CFP: Immigration, Toleration, and Nationalism

CALL FOR PAPERS: IMMIGRATION, TOLERATION, AND NATIONALISM

30-31 May 2013 at the University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

Sponsored by:
Moral and Social Philosophy, University of Helsinki
The Philosophical Society of Finland
The Jean Beer Blumenfeld Center for Ethics, Georgia State University, USA

Keynote speakers:

David Miller, Professor of Political Theory, University of Oxford and Official Fellow in Social and Political Theory, Nuffield College, Oxford: “Neutrality, Toleration, and the Cultural Claims of Immigrants”

Samuel Scheffler, University Professor, Professor of Philosophy and Law, New York University:  “Immigration and Justice”

Individuals increasingly move across state borders to take up residence in a new country, while many more desire to do so but cannot due to political, financial, cultural, or other obstacles. It is not surprising, then, that questions about the ethical and political dimensions of immigration have recently come to the fore in political philosophy and theory. These questions raise important challenges to prevailing conceptions of group identity, political authority, and cultural difference.

This conference will consider these and related issues, which are increasingly urgent as different cultures and nations come into uneasy contact.

Possible topic areas include: interpretations and implications of toleration in ethics and political philosophy; connections among the concepts of respect, recognition, and toleration; competing conceptions of ‘culture’ or ‘nation’; the clash between religious and secular (including political) values; the clash between individual and group values; explorations of various accounts of human rights including, e.g., African, Arab, Asian or western human rights charters; whether states have rights to exclude prospective immigrants for nationalist or any other reasons; the assimilation responsibilities, if any, of immigrants; 21st century demographic shifts and their impact on states’ rights; justice within nations, justice between nations and the (im)possibility of global justice; the structure, scope, or content of any right to immigrate; the challenges of refugees or guest workers; and related themes.

Submitting a proposal:

1. Prepare an extended abstract as an attachment in MS Word or a .pdf (500-750 words, including select bibliography).  The abstract should be suitable for blind review.
2. Include in the body of the email relevant contact information: the author(s), department(s) and affiliation(s), mailing address(es), email address(es); and phone number(s).
3. Email the abstract and contact information Claire Murata Kooy at [email protected] by 20 December 2012.

Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by late January, 2013. Completed papers are due April 30th, 2013.

Contact with any queries:
Timo Airaksinen, Professor, Moral and Social Philosophy, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, tel. +35850 4154913, [email protected]

Andrew I. Cohen, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Director of Jean Beer Blumenfeld Center for Ethics, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA, tel. [+1] 404-413-6111, [email protected]

Conference website: www.gsu.edu/ethics. Registration, accommodation, and schedule information will be posted in early 2013.