The first event in a new high-profile series at University College London, the UCL Global Migration Symposia, organised by the UCL Global Migration Network, is to take place on 10th March 2010.

The first event is entitled: Globalisation and Cosmopolitan Citizenship: Migrating Bodies, Practices and Ideas and will be given by Professor Peggy Levitt of Wellesley College, USA; chaired by Dr Claire Dwyer of the Migration Research Unit, UCL Department of Geography, and with Professor John Eade, Director of CRONEM, University of Roehampton and Visiting Professor in the Migration Research Unit acting as discussant. The abstract is as follows:

“Cosmopolitanism today is no longer the exclusive province of elites. Labour migrants, sojourners, religious believers, and refugees are also open to the world, although they interact with it differently than their professional counterparts. In fact, in today’s world, cosmopolitanism is a necessity not a choice. What are the rights and responsibilities of global citizenship? How can we begin to imagine a community that extends beyond national borders and where do the elements come from with which to create it?”

Peggy Levitt is a Professor of Sociology at Wellesley College and a Research Fellow at The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs and The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University where she co-directs The Transnational Studies Initiative. Her books include God Needs No Passport: Immigrants and the Changing American Religious Landscape (New Press 2007), The Transnational Studies Reader (Routledge 2007), The Changing Face of Home: The Transnational Lives of the Second Generation (Russell Sage 2002), and The Transnational Villagers (UC Press, 2001).

The event is scheduled to take place on 10 March 2010 from 5.30-7pm in the Roberts Lecture Theatre, 106 Roberts Building, Torrington Place, London WC1E 7JE. The event is followed by a drinks reception in the Roberts Building Foyer. All are welcome, but places are limited, pleases can be reserved at http://migrationsymposium.eventbrite.com/.

The series is sponsored by UCL Research Challenges and the UCL Grand Challenge of Intercultural Interaction. A full programme for the series is available here: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/migration/symposia/.