FINAL SCHEDULE

DIASPORA STRATEGIES: ENCOURAGEMENT, EVOLUTION AND ENGAGEMENT

 CLINTON INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN STUDIES, UCD, Dublin, Ireland

September 9-10, 2011

FRIDAY 9^th SEPTEMBER 2011

Venue: UCD Clinton Institute

08:30-09:15 Registration

09:15-09:25Opening Remarks

09:30 -11:00 Room 1    Chair: Martin Russell

Panel A: Diaspora – Concepts and Contests

Breda Gray, University of Limerick, Ireland

‘The Networked Irish State and “Netizen” Diaspora Membership’

Marcos Moldes, Simon Fraser University, Canada

Both, but neither: Towards a re-conceptualization of second-generation citizens

Chris Wallace, ANU Canberra, Australia

The Quiet Diaspora – The Welsh in Australia

11:00-11:30 TEA/COFFEE

11:30- 1:00 Room 2      Chair: Geoff O’Connor

Panel B – Diasporas and “Other”

Christine O’Dowd-Smyth, WIT, Ireland

“Strategies of Engagement of the Algerian Diaspora in 21st Century France: Re-Thinking the ”indeterminacy of diasporic identity.”

Emilia Salvanou, University of Athens, Greece

Historical Culture and Migratory Strategies: Being a “Muslim” Migrant at a “Christian” Country

Karine Dalsin, DCU, Ireland

Studying Brazilian Migration in Ireland through Established-Outsiders Figurations

 Room 1     Chair: Liam Kennedy

Panel C – Diaspora in a U.S. Foreign Relations Context

Lina Venturas, University of Peloponnese, Greece

Changes in host, homeland and diaspora relations: USA intervention in Greece and the upgrading of the Greek-American diaspora in the immediate post-World War II period

Amit Gupta, Air War College, USA

The Indian American Diaspora and US Foreign Policy

Joe Breen, UCD, Ireland

‘They’re gone, they’re gone’ – How selected Irish media told the immediate story of Irish-America’s 9/11

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch (Not provided – see conference pack)

14:00 – 15:30

Room 1      Chair: David Fitzgerald

Panel D – Diaspora and Memory

Alma Jean Billingslea Brown, Spelman College, USA

Diaspora, Memory and Transnational Linkages in Ghana: History, Heritage and Commemoration

Laura McAtackney, UCD, Ireland

(Re)remembering Home: Exploring Memorialisation in the Irish diaspora

Stefanie Kron, Freie Universitat Berlin, Germany

Diaspora as Memory of Migration and Intersectional Methodology

Room 2        Chair: Adrienne Hawley

Panel E – Diaspora: Insights

Tim Meagher, Catholic University of America, USA

The Irish Diaspora at the Turn of the Twentieth Century: The United States, Canada and Ireland

Thien-Huong Ninh, University of Southern California, USA

God Across Border: The Vietnamese Caodai Temple in Cambodia and Its Transnational Struggles

Jim MacPherson, UCD, Ireland

Gender and Associational Culture: the Female Orange Order in Scotland and Canada during the 20^th century.

15:30 – 16:00 TEA/COFFEE

16:00 – 17:30 Room 1    Chair: Martin Russell

Panel F – Diaspora: Irish and other contexts

Dan Lainer-Vos, University of Southern California, USA

Manufacturing diaspora bonds: the construction of socio-financial networks connecting Irish-Americans and Jewish-American to Ireland and Israel

Christian Ritter, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland

Building a Transnational Community: The Case of the Munich Irish

Marc Scully, The Open University, United Kingdom

How much do you have to know about Ireland to be Irish?: Transnational Knowledge, diasporic claims and the Irish in England

Room 2            Chair: Sarah Thelen

Panel G: Diaspora: Security, Threat and Conflict

Rachel Le Noan, University of Aberdeen, Scotland

When Identity meets National Security: Assessing the Manipulation of Diasporas by Strategic Kin-States

Jerome Devitt, Independent Scholar

Diaspora as Threat: Responses to Transatlantic Fenianism 1864-67

Raisa Barash, Moscow State University, Russia

Russophones in the post-soviet sphere – diaspora, divided people or anything else

17:45 – 18:45 Gabriel Sheffer -“Diasporas, Homelands and Host-countries”

Plenary Lecture in William Jefferson Clinton Auditorium

SATURDAY 10^th September

Venue: William Jefferson Clinton Auditorium, UCD, Dublin

09:00 – 10:30 Room 1   Chair: Geoff O’Connor

Panel A: Diaspora Culture

Ewa Kobialka, UCD, Ireland

The issues of language and identity among Polish migrants in Ireland

Sarah McMonagle, Independent Scholar

Negotiating Identity through Language: Lessons from the Irish Diaspora in Canada

John Edwards,St.Francis Xavier University, Canada

Gaelic in Nova Scotia: Past, Present…and Future?

