkish migration

Find details about the call for paper here (deadline 22 February 2013)

Transnational Italy. National Identity and the World Atlas - University of reading 13-14 July 2012

Another interesting upcoming conference especially for those of you interested in Italian Studies.
The conference called Translational Italy. National Identity and the World Atlas is the Society for Italian Studies 2012 Interim Conference and is organized by the Italian Department of the University of Reading. There's a beautifully made website very informative and detailed.
The conference will take place on the 13th and 14th of July 2012.

Displacement, Resistance, Representation - Queen Mary University of London 28-29 June 2012

 

Please join us at the conference Displacement, Resistance and Representation organized by the Centre for the Study of Migration (Queen Mary University of London). I'll be there presenting a paper on "Bodies of Lampedusa. Migration, Law and the Image".
All details (including the programme) of the conference can be found here.There is also a dedicated facebook page!

This is the abstract of my paper:

Lampedusa, a tiny island that belongs politically to Italy and geographically to Africa, is today the most controversial place within the Mediterranean. It lives off tourism for nearly eight months a year but it is forced to deal almost daily with what is commonly perceived, in public opinion, as an ‘invasion of Europe’ by migrants from the African continent. This paper aims at analysing on the one hand, the legal, political and mass-media discourses, with their related construction of normative practices, that influence the public imagery of the ‘others’; and on the other, the representation of these subjects in visual discourses, from mass media to cinema and visual art.

For a variety of reasons that this paper intends to explore, migrants are most commonly considered and represented as ‘bodies without words’ (Agamben 2005). The paper will show how the aesthetics of the migrant body can lend a ‘voice’ to alternative ways in which we may imagine and reconsider the conditions under which contemporary migration challenges Italian and European politics, ethics and aesthetics. In particular, the focus of the paper will be the representation of migrant bodies of Lampedusa under three specific forms: compressed bodies in containers and boats, floating or drowned corpses and clandestine bodies within Italy and Europe.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

CRONEM Annual Conference 26-27 June 2012

Just a reminder about this upcoming conference organied by the Centre for the Research on Nationalism, Ethnicity and Multiculturalism (University of Surrey) in collaboration with the UCL Migration Research Unit. The topic of this year conference is The Future of Multiculturalism: Structures, Integration Policies and Practices. 
Find all details here.

Call for Paper: DISPLACEMENT, RESISTANCE, REPRESENTATION: Culture and Power in Contexts of Migrancy 28-29 June 2012 Queen Mary University of London

_________________________________________

CONFERENCE
Call for Papers

DISPLACEMENT, RESISTANCE, REPRESENTATION:
Culture and Power in Contexts of Migrancy


The Centre for the Study of Migration at Queen Mary, University of
London is pleased to announce a Call For Papers for a conference to be
held on June 28th and 29th 2012.

This conference takes its cue from the mobilization of popular modes
of resistance witnessed in the course of 2011 both through the Arab
Spring and the Occupy movement. Its aim is to connect such mass
resistance to wider existing contexts of collective displacement and
migrancy. By focusing on cultural representation (understood in the
widest sense to include the media and the arts), it seeks to address
the role of culture in negotiating resistance and representation for
those who have been displaced or cast into migrancy for a variety of
reasons that range from the economic to the political to the ecological.

Proposals for papers are invited on a range of topics of global and
comparative focus relating to questions of representation for the
displaced. The following themes are some examples of the questions and
issues that will be addressed:
- the role of culture in negotiating displacement
- the role of culture in forging modes of resistance
- the political relevance of cultural representation for the displaced
- negotiation and empowerment in contexts of displacement

Proposals are invited from academics, postgraduate research students,
artists, cultural performers and those working in the areas of culture
and migration. Papers should last no more than 20 minutes. Abstracts
and a brief bio-data of 250 words should be sent to Professor Parvati
Nair (p.nair@qmul.ac.uk) by no later than May 2nd 2012.

Call for Papers: Imaginary Europe _13 September 2012

A call for papers for those interested in the construction of 'imaginary versions of Europe'. Deadline for submitting an abstract is the 12th of March 2012.
Find all details here.

A New Italian Political Cinema?_Manchester 27-28 January 2012

Dear friends,
I have been invited to Manchester to chair and introduce a panel within a conference called 'A New Italian Political Cinema?", that will take place on the 27th and 28th of January 2012. You can find al details here

The panel is titled 'Sguardi diversi sul dramma della migrazione'. Find below an abstract of my introductory paper.

L’ACCENTO MANCATO.
Il cinema della migrazione in Italia

Nell’ultimo decennio, l’etichetta di ‘cinema italiano della migrazione’ è stata adoperata per indicare una produzione cinematografica che volge lo sguardo a questioni legate all’arrivo in Italia - almeno dagli anni Ottanta in poi - di un numero sempre crescente di ‘ospiti’, ‘stranieri’, ‘immigrati’, ‘extracomunitari’, ‘clandestini’, ecc.
Da Amelio in poi, passando per Placido, Garrone, Mazzacurati, Comencini, Munzi fino ad arrivare all’ultimo Crialese, la questione degli immigrati in Italia è stata affrontata in modo più o meno ‘cronicistico’, con l’intento di offrire uno sguardo più ‘intimo’ sui soggetti migranti, la cui rappresentazione sarebbe altrimenti limitata a quella della sola TV e della stampa, mezzi quest’ultimi che fanno spesso da eco ad un discorso politico mirato a strumentalizzare la questione dell’immigrazione in Italia.
Per quanto lo sforzo di gran parte di questi registi italiani sia apprezzabile, anche semplicemente per aver contribuito a risvegliare l’attenzione del cinema sui soggetti migranti in Italia, resta il fatto che per la maggior parte dei casi si tratta di tentativi fini a se stessi che limitano lo sguardo ad aspetti poco innovativi, soprattutto riguardo ai modi di produzione. Siamo lontani, in Italia, dal cinema ‘accentato’ di cui parla Hamid Naficy, dove l'accento emana dalla dislocazione (displacement) del regista e dai modi di produzione ‘interstiziali’. Pochi e timidi tentativi (Theo Eshetu, Hedy Krissane, Mohamed Zineddaine), suggeriscono che un cinema accentato sarà forse possibile anche in Italia.


Looking forward to this event!

Politics of Visibility Mediating the global, local and the in-between

A one day conference to be held on the 4th of November 2011 at the Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art, in London.
Find details here.

Being In-Human: The Critical Theory and Law of Human Rights

A very exciting conference with Slavoj Zizek and Paul Gilroy among others will take place in London from Thursday 17 to Saturday 19 November 2011. Find all details here.

Conference: The Diasporic Family in Cinema: SOAS (University of London) 21 May 2011

Very interesting upcoming conference at SOAS, (University of London) the 21th of May 2011.

I have already registered. I am very much looking forward to listening to the very interesting papers and to joining the screening of 'When we Leave' by Feo Aladag who will be present for a discussion afterward.

All details about the programme, the venue and the registration are available here

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.

Symposium in Princeton: "Across the Borders of Desire: Italy as a Land of Departure and Destination"_31 March-1 April 2011

Dear all,
I'd like to draw you attention to this Symposium that will take place at the Princeton University in March around the topic of "Across the Borders of Desire: Italy as a Land of Departure and Destination".
I have been invited to give a talk. I am very excited about it. The other guest speaker will be Julio Monteriro Martins
You can find more details about the call for paper (deadline 15 of February) and the rationale here.
More details about the programme will be available soon.