Australian Institute of Polish Affairs

Symposium on Migration and Multiculturalism Today

Invitation to
Symposium on Migration and Multiculturalism Today: Australian and European Perspectives
co-sponsored and co-organised by the
Embassy of the Republic of Poland
Monash European and EU Centre (MEEUC)
Australian Institute of Polish Affairs (AIPA)
at Monash Caufield Campus, Theatre H235,
Wednesday 30 November 2011, 9am – 3pm

We would be delighted if you could join us at a Symposium on Migrations and Multiculturalism Today: Australian and European Perspectives, held at Monash European and EU Centre (MEEUC), Theatre H235 on Wednesday, 30 November 2011, 9am to 3pm. This a collaborative project between MEEUC (the host of the event), the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Canberra (co-funding the visit of the European scholars), and the Australian Institute of Polish Affairs (co-organiser).

The main purpose of the Symposium is to compare the Australian and EU perspectives on immigration and multiculturalism and stimulate informed public debate on the related issues, especially in the context of similar problems and challenges facing Australia and the EU nations. The Symposium also aims at bringing together people with shared interest and expertise in migration and multiculturalism: the top academics (from both continents), government officials, community leaders and media representatives whose discussion will enhance our understanding of migration and multiculturalism in and beyond Australia.
The process of globalisation reduces the distances between societies and forces us to deal with increasingly similar list of challenges and strategic choices. Intensifying mass migrations – controlled and uncontrolled – and the resulting widening ethno-cultural diversity of all societies, poses a series of questions and challenges that are very similar in contemporary Australia and European Union. How to respond to increasing (and not always controllable) migrations? How to deal, on the national level, with widening ethno-cultural diversity of societies? How to prevent this diversification from becoming the force of socio-cultural disintegration, ethnic fracturing and ethno-cultural segmentation? What policy strategies should we follow in order to secure social integration, cohesion and harmony? How successful, in these respects, have been multicultural policies? What is the political future of multiculturalism – in Australia and Europe?

Addressing these questions in the context of a symposium becomes a standard element of informed public debates that prepare and reshape national policies. Moreover, such a comparison of experiences, perspectives and strategies gives us a unique opportunity to view the migration and multicultural policies (and their outcomes) in comparative perspective, bring to the debates the experiences of unifying Europe – especially its new members – and highlight the major achievements of European, social thought. The benefits from such a symposium will flow both ways. Australian academics and publics will have an opportunity to have a closer look the European perspectives and experiences. It will also offer an opportunity for visiting Polish experts to familiarise themselves with the Australian experiences and perspectives on migration and multiculturalism. Last but not least, such an exchange of experiences and perspectives is particularly important at the time Poland takes the presidency of the European Union – the fact that highlights a European dimension of the Polish experience and perspective.

DATE, PLACE AND FORMAT
The Symposium is hosted by Monash University European and EU Centre (MEEUC). It will include presentations by invited academics and panel discussion combined with Q&A. All presentations will have c. 30 min. time slots (15-20 min presentation + 10-15 minutes discussion), in two sessions, followed by a panel discussion and a Q&A session. Morning coffee/tea and lunch will be provided.

THE SPEAKERS
The Symposium will be opened by the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland, HE Andrzej Jaroszynski and the Director of the Monash European and EU Centre, Professor Pascaline Winand. The speakers include:

Dr Stefan Auer is Jean Monnet Chair in EU Interdisciplinary Studies, Senior Lecturer in History and Politics at La Trobe University. Prior to this, he was Academic Director of the Dublin European Institute, University College Dublin. His book, Liberal Nationalism in Central Europe (2004) won the prize for Best Book in European Studies (2005) with the University Association for contemporary European Studies (UACES).
Dr Bob Birrell is Reader in Sociology at Monash University. He is joint editor (with K. Betts) of the quarterly demographic journal People and Place, published by CPUR. He has a degree in economics (Melbourne), history (London) and a PhD in Sociology (Princeton). He has advised on immigration issues to both Labor and Coalition governments, was a member of the Commonwealth Government’s National Population Council, and member of the independent Review of the General Skilled Migration Program.
Dr Pawel Kaczmarczyk, Faculty of Economic Sciences at University of Warsaw, Head of the Central and East European Economic Research Centre (University of Warsaw), guest lecturer in Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, Universitait Maastricht, the Netherlands. His research interests and publications are in the areas of migration and economic development.
Dr Magdalena Lesinska is Deputy Director of Centre of Migration Research, as well as member of IMISCOE Research Network (International Migration Integration and Social Cohesion). She coordinates research on migration and writes on the issues of migration and ethnic relations in Poland and the European Union.
Prof. Andrew Markus holds the Pratt Foundation Chair of Jewish Civilisation. He is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and is a past Head of Monash University’s School of Historical Studies, working in the field of migration and Australian race relations. He is the author, editor or co-editor of numerous books, including Australia’s Immigration Revolution (2009 – with J. Jupp and P. McDonald), Race: John Howard and the Remaking of Australia (2001), Building a New Community. Immigration and the Victorian Economy (2001).
Dr Alex Naraniecki is Research Fellow in the Centre for Citizenship and Globalization, School of International and Political Studies, Deakin University, Melbourne Campus. His doctoral thesis in philospohy was on the issues of multiculturalism in Australia.
Prof. Jan Pakulski is Professor of Sociology at the University of Tasmania, Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and Fellow of the Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality at Stanford University. His book publications include The Death of Class (1996; with M. Waters), Globalizing Inequalities (2004), and Toward Leader Democracy (2011, with A. Korosenyi). He is President of the Australian Institute of Polish Affairs.

PROGRAM
9.00 – 9.30 Opening by the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland, HE Andrzej Jaroszynski and the Director of the MEEUC, Prof. Pascaline Winand

9.30 – 11.00 Migration and Multiculturalism in Europe
Pawel Kaczmarczyk, ‘Migration and Development: An European Perspective’
Magdalena Lesinska, ‘Migration and Integration Policy In Multicultural Europe. Present and Future Challenges’
Stefan Auer, ‘Thilo Sarrazin: a German taboo breaker, or an enemy of multiculturalism?’

11.00 – 11.15 – morning coffee/tea

11.15 – 1.00 Migration and Multiculturalism in Australia
Andrew Markus, ‘Australian attitudes to immigration and cultural diversity’
Bob Birrell, ‘Does globalisation drive immigration outcomes? – the Australian experience’
Jan Pakulski, ‘Confusions about multiculturalism’
Alex Naraniecki, ‘Dilemmas of Australian multiculturalism’

1.00 – 1.30 – Lunch

1.30 – 3.00 – The Challenges of Migration and Multiculturalism
Panel Discussion + Q&A

3.00 – Closing

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