Audrey Robitaillie, Université de Caen Basse-Normandie, France

Can you hear the Banshee Wail? Irish Folklore and Diaspora

10:30 – 11:00 TEA/COFFEE

11:00 -12:30   Room 1   Chair: Andrew Sanders

Panel B  Diaspora Strategies:  Agency and Action

Milan Singh, Simon Fraser University, Canada

Defining the South Asian Diaspora: Contested Pasts and Political Action

Carolin Fischer, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Conditions of Agency in a Transnational Context: Afghan Diasporas and their Engagement for Development/Social Change in Afghanistan.

Uchenna Ekwo, Center for Media & Peace Initiative, USA

Diaspora Media and Citizen Engagement in the Digital Age: Analyzing the Impact of Transnational Journalism on Democratization

Manish Priyadarshi, Ministry of Human Resource Development, New Delhi

Diaspora, Migration, Dilemmas, Diffusion and Identity

12:30 – 13:30 Lunch (provided)

13:30 – 14:30 Tim Finch – (ippr)

‘Diaspora as alien concept: the UK’s engagement with its citizens abroad’

Plenary Lecture in William Jefferson Clinton Auditorium

14:30 – 16:00 Room 1    Chair: Liam Kennedy

Panel C: Diaspora Strategies: An Engagement

Brian Jackson, UCD, Ireland

Absence of Strategy? An historical comparison of attitudes and approaches of the Irish and Italian states to their respective diaspora populations

Elaine Lynn-Ee Ho,National University of Singapore

‘Claiming’ the diaspora: sending state strategies, elite mobility and the spatialities of citizenship

Lee Komito, UCD, Ireland

Social Media and Virtual Community 2.0: Implications for Migration and Integration

Ikeh Matthew Nzubechukwu and Odoziobodo Severus Ifeanyi, Enugu State University, Nigeria

Africa and Her Diasporas: Building Global Partnerships for Development. (A Case Study of Nigeria)

Room 2     Chair: Martin Russell

Panel D:  The Irish Abroad: Diaspora Strategies

Paul Loftus, President, Ireland-Canada Chamber of Commerce,Montreal Chapter

The Irish Diaspora: The Case of Montreal

Patrick J Kelly, RedQuartz Consultancy International

Internationalism: A Way of Business! A Way of Thinking! A Way of Life! for a Greater Ireland

William Peat, Gateway Ireland

The Importance of Being Irish: Exploring the Irish Diaspora of the San Francisco Bay Area

16.00 – 16.30 TEA/COFFEE

16:30 – 17:30 Kingsley Aikins, Diaspora Matters – ‘Networking the Diaspora – a key piece of Ireland’s economic recovery’

Plenary Address in William Jefferson Clinton Auditorium

17.45- 18:45 Roundtable Discussion/Closing Remarks – William Jefferson Clinton Auditorium

This conference is kindly supported by the Graduate School of Arts and Celtic Studies, University College Dublin.

DIASPORA STRATEGIES: ENCOURAGEMENT, EVOLUTION AND ENGAGEMENT

 CLINTON INSTITUTE FOR AMERICAN STUDIES, UCD, Dublin, Ireland

September 9-10, 2011

FRIDAY 9^th SEPTEMBER 2011

08:30-09:15 Registration

09:15-09:25 Opening Remarks

09:30-11:00

Panel A: Diaspora – Concepts and Contests

Manish Priyadarshi, Ministry of Human Resource Development, New Delhi

Diaspora, Migration, Dilemmas, Diffusion and Identity

Marcos Moldes, Simon Fraser University, Canada

Both, but neither: Towards a re-conceptualization of second-generation citizens

Chris Wallace, ANU Canberra, Australia

The Quiet Diaspora – The Welsh in Australia

11:00-11:30TEA/COFFEE

11:30-1:00

Panel B – Diasporas and “Other”

Christine O’Dowd-Smyth, WIT, Ireland

“Strategies of Engagement of the Algerian Diaspora in 21st Century France: Re-Thinking the ”indeterminacy of diasporic identity.”

