(Name-mce) ListServ 7th International Conference on Diversity July 3-6 Amsterdam

[Anselmo Villanueva]

7th International Conference on Diversity in Organisations,
Communities and Nations

July 3-6, 2007  Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Information: http://d07.cgpublisher.com/welcome.html

In 2007, the conference will be held in in Amsterdam, the Netherlands,
from 3 to 6 July. This conference will address a range of critically
important themes in the study of diversity today. Main speakers will
include some of the world's leading thinkers in the field, as well as
numerous paper, workshop and colloquium presentations by researchers
and practitioners.

This is a conference for any person with an interest in, and concern
for, mediating cultural difference. All are encouraged to register and
attend this significant and timely conference. A range of tour and
accommodation options is also available.

Participants are also welcome to submit a presentation proposal either
for a 30 minute paper, 60 minute workshop, a jointly presented 90
minute colloquium session. or a virtual session. Parallel sessions are
loosely grouped into streams reflecting different perspectives or
disciplines. Each stream also has its own talking circle, a forum for
focused discussion of issues.

Presenters may choose to submit written papers to the The
International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and
Nations, a fully refereed academic journal. Virtual participants also
have the option to submit papers for consideration by the journal. All
registered conference participants receive a complimentary online
subscription to the journal when registration is finalised. This
subscription is valid until one year after the conference end date.

If you would like to know more about this conference, bookmark the
Diversity Conference site and return for further information-the site
is regularly updated. You might also wish to subscribe to the
conference and journal newsletter.

For all enquiries, please contact the conference secretariat.

Background

The International Conference on Diversity in Organisations,
Communities and Nations

Now a major international conference, the Diversity Conference was
first held in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia in 2000, then at the
University of Hawai'i in 2003, the University of California, Los
Angeles in 2004, the Institute of Ethnic Administrators in Beijing in
2005 and with Xavier University of New Orleans and Louisiana State
University in