Specialist
Group on Ethnopolitics
Newsletter
Autumn 2003
Dear Members,
The various activities that our members and friends are involved in are as numerous as ever. Please continue to keep us informed and we’ll do our best to disseminate your news to as wide an audience as possible.
The next issue of our journal Ethnopolitics (www.ethnopolitics.org) will be published by the end of the month, and there will be a separate announcement. We also have several special issues in the pipeline: on Northern Ireland, on elections and ethnopolitics and on forced migration and ethnic cleansing.
The group’s book series, Studies in Ethnopolitics, published by Berghahn in New York and Oxford, has had its third volume published at the end of October: Radical Ethnic Movements in Contemporary Europe, edited by Stefan Troebst and Farimah Daftary. Two further volumes on the German-Danish border region and on Roma in Central and Eastern Europe are in preparation. For full details of the series consult the publisher’s website (http://www.berghahnbooks.com/series/ethn_poli.html) or our open call for proposals and manuscripts (http://staff.bath.ac.uk/mlssaw/ethnopolitics/ - click on book series).
Group-sponsored panels at forthcoming international conferences include “The New Imperium: Identity, Security and Self-Determination in the Age of Hegemonic Unilateralism” (International Studies Association, Montreal, March 2004) with Tozun Bahcheli and Sid Noel, King’s College, University of Western Ontario, Maya Chadda, William Paterson University, New Jersey, Wolfgang F. Danspeckgruber, Princeton University, and Stefan Wolff, University of Bath, England, UK. Panel proposals have also been submitted to the Annual World Convention of the Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN) and the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association. Daniele Conversi (conversi@easynet.co.uk) is convening a panel for the group at next year’s UK Political Studies Association conference in Lincoln (6-8 April 2004) under the title “Theorizing ethnic conflict after September 11”. Please contact him directly with paper proposals.
Conferences
A workshop on ‘Collective Identity, Sovereignty and Minority Rights’ organised as part of the International Law and Ethics Conference Series (ILECS), will take place April 9-10, 2004, at the Center for Philosophical Education in Santa Barbara, California. Participants at this event will include, among others, Richard Falk, Larry May, Marjorie Cohn and Jovan Babic. Potential attendees should contact Aleksander Jokic (ajokic@sbceo.org) for further details.
The 9th Annual World Convention of the Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN) will be held at the Harriman Institute at Columbia University, New York, between 15-17 April 2004. The topic for this year’s World Convention is ‘Nation, Identity and Conflict’. Panels will be held on several topics, such as; the Balkans, the Baltic states, Central Europe, Russia, Ukraine, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Turkey and China, and a special section will be included with a focus on Theoretical Approaches to Nationalism. Those interested in submitting panel or paper proposals should submit to the following email address: darel@uottawa.ca and those interested in submitting exhibits and advertisements or finding out about local accommodations should contact: gnb12@columbia.edu All other information about the ASN World Convention can be obtained by visiting the ASN website: http://www.nationalities.org
The Department of Sociology of the University of Mumbai will host a three-day conference between 3-5 March 2004 on ‘Ethnic Identity and Ethnic Conflict in Multicultural Societies’. The conference will include delegates from Germany, Austria, Canada and the United States, in addition to prominent scholars from India. For more information, contact the conference coordinator: Indira Munshi, University Campus, Vidyanagari, Santacruz (E), Mumbai-400 098; phone: 652 60 91-652 63 88 (ext. 317), 652 7956 / 57; fax: 91-22-652 6893/652 8712/ 652 6378; e-mail: indiramunshi@hotmail.com
The Minda da Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard University is organising a graduate student workshop on ‘Incorporating Minorities in Europe: Nineteenth Century to the Present’, between 16-17 April 2004. Doctoral students from universities in North America and Europe writing their dissertations on topics pertaining to minorities in modern Europe are eligible to participate. The Center will provide travel and accommodation expenses for all participants. For more information, contact Lisa Eschenbach, Minda da Gunzburg Center, Harvard University, 27 Kirkland St., Cambridge MA 02138. e-mail lmeschen@fas.harvard.edu
The Southeast Asia Research Centre at the City University of Hong Kong is organizing an international conference on ‘Ethnicity in Multicultural Asia: Theory and Findings’ on 27-29 November 2003 at the City University. The conference will explore social interaction between Muslims and Han Chinese in China and South-east Asia. It will examine Islam as one of the important variables of ethnic relations in China and South-east Asia, by comparing Muslim-Han relations within China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The comparison will highlight a wide range of Muslim-Chinese relations: from peaceful co-existence to ethnic segmentation to armed conflict. Keynote speakers include Colin Mackerras and Dru Gladney. For information, contact Ms Angel Ho at Tel: (852) 21942352, Fax: (852) 21942353 or e-mail: seangel@cityu.edu.hk
Publications
Adedayo Oluwakayode Adekson (docdayo@yahoo.com) would like to announce his forthcoming volume (November 2003), entitled The Civil Society Problematique: Deconstructing Civility and Southern Nigeria’s Ethnic Radicalisation, New York, London, Routledge.