Raisa Barash, Moscow State University, Russia

Russophones in the post-soviet sphere – diaspora, divided people or anything else

Karine Dalsin, DCU, Ireland

Studying Brazilian Migration in Ireland through Established-Outsiders Figurations

Panel C – Diaspora in a U.S. Foreign Relations Context

Lina Venturas, University of Peloponnese, Greece

Changes in host, homeland and diaspora relations: USA intervention in Greece and the upgrading of the Greek-American diaspora in the immediate post-World War II period

Amit Gupta, Air War College, USA

The Indian American Diaspora and US Foreign Policy

Yannis Papadopoulos,Panteion University,Greece

Homeland Issues and ethnic group cohesion: The case of Greek and Jewish Americans

1:00 – 2:00Lunch

2:00 – 3:30

Panel D – Diaspora and Memory

Alma Jean Billingslea Brown, Spelman College, USA

Diaspora, Memory and Transnational Linkages in Ghana: History, Heritage and Commemoration

Laura McAtackney, UCD, Ireland

(Re)remembering Home: Exploring Memorialisation in the Irish diaspora

Stefanie Kron, FreieUniversitat Berlin, Germany

Diaspora as Memory of Migration and Intersectional Methodology

Panel E – Diaspora: Insights

Tim Meagher, Catholic University of America,USA

The Irish Diaspora at the Turn of the Twentieth Century: The United States, Canada and Australia

Thien-Huong Ninh, University of Southern California, USA

God Across Border: The Vietnamese Caodai Temple in Cambodia and Its Transnational Struggles

Jim MacPherson, UCD, Ireland

Gender and Associational Culture: the Female Orange Order in Scotland and Canada during the 20^th century.

3:30 – 4:00TEA/COFFEE

4:00-5:30

Panel F – Diaspora: Irish and other contexts

Dan Lainer-Vos, University of Southern California, USA

Manufacturing diaspora bonds: the construction of socio-financial networks connecting Irish-Americans and Jewish-American to Ireland and Israel

Christian Ritter, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland

Building a Transnational Community: The Case of the Munich Irish

Marc Scully, The Open University, United Kingdom

How much do you have to know about Ireland to be Irish?: Transnational Knowledge, diasporic claims and the Irish in England

Panel G: Diaspora: Security, Threat and Conflict

Rachel Le Noan,University of Aberdeen, Scotland

When Identity meets National Security: Assessing the Manipulation of Diasporas by Strategic Kin-States

Jerome Devitt, Independent Scholar

Diaspora as Threat: Responses to Transatlantic Fenianism 1864-67

Ohannes Guerkjin, American University of Beirut

The involvement of the Armenian diaspora in peacemaking, peace-building and national reconciliation in Lebanon (early 1920s until 1991)

5:45 – 6:45 Gabriel Sheffer -“Diasporas, Homelands and Host-countries”

Plenary Lecture in William Jefferson Clinton Auditorium

6:45 – 7:30Wine Reception – Diaspora Matters: ‘Global Diaspora Strategies Toolkit’

SATURDAY 10^th September

William Jefferson Clinton Auditorium, UCD,Dublin

09:00 – 10:30

Panel 1 – Diaspora and Language

Ewa Kobialka, UCD, Ireland

The issues of language and identity among Polish migrants in Ireland

Sarah McMonagle, Independent Scholar

Negotiating Identity through Language: Lessons from the Irish Diaspora in Canada

John Edwards, St.Francis Xavier University, Canada

Gaelic in Nova Scotia: Past, Present…and Future?

