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First ISA Forum of Sociology
Sociological Research and Public Debate
Barcelona, Spain
September 5 - 8, 2008


Research Committee on
Racism, Nationalism and Ethnic Relations RC05

Main theme
Research and action on racism, nationalism and ethnic relations: The public role of sociologists


Programme Coordinator
Peter Ratcliffe, University of Warwick, UK, peter.ratcliffe@warwick.ac.uk

Venue of RC05 sessions:

Faculty of Philology
Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 585
08007 Barcelona, Spain, map

Joint Session with RC32 Women in Society

Co-Chairs: Ann Denis, University of Ottawa, Canada, adenis@uottawa.ca and Sirma Bilge, Université de Montréal, Canada, sirma.bilge@umontreal.ca
Focusing on women living in a Diaspora, this session invites contributions which use intersectional analysis to examine the women’s experiences. Without limiting the range of social positions which are incorporated into the intersectional analysis, gender, ethnicity and the fact of being part of a Diaspora will necessarily be included. Comparative analyses are welcome. Papers may concentrate on theoretical or empirical analysis, or a combination of the two.
This joint session is dedicated to the late Helen Ralston, who was a long-time and active member of both RC05 and RC32. Its theme is informed by interests that she addressed in her own research in Canada on first and second generation immigrant women from India.

Session 1: Women: Intersectionality and diaspora: Challenges and resistance
Saturday, September 6, 2008, 09:00-11:00
Chair: Ann Denis, University of Ottawa, Canada, adenis@uottawa.ca

Session 2: Women, Intersectionality and Diasporas: Negotiating identity, negotiating family dynamics in the Diaspora
Saturday, September 6, 2008, 11:30-13:30
Chair: Sirma Bilge, Université de Montréal, Canada, sirma.bilge@umontreal.ca

Session 3: Gender, biography and transnational practices

Sunday, September 7, 2008, 11:30-13:30
Joint Session with RC38 Biography and Society
Co-Chairs: Helma Lutz, hlutz@uni-muenster.de and Kathy Davis, University of Utrecht, Netherlands, kathy.davis@let.uu.nl
This session explores the genderedness of transnational biographies – that is, biographies which involve multiple border-crossings. In the context of globalization, the rise of information and communications technology, and widespread transnational migration and travel, more and more people are engaging in transnational practices in the field of work, parenting and care relationships, consumer culture, and more.

Session 4: The discourse of multiculturalism: Migrant women and human rights violations in Western countries

Sunday, September 7, 2008, 18:00-20:00
Faculty of Philosophy, Geography and History, University of Barcelona
Joint session with RC05 Racism, Nationalism and Ethnic Relations, RC25 Language and Society and TG03 Social Justice and Human Rights
Chair: Isabella Paoletti, Social Research and Intervention Center (NGO), Italy, paoletti@crisaps.org
Many migrant women see Europe and other Western Countries as places where they can finally see their rights acknowledged: but this is often an illusion. They become caught up in family and community that control their lives, exercise control over them, and limit their freedom. With no institutional and social support, nor the informal networks on which they relied in their home country, they find themselves isolated at home, a process aggravated though lack of local language skills. Therefore the lives of these migrant women are often less secure than they were in their homeland. In particular it is important to denounce the hypocrisy of a multicultural ideology that justifies women’s oppression, through a misinterpreted “respect of other cultures,” which is in open violation of the Human Rights Charter. This ideology originates with feminists who justify infibulations and judges who disregard, and therefore legitimise, polygamy. It is both important and urgent to understand and document those phenomena, in order to contribute to the cessation of regressive processes that, once spread, are much more difficult to control.

Session 5: Confronting racism and redressing inequality: Sociologists and the public policy agenda. Part I

Saturday, September 6, 2008, 11:30-13:30
Chair: Peter Ratcliffe, University of Warwick, UK, peter.ratcliffe@warwick.ac.uk
It appears somewhat trite to argue that we, as sociologists, have a major role to play in opposing racism and actively engaging with the polity to undermine structural inequality. But is this role reflected in what contemporary sociologists actually do? Is it, for example, true to argue that sociologists ‘get their hands dirty’ in the public policy sphere? In many countries, the possibilities for this are severely constrained, whereas in others the high value (in career terms) placed on theoretical endeavour lures many sociologists into devoting their time to more abstract avenues of research.

Session 6: Confronting racism and redressing inequality: Sociologists and the public policy agenda. Part II

Saturday, September 6, 2008, 15:30-17:30
Chair: Peter Ratcliffe, University of Warwick, UK, peter.ratcliffe@warwick.ac.uk

Session 7: The role of sociologists in national conflicts

Sunday, September 7, 2008, 15:30-17:30
Co-Chairs: Nira Yuval-Davis, University of East London, UK, n.yuval-davis@uel.ac.uk and Avishai Ehrlich, Israel, avishai_ehrlich@hotmail.com
The panel will discuss the role sociologists have played in various peace and justice activism in a range of divided societies, such as Israel/Palestine; Cyprus; India/Pakistan and Ireland. Related political, theoretical and ethical questions will be examined within this context.

Session 8: Generations of migration: Inequality and belonging. Part I

Sunday, September 7, 2008, 09:00-11:00
Co-Chairs: Zlatko Skrbis, University of Queensland, Australia, z.skrbis@uq.edu.au and Loretta Baldassar, University of Western Australia, baldassa@cyllene.uwa.edu.au
This panel will bring together papers that explore questions of inequality and belonging from the prism of migrant generations. It is our intention to bring together scholars that interrogate these questions in relation to various geographical and political settings. We expect the contributors to utilise varied conceptualisations of the notion of ‘migrant generation’ and also reflect upon its analytical utility.

Session 9: Generations of migration: Inequality and belonging. Part II

Sunday, September 7, 2008, 11:30-13:30
Co-Chairs: Zlatko Skrbis, University of Queensland, Australia, z.skrbis@uq.edu.au and Loretta Baldassar, University of Western Australia, baldassa@cyllene.uwa.edu.au

Session 10: Human trafficking: Gender, racism and ethnicity

Saturday, September 6, 2008, 09:00-11:00
Chair: Natividad Gutierrez Chong, Universidad Nacional de Mexico, nativid@servidor.unam.mx
The forces of globalization account for expanding human rights abuse as well as gender based violence. It is estimated that 7 million humans, mostly (70%-80%) women, are trafficked worldwide. This panel explores some of the factors involved in this human trafficking; paying particular attention to issues of collective suffering, human dignity, as well as the implications of ethnic conflict and racism in triggering the trade of women for purposes of sexual exploitation.

Roundtable 1: Settlers, Natives, Immigrants: Reasonable Accommodation in divided societies
Presenters: Heribert Adam, Simon Fraser University, Canada, adam@sfu.ca and Kogila Adam-Moodley, University of British Columbia, Canada, kogila.adam-moodley@ubc.ca.  
Saturday, September 6, 2008, 15:30-17:30

Roundtable 2: Official definitions of ethnicity: social and political ramifications
Presenters: Patricia Bell, Oklahoma State University, USA, patricia.bell@okstate.edu and Peter Ratcliffe, University of Wawick, UK, Peter.Ratcliffe@warwick.ac.uk
Sunday, September 7, 2008, 15:30-17:30

Business Meeting

Monday, September 8, 2008, 09:00-11:00