October 11-13, 2018, Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, Banff, Alberta
„Immigration, Ethnic Mobilities, and Diasporic Communities in a Transnational World“
The Canadian Ethnic Studies Association (CESA) invites panel and/or paper proposals for its upcoming conference on the theme of “Immigration, Ethnic Mobilities, Diasporic Communities and Transnationalism in a Transnational World”. Departing from the traditional ethnic-studies-in-Canada perspective, the theme of this CESA conference intends to explicitly connect with transnationalism allowing reflection of current, dynamic and ongoing transformations of Canada and its ethnic community landscape in a globalized era. Constant population movements within, but also across national borders, alongside a much more extensive and complex communicational, informational and exchange network, are permanent features of a globalized world. Both population movements and intricate exchange networks signal the multiple economic, cultural, social, ideological and symbolic mobilities within and across states in transnational social spaces.
Such radical changes in the Canadian multicultural state necessitate that we recast traditional Canadian ethnic studies beyond ethnic communities to encompass (im)migrant movements, “mobilities,” not only within Canada but also over and beyond Canada. Even if it has been a myth that historians have debunked that previous immigrants to Canada rarely moved again globally, contemporary (im)migrants have complex and diverse forms of mobilities which have surpassed those of any previous imagination and have called into question not just borders, sovereignty and national states but also citizenship, belonging and the very nature of our multicultural mosaic. Furthermore, although for some mobility is a privilege that they enjoy and a tool they utilize to improve their social locations, for many mobility is forced, unwanted, and even resisted. What are the forces behind the creation of transnational social spaces, the mechanisms, routes, and processes, as well as the consequences of these radical changes in Canada and globally? How exactly do they change the Canadian multicultural mosaic, citizenship, identities and belonging? What can we expect of the 21st century with respect to such phenomena? Within this larger problematic, CESA invites theoretical and empirically-based papers, fully formed panels or presentations.
Deadline for Proposals: Feb. 15, 2018.