Panel 2 – Diaspora Culture

Emilia Salvanou, University of Athens, Greece

Historical Culture and Migratory Strategies: Being a “Muslim” Migrant at a “Christian” Country

Andrew Arsan, Princeton University, USA

‘Citizens of the World…Who Stopped on Every Shore’: Reading Lebanese Phoenicianism as a Diasporic Discourse

Audrey Robitaillie, Université de Caen Basse-Normandie, France

Can you hear the Banshee Wail? Irish Folklore and Diaspora

10:30 – 11:00TEA/COFFEE

11:00-12:30

Panel 3 Diaspora Strategies: Analysis

Lee Komito, UCD, Ireland

Social Media and Virtual Community 2.0: Implications for Migration and Integration

Norman Vasu, Centre of Excellence for National Security, Nayang, Singapore

Awakening Diasporic Identity: Diasporas and Governance in Singapore

Ikeh Matthew Nzubechukwu and Odoziobodo Severus Ifeanyi,Enugu State University,Nigeria

Africa and Her Diasporas: Building Global Partnerships for Development. (A Case Study of Nigeria)

Panel 4 – Diaspora Strategies:  Agency and Action

Milan Singh, Simon Fraser University, Canada

Defining the South Asian Diaspora: Contested Pasts and Political Action

Carolin Fischer,University of Oxford,United Kingdom

Conditions of Agency in a Transnational Context: Afghan Diasporas and their Engagement for Development/Social Change in Afghanistan.

Uchenna Ekwo, Center for Media & Peace Initiative,USA

 Diaspora Media and Citizen Engagement in the Digital Age: Analyzing the Impact of Transnational Journalism on Democratization

12:30 – 13:30Lunch

13:30 – 14:30 Tim Finch, (ippr) ‘Diaspora as alien concept: the UK’s engagement with its citizens abroad.’

Plenary Address William Jefferson Clinton Auditorium

14:30 – 15:00TEA/COFFEE

15:00 – 16:30

Panel 5 – Diaspora Strategies: An Engagement

Brian Jackson, UCD,Ireland

Absence of Strategy? An historical comparison of attitudes and approaches of the Irish and Italian states to their respective diaspora populations

Breda Gray,University of Limerick,Ireland

‘The Networked Irish State and “Netizen” Diaspora Membership’

Elaine Lynn-Ee Ho,National University of Singapore

‘Claiming’ the diaspora: sending state strategies, elite mobility and the spatialities of citizenship

Panel 6: The Irish Abroad: Diaspora Strategies

Paul Loftus, President, Ireland-Canada Chamber of Commerce,Montreal Chapter

The Irish Diaspora: The Case of Montreal

Patrick J Kelly, Chairman, RedQuartz International

Internationalism: A Way of Business! A Way of Thinking! A Way of Life! for a Greater Ireland

William Peat, Gateway Ireland

The Importance of Being Irish: Exploring the Irish Diaspora of the San Francisco Bay Area

 16:45 – 17:45 Kingsley Aikins – Diaspora Matters ‘Global Diaspora Strategies Toolkit’ – Plenary Address in William Jefferson Clinton Auditorium

18:00- 19:00 Roundtable Discussion/Closing Remarks – William Jefferson Clinton Auditorium

This conference is kindly supported by the Graduate School of Arts and Celtic Studies, University College Dublin.

Diaspora Strategies: Encouragement, Evolution and Engagement

September 9-10 2011

UCD Dublin

Ireland

All participants are required to register ahead of the conference.

Registration Fee: 40euro – 20 Euro Students/OAP (Fees to be paid upon arrival, cash only, and exact amount would be appreciated)

Please email Catherine.Carey@ucd.ie to confirm your registration, and include your full name, Institution and whether you will be paying full or partial fee.

We are recommending The Stillorgan Park Hotel which is a 15 minute walk from the University Campus.  They are offering a B&B rate of €89 per night to participants.  If you wish to book with them please email agnes@stillorganpark.com and quote reference number: 102, 353 UCD Diaspora Strategies Conference.

You can also find more accommodation suggestions on http://www.visitdublin.com/Accommodation

The University Campus is approximate 15/20 minutes bus ride from the city centre, or alternatively you could look for accommodation in Donnybrook which is closer to the University

Arriving from Dublin airport we recommend that you take the Aircoach bus from outside the arrivals hall, return fare €16 and it will drop you off at many of the main hotels in the city but also outside the Stillorgan Park Hotel.  When you are getting your ticket just give the driver the name of your hotel and he will make sure you are on the correct bus.

