IMER Bergen together with the Dept. of Sociology is organizing the PhD Course.

As cross-cultural migration increases democratic states face a particular challenge: how to grant equal rights and dignity to individuals while recognizing cultural distinctiveness. In response to the greater number of ethnic and religious minority groups, state policies seem to focus on managing cultural differences through planned pluralism. This book explores the dilemmas, paradoxes, and conflicts that emerge when differences are managed within this conceptual framework. After a critical investigation of the perceived logic of identity, indicative of Western nation-states and at the root of their pluralistic intentions, the author takes issue with both universalist notions of equality and cultural relativist notions of distinctiveness. However, without identity is it possible to participate in dialogue and form communities? Is there a way out of this impasse? The book argues in favor of communities based on nonidentitarian difference, developed and maintained through open and critical dialogue.

Randi Gressgård is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Women’s and Gender Research (SKOK) at the University of Bergen. She is also affiliated with the research unit International Migration and Ethnic Relations (IMER) in Bergen. Her research interests focus on minority research, gender studies, and philosophy of science. Her publications include Fra identitet til forskjell [From Identity to Difference] (Spartacus/Scandinavian Academic Press, 2005) and Kjønnsteori[Gender Theory] (co-ed., Gyldendal Akademisk, 2008). Read more…

Religious traditions and muslim youth in europe

Christine M. Jacobsen (UiB/Uni Rokkansenteret)
Jonas Otterbeck (University of Lund)
Synnøve Bendixsen (SKOK/Uni Rokkansenteret)

A major question regarding Islam in Europe concerns the religiosity of “Muslim youth” – a category currently epitomizing both the fears and hopes of multicultural Europe. At this seminar, researchers working in 3 European countries look at how Islamic traditions are engaged and reworked by young people, born and educated in European societies, and discuss the modes of religiosity that are shaped in a context of international migration, globalization, and secular modernity.

Christine M. Jacobsen launches her new book Islamic Traditions and Muslim youth in Norway in conversation with Jonas Otterbeck, the author of  Samtidsislam: unga muslimer i Malmö och Köpenhamn and Synnøve Bendixsen, the author of “It’s like doing SMS to Allah” Young Female Muslims Crafting a Religious Self in Berlin.

Seminar and book launch.
Organised in collaboration with Department of Social Anthropology, UiB.

Time: Friday 21 January, 13.15-16.00.
Venue: Uni Rokkansenteret, Nygårdsgaten 5, 6. etg (5th Floor)

SEMINAR POSTER

PROVIR Kick-off Conference

IMER Bergen, in collaboration with the Faculty of Law, UoB and Nordic Migration Research (NMR), is organizing a 2 days kick-off conference for the research project “Provision of Welfare to ‘Irregular Migrants’” (PROVIR).

PROVIR will investigate the Norwegian welfare system’s assessment of irregular migrants’ rights and their actual social and health situation from a combined legal and social science approach, examining the complex relationship between law, institutional practice, and migrants’ lived experience.

The conference fee is Nok 400,- and includes lunch and coffee/tea both days.

The conference has a limited number of spaces. Please register as soon as possible to
Hanna Skartveit

PROGRAM:

Thursday 12 May

09:30: Welcome and introduction by Christine M. Jacobsen (IMER Bergen, Uni Rokkan Centre).

10:00-12:00: Conceptualizing Irregular Migration 
• BRIDGET ANDERSON (COMPAS): 
“A Chrysalis for Every Species of Criminal”: Illegal immigration, Benefit Scrounging and Criminality 
• TRINE LUND THOMSEN (Aalborg University): 
Reconceptualizing Irregular Migration – Between Legal Status and Social Practices

Moderator: Mette Andersson (University of Bergen)

12:00-13:15: Lunch

13:15-15:30: Rights Discourse and Vulnerability 
• KIRSTEN KETSCHER (University of Copenhagen):
Irregular Immigrants – a Challenge to Traditional Legal Concepts Embedded in the Nordic Welfare States
• ODIN LYSAKER (University of Oslo): 
Vulnerable yet Inviolable: Recognition of the Bodily Vulnerability of ‘Irregular Migrants’
• MARIT SKIVENES (Bergen University College): 
“There’s a Lot of Barriers”: How Child Protection Case Workers in the United States Deal with Service Barriers for Undocumented Immigrant Families

