International workshop “Multiculturalism, Nationalism and Citizenship in Transnational Europe”
Date: November 6, 2018
Time: 9:30 – 17:30
Venue: Room B2, School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon
As discourses on the rise of populisms and the drifting towards social conservatism multiply in the media and almost everywhere, nationalism, cultural identities and citizenship once more gain momentum. In the European context, where diversity and heterogeneity are now the rule in a borderless and expanded territory striving to build a sense of belonging – a sense of “Europeanness” – it seems urgent and relevant to promote the debate around these issues. Recent events, such as the denial of British citizenship to the Windrush generation, which parallels Trump’s rejection of the Dreamers, demonstrate that both our understanding and practices of citizenship are going through a decisive transformation. At stake are not only notions of identity and belonging, but also how political and economic powers redefine spatial configurations associated to those, and what role plays informative and counter-informative agents in modulating or countering these processes. Through an approach to issues of racialized citizenship, nationalism and transnationalism, this seminar seeks to explore the role of multiple actors operating within civil society in challenging and fuelling exclusionary views of citizenry and exclusive views of the European space. At the same time, the seminar will explore the genealogies of progressive views of difference as a key agent of cultural integration and dialogue. In this sense, the event will attempt to answer some of the following questions: How are present-day fluxes of people and information challenging existing views of nationalism and citizenship in Europe? In which ways is the current “refugee crisis” redefining notions of self and belonging in contemporary Europe? To what extent is the rise of xenophobic and exclusionary discourses redeploying colonial traditions of urban exclusion? How are contemporary processes of privatization and spatial segregation continuing regimes of racial citizenship? In which ways are these regimes challenged by the thought and action of racialized and migrant communities across Europe? How are the contradictions of contemporary citizenship lived and performed?
This workshop aims to give a contribution to this public debate and, whenever possible, to establish a dialogue between academy and the public in general.
Coordination:
Carlos Garrido
Sílvia Frota
Ana Nolasco