CFP: A Mid-Way Ethics of Immigration. Nations, Diasporas, and Cultural Majorities

A Mid-Way Ethics of Immigration. Nations, Diasporas, and Cultural Majorities. MANCEPT Workshop in Political Theory: 4th-6th September 2024, University of Manchester

Workshop convenors: Varun Uberoi (Loughborough University), Gianfranco Pellegrino (Luiss University)

We invite submissions for a workshop on immigration, diasporas, nations, and cultural majorities. Specifically, the workshop aims at considering novel, mid-way views of immigration, in which the dichotomy between ‘open’ and ‘closed’ borders is less sharp than in the earlier stages of the discussion. Instances of this kind of views are the recent treatments in Blake, 2020, Ferracioli, 2022, Song, 2019. The workshop will include three panels on the following topics. 

First, the entitlements of diasporas. In many sociological views of migration, groups of migrants already settled in a country are among the factors driving migratory trends. Diasporas attract migrants and can favour or impair successful social integration. However, the political and moral relevance of diaspora groups for the ethics of immigration is rather undertheorised, even though some authors considered them in the light of an ideal of cosmopolitan or transnational citizenship. This panel helps to fill this gap by looking at issues of citizenship and naturalization of long-term resident immigrants who form diasporas. The following questions will be considered:

• Are diasporas entitled to collective rights?
• Are their members entitled to naturalization or citizenship?
• Are prospective migrants belonging to diasporas entitled to priority in admission?

A second focus will be on the nature and relevance of nations and national identity in the context of migration ethics. This panel will address the following questions:

• Are notions of ‘nation’ and ‘national identity’ settled and uncontroversial? 
• Are nations overlapping with citizenries in both the origin and the host countries? 
• Can diasporas also be understood as cultural groups or even as nations? 
• And, if so, what are the limits of liberal states’ rights to exclude prospective migrants from these cultural groups or nations? 
• Does a nationalist approach necessarily lead to a right to exclude?

The final panel focuses on cultural majorities. Liav Orgad and Ruud Koopmans (2022) argue that majorities have ‘a right’ to their culture just as cultural minorities do and this right requires immigrants to accept ‘the particularity’ of their new society. David Miller (2016) defends the expectation that immigrants should ‘culturally integrate’ and that it is permissible for democracies to restrict immigration to protect a majority culture. This panel will explore the following questions:

• What are cultural majorities? Can they be sufficiently distinguished from other citizens in a polity to plausibly claim that they have ‘majority rights’? 
• Are there liberal or democratic limits to the extent to which a majority’s concerns about immigration can be met? If so, how do we identify these limits?
• Are there more inclusive ways to reduce the concerns of majority groups than have previously been canvassed?

The workshop thus directly speaks to researchers working on migration, diasporas, but also on liberal nationalism and multiculturalism. It is open, but not limited to, scholars working on these topics from a political theory perspective. Researchers interested in the sociology of diasporas, multicultural communities and nations may be interested, too. 

If you are interested in presenting a paper in the workshop, please send an abstract of 250 words or less either to Varun Uberoi at [email protected] or to Gianfranco Pellegrino at [email protected]   by 15 June 2024. The abstract should be submitted as a Word document. Selected speakers will be notified by 21st of June.  Subject to acceptance, applicant papers’ should ideally be pre-circulated, further information regarding specific deadlines for precirculation will follow after the application window has closed. Presenters will have 20-30 minutes to speak, followed by 30-40 minutes of discussion. If applicants have any questions or queries (about paper/topic suitability), please do not hesitate to reach out to the panel convenors for clarification.

A fee waiver bursary is available for accepted presenters. The bursary is given on the basis of need and is normally given only to PhD students, barring exceptional circumstances. The deadline for bursary application is 28 June 2024. To apply for a bursary or for specific queries about the bursary, applicants should contact the MANCEPT conference organisers: [email protected]

Timeline

Conference registration opens in May.

Deadline for paper proposals: June 15th – decisions made June 21st

Deadline for bursary submissions: June 28th – decisions announced by July 11th

Fees breakdown:

Academics: £295

PG: £165

Conference Dinner (on the 4th): Academics: £40; PG: £25

Further information on the workshops can be found at: https://sites.manchester.ac.uk/mancept/mancept-workshops/