Moderator: Karl Harald Søvig (University of Bergen)

15:30-17:30 : PROVIR partner meeting

19:30: Conference dinner

Friday 13 May

10:00-12:00: Legal Regimes and Welfare to Irregular Migrants
• HENRIETTE ROSCAM ABBING (Emeritus Professor of Health Law):
Legal Regimes and Health Care for Irregular Migrants in the Netherlands
• KARL-HARALD SØVIG (University of Bergen): 
Regulation of Welfare to Irregular Migrants: A Multi-Level Approach

Moderator: Henriette Sinding Aasen (University of Bergen)

12:00-13.00: Lunch

13:00-15:00: External and Internal Borders of the Scandinavian Welfare State 
• VIBEKE ERICHSEN (University of Bergen):
The Noncitizen: on Political Exclusion
• SHAHRAM KHOSRAVI (Stockholm University):
‘Undan-tagna’ People: Undocumentedness in Sweden

Moderator: Synnøve Bendixsen (IMER Bergen, Uni Rokkan Centre)

Venue: Faculty of Law (Dragefjellet, Magnus Lagabøtes plass 1), Auditorium 4, Bergen. 
Date: 12-13 May 2011

IMER Bergen 15 year anniversary conference and phd course

En overraskende forskningsferd
 Yngve Lithman har opplevd både trams, trassel og larmerier av alle slag som leder for IMER gjennom 12 år. Men mest av alt har det vært en intellektuelt overraskende reise. I dag fyller migrasjonssatsingen 15 år. 
(Intervju med Yngve G. Lithaman i anledning IMER Bergens 15 års jubileum)

De nye jødene 
Elisabeth Eide tror ikke på at historien gjentar seg selv, men ser likevel mange likhetstrekk mellom 1940-tallet og i dag. Forskjellen er at muslimene er de nye jødene. 
(Intervju med Elisabeth Eide i anledning IMER Bergens jubileumskonferanse)

Misplaced women 
On Tuesday November 8 from 13:40 I performed my “Misplaced Women?” at arrivals & departures terminal of Bergen international airport. In approximately 30 minutes time I took out the entire contents of my two suitcases, out of my handbag as well as out of my cosmetics and make-up bags.
(Read more and see the photos from the performances in Bergen previous to Tanja Ostojic’s performance lecture at Gallery 3,14)

***********************

International migration and attendant processes of globalization, both as social phenomena and in efforts at theorization, have become especially critical for the development of social theory and analysis, notably by challenging some of the fundamental questions of the social sciences. If one wishes, as Georg Simmel did, to answer the question “How is society possible?”, one cannot take for granted that the relevant object is defined within the parameters of the nationstate, nor by those of ´ethnic groups´ or ´cultures´.

In a recent evaluation report on Norwegian sociology research, it is stated that ´[t]he key question to be explored by sociology today is not, perhaps, how society is possible, but rather how to study social processes and changes at local, national and global levels (Sociological research in Norway: An evaluation, p. 17). Across the social science disciplines, it now seems impossible to imagine place, society and culture without the mobilities of people, goods and information – thus recasting questions exploring e.g. social stratification, scale, space, media and politics.

In its 15 years of existence, IMER Bergen has directed its collaborative efforts towards examining, but also reframing the fundamental questions of the social sciences, as variously defined within particular disciplines. To celebrate this 15th anniversary, we want to put to the forth the contributions that IMER research in Bergen, but also in the wider international scholarly community, has made to the study of society in general, processes of social change and new social formations in particular.

A combination of international and local scholars will in the course of a two day seminar, discuss how IMER researchers deal with issues such as migration, globalization and transnational movements – how they examine ‘culture’, ´politics´, ´space´, ´gender´, ´media´, ´government´ and ´law´ – through the prism of International Migration and Ethnic Relations.

A commitment to provide a strong and creative scholarly environment for students and research recruits has been one of IMER Bergen´s main vocations. In this spirit, the 15th anniversary comprises a PhD course for candidates within the humanities and social sciences. In addition to the main conference, the course component of the conference will be constituted by workshop sessions with essay presentations.

Conference Poster 



Programme

Wednesday 9 November 
Anniversary conference.

