Conferance Populist Racism in Europe, Northampton, 29-30 September 2011‏

The Radicalism and New Media research group at the University of
Northampton will host a two-day international conference called "Populist
Racism in Britain and Europe since 1945". Following an established
tradition, this conference will bring together scholars, practitioners and
third sector professionals, engaged in ground-breaking research on the
causes, nature and effect of populist racism, or who are seeking to
provide a practical response to a vast array of concerns associated with
its impact. With the rapid rise of populist racism penetrating the
political, social, and cultural spheres, as well as the mass media, a
burst of studies on this cannot have come at a more apposite time.
However, the scholarly works in general – to practitioners' and officials'
disappointment – often fall behind the developmental trajectories of
populist racism, sometimes due to the lag-time between writing and actual
print publication of innovative research.
The agenda behind the International Conference "Populist Racism in
Britain and Europe since 1945" is exactly to reduce the lag time between
undertaking research and disseminating important findings, so these have
a timely impact on practice. At the same time scholars of populist racism
will have an opportunity to engage in a much needed, dynamic dialogue
with practitioners, which will allow academics align their research
priorities. The conference will therefore provide a combination of
theoretical and empirical studies on populist racism by established and
young scholars, as well as papers and reports from practitioners and
civil servants.

Day 1: Populist Racism in Britain
Day 1 of the conference will focus on populist racism in Britain and will
be case-oriented.
Themes:
– Comparative and/or historical analysis of British racist populism
– Prejudice against Travellers, immigrants and asylum-seekers
– The ever-changing face of anti-Semitism
– Religion is the new colour? The rise of Islamophobia
– Racism in the mass media, and cultural production
– Populist racism and crime
– English Defence League: from anti-extremist protests to a racist street
army
– British National Party: `common sense', `racial realism', or plain racism?
– `Traditional' vs. `non-traditional' immigrants: tensions among minority
groups

Day 2: Populist Racism across Europe
Day 2 will be country- and region-oriented, and feature four panels.
Panel 1 – Western Europe
Panel 2 – Northern Europe
Panel 3 – Central and Eastern Europe
Panel 4 – Southern Europe

Keynote addresses: Dr Hans-Georg Betz and others to be confirmed
Populist Racism in Britain and Europe since 1945
An International Conference
Thursday, 29 Sept. and Friday 30 Sept. 2011, Park Campus, University of
Northampton
To participate, please submit an abstract of no more than 200 words by 30
June 2011 to conference organisers:
Dr Mathew Feldman, matthew.feldman@northampton.ac.uk
Dr Paul Jackson, paul.jackson@northampton.ac.uk
Dr Anton Shekhovtsov, anton.shekhovtsov@northampton.ac.uk