[URBANTH-L]CfP Super-diversity

[Susanne Wessendorf]

Workshop Call for  Papers
European Association of Social Anthropology
'Europe  and the World'
Bristol, September 18th – 21th 2006

 

 

‘Super-diversity’ in European cities and its implications for
anthropological research.

 

 

Convenors: Susanne Wessendorf (University of Oxford), Kristine Krause
(University of Oxford/ Humboldt Universität Berlin)

Keynote: Steven Vertovec (University of Oxford)

 

Anthropological studies on migrants in urban contexts have been
characterised by a tension between two methodological strands: one approach
has focused on migrant communities categorised on the grounds of region of
origin, ethnicity and religion, while the other approach has focused on
neighbourhoods, places and urban environments and the interaction between
groups and individuals. The first approach is informed by a more
'traditional' anthropological focus on ethnic groups, and allows an in-depth
ethnographic analysis of cultural and social practices of individuals with
shared historical and cultural backgrounds.  It has been prevalent in
earlier studies of migration and the recent studies on transnationalism, but
criticised for its tendency to essentialise groups and ignore overlapping
networks. The second approach is influenced by longstanding interests in
urban pluralism and allows to shed light on cross-cutting ties and
negotiations of belonging in specific localities. However, it makes an
in-depth analysis of migrants’ cultural and historical backgrounds
difficult. 

The proposed workshop aims to tackle the methodological, analytical and
conceptual challenges that come with the possible tension between the two
approaches. It invites papers based on research in ‘super-diverse’ urban
contexts in Europe with people of non-migrant background, new and long
established migrants, people of different regions of origin, ethnicity,
religion, age, class, education and legal status. Of particular interest are
papers which focus on localities of every-day encounter and social spaces,
some of which are strongly shaped by translocal activities. Such spaces are
for example religious groups, political, ethnic, and professional
associations, ethnic businesses, community centres and youth clubs.
Participants are invited to reflect on the challenges of research in
super-diverse urban contexts in order to understand everyday diversity in
European cities.

Please send your abstracts (max. 300 words) for papers (max. 20 min.) by the
end of April to  <mailto:susanne.wessendorf at anthro.ox.ac.uk>
susanne.wessendorf at anthro.ox.ac.uk ;
<mailto:Kristine.krause at anthro.ox.ac.uk> kristine.krause at anthro.ox.ac.uk 

For further information on the conference see:
<http://www.nomadit.co.uk/easa/easa06/index.htm>
http://www.nomadit.co.uk/easa/easa06/index.htm