Organisers: Dialogue Society Birmingham Branch, School of Politics,International Relations and Environment (Keele University) and Department of Politics and Public Administration (Fatih University)
Workshop Proceedings
Introduction
The Dialogue Society has organised two academic workshops on the theme of ‘Debating Multiculturalism’ to take place in spring 2012. This publication comprises the papers accepted for ‘Debating Multiculturalism 2’, to take place in Istanbul at the beginning of May.
The Dialogue Society is organising this second workshop through its Birmingham Branch in partnership with Keele University and Fatih University, Istanbul. It is very grateful for the support of its two partners and to Fatih University for hosting the event. The first workshop, held in April, in Konya, was organised by the Dialogue Society’s Leeds Branch in partnership with Leeds Metropolitan University and Mevlana University. While the first workshop focused primarily on the UK context this second workshop looks at multiculturalism across Europe as well as in the UK. Each workshop balances the perspectives of academics with those of practitioners concerned with intercultural relations.
The acute contemporary relevance of the topic of these workshops hardly requires introduction. Since the Second World War, European societies have increasingly experienced ‘multiculturalism’ in the sense of people of diverse cultural backgrounds living side by side. The ‘state multiculturalism’ publicly criticised last year in David Cameron’s Munich Speech was a UK example of European government policies embodying a concern to ensure acceptance and respect for the cultural and religious identities of minorities. Cameron is one of a number of prominent voices in the European political mainstream, including also German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who claim that multiculturalism has failed to counteract fragmentation and extremism. Meanwhile, proponents of multiculturalism continue to stress its achievements in terms of reduced discrimination and progress towards inclusive, sustainable national identities. They urge that to abandon multiculturalism would be to abandon an achievable future of genuine equality, mutual respect and creative intercultural symbiosis. Whether multiculturalism should be jettisoned as a failure or defended as the path to a flourishing diversity is a crucial and pressing question for our time.
Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, is a stimulating location for discussions of multiculturalism in Europe. Turkey’s recent record of combining political stability with economic growth and human rights reforms is concentrating minds on the capacity of the present European model of multiculturalism to cope with the eventual accession of Turkey to the EU. There is strong interest in the country in the so-called “Anglo-Saxon” practice of secularism as a framework for the ongoing evolution of multiculturalism. The city of Istanbul boasts a fascinating history of intercultural encounter, powerfully reflected in the Christian mosaics and Islamic calligraphy juxtaposed in the magnificent Hagia Sofia.
Naturally the views expressed in the papers are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position and views of the Dialogue Society. The papers presented here are draft papers submitted and printed in advance of the workshop. A further volume of selected papers taken from the two workshops will be published in due course.
The Dialogue Society extends heartfelt thanks to the organising committee and especially our editors for the second workshop, Dr Steve Garner and Mr Seref Kavak.
Programme
A detailed schedule will follow in due course.
Costs
The Dialogue Society will pay all the costs of accommodation and board, and transfers, and there is no registration fee for participants in the Workshop. However, authors are expected to pay the costs of their flight to and from Turkey (currently about £200).
Outcome
Within six months of the event, a book will be produced and published by the Dialogue Society, comprising some or all of the papers presented at the Workshop. The papers will be arranged and introduced, and to the extent appropriate, edited, by scholar(s) to be appointed by the Editorial Board.
Copyright of the papers accepted to the Workshop will be vested in the Dialogue Society.
Scope
Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:
Authors are invited to send abstracts (maximum 300 words) of their papers on themes of their own choosing, which may include (by way of example only):
Multiculturalism: Basics
- Multiculturalism and race relations
- Multiculturalism and groups identified by faith-based traditions
- Multiculturalism and the impact of public policy (education, health, employment)
- Multiculturalism and issues related to gender equality
Multiculturalism: Practice
- The feasibility and relevance of multiple legal frameworks
- The problem of extremisms of left and right
- The many dimensions of activism (state; civil society; media; individuals)
- Future prospects: possible new directions for multiculturalism
The Workshop is partciularly interested in multiculturalism in Britain and Europe. Papers that relate to theories, policies and practices outside of Europe are also welcome so far as they can be related to Britain and/or a European country.
Selection Criteria
The Editorial Board welcome abstracts alike from academics in the many relevant disciplines, practitioners working with statutory or voluntary bodies, and independent researchers or writers working on topics relevant to the Workshop.
Since the Workshop expects to address a broad range of topics while the number of participants has to be limited, writers submitting abstracts are requested to bear in mind the need to ensure that their language is technical only where absolutely necessary and intelligible to non-specialists and specialists in disciplines other than their own; and present clear, coherent arguments in a rational way and in accordance with the usual standards and format for publishable work.
Schedule for Submissions
- Abstracts (200–300 words maximum) and CVs (maximum of 2 pages, including any personal statement and/or listing of publications or work experience) to be received by 10th January 2012.
- Abstracts to be short-listed by the Editorial Board and papers invited by 30th January 2012.
- Papers (3,000 words minimum – 5,000 words maximum, excluding bibliography) to be received by 10th March 2012.
- Papers reviewed by the Editorial Board and classed as: Accepted – No Recommendations; Accepted – See Recommendations; Conditional Acceptance – See Recommendations; Not Accepted.
- Final papers to be received by 1st April 2012.
Submission Procedure
Abstracts and CVs should be submitted, in English only, as MS Word documents attached to an email addressed to skavak@dialoguesociety.org by 12:00 pm UK time on 10th January 2011. Authors must indicate at this stage if audio-visual equipment may be required in the presentation of their paper and relevant technical specifications.
The abstracts submitted will be reviewed and selection made by the Editorial Board in light of the criteria set out above. The decision of the Board is final.
Authors invited to submit full papers must do so by no later than 17:00 UK time on 10th March 2012. The papers must be submitted, in English only, as a single MS Word document attached to an email addressed to skavak@dialoguesociety.org.
Full papers should be of the following description:
- No less than 3,000 words and no more than 5,000 words (excluding bibliographies).
- Containing a bibliography at the end of the paper within the same Word document.
- Including references where necessary and page numbers.
- Edited, proofread, of academic standard and publishable quality.
Upon submission, each paper will be assigned to one editor on the board who will class the paper as one of the following:
- Accepted – No Recommendations. This means the paper is accepted without any recommendations.
- Accepted – See Recommendations. This means the paper is accepted. However, the author may want to consider the recommendations made.
- Conditional Acceptance – See Recommendations. This means the paper is acceptable provided the stated recommendations are taken into account and the paper is revised accordingly. Papers classed as such will be provided with a second deadline, upon which the assigned editor will review the paper for the second time and decide either to accept or decline the paper.
- Not Accepted: If the paper is classed as ‘Not Accepted’ then the paper will not be included at the conference and no further action need be taken by the author.
Authors of accepted papers to submit their final papers by no later 1st April 2012.
Workshop Co-ordinator
Seref Kavak, Dialogue Society Birmingham Branch Academic Coordinator
Venue
Fatih University, 34500 Buyukcekmece, Istanbul, Turkey
Date: 3-5 May 2012
Please click here for the Academic Worksop: Debating Mulculticulturalism – 1
