Indigenous, Immigrant, Migrant Labour & Globalization

Indigenous, Immigrant, Migrant Labour & Globalization Conference

British Columbia, Canada, June 6 – 8, 2008

A joint conference sponsored by the Pacific Northwest Labor History Association and the Labor and Working Class History Association Simon Fraser University at Harbour Centre Downtown Campus 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC. Immigrants and indigenous communities throughout North America made their own labour and political landscapes as they adjusted to changing economic, colonial and cultural contexts. This conference will connect these histories with contemporary globalization, and consider how the labour movement can respond to the new demands of workers in shifting political and geographical locations. For more information see the conference website: http://www.pnlha.org or contact Joey Hartman, pnlha@shaw.ca or Colleen O’Neill at colleen.oneill@usu.edu.

Sponsored by the SFU Centre for Labour Studies.

Colleen O’Neill

Email: colleen.oneill@usu.edu

Visit the website at http://www.pnlha.org

MA Migration Studies, Univ of Kent at Brussels

MA in Migration Studies, University of Kent at Brussels, a master’s program at the interdiscplinary postgraduate campus of the University of Kent at Brussels, investigates migration within an interdiscplinary context. It is a one-year course (two terms of coursework and a dissertation) with entry to the program either in September or in January.

The course’s core modules investigate the broad diversity of migrants and migration, both thematically (e.g. trafficking and smuggling, forced migrants including IDPs, asylum-seekers and refugees, family unification, labor migration, etc.) as well as theoretically (e.g. theories of migration, theories of integration, theories of citizenship and of belonging/participation).

Understanding different actors’ perspectives is emphasized throughout. In specialist modules, particular attention is paid to immigrant integration, citizenship and national identity as well as migration law and the particular challenges facing forced migrants. A key aspect of the program consists of integration with related fields; as part of their program, students may select modules such as International Human Rights Law, Theories of International Conflict, Politics of International Development or Development Economics.

They thereby craft (in consultation with the program convenor) a Migration Studies program tailored specifically to their interests. Other MA and LLM degrees, as well as a PhD in Migration Studies, Law, Conflict Analysis or International Relations can also be pursued at UKB. For more information or to apply, go to: http://www.kent.ac.uk/brussels or contact mailto:bsis@kent.ac.uk
———
Amanda Klekowski von Koppenfels, Ph.D.
Lecturer
Migration Studies

University of Kent at Brussels
Tel: + 32 2 641 1721
Tel: + 32 2 641 1725 (direct line)
Fax: + 32 2 641 1720
Advanced International Studies in the Capital of Europe
http://www.kent.ac.uk/brussels

The Challenges of Agrarian Transition in Southeast Asia

Call for participants: Dissertation workshop THE CHALLENGES OF AGRARIAN TRANSITION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA, Los Banos, The Philippines

May 30-June 1, 2008

ChATSEA, directed by
Chaire de recherche du Canada en études asiatiques
Canada Chair of Asian Research
Université de MontréalThe Challenges of Agrarian Transition in Southeast Asia (ChATSEA) project and the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) invite applications from Masters and Doctoral students to participate in an interdisciplinary Dissertation Workshop.THE WORKSHOP
This workshop is intended for masters and doctoral students from any university whose dissertation projects engage with agrarian transitions in Southeast Asia. The purpose of the workshop is to encourage and assist post-graduate students who are just beginning work on these issues, as well as those who are further along in their projects. The format will involve intensive, collegial and open group discussion of the individual student projects, and with the theoretical and methodological issues
which they raise.The workshop will take place over three days in the SEARCA facilities, in Los Banos (Laguna, Philippines).

The on-site costs of the workshop, meals and accommodations, will all be covered by SEARCA and ChATSEA. There will also be small travel grants available for regional flights to Manila.

AGRARIAN TRANSITIONS
Over the last twenty years, the literature on agrarian and rural relations has been marked by an explosion of innovative theoretical approaches, many of which are inspired by the analytical challenges posed by globalization. New research on diverse themes such as space and geography, identity, commodity chains, gender, agro-food systems, class, power and the production of knowledge, regulation and certification (both private and public), political ecology and various kinds of network theory, have brought about dramatic shifts in the way that central terms such as rural, community, market, nature, state, and development are understood.
Southeast Asia has been a key region for innovative theoretical insight and practical engagement with agrarian studies.

