Conference 'Migration and the State: Ethnicity, Citizenship, and Transnationalism' December 1-2, 2011 in Warsaw

Conference 'Migration and the State: Ethnicity, Citizenship, and Transnationalism' December 1-2, 2011 in Warsaw
The Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences
and the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Warsaw
invite you to take part in the 15th Interdisciplinary Conference
'Migration and the State: Ethnicity, Citizenship, and Transnationalism' which will take place on December 1-2, 2011 in Warsaw

The aim of the conference is to create an interdisciplinary space to discuss the issue of migration and the state, taking into account both the present situation and the history of migratory movements. In the recent years there has been much discussion on issues such as transnationalism and multiple belonging, which created a space to analyze both the receiving and sending end of the migration stream, and put an emphasis on the role of the nation state. During the conference we will discuss and try to redefine such notions as ethnicity, citizenship, and identity.

We would like to seek answers to such questions as:
What forms do transnational linkages take and what is their relation to the state? How does loyalty to the home country affect the life of the migrant in the receiving country and his identity?
How are immigrants seen by themselves and by the receiving society? How are citizenship rights changed by the arrival of the immigrants?
What is the significance of ethnicity in migration research nowadays? How does different ethnicity affect ones ability to move freely within the country of residence?

We would like to welcome contributions from scholars from a wide spectrum of disciplines, with varied theoretical orientations and methodological standpoints – social anthropologists, sociologists, historians, and political scientists.
The conference will consist of two parts – keynote lectures and 3 workshops on the topics of ethnicity, citizenship, and transnationalism. The languages of the conference will be English and Polish (with events in those two languages taking place simultaneously).

Abstracts are due by September 1, 2011.
We will inform you about the acceptance to the conference by September 15, 2011.
Please send your abstracts to: migration.and.the.state@gmail.com

Organizers:
Wlodzimierz Medrzecki, Professor at the Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences, and the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Warsaw
Karolina Bielenin-Lenczowska, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Warsaw
Helena Patzer, PhD candidate at the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Warsaw