For direction to the University please follow the link; http://www.ucd.ie/gettingtoucd.htm

The conference will be taking place in the Clinton Institute of American Studies. Please follow the link for the location on campus; http://www.ucdclinton.ie/ucdmap

For a list of cafés/restaurants on Campus;   http://www.ucd.ie/catering/

If you wish to connect to the campus network please visit the IT center; http://www.dmmc.ie/Education_Venues/Daedalus.pdf?id=213%C0%03d=213&jid=712&jpid=213

The conference has been kindly supported by the UCD Graduate School of Arts and Celtic Studies

Diaspora Strategies: Encouragement, Evolution, and Engagement

9-10 September, 2011 UCD Clinton Institute of American Studies, Dublin, Ireland

Plenary Speakers:

Prof. Gabriel Sheffer (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Gabriel Sheffer is Emiterus Professor at the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has researched and published extensively on diasporas. His publications include Diaspora Politics: At Home Abroad, which was awarded the Israeli Political Science Association Prize for best book in 2004. During his career, he has been a Senior Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center and the Max Planck Institute, amongst others. He has also served as a member of the editorial boards of leading journals and publications such as Diaspora and India Journal of Diaspora. He is a regular contributor to Israeli newspapers such as Ha`aretz, Ydioth A’haronot, and Ynet.

Kingsley Aikins, (Networking Matters)

Kingsley Aikins worked for The Ireland Funds for 21 years and during that time over a quarter of a billion dollars was raised and distributed to over 1200 projects in Ireland, North and South. These projects were in the areas of peace and reconciliation, arts and culture, education and community development. The Funds are now active in 39 cities in 13 countries around the world and over 40,000 people attend more than 100 events annually. He is also co-founder on Networking Matters.

Tim Finch (Institute for Public Policy Research)

Tim Finch is ippr’s Director of Communications and is an expert in the areas of politics and media and strategic communications. He has degrees in politics from the London School of Economics and the University of Essex. His research and publications on diaspora strategies include GlobalBrit: Making the most of the British diaspora. He worked for a number of years for the BBC, latterly as a senior political journalist based at Westminster. He is a trustee of Asylum Aid, the Zimbabwe Association and the Ramphal Centre, and sits on the Housing and Migration Network.

“There is much more to learn about diaspora engagement. Part of its promise lies in its extraordinary diversity- there is a diaspora partner for every dimension of development and for every corner of the earth. But for diaspora engagement policy to be most effective, it needs to move beyond the familiar language of using, tapping, or even exploiting diaspora ties into the language – and practice – of mutuality and reciprocity.” (Migration Policy Institute)

This conference will engage with one of the most pertinent political discourses emerging in recent decades, diaspora strategies. The conference aims to examine the definitional, theoretical and practical frameworks of diaspora strategies. It will examine historical connotations of the subject matter as well as more contemporary policy implications. It will examine the role diaspora strategies play in both the domestic and foreign policy of Ireland. Furthermore, it will locate such discourses within the broader international community, drawing out comparative analysis on questions of nationalism, identity and representation.

Possible topics include:

Defining Diaspora: How do we define ‘diaspora’? Are there competing definitions of the term? How do they inform our understanding of different diasporas?

Diaspora Frameworks and Agency: How are diasporas structured, or indeed, are they? How do they evolve? Who or what instigates these processes?

Diaspora, Homelands and Hosts: What role does the perceived homeland play in diaspora consciousness? Does it have to be real, or can it be imagined? What is the relationship between diasporas and their homelands? Concurrently, what role does a host country play in a diaspora strategy?

Diaspora Strategies and Engagement: What is a diaspora strategy? Who should encourage diaspora strategies? What is their purpose? How can we progress to the language and practice of mutuality and reciprocity?

Diaspora Sections: Where can diasporas be strategically engaged? Historically, what had their role been in such areas as conflict resolution, philanthropy, and Foreign Direct Investment?

Diaspora Language: How central are native languages to diaspora communities? How many retain their language as a form of identity and community?

We invite single paper and panel proposals for this conference. Please send an email to diasporastrategies@gmail.com with the following information

1. Name, contact details and academic affiliation

2. Paper title

3. 200-300 word abstract

4. Brief CV or biographical statement

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: JUNE 4 2011.

The conference is kindly supported by the UCD Graduate School of Arts and Celtic Studies.

Diaspora Strategies: Encouragement, Evolution and Engagement at the UCD Clinton Institute of American Studies , Dublin, Ireland

9-10 September 2011

The conference has been kindly supported by the UCD Graduate School of Arts and Celtic Studies

Please refer back to website for updated information about the conference.