CfP: Populist Racism in Britain and Europe since 1945

Populist Racism in Britain and Europe since 1945

An International Conference
Thursday, 22 Sept. and Friday 23 Sept. 2011, Park Campus, University of Northampton

The Radicalism and New Media research group at the University of Northampton will host a two-day international conference called "Populist Racism in Britain and Europe since 1945". Following an established tradition, this conference will bring together scholars, practitioners and third sector professionals, engaged in ground-breaking research on the causes, nature and effect of populist racism, or who are seeking to provide a practical response to a vast array of concerns associated with its impact. With the rapid rise of populist racism penetrating the political, social, and cultural spheres, as well as the mass media, a burst of studies on this cannot have come at a more apposite time. However, the scholarly works in general – to practitioners’ and officials’ disappointment – often fall behind the developmental trajectories of populist racism, sometimes due to the lag-time between writing and actual print publication of innovative research. The agenda behind the International Conference "Populist Racism in Britain and Europe since 1945" is exactly to reduce the lag time between undertaking research and disseminating important findings, so these have a timely impact on practice. At the same time scholars of populist racism will have an opportunity to engage in a much needed, dynamic dialogue with practitioners, which will allow academics align their research priorities. The conference will therefore provide a combination of theoretical and empirical studies on populist racism by established and young scholars, as well as papers and reports from practitioners and civil servants.

Day 1: Populist Racism across Europe
Day 1 will be country- and region-oriented, and feature four panels.
Panel 1 – Western Europe
Panel 2 – Northern Europe
Panel 3 – Central and Eastern Europe
Panel 4 – Southern Europe

Day 2: Populist Racism in Britain
Day 2 of the conference will focus on populist racism in Britain and will be case-oriented.
Themes:
– Comparative and/or historical analysis of British racist populism
– Prejudice against Travellers, immigrants and asylum-seekers
– The ever-changing face of anti-Semitism
– Religion is the new colour? The rise of Islamophobia
– Racism in the mass media, and cultural production
– Populist racism and crime
– English Defence League: from anti-extremist protests to a racist street army
– British National Party: ‘common sense’, ‘racial realism’, or plain racism?
– ‘Traditional’ vs. ‘non-traditional’ immigrants: tensions among minority groups

Keynote addresses: Dr Hans-Georg Betz and others to be confirmed.

Conference cost is £65 for 1 day, £120 for both, including conference dinner in town on 22 September.

To participate, please submit an abstract of no more than 200 words by 30 June 2011 to conference organisers:

Dr Mathew Feldman, matthew.feldman@northampton.ac.uk
Dr Paul Jackson, paul.jackson@northampton.ac.uk
Dr Anton Shekhovtsov, anton.shekhovtsov@northampton.ac.uk