SDCQ 2012 - International Workshop on Super-diversity: Comparative Questions

International Workshop at the Max-Planck-Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity
Call for Papers:
Super-diversity: Comparative Questions
An International Workshop, 27-28th September 2012
Abstract Deadline: 30th March 2012
The notion of super-diversity underlines a call to re-evaluate concepts and policies surrounding diversity by way of moving beyond an ethno-focal understanding of diversity and adopting a multi-dimensional approach. In this two day workshop, participants will explore how this notion has been operationalised in empirical research on urban areas around the world.
Assuming that processes and manifestations of super-diversity are varied in different contexts, one goal of the workshop is to chart a variety of (new?) forms of urban diversity as well as to assess the impacts of these forms for urban social contexts. The Workshop’s emphasis will be on developing a global comparative perspective on the various constellations and ways of studying super-diversity in cities around the world. The term itself will also be interrogated with regard to its usefulness, or not, in working towards better understandings of contemporary urban settings and migration dynamics.
Questions to be posed at the workshop include:
? What are the links between changing migration patterns and changing patterns of super-diversity?
? Are there other aspects of social and spatial differentiation that ought to be part of how we understand migration-driven urban diversity?
? What are the consequences of applying a super-diversity lens to the challenges of social and economic integration of migrants in cities?
? How can super-diversity variables such as new migration flows, legal statuses and labour market trajectories be better conceptualised for social science research?
? What are the most suitable approaches to, and methods for, studying super-diversity?
The workshop ‘Super-diversity: Comparative Questions’ will take place at the Max-Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity (MPI-MMG) in Göttingen, Germany on 27-28th September 2012.
Abstracts of no more than 300 words addressing these or similar questions should be sent to Fran Meissner (meissner-AT-mmg.mpg.de ) by the 30th March 2012 along with a short (max. 1 page) academic CV. Selection of papers will be completed, and contributors notified, by 15 April 2012.
Full papers (of max. 8000 words) are to be circulated amongst participants by the 6th September 2012.
The expressed aim of the workshop is to compile outstanding papers in an edited volume that will be a prime reference on global, comparative patterns of super-diversity. We particularly encourage submissions by researchers whose work is located in cities in the global south and other non-European cities.
For accepted participants who are unable to obtain their own travel funding, MPI-MMG will cover travel expenses and accommodation.
Max-Planck-Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity
/ Max-Planck-Institut zur Erforschung multireligiöser und multiethnischer Gesellschaften
Hermann-Föge-Weg 11, D-37073 Göttingen, Germany
tel. +49/0 551 4956-0, fax +49/0 551 4956-111, www.mmg.mpg.de