Farimah Daftary’s (daftary1@yahoo.com) recent publications include: ‘Insular Autonomy: A New Approach to Conflict Resolution in Corsica?’ In: Minority Governance in Europe, Kinga Gál (ed.). LGI / ECMI Series on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues, Vol. 1. Budapest: Open Society Institute, 2002; The Matignon Process and Insular Autonomy as a Response to Self-Determination Claims in Corsica. In: European Yearbook of Minority Issues, Volume 1, 2001/2, European Academy, Bolzano, and European Centre for Minority Issues, Flensburg. The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2003; ‘The New Slovak Language Law: Internal or External Politics?’ (co-authored with Kinga Gál). In: Nation-building, Ethnicity and Language Politics in Transition Countries, Farimah Daftary and François Grin (eds). LGI / ECMI Series on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues, Vol. 2. Budapest: Open Society Institute, 2003, and Radical Ethnic Movements in Contemporary Europe, Farimah Daftary and Stefan Troebst (eds). Oxford: Berghahn, 2003. She is also a member of the working group ‘Forms of Autonomy’ in preparation for the Second International Conference on Regional Autonomy of Ethnic Minorities, 11-13 June 2004, Uppsala, Sweden.
The Annual Report of the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) is now available online at the following URL: http://www.ecmi.de/doc/about_annual_report.html. The report details the research projects, publications, documentation and other information, along with numerous conferences, seminars and events, related to ECMI.
The Indigenous Law Journal, a new student-run periodical published out of the University of Toronto, recently published its first issue. The ILJ will provide an important avenue for those working on legal issues related to indigenous peoples in Canada and around the world. Potential contributors should consult the ILJ website at this URL: http://www.indigenouslawjournal.org/
Ilona Klimova (Ilona@cantab.net) has recently defended her Ph.D. dissertation at the Centre of International Studies at the University of Cambridge. Based largely on primary sources and fieldwork data, this dissertation describes and analyses interaction between the transnational Romani social movement and the United Nations system. The dissertation forms the basis for a forthcoming (May 2004) book Transnational Social Movements: The Romani Voice in World Politics, to be published by Ashgate.
Talip Kucukcan (kucukcan@hotmail.com) has informed us of a selection of his recent and forthcoming scholarly activities
1. (forthcoming) ‘The Making of Turkish-Muslim Diaspora in Britain: Religious Collective Identity in a Multicultural Public Sphere’, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Volume 24, No. 1, 2004.
‘State, Islam and Religious Liberty in Modern Turkey: Reconfiguration of Religion in the Public Sphere", Brigham Young University Law Review, Volume 2003, No: 2
3. "Modes of Belonging: Articulation of Turkish Youth in Diaspora" in Ayse Lahur Kirtunc, A. Silku, K. W. Rose and M. Erdem (eds.), Selves at Home, Selves in Exile, Proceedings of the Seventh Cultural Symposium, Ege University American Studies Association, ASAT, Ege University, Publication of The Faulty of Letters, Izmir,
The following conference papers have also been presented:
1. ‘Transition from Empire to Republic: Secularisation, Islam and Non-Muslims in Modern Turkey’, paper presented at International Conference on “Religious Change in Pluralistic Contexts”, organized by the Leiden Institute for the Study of Religions (LISOR) in cooperation with the Leiden Center for Asian, African and Amerindian Studies (CNWS), Leiden, The Netherlands, 28-30 August 2003
2. ‘Turkish Muslim Diaspora in Secular Europe’, paper presented at the “Workshop on Muslim Diaspora Communities”, 4-5 April 2003, University of Utah Middle East Center, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
3. ‘Religious Beliefs and Attitudes among the Turkish Youth in Diaspora’ paper presented at the 2nd Youth and Education Symposium, University of Uludag, 18-20 April 2003
Sarah Lischer (slischer@sbc.edu) recently published ‘Collateral Damage: Humanitarian Aid as a Cause of Conflict’ International Security, Vol. 28, No. 1, 2003.
