CfP: Interculturalism in a Polarised World

In a decade characterised by continual and growing anxieties over diversity and inclusion, there is an ever greater need to discuss the salience and limitations of the conceptual frames that we use when thinking about contemporary forms of mobility and difference, especially, multiculturalism, transculturalism, interculturalism, cosmopolitanism and transnationalism.

The UNESCO Chair on Cultural Diversity and Social Justice and the Journal of Intercultural Studies (JICS) invite abstractsand panel proposals for this conference. We anticipate submissions exploring, but not limited to, the following guiding questions:

  1. At a time when migration and diversity remain one of the most visible faces of social change and inequality, how are these, or other frames, able to explain and respond to the increased polarisation of contemporary societies?  
  2. Can existing frameworks allow us to build creative analyses and understandings that highlight both the particularities of the migrant experience, but also their shared experiences or commonalties with non-migrants?
  3. Examining the salience and limitations of existing frames, what new concepts and methods are needed to deepen our understandings of contemporary forms of mobility and difference at multiple levels of social life?
  4. What critical insights can be gained from existing primary research to advance an academic and policy agenda that deepens the inclusion of migrants and other minorities across scales?

Abstract submissions and panel proposals open until 4 May 2020 via the conference website: https://adi.deakin.edu.au/events/interculturalism-in-a-polarised-world

Following the conference, selected presentations shall be shortlisted for submission to JICS.