OPEN LECTURE:

Venue: ‘Egget’, Parkveien 1:

10.15-10.30: 
Official opening with Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Knut Helland, and Director of the Uni Rokkan Centre, Jan Erik Askildsen. 

10.30-12.00: 
• DAVID LEY (University of British Columbia):
“Masters of Space, or Prisoners of Space? Locating the Neoliberal Migrant”

• YNGVE G. LITHMAN (University of Bergen):
”De-Etatizing Social Science?: “Verstehen” and “Erklärung” in a (somewhat) Flatter Earth”

Chair: Edvard Hviding (Department of Social Anthropology, University of Bergen)

12.15-13.15: Lunch.

Venue: Auditorium, Bergen Resource Centre, Jekteviksbakken 31:

13.15-14.45: 
• HAKAN G. SICAKKAN (University of Bergen):
“The Politics of Diversity, the European Publics, and the European Public Sphere”

• METTE ANDERSSON (University of Bergen):
“‘Reflexive Transnationalization’ among Politically Engaged Minority Youth”

[Read interview with Mette Andersson in På Høyden 7 November]

Chair: Susanne Bygnes (Department of Sociology, University of Bergen)

14.45-15.00: Coffee break.

15.00-16.30:

• RANDI GRESSGÅRD (University of Bergen):
“Equality Equals Hierarchy – the Holistic Foundation of Liberal Ideology and Integration Policy”

• BRUCE KAPFERER (University of Bergen):
”The Tamil Crisis: State, War and Peace in Sri Lanka and Shifts in Global Power”

Chair: Kathinka Frøystad (Department of Social Anthropology, University of Bergen)

Thursday 10 November 
Anniversary Conference.

Venue: Auditorium, Bergen Resource Centre, Jekteviksbakken 31:

10.15-11.45:

• CHRISTINE M. JACOBSEN (Uni Research and University of Bergen):
“The (not so) New Islamic Presence in Western Europe: Secular Governance and Religious Freedom in a Globalized Era”

• ANDRÉ ITEANU (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (C.N.R.S.), Paris):
“The Free Noble and the Poor Beggar. What does the Veil Controversy Reveal about French Ideology”

Chair: Synnøve Bendixsen (IMER Bergen and Uni Rokkan Centre)

12.00-13.00: Lunch.

13.00-14.30:
• SUSI MERET (University of Aalborg):
“Exploring the Social, Political and Cultural Challenges of Right Wing Populism in the Nordic Countries: Comparative Approaches, Developments and Perspectives”

• ELISABETH EIDE (Oslo University College and University of Bergen):
“Media Discourses, Migration and Post-22.7-Debates; a Critical Inquiry”

Chair: Elisabeth Ivarsflaten (Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen)

14.30-14.45: Coffee break.

14.45-16.30: 
PANEL DISCUSSION: “The Future of IMER Research”

David Ley (University of British Columbia) 
Susi Meret (University of Aalborg) 
Hilde Lidén (Nordic Migration Research and Institute for Social Research, Oslo) 
Yngve G. Lithman (IMER Bergen and University of Bergen) 
Mette Andersson (IMER Bergen and University of Bergen) 
Hakan G. Sicakkan (IMER Bergen and University of Bergen)

Chair: Yngve G. Lithman (IMER Bergen and Department of Sociology, University of Bergen)

* * *

19:00: Performance lecture by artist TANJA OSTOJIC: “Crossing Borders“.
Venue: Galleri 3,14. Vågsallmenningen 12. 
Free entrance. Refreshments will be served. 

In addition, her project “Misplaced Women? Marking the City” is a series of performances, interventions and delegated performances which will take place in the public space of Bergen previous to the lecture. 

In collaboration with the International Contemporary Art Foundation 3,14. 


Friday 11 November 
PhD course.

PhD candidates, please see the Course Site for more information.

Venue: Seminar room, Uni Rokkan Centre, Nygårdsgt. 5, 6th floor.

10:15-16:30: Essay presentations. 


Conference fee: 
Nok 500,- for two days (includes lunch) 
Students: Nok 300,- 

REGISTRATION to Hanna Skartveit. Still possible to register!

The Conference is organised in collaboration with Uni Rokkan Centre, Dept. of Social Anthropology, Dept. of Sociology, Dept. of Geography, Dept. of Comparative Politics and SKOK, University of Bergen.