At least six sets of processes at the core of the agrarian transition may be identified. These are:
1) agricultural intensification and territorial expansion;
2) increasing integration of production into market-based systems of exchange;
3) accelerating processes of urbanisation and industrialisation;
4) heightened mobility of populations both within and across national borders;
5) intensification of regulation, as new forms of private, state and supra-state power are developed and formalized to govern agricultural production and exchange relationships;
6) processes of environmental change that modify the relationship
between society and nature to reflect new human impacts and new
valuations of resources.

This framework serves as the conceptual basis for the broader ChATSEA project and will aid in the discussions of the research proposals and projects at the workshop.

FACILITATORS
The Dissertation workshop will be facilitated by faculty resource persons drawn from the ChATSEA project. These will include: Philip Hirsch (University of Sydney), Philip Kelly (York University), Michael Leaf (University of British Columbia), Tania Li (University of Toronto), Pham Van Cu (Hanoi University of Sciences), Jonathan Rigg (University of Durham), Peter Vandergeest (York University), Chusak Wittayapak (Chiang Mai University), Doracie Zoleta-Nantes (University of the Philippines).

ELIGIBILITY
Applicants should be enrolled full time in a masters or doctoral program. They must have drafted a dissertation research proposal, although it may not yet be approved by their committees. Applicants will need to prepare materials in advance of the meeting, namely reading and sending commentaries and questions on the proposals of other participants, to establish the basis for productive exchange.

HOW TO APPLY
Applications consist of three items:
1. A current curriculum vitae.
2. An 8 to 10 page double spaced dissertation proposal. Alternatively,
if the work is well underway, an 8 to 10 page double spaced
description of the specific issues being addressed, the intellectual
approach, and the materials being studied. For candidates in the
thesis write-up stage, a chapter can be submitted but should be
supplemented by a short description of the whole thesis project to
allow readers to grasp the context of your work.
3. Any requests for travel funding with a budget proposal (up to CAD
$400 may be available for student travel costs).

Workshop participants will be selected on the content of the submitted projects, the potential for useful exchanges among them, and the benefits of including a range of disciplinary approaches and intellectual traditions. Acceptance notes will be sent to applicants by March 15, 2008.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 28 February 2008
Application materials should be sent to the ChATSEA coordinators by email,
losbanosworkshop@yahoo.com

For further information:
* concerning the workshop and eligibility: please contact Keith Barney
(kbarney@yorku.ca)
* concerning the ChATSEA agrarian transitions project: please visit their
official website
* concerning SEARCA: please visit their official website

Keith D. Barney
Doctoral Candidate, Department of Geography
York University, Toronto, Canada
http://www.yorku.ca/geograph/GraduateProgrammes/Graduate%
20Students/PHD/barney.html

NACBS Panel: British Emigration

I am hoping to put together a panel on British emigration for the North American Conference on British Studies’ annual conference in Cincinnati in October 2008 (http://research.yale.edu/british/nacbs2008cfp.php). My paper would be on popular perceptions of emigration in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century Britain, and I am in need of two more panellists and a discussant/respondent. If you are interested, please email me at AJL64@CAM.AC.UK.

Amy Lloyd – Doctoral Student, University of Cambridge

Commodities of Empire International Workshop 2008

Commodities in evolution: historical change in different ages of globalisation: 1800-2000

The 2nd Annual Workshop of the Commodities of Empire project – Council Room, the British Academy, London, 11 – 12 September 2008

First Call for Papers: Please submit an abstract of 300 words by 14 March 2008 to:

Dr Jonathan Curry-Machado, Coordinator, Commodities of Empire project: j.currymachado@londonmet.ac.uk

The workshop will explore the long-term evolution of commodities in the modern era, particularly from the perspectives of regions subjected to colonial rule in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. While commodity chains were a major factor in promoting interrelations between different parts of the world, this focus on the world outside Europe and North America is designed to question dominant periodisations of ‘globalisation’. Even when not identified purely with near contemporary processes, many accounts still tend to privilege late nineteenth century economic convergence between the nation states of the North Atlantic as the most significant benchmark of a ‘globalising’ world.

