Conference to explore borderpolitics and racial issues
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The changing nature of inclusion and exclusion, and the various ways in which the concerns over borders may be linked to race and culture will be discussed at The Borderpolitics of Whiteness conference convened at Macquarie University.
The Borderpolitics of Whitness conference, run in conjunction with the Australian Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Association, will host academic scholars, community representatives and artists. A special feature of the conference will be a forum examining the 2005 Cronulla race riots.
Issues covered during the conference will include:
- citizenship and migration in Europe
- law and racial categories
- borders and Australian identity
- education and entrepreneurship in the field of Indigenous studies
- membership strategies for Australian surf life-saving clubs
- whiteness studies.
Conference participants will be asked to examine questions such as: Are borders multiplying in global, national and local terms? How are borders instituted and reconfigured in disciplinary areas such as education, international relations, law and culture as well as in cultural, political, economic, and social practices? How can race, ethnicity and whiteness studies offer an opportunity for researchers, artists, and community practitioners to transform existing inequities and fears associated with borders and move towards a socially just future?
The conference will feature four internationally renowned keynote speakers:
- Professor Cheryl Harris (University of California, Los Angeles)
- Professor David Theo Goldberg (University of California, Irvine)
- Associate Professor Joseph Pugliese (Macquarie University)
- Professor Aileen Moreton-Robinson (Queensland University of Technology).
Delegates are travelling from across the world to take part in the conference. Countries represented include Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Hong Kong, Germany, the Netherlands, Iran and New Zealand.
The Borderpolitics of Communities: Marking Cronulla forum
The forum, to be held on the opening night of the conference, will examine the Cronulla event in relation to Australian history. It will also look at present and future implications in an Australian and trans-national context of race relations and multiculturalism. Academics, members of the local community, media, and government organisations will discuss the riots through the lens of research, community-based work and broad anti-racist approaches.
The Borderpolitics of Whiteness Conference will be held from Monday 11 December until Wednesday 13 December in Sydney. The Marking Cronulla Forum will run from 6.30pm - 9.30pm on 11 December.
For further information contact Associate Professor Joseph Pugliese joseph.pugliese@mq.edu.au or visit the conference website www.ccs.mq.edu.au/borderpolitics