Building Inclusive Nations in the Age of Migration

Globalization is often associated with ideas of a borderless world, in which information, capital, goods and, to a lesser extent, people move freely across national borders. Not surprisingly, cosmopolitan and transnational paradigms have gained momentum, challenging the nation-state as something historically obsolete and politically questionable. Yet, despite important insights from this scholarship, social and political life remains largely structured by discourses, practices, and institutions articulated at the national scale. The recent events in Paris and Copenhagen demonstrate the difficulties and dangers of extremism and intolerance, and raise difficult questions about the exclusionary effects of nationalism. However, at the same time, they also illustrate the ability and desire of people to get together and unite under the emotional and symbolic banner of the nation. Nevertheless, the question remains to what extent the nation can be seen as a way to help bridge differences and create inclusion, and, if so, how best to do this in the context of increasingly diverse societies.

In order to reflect on this key question, LUNN will convene on 24 September 2015 a one-day workshop titled ‘Building Inclusive Nations in the Age of Migration’. The workshop will see the presentations of prominent academics in the morning (starting at 11am, so to allow time for participants to reach Loughborough) and a series of interventions by relevant stakeholders in the afternoon. This format will help identify reciprocal expectations and opportunities of collaboration. The aim is that these exchanges might lead to future biddings for joined research proposals, in which academic and non-academic partners can work together to address the question of how to create plural, inclusive nations.

Schedule:

• 11:00am – 11:05am: Welcoming address
• 11:05am – 12:30am Academic presentations:
  • Professor Eric Kaufmann (Birkbeck College, University of London)
  • Professor Jonathan Hearn (Edinburgh University)
  • Professor Nira Yuval-Davis and Dr Georgie Wemyss (University of East London)
  • Professor Michael Billig (Loughborough University) tbc
• 12:30am – 1:30pm Lunch
• 1:30pm – 2:30 pm Stakeholders presentations:
  • Equality and Human Rights Commission – Richard Keyte, Head of Research
  • Migrants’ Rights Network – Don Flynn, Director
  • Institute for Public Policy Research – Marley Morris, Researcher
  • Accord Coalition – Paul Pettinger, Coordinator
  • East Midlands Strategic Migration Partnership – Sarah Short, Lead Officer
• 2:30pm – 3:00pm Coffee break
• 3:00pm – 4:00pm Stakeholders presentations:
  • Leicester City Council, Equalities – Irene Kszyk, Head
  • Nottingham City Council, Equality and Diversity – Adisa Djan, Consultant
  • Birmingham City Council, Equalities, Community Safety and
  • Cohesion – Richard Browne, Assistant
  • The Race Equality Centre – Iris Lightfoote, Head