Democracy, Diversity and Civic Inequality

What is the impact of diversity on the democratic constitution of Western societies? Diversity per se assumes an awareness of otherness without necessarily recognizing different access to opportunities between those who consider their citizenship as a birthright and those who consider themselves – in most cases migrants - as lacking voice and equal opportunity in society and in politics.

National constructions of otherness are of basic relevance for this approach since ethnicity cements not only the undesired forms of otherness but perpetuates inequality. By examining primarily two intertwined forms of difference: ethnos/culture and religion, socio-political structures and national discourses will be compared during this conference.

The Dutch case will be used here as a prime example of a particular form of multicultural policy, which was more consistently encouraged than elsewhere in Europe. Drawing from this case, we will address theoretical and empirical implications for other Western societies such as Canada and especially Germany.

The event will serve as a preparatory conference to a larger examination of multi-cultural policies, which have occurred over the past 40 years in Western societies. A two-day conference is scheduled for spring of 2010.

With:
Marnie Bjornson, Anthropology, University of Toronto
Michal Bodemann, University of Toronto in Berlin
Randall Hansen, Political Science, University of Toronto
Ruud Koopmans, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin
Anna Korteweg, Sociology, University of Toronto
Claus Offe, Hertie School of Governance, Berlin
Roland Robertson, Sociology, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom
Peter Scholten, Sociology, University of Twente, The Netherlands
Gökçe Yurdakul, Sociology, Humboldt University, Berlin

In cooperation with University of Toronto Berlin and Berlin Graduate School of Social Sciences

The event will be held in English.

To view the program for the event, please click on the `Download` link below.