25th Canadian Ethnic Studies Association Conference
October 11-13 2018
Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, Banff, Alberta
Immigration, Ethnic Mobilities, and Diasporic Communities in a Transnational World
The Canadian Ethnic Studies Association (CESA) invites panel and/or paper proposals for its upcoming conference on the theme of “Immigration, Ethnic Mobilities, Diasporic Communities and Transnationalism in a Transnational World”. Departing from the traditional ethnic-studies-in-Canada perspective, the theme of this CESA conference intends to explicitly connect with transnationalism allowing reflection of current, dynamic and ongoing transformations of Canada and its ethnic community landscape in a globalized era. Constant population movements within, but also across national borders, alongside a much more extensive and complex communicational, informational and exchange network, are permanent features of a globalized world. Both population movements and intricate exchange networks signal the multiple economic, cultural, social, ideological and symbolic mobilities within and across states in transnational social spaces.
Such radical changes in the Canadian multicultural state necessitate that we recast traditional Canadian ethnic studies beyond ethnic communities to encompass (im)migrant movements, “mobilities,” not only within Canada but also over and beyond Canada. Even if it has been a myth that historians have debunked that previous immigrants to Canada rarely moved again globally, contemporary (im)migrants have complex and diverse forms of mobilities which have surpassed those of any previous imagination and have called into question not just borders, sovereignty and national states but also citizenship, belonging and the very nature of our multicultural mosaic. Furthermore, although for some mobility is a privilege that they enjoy and a tool they utilize to improve their social locations, for many mobility is forced, unwanted, and even resisted. What are the forces behind the creation of transnational social spaces, the mechanisms, routes, and processes, as well as the consequences of these radical changes in Canada and globally? How exactly do they change the Canadian multicultural mosaic, citizenship, identities and belonging? What can we expect of the 21st century with respect to such phenomena? Within this larger problematic, CESA invites theoretical and empirically-based papers, fully formed panels or presentations in other formats, addressing, from a variety of disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspectives, more specific topics such as:
- The future of immigration, ethnic studies, and multiculturalism
- Intersections of immigration and race, class and gender
- Voluntary and forced mobilities: Refugees and the Canadian state
- Youth, ethnicity, and identity in multicultural Canada
- Ethnic communities, global diasporas and transnationalism in Canada
- “Homelands”: Memories, reconstructions, returns and directions forward
- Citizenship and belonging in transnational spaces
- Gender, class, and ethnic intersections in transnationalism
- The future of transnational and ethnic mobilities in an unsettled world
Conference organizers welcome proposals for papers, panels, roundtables, posters and video presentations that address any of these and other related topics. Organizers invite submissions from a variety of perspectives, academic disciplines, and areas of study. We will endeavour to make a decision shortly after the abstract is received in order to facilitate those who need verification of their acceptance for travel funding purposes at their own institutions.
Who should attend? In addition to members of the Canadian Ethnic Studies Association, the conference will be relevant to a wide range of people interested in history, ethnicity, race, immigration and citizenship issues in Canada and internationally. University professors, graduate students, other researchers and teachers; policymakers and civil servants from all levels of government; those who work in various non-governmental organizations, as well as those involved as frontline workers delivering various kinds of social services – all of these will find that this conference offers them worthwhile information, challenging critical perspectives, and an opportunity to network and discuss important issues with people from across the country and from a variety of academic disciplines and institutional perspectives. A special issue of the Canadian Ethnic Studies Journal will showcase selected papers from the conference. To be considered for publication, papers must be submitted no later than four weeks after the conference. Papers must be written in accordance with the journal’s guidelines.All abstracts should be no longer than 250 words and will be refereed by the CESA Program Committee. Individual conference presentations will normally be 20 minutes in length, and conference sessions will be 90 minutes. Abstracts should be directed electronically to cesa@ucalgary.ca.
CESA will provide a $600 subsidy for conference presenters who stay at the Banff Springs Hotel. This subsidy will be provided for the first 50 presenters who register for the conference.
Please visit our new website: http://www.cesa-scee.ca for more information.
The deadline for submission of proposals for papers, sessions, panels, roundtables, and poster presentations is March 31st, 2018.