| | Call for Papers: Migration, Citizenship and Belonging African, Caribbean and European Perspectives Seminar |    | | | The Institute of African Studies is hosting a seminar dubbed "Migration, Citizenship and Belonging African, Caribbean and European Perspectives Seminar".
The focus of this seminar is on recent shifts in debates on citizenship in African, Caribbean and European contexts – notably on the quite paradoxical link between, on the one hand, an intensification of migration currents often of transcontinental scope, and, on the other, growing emphasis on belonging (which often implied exclusion at the same time). The seminar will be explicitly comparative. The aim will be to explore how similar issues acquire different expressions in variable contexts. We hope to focus not only on variations between the Caribbean, Africa and Europe, but also on internal differences within these regions.
Background
Over the past four years, the Dutch research program ‘The Culturalization of Citizenship’ at the University of Amsterdam studied the impact of a growing emphasis on belonging (and exclusion) in debates on citizenship in the Netherlands and other parts of Europe; the growing emphasis on cultural aspects of citizenship was closely linked to an increasing tendency towards closure of what came to be called ‘fortress Europe.’ This makes it all the more important to look at these changes from different sides – that is, not only from within Europe but also from outside. A central aim of the Dutch program was therefore to study these changes in a global perspective. Thus, it created a network of fellows in different countries of provenance of immigrants to Europe. Each fellow studies people’s reactions towards this closure of Europe, and also shifts in the debates on citizenship and belonging inside the country concerned. Dr. Maame Gyekye-Jandoh (University of Ghana) acts as fellow for Ghana. At the Accra seminar, other fellows – from Curacao, Mali and Cameroon – will also present the results of their research on these topics.
Contact
Participants are kindly requested to contact the local co-ordinator, Dr. Maame Gyekye-Jandoh, Department of Political Science via the e-mails: mgyekyej@yahoo.com; mgjandoh@ug.edu.gh.
Deadlines
Presenters are to submit electronically (to any of the above e-mail addresses for Dr. Gyekye-Jandoh) a title or topic for their paper by the 3rd of August, 2012 and an abstract of the paper by the 1st of September, 2012. Those whose abstracts are selected will be notified by the 5th of September, 2012. Final copies of papers to be presented are expected by the start date of the seminar, 11th September, 2012. A final programme for the seminar will be circulated at the beginning of September, 2012.
| | | | Date Published: 30/07/2012 | | | |   |
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