Looking back at the ‘Moreno Question’

In the latest Scottish Government Yearbook Archive blog, Luis Moreno looks back at the beginnings of his interest in comparing Catalonia and Scotland and ‘that’ question. You can read the blog here.

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NEW: Nazioni e Regioni, Number 4 now available!

Disponibile on-line in versione PDF il quarto numero di Nazioni e Regioni, la rivista di studi e ricerche sulla comunità immaginata editata da Caratteri Mobili e patrocinata dai Dipartimenti di Scienze Politiche e FLESS dell’Università degli Studi di Bari. Questo quarto numero, che chiude i primi due anni di attività del progetto, presenta una serie di novità come il nuovo organigramma redazionale e l’inserimento di una nuova sezione, che si affiancherà a quelle già esistenti di Studi e Recensioni, dedicata alle Rassegne.

In questo numero troverete i saggi di Sergej Abašin (Nazioni e postcolonialismo in Asia Centrale vent’anni dopo: ripensare le categorie di analisi e le categorie della prassi), Leyre Arrieta Alberdi (Radio Euzkadi, l’emittente clandestina basca), Moira Hulme, Rob Hulme e Keith Faulks (La politica del locale. Valori nazionali e politica sociale in Scozia), Darius Staliunas (La trasformazione di una città multietnica nella capitale di una na- zione: i lituani e Vilnius nella Russia tardoimperiale) e Margherita Sulas (La rivolta della bandiera: gli incidenti per Trieste italiana del novembre 1953). Completano questo nuovo numero, la Rassegna di Andrea Geniola (Lo studio e l’interpretazione del regionalismo franchista. Un settore di ricerca in progress, 2013-2014) e le Recensioni di Giulia Medas, Adriano Cirulli, Marco Pérez e Gianluca Scroccu.

Ricordiamo a coloro che volessero inviare saggi e proposte che il Cfp per il numero 5 (2015) resta aperto fino al 28 febbraio 2015 e che il prossimo numero uscirà a giugno del nuovo anno. Cogliamo anche l’occasione per dare pubblicamente il benvenuto ai nuovi redattori (Marco Pérez, Gianluca Scroccu e Marco Stolfo) e facciamo gli auguri di buon lavoro a Francesca Zantedeschi per il suo nuovo ruolo di Caporedattrice.

Nazioni e Regioni – Studi e ricerche sulla comunità immaginata
www.nazionieregioni.it
nazionieregioni@gmail.it
@Nazionieregioni

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Scholarship: Canada Memorial Foundation, Deadline: 18 January 215

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Lecture: Professor Nicola McEwen, ‘Independence and Interdependence’, University of Edinburgh, 11 February 2015

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CFP: ‘State Formation and Social Integration’, King’s College, London, 20 March 2015

State formation and social integration: origins and consequences

In the context of the BISA Postgraduate Network annual conference (to be held on the 30th March 2015, at King’s College, London), the BISA Historical Sociology Working Group is seeking paper proposals:

As much as social integration and state formation lie at the heart of Historical Sociology (HS), international conflict and international cooperation define International Relations (IR). Thus, in essence, Historical Sociology in International Relations (HSIR) seeks to account for social change that is both ‘domestic’ and ‘international’. Today, separatist movements in Scotland, irredentist movements in Ukraine, civil war and insurgencies in Iraq and Syria, and novel forms of security governance across the globe typify the subject matter of HSIR.

To further explore the unique insights HS brings to IR, this panel will focus on contemporary changes in social order, and prospects thereof. Under the theme “state formation and social integration”, we welcome submissions of proposals that address, but are not limited to, one of the following topics:

Contemporary state formation
Contemporary social integration and identity formation
Contemporary forms of national and regional integration and disintegration
Contemporary forms of global governance and statist transnationalism

Proposals should be sent to Olivier Lewis at OL36@st-andrews.ac.uk by January 21, 2015. (Notification of acceptance: January 30, 2015)

N.B.: BISA PGN is offering travel/accommodation funding to attend the conference. For further information, see: http://www.bisapgn.com/events

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CFP: Trans-boundary Flows, Power and Legitimation in Africa and Beyond, University of Edinburgh, 28-29 May 2015

University of Edinburgh
Centre of African Studies Annual Conference
with New Political Topographies Project/Politics and international Relations (PIR)

New Political Topographies: Trans-boundary Flows, Power and Legitimation in Africa and Beyond

28-29 May 2015

Call for Papers

This conference examines how the proliferation of new political actors and/or new modes of political action have affected political order in Africa and beyond. It explores how new trans-boundary connections, particularly those related to transnational, corporate, non-governmental (NGOs) and para-statal actors, shape political topographies: What new topographies of power and authority have they cultivated at local, national and transnational levels? How ‘new’ are these developments in practice? How is legitimacy constructed and contested under these conditions? How do these developments shape our understanding about statehood in ‘most of the world’ (Chatterjee 2004)?

