Migration and Citizenship Research Group @ Edinburgh: Twitter Launch and Seminar Series

we’re pleased to let you know that MCRG is now on Twitter @EdinburghMCRG. We’re going to be using Twitter for the purposes of the Migration & Citizenship Digest which we used to send out by email, in other words to bring to your attention any upcoming seminars, conferences, jobs and training opportunities in the field of migration and citizenship. For those who are not on twitter, we will send an email to the MCRG list every week with a link to our twitter webpage so you can view all our posts from that week. For those who are on twitter, please follow us so that we can follow you: we will be happy to retweet any relevant posts. Here is the link: https://twitter.com/EdinburghMCRG

Secondly, we would like to invite all MCRG members to consider giving a paper in our seminar series either later this semester or next semester. We welcome any seminar proposal relating to completed or ongoing research. If you are interested, please reply to mcrg@ed.ac.uk with some prospective dates which would work for you, a provisional title and a few lines about the proposed topic. For information, we are aiming to hold our seminars on Tuesday lunchtimes (we can be flexible if this doesn’t work for you though).

Last but not least, don’t forget to come along tomorrow to our first seminar of the semester, featuring Scottish Government statistician Celia Macintyre. This will be essential for anyone interested in migration flows to and within Scotland:

Understanding migration in Scotland—origin destination data and micro data in the 2011 census, a guide for potential users
30 Sept. 2014, Chrystal Macmillan Building, 15a George Square, Seminar room 5, 12:30-14:00pm

We look forward to seeing many of you tomorrow.

Best,
Alistair and Sophia

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CFP: Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN) 20th Annual World Convention, 23-15 April 2015

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Seminar: Empire, Industry and Class, 25 September 2014

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‘Agency in Post-Conflict Societies: Conference and Exhibition’

The Voices of Post-Conflict Project is delighted to invite all interested parties to attend our conference and exhibition, held in two parts in Edinburgh from September 30^th to October 10^th.

The Voices of Post-Conflict Project is an Edinburgh University student-led initiative, aiming to raise awareness about the experiences of women and young people in the aftermath of war. Our purpose is to facilitate a space where the NGO sector, academics and the general public can engage with each other through our conference ‘Agency in Post-Conflict Societies – Perspectives on Issues of Gender and Agency for Women and Young People’.

This will be a multi-disciplinary platform to shed a light on experiences of post-conflict situations, and to inspire new perspectives on initiatives for improving the agency of individuals in conflict and its aftermath.

To read more about the project and to find more details about our specific events, please visit our websites,

voicesofpostconflict.wordpress.com

http://www.sociology.ed.ac.uk/events/other_events/2014_2015/agency_in_post-conflict_societies_conference_and_exhibition

 

For any questions, please contact us at voicesofpostconflict@gmail.com.

 

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Discussion: Europe’s Stateless Nations at a Crossroad, 20 September 2014

Free event, all welcome.

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Book Launch: Tom Nairn: Old Nations, Auld Enemies, New Times, 6pm 15th September 2014

Luath Press is pleased to invite you to the launch of

Tom Nairn: Old Nations, Auld Enemies, New Times.
Selected Essays.

at Martin Hall, New College, 1 Mound Place, Edinburgh, EH1 2LU on
Monday 15th September at 6.00pm for 6.30pm to 8.30pm, followed by a reception until 9pm. Wine and light refreshments will be served.

‘Tom Nairn has been the most forceful and original mind to confront, de-mask and anatomise the British state.’ Neal Asherson, London Review of Books

Tom Nairn will make a rare public appearance at the launch of this expansive collection of his provocative and influential work. The event will be chaired by editors Jamie Maxwell and Pete Ramand. Speakers will include, Anthony Barnett, Isobel Lindsay and Tariq Ali followed by time for Q&A, comments and discussion.

Entry is free but places are strictly limited. Please click here for more information and to reserve your place online, or alternatively call 0131 225 4326.

A map showing New College can be found here (enter through main entrance on Mound Place and proceed to doorway on right hand side courtyard opposite John Knox statue).

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SEMINAR AND WORKSHOP: Rachel Hutchins on “Teaching the Nation”

Rachel Hutchins (http://idea-udl.org/members/hutchins/ ) will be presenting a seminar on 24^th September co-sponsored by Sociology and Edinburgh NANI. Rachel does some very interesting work using historic school textbooks as a key resource in examining nation/state- building (see abstract below)

Rachel has also very kindly agreed to hold an informal PG/Staff workshop on the afternoon of the 24^th (14.00, CMB seminar room 3 – on the ground floor) to which all interested PG students and staff are very cordially invited. It will prove a useful and interesting opportunity to think about HOW we go about studying nations and nationalism. It will also be an occasion to meet and welcome some of the new MSc/PhD students arriving in Edinburgh to study all things national.

 

24th September

RESEARCH SEMINAR: 11am, 6th Floor Common Room CMB, 15a George Square.

WORKSHOP: 2pm,  Seminar Room 3, Ground Floor, CMB, 15a George Square.

