Wednesday May 13 th 2009 10.30 -16.00

London School of Economics

Room LG01, New Academic Building, Lincoln’s Inn Fields

The BSA Race and Ethnicity Study Group and the BSPS are taking the opportunity of the publication of ‘Sleepwalking to Segregation’? Challenging myths about race and immigration by Nissa Finney and Ludi Simpson (Policy Press 2009) to review recent public debates about ‘race’, immigration and integration. The idea of communities living ‘parallel lives’ and of Britain ‘sleepwalking to segregation’ will be a major focus of the seminar. The occasion will also mark the official launch of Sleepwalking to Segregation.

10.30 Registration and refreshments, and Policy Press book display

11.00 Robert Moore (University of Liverpool) Introduction: ‘recurrent themes’

11.20 Ludi Simpson (University of Manchester) ‘Sleepwalking to Segregation’? How do claims of white flight, growing segregation and dangerous segregation persist despite evidence to the contrary? What are the consequences?

12.05 Paul Gilroy (LSE) Race Politics and the retreat from rationality. In the age of ‘evidence based policy development’ why would our leaders choose to set the evidence base on Parallel Lives aside?

12.35 – 13.45 Lunch (sandwich and drink provided), and book display

13.50 to 14.20 Brief introductions from three speakers who will join the morning speakers for a panel discussion:

Debbie Phillips (Leeds and Oxford Universities) will focus on how questions about community cohesion have become intertwined with a racialised political discourse on urban segregation and integration.

Shamser Sinha (CoConvenor BSA Race and Ethnicity Study Group) argues that multicultural communities are displaying solidarities and resisting racism in ways confounding Trevor Phillips’ segregation thesis and its inbuilt reification of cultural, ethnic and racial difference.

Kjartan Sveinsson (Runnymede Trust) will argue that the socioeconomic disadvantage of poor white communities has been cast as an ethnic and cultural problem while larger structural considerations, such as the hierarchical nature of the British class system, are left out of the equation altogether.

14.20 – 16.00 Panel discussion with all speakers, and contributions from the floor

Please note that it is essential to register for this free conference in order to gain admission to the LSE lecture theatre. Please register your name and address and affiliation at:

http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/international/lectures/parallellivesmyth.htm

How to get to LSE: LSE is in central London at Aldwych, WC2A 2AE. The nearest underground station is Holborn, which is on the Central line or Piccadilly line. Click on this hyperlink for further information:

http://www2.lse.ac.uk/mapsAndDirections/howToGetToLSE.aspx

The event takes place in the New Academic Building which can be found in the top left hand corner of this map: http://www2.lse.ac.uk/mapsAndDirections/LSE_CampusMap_web_07.pdf

Deadline for registrations: 2 April 2009
Download the updated brochure here:
http://www.ageing.ox.ac.uk/system/files/SpringSchoolBrochure2009.pdf

This four day school will address concepts and tools in demography, bio-demography, bio-medical research and practice, economics, sociology, health and policy. Special emphasis will be placed on developing methodological skills, both from quantitative and qualitative perspectives. Additional opportunities for networking and informal discussion will be provided through poster sessions and workshops.

Costs for participation:
£550 (without accommodation)
£800 (including 4 nights B&B).

Places are limited, and registration will close on 2 April 2009.
For more information on the School and registration details please go to:
http://www.ageing.ox.ac.uk/education/spring-school
or email to: angelika.kaiser@ageing.ox.ac.uk .

XXIII European Society for Rural Sociology (ESRS) congress

Vaasa, Finland 17-21 August 2009

Rural areas and people in Europe stand at a crossroads, caught between global and local flows and processes. The ESRS Congress will address this critical moment through the following five key themes:

1. Mobilities and Stabilities in Rural Space
2.The Rural Bites Back
3. Animal Farm
4. The Sciences of the Rural
5. Sustainable Ruralities

The Scientific Committee are pleased to announce the opening of the Call for Abstracts of the XXIII ESRS Congress to be held in Vaasa, Finland 17-21 August 2009.

If you are interested in presenting a paper at the congress, please decide which Working Group you would like to be in, and send a title and short abstract (circa 200 – 250 words) to the convenor of that Working Group by February 28, 2009.

http://www.esrs2009.fi/index.html