The vibrant debates that surround new political topographies in Africa are the springboard for this workshop. We will be building on explorations of re-spacing, authority and governance beyond the state such as Callaghy et al. (2001), Mbembe (2002), Hansen/Stepputat (2006), Nugent/Engel (2010), Abrahamsen/Williams (2010), Hönke (2010) and Lund (2006), and relate it to cutting-edge work on transnationalised sites in a range of other regional contexts. We will also engage with new work in international political sociology and geography tackling method(ologies) for mapping emerging political topographies. Together, these various strands provide the basis for thinking through new political topographies from Africa/’most of the world’ and the implications of such thinking for a better understanding to the future of global politics.

Organiser: Jana Hönke, with Kathy Dodworth (University of Edinburgh)
Keynote: Rita Abrahamsen (University of Ottawa)

If you are interested in presenting a paper, please send a title and abstract to african.studies@ed.ac.uk by 30 January 2015. For a number of presenters we will be able to offer support for travel and accommodation.

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Seminar: ‘Trudeau, Thatcher and the Fight for Canada’s Constitution – and Lessons for Scotland’, University of Edinburgh, 11 December, 12:30-14:00

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Seminar: Tibetan refugees in Dharamsala, University of Edinburgh, 11 December, 4-5:30 pm

You are warmly invited to the final research seminar this semester organised by the Centre for South Asian Studies at Edinburgh University
DITCH THE OLD HANDCUFFS, DIG THE NEW I-PODS: Cosmopolitan practices, prison legacies and the allure of ‘forgetting’ among Tibetan refugees in Dharamsala

Speaker: ATREYEE SEN (University of Manchester)
Date: Thursday 11th December 2014
Venue: Conference Room, David Hume Tower
Time: 4-5.30pm
Further details here: http://www.csas.ed.ac.uk/events/seminar_series/2014_2015/ditch_the_old_handcuffs,_dig_the_new_i-pods

We will convene afterwards for drinks in the Library Bar, Teviot Row
ALL ARE WELCOME. We hope to see you there for this final seminar of the semester.

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PhD Studentships in Native American Studies, University of Hull, Deadline: 2 February 2015

The University of Hull is offering the following fully funded doctoral awards in aspects of Native American history over three years. The topics are set out within the links but there is flexibility in terms of topic for the right candidate. The closing date is 2nd February 2015. It is worth noting that these projects benefit from close associations with WISE, the multiple award-winning Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation http://www2.hull.ac.uk/fass/wise.aspx

History

Native American Slaveholding and Biracial Alliance Amongst Native American Indian and African Americans 1500-Present
Professor Joy Porter, Professor John Oldfield
The Relationship between Conflict and Slavery
Professor Kevin Bales, Professor John Oldfield
Towards the risk society? Cross-cultural encounters and the diffusion of scientific systems of insurance and risk management since 1800
Professor Robin Pearson, Professor Greg Bankoff
Trees in Indigenous America in Historical and Biological Context
Professor Joy Porter, Professor Roland Ennos

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Workshop: ‘What is a Post-conflict Society?’, University of Edinburgh, 9 December, 5:30 pm

‘The Voices of Post-Conflict Project is hosting a policy-workshop on December 9th titled ‘What is a Post-Conflict Society – the power and implications of naming, during and after war’, including a screening of the film IMPUNITY and introductory talk by Dr Christine Bell and Dr Gerhard Anders to spark discussion.

To register for this event, please go to https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/policy-workshop-what-is-a-post-conflict-society-tickets-14599853555.

Following the success of the conference ‘Agency in Post-Conflict Societies’, we are now in the process of establishing the Voices of Post-Conflict network, which would entail the organising of 4 workshops throughout the year on topics related to conflict and post-conflict societies. (More information about the project can be found on our website: http://voicesofpostconflict.wordpress.com/)

This first event- held on the day before the UN Day of Human Rights- will explore issues related to labels and will debate who hold the power to create these categories during and after war. We will problematize what a post-conflict society is, discuss other terms related to war such as perpetrators and victims, and shed light on the implications that these labels have in terms of intervention, support and development.

This event will start off with a screening of the movie IMPUNITY, using Colombia as an example of the unfixedness of conflict and peacetime.

After the movie, Dr. Gerhard Anders, Programme Director MSc in Africa and International Development, will talk about topic of labels and naming during and after war, which will enable a discussion to propose considerations, limitations and recommendations for practices that can benefit survivors and enable healing of societies. This will serve as actionable output from this event in the form of a policy brief.

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