Richard Mole (r.mole@ucl.ac.uk) of University College London has been awarded a USD 6,500 research grant by the Solomon Asch Center for the Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict of the University of Pennsylvania to carry out a research project entitled: ‘The Impact of Political Discourse on Attitudes Towards Subordinate Groups in Ethnically Divided Societies’ with Dr Julie Chalfin of the University of Pennsylvania and Professor Don Ellis of the University of Hartford.
Juergen Nautz (Juergen.nautz@t-online.de Juergen.nautz@univie.ac.at) of the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, and the Department of Economics, the University of Vienna, wants to organize a session for the 14th World Congress of the International Economic History Association to be held in Helsinki, in summer 2006, on the subject of ‘Ethnic, Religious .or Cultural Plurality and Economic Institution Building’. A pre-conference (2nd half of 2004 or early 2005) and a workshop are also planned. There are no geographical or temporal restrictions (19th and 20th century preferred) for papers. Theoretical and empirical papers are welcome. Applicants should focus on economic history.
The Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy (PCMLP) at Oxford University and the Institute for Information Law (IViR) of the University of Amsterdam, have just released a new study on the regulation of minority languages in broadcasting in Europe. Entitled ‘Minority-Language Related Broadcasting and Legislation in the OSCE’, edited by T. McGonagle, B. Davis Noll & M. Price. It is based on a comprehensive survey of the regulation of minority language use in the broadcasting sectors of each of the states of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The study is now available online at http://www.ivir.nl/index-english.html.
Ashley South (lerdoh@yahoo.co.uk) recently published: Roadmaps and Political Transition in Burma: the Need for Two-Way Traffic in the on-line version of the Irrawaddy Magazine on 16-17/ November, and formed the basis of his presentation to the EC-organised conference ‘Burma Day 2003: Political and humanitarian options for the international community’ (Brussels 8 October 2003).
Nikolaos Tzifakis (tzifakis@hotmail.com) has recently completed The Question of Security in Southeastern Europe: A Systemic Approach, Athens: Institute for Democracy Constantinos Karamanlis, Sideris Publications,2003, ISBN: 960-08-0292-0. I. Sideris Publications, 116 Solonos Street, 106 81 Athens, Price: € 10. The study analyses the regional implications of the recurrent crises that have troubled South-eastern Europe since the collapse of Socialist Yugoslavia. It perceives the region as representing, in security terms, a distinct international sub-system and unfolds its structure by pragmatically using the concept of the Regional Security Complex as an organising device. The book demonstrates that the Balkan region has undergone a persistent and severe ‘systemic crisis’ whose abatement will depend on: the enhancement of regional co-operation, the resolution of every inter-ethnic dispute and the successful implementation of all peace processes. The book recommends several initiatives that Greece can take within the EU structures to promote the Balkan countries’ European integration.
Peter Vermeersch (Peter.Vermeersch@soc.kuleuven.ac.be) has recently authored ‘Ethnic minority identity and movement politics: the case of the Roma in the Czech Republic and Slovakia’, in: Ethnic and Racial Studies, Vol. 26, No. 5, September 2003.
Demet Yalcin (dyalcin@ku.edu.tr) recently published ‘Democratizing with Ethnic Divisions: A Source of Conflict?’, Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 38, No.5, pp. 547-567.
Collaboration
Denise Aghanian (daghanian@yahoo.co.uk) is a final year PhD student at the University of York whose research interests focus on the Armenian Diaspora. She has carried out fieldwork among the Armenian community in Manchester, and would like to contact those with similar interests.
Best wishes,
Karl & Stefan