That modes and areas of production as well as patterns and places of consumption of commodities such as tea, coffee, tobacco, sugar and cochineal underwent radical transformation during this period is not in doubt. However, few accounts have focused on these changes over the longue duree, which would open up exciting possibilities of identifying, comparing and assessing the various mechanisms, both local and international, that historically produced the major shifts. This may also offer the promise of a more refined periodisation of ‘globalisation’, even though we need perhaps to bear in mind that commodities, like other interconnecting forces, were always uneven and limited in their ‘globalising’ capacities and that they generated resistance, conflicts and inequalities as well as convergence.

The workshop will critically explore the following propositions:

* How significant were changes in political regimes (e.g. from colonial to postcolonial) in the evolution of commodity chains between 1800 and 2000?

* How far did the movement of commodities help bring about changes in the technological and infrastructural environment?

* What was the ecological and social impact (e.g. in terms of the distribution of wealth) of export crops over the long term?

* What factors promoted changes in the perception of, and demand for, particular commodities?

* What promoted and how significant were changes in labour regimes?

* Can local experiences and changing histories of commodities help us towards a more refined periodisation of ‘globalisation’?

A British Academy Research Project, Commodities of Empire is a collaboration between the Caribbean Studies Centre at London Metropolitan University and the Ferguson Centre for African and Asian Studies at the Open University. Further details can be found on the project website, at: www.open.ac.uk/Arts/ferguson-centre/commodities-of-empire.

International Day of Solidarity with Migrants

In 1997, Filipino and other Asian migrant organizations began celebrating and promoting the 18th December as the International Day of Solidarity with Migrants. This date was choosen because it was on 18th December 1990 that the UN adopted the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrants Workers and Members of Their Families.

Building on this initiative, December 18 – with support from Migrant Rights International and the Steering Committee for the Global Campaign for Ratification of the International Convention on Migrants’ Rights and many other organizations – began late 1999 campaigning online for the official UN designation of an International Migrant’s Day, which was finally proclaimed on December 4th, 2000.

http://www.december18.net/web/general/start.php

Economic Flexibility and Social Stability in the Age of Globalization

*Deadline extended to March 15, 2008*

The Race, Ethnicity and Immigration Network invites proposals for papers or panels at next year’s annual meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) in Costa Rica. This year’s meeting theme is Economic Flexibility and Social Stability in the Age of Globalization. The current president, Michael Piore, seeks to highlight Latin America’s importance in the global economy, while expanding SASE’s reach to less dominant regions of the world.

The meeting will take place from July 21-23, 2008. The paper proposal deadline is March 15, 2008. The network invites proposals for papers, panels, and authors meet critics sessions that address the processes, patterns, and changes related to socio-economic aspects of race, ethnicity, and immigration in all parts of the world, and from different historical eras. It seeks to develop a forum for theory and research on the study of these processes, and welcomes research from diverse disciplinary, theoretical, and methodological perspectives.

Proposals will be accepted in English and Spanish. A few sessions in the network may also be conducted in Spanish. Please visit the SASE website for more information about the meeting and to submit a paper or session proposal online. Maritsa Poros and David Bartram will be happy to answer any questions that you may have about the network and meeting. Hope to see you in Costa Rica!

Website: www.sase.org
Maritsa V. Poros David Bartram
City College of New York, USA Univ. of Leicester, UK
+1.212.650.5849 +44.116.252.2724
mporos@ccny.cuny.edu d.bartram@le.ac.uk

NORFACE Transnational Programme on Migration

Call for Proposals

NORFACE will launch a call for proposals in its Transnational Research Programme with the theme ‘Migration in Europe – social, economic, cultural and policy dynamics‘. The call will be officially launched in April 2008.

The budget of the call will be at least 20 million €. NORFACE aims to fund trans-European research projects in the scope of 500.000 – 4 million € and will seek a balance of smaller and a limited number of large projects. The funded projects should as a minimum include research teams in three different NORFACE  countries. Researchers from countries from where migration to Europe originates can be included in the research teams. The maximum duration of the funded projects is 48 months.

The call will be implemented in two stages with the deadline for outline proposals set to 10th September 2008.