WORKSHOP- Conflict and Cooperation in Eurasian Cities, Napoli, May 29, 2007
Posted by: Abel Polese <abelpolese@hotmail.com>
(Informal) Call for contributions
On the 29th of May we are holding, at the University of Napoli Federico II,
a workshop on multicultural cities.
Synergies of the cities: conflict, cooperation and use of spaces in
multicultural Eurasian cities.
Consolidation and reshaping of borders, together with the urbanization
processes and the forced migrations of the 20th centuries have shaken
and altered the social, economic, ethnic and linguistic composition of
most Eurasian cities. Many cities of Central and Eastern Europe have
lost their 19th century plurilingual substratum. Still, new forms of
multicultural interactions have developed in these cities, as in the
overall European urban areas, between old settlers and new comers, in
the different phases of the 20th century.
Ethnic and national identifications are multilayered, and social,
regional, generational and gender forms of identifications, also play
a big role in the identity of people, and of groups either. The
apparent mono-national paradigm of the post WWII cities of Central and
Eastern Europe, at a closer look, has to be challenged. The cities of
the socialist societies, and of the post-socialist societies, reveal
various forms of adjustments, choices, and peculiarities of the fast
and slow nationalization processes. In general, the process of
urbanization has continuously reshaped the cultural and social
settings and interactions in the cities of Central and Eastern Europe,
not to speak of Central Asia, where the nation building processes have
only partially being successful, and western Europe, whose urban areas
have been exposed to massive global migrations in the last decades.
The demographic modifications and the reshaping of borders, along with
the changes in the institutional and social setting during the "long"
20th century, have led to a transformation of the role and sense of
the urban space, in the different European urban areas. The new
relationships between town and countryside, and/or between the central
urban area and the highly urbanized or industrialized peripheries,
reflect the modifications in the identity and social structures of the
urban centers. We have witnessed escalation of violence in a number of
cities and pacific cooperation of locals in an apparently random
pattern, which motivates us in the investigation of the reasons,
causes, mechanisms and timing of ethnic and economic conflicts.
Starting out from some case studies of Eurasian cities (Mostar,
Samarqand, Odessa and Jerusalem), the project intend to use first
source material, gathered during fieldwork, to reach some theoretical
conclusions. In the course of the project it is envisaged to integrate
other cities into the case studies sample so to be able to extend
theoretical conclusions to a broader area and compare different cities
in Europe, as in the Mediterranean and Central Asian areas.
In particular the project tries to answer questions such as:
- The impact of the processes of mixing and un-mixing of the population.
- The different experiences and forms of concrete multiculturalism
- The elements bringing to an escalation of conflicts and those
bringing to pacific coexistence or even
cooperation between different groups.
- The role of economic and other factors in the nature, and extent,
of ethnic conflicts.
- The management of urban space in the promotion of ethnic and
political competition and of cooperation and integration.
- The border between public and private space; the self-organization
and the self-management of the public space by the local community vs.
the action of the state.
- The international and local actors in the development of the trends
towards cooperation and conflict in crises conjunctures.
- Examples of successful cooperation and the possibility to draw some
theoretical conclusions
In the course of the project it is envisaged to integrate such
findings with those from other cities.
The idea is to meet up to discuss our research findings and possibly
come up with some ideas for a large scale research project or at least
building up of a network. We would invite researchers who might be
interested in such project to either submit a short abstract or
contact us and inform on their availability. The reason why we call
this an informal call apart from the fact that the call is launched
quite late- are two:
1. Since it is an informal (and pilot) event we have no funding at all
for this event, those coming should cover their costs. We can assist
in finding a cheap place to sleep 'chez l'habitant' (around 30 euros
per night) or try to arrange something for free at somebody's place
(depending upon availability) and a lunch with pizza and drink cost
around 5 euros and for cheap flights one can check www.whichbudget.com
2. Language, most of the paper givers are native Italian speakers and
I reckon there will be one or two researchers with low English level
and some presentations might be in Italian. You are welcome to present
in English, French or Spanish (and, of course, Italian) but must be
aware that Italian will have a major role in the event
If you can get along with those conditions, are interested, and have a
solid research project ongoing or about to be, please contact us at
<abel@ehess.fr> (Abel)
<gidaless@unina.it> (Vanni)
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