18th Annual ASEN Conference

 

Download the Programme

The Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism (ASEN) is holding its 18th Annual Conference, entitled “Nationalism, East and West: Civic and Ethnic Conceptions of Nationhood”, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, April 15-17, 2008, at the London School of Economics. 

It has long been standard in the field of nationalism studies to classify nations according to which principle serves to unify the nation. The distinction between the Western, political type of nationalism, and Eastern, genealogical nationalism as systematised by Hans Kohn in 1945 has been used, extended and adjusted by scholars of nationalism to conceptualise a framework of “inclusive” nationalism based on citizenship and territory and “exclusive” nationalism based on common ethnic ties and descent. This conference seeks to assess the continuing relevance of this dichotomy in its various forms: its contribution to theoretical work on nationalism, its usefulness for historical interpretation and its value for contemporary policy-making.

 The conference will include keynote addresses from leading scholars in the field, along with opportunities for scholars from various disciplines to examine the relevance of ethnic and civic conceptions of nationhood in a series of panel sessions.

For further information on our keynote speakers, please click their name. To access their abstract for the 2008 ASEN Conference, click the keynote's title.

• Dr. Oliver Zimmer (University College, Oxford) - ‘Civic-versus-Ethnic’ and the Peculiarities of European Nationalism

•  Professor Bernard Yack (Brandeis University) - 'Nationalism and the Moral Psychology of Community.' 

•  Professor Frank Dikötter (SOAS, University of Hong Kong) - 'Chineseness and UnChineseness: Ethnic Nationalism and its Discontents'

•  Dr. Nicola Miller (University College London)- 'Latin America:  Challenges to Both Civic and Ethnic Conceptions of Nationhood'

• Baron Bhikhu Parekh (University of Westminster) - ‘Immigration and convergence of identities’.

•  Professor Paul Gilroy (LSE) - 'Multiculture and Conviviality in Postcolonial Europe

 Suggested themes include:

• Civic and Ethnic Aspects of Nation Formation

•  Is Nationalism a European Phenomenon?

• Alternatives to Civic and Ethnic Nationalism

•  Experiences of Historical Migrant Nations

• Citizenship and Immigration

• Multiculturalism

The first day will explore the use of the classical dichotomy in theoretical works on nationalism, national identity and nation formation. By considering historical case studies, the development, interaction and conflict of ethnic and civic types of nationalism will be analyzed on the second day. Historical critiques of and alternatives to dichotomous types like the civic/ethnic and East/West will also be considered. On the third day, the framework of civic and ethnic nationalism will be explored by focussing on contemporary nationalism and approaches to citizenship and immigration.