In June 2012 the University of Bergen will organise a PhD conference on BSRS-related themes. The title of the conference is Transnational migration and global development.

Closing conference PROVIR

“Exceptional welfare: Dilemmas in/of irregular migration”
How do states respond to the physical presence and needs of people it officially has excluded? To what extent do international human rights provide protection? How does migration control and welfare policy affect irregular migrants’ experiences and subjectivities?

Physically present, but legally excluded, irregular migrants’ present societies with particular dilemmas relating to both sovereignty and human suffering. European countries increasingly involve welfare services in migration control, either by restricting access, or by using welfare services to detect/expose irregular migrants. This raises important questions concerning not only how migrants’ legal status influences their capacity to access services, but also the practical and ethical implications for service providers. Furthermore, it challenges the extent to which human rights actually limit the exclusionary powers of states and as such whether human rights are viable outside the confines of citizenship.

Provision of Welfare to Irregular Migrants (PROVIR) will be organizing its closing conference at the University of Bergen, 19th – 21th of November 2014. As an interdisciplinary project, the PROVIR research group and its international partners have combined a legal and social science approach to the provision of welfare to ‘irregular migrants’ in Norway, and comparatively in Europe, looking particularly at health care and education. The aim of the project has been to investigate the complex relationship between law, institutional practice, and migrants’ lived experience.

The closing conference aims to bring together researchers from various disciplines who are interested in the interplay between migration control and welfare policy. At the conference, findings from the PROVIR-project will be presented by the research team. In addition to presentations by key note speakers, the PROVIR research team also welcomes papers to be presented at workshops. We especially invite contributions addressing:

1) Irregular migrants’ legal situation regarding access to welfare provisions, either in national or international law.

2) Institutional practices and responses by service providers.

3) Migrants’ experiences, agency and embodiment.

We welcome both theoretical and empirical ventures into these questions, and papers may combine the aforementioned issues with interdisciplinary approaches. We particularly encourage papers exploring issues related to health, education and children. Paper proposals (maximum 300 words) can be submitted until the 25th of April 2014. Please include a short bio with the abstract. Conference registration deadline is 1st of October.

More information about the PROVIR-project is available at http://rokkan.uni.no/sites/provir/

Lessons from the past: framing post-war immigration in Germany by historical analogies

In many West European countries, the experience of mass immigration after 1945 was perceived as something basically new and unprecedented. In the lengthy process of coming to terms with the new situation and of developing a self-understanding as countries of immigration and of ethnic pluralism, historical arguments often played an important role. By placing present-day immigration into a historical perspective, by constructing narratives of continuity (and discontinuity) and not least by presenting persuasive historical analogies, historians (and others) introduced arguments that informed the debates of the day and allowed the experiences of immigration and multi-ethnicity to be integrated into (national) narratives of identity. The German case is particularly interesting in this respect, since a tradition of tolerance and successful integration had to be invented in spite of the fresh memories of the Nazi-past that were witness to the contrary.

Christhard Hoffmann (born 1952 in Luneburg, Germany) is a German historian and professor of modern European history at the University of Bergen. In the period 2007-2013 he was Head of the Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion.

Hoffmann defended in 1986 his doctoral dissertation on German Antiquity historians’ representation of Jews and Judaism in the 19th and 20th centuries [1] at the Technische Universität Berlin, where he also worked as a researcher for many years. From 1994 to 1998 he was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and since 1998 he has worked at the University of Bergen.

Hoffmann has an extensive list of publications in the fields of German-Jewish history and cultural history, history of anti-Semitism and migration history.

Communicating Migration Seminar series

The IMER seminar series for 2014 will cover how migration and ethnic relations are communicated in every-day encounters, in mass and social media, in politics and in teaching at the universities.  Has the way people talk about migration and migrants in different social contexts changed over time, and in which ways has it changed? How does migration theory and research fit in with other topics and theories in the social sciences, and how do results from migration research inform public debate and policy development?

Communicating migration will be discussed from various angles in our seminar series on international migration and ethnic relations during spring and autumn 2014. We welcome papers that touch upon this broad theme from different angles.  Historical analyses of change over time in regard to politics and public debate, research foci and disciplinary concerns are specifically welcomed.