 

RACHEL HUTCHINS: Teaching the Nation: Nationalism and National Identity in History Education

 

History education provides an official view of national identity and, as such, frequently generates controversy well beyond the educational establishment. National identity is not – as nationalists often purport – fixed and eternal, but is continually redefined. This redefinition usually involves renegotiation between proponents of competing visions of who is part of the nation and which ideologies and values reflect the community’s spirit and best interest. History curricula and textbooks are a prime site of such renegotiations. Studying these educational materials and the debates surrounding them in different countries and over time allow insight into how and why conceptions of national identity change and how this process perpetuates national attachment.

This paper examines national history curricula and textbooks from France and the United States over the past 30 years. These countries have experienced comparable demographic and cultural shifts since the 1960s, resulting in intense public debate over national identity. In both cases, this paper shows, historical narratives have been expanded to include more women and ethnic minorities while reaffirming unity via a renewed emphasis on traditional national symbols and ideology.

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Series Launch: iScotland and the EU, 3-5 pm 9 September 2014

Invitation: The Buchanan Institute launches paper series on an independent Scotland’s relationship with the EU

If Scotland votes ‘Yes’ on 18 Sept 2014, what kind of relationship would it have with the rest of Europe?
An introduction to the paper series “An Independent Scotland’s Relationship with the European Union”, followed by a networking reception.

Tuesday 9 September 3pm-5pm
7 Bristo Square, LT 1

Paper titles:
Can an Independent Scotland join the EU?
The Practical Challenges of EU Membership
Economics of Independence
Strategic Security Relations of an Independent Scotland
Lessons from the Republic of Ireland

The event will include an overview of the papers, covering Q&A with authors and an interactive referendum discussion.
To book your place, please visit http://www.thebuchananinstitute.com/scotland-and-the-eu.html

——

The Buchanan Institute is Edinburgh’s first and Scotland’s only student-led think tank.
It aims to fundamentally change how students engage with the public sphere. Rather than merely protesting against what is wrong, students can, through Buchanan, put forward their own alternatives.

Join us at fb.com/groups/BuchananInstitute
Follow us On Twitter @BuchananInst
Like our page fb.com/TheBuchananInstitute

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India Day Celebration, University of Edinburgh, 2 October 2014

You are warmly invited to the India Day celebration at the University of Edinburgh on Thursday 2nd October 2014.

The Edinburgh India Institute’s inaugural conference in May this year provided a great opportunity to celebrate the University of Edinburgh’s longstanding collaborations with several higher education institutions across India and to develop new partnerships.

One of the outcomes of the conference was the establishment of the ‘India Day’ by the Principal and Vice Chancellor Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea to mark our continuing commitment and engagements with India. The India Day will be celebrated on 2nd of October every year to coincide with the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi.

We are indeed honoured to have Dr Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, to deliver the inaugural India Day lecture titled “India Yesterday, India Today”.

Details: India Day Celebration (detailed programme will follow)
Venue: McEwan Hall, Bristo Square, The University of Edinburgh
Date/time: Thursday, 2 October 2014, 2.00-4.00pm

Places are free but you need to register through the Eventbrite at:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/india-day-lecture-by-gopal-krishna-gandhi-tickets-12913930915

We look forward to welcoming you to the above event.

Edinburgh India Institute
The University of Edinburgh

***********************

Biography – Dr Gopalkrishna Gandhi

Dr Gopalkrishna Gandhi (b.1945) is a former civil servant and has been Secretary to the Governor of Tamil Nadu, South India, Secretary to the Vice President of India and Secretary to the President of India.

He was invited to set up, as its first Director, the Nehru Centre of the High Commission of India, London, which he headed for four years (1992-1996). The Centre is a forum for Indo-British mutuality in the cultural, literary and academic fields.

Dr Gandhi was India’s High Commissioner to South Africa (1996-1997), India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka (2000 to 2002) and Ambassador to Norway and Iceland (2002 to 2004).

He was the Governor of West Bengal from 2004 to 2009.

He has is the author of Refuge (Ravi Dayal, 1987), a novel on the subject of Indian Tamil plantation labourers in Sri Lanka and a play in English verse, Dara Shukoh (Banyan, 1993) on the life of Emperor Shah Jahan’s eldest son and has compiled The Oxford India Gandhi – Essential Writings (Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2007).

The University of Natal, South Africa, conferred a Doctorate of Laws honoris causa on him in 1999, and the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, a Doctorate of Letters honoris causa in 2001.

Lectures given by him include the Alan Paton Memorial Lecture at Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, in 1997, the Nehru Memorial Lecture in London, 2010, the Kamala Lecture, Kolkata, 2012, the Maulana Azad Memorial Lecture, New Delhi, 2014, the Ambedkar Memorial Lecture, New Delhi, 2014 and the Bernard Soyza Memorial Lecture, Colombo, 2014.

Dr Gandhi and his ornithologist wife Tara have two daughters and two grand-daughters. Having been known all his life, principally, as a grandson (of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi) he finds singular relief in being best described now as a grandfather.

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CFP: Decolonisation in the Digital Age, Centre of Canadian Studies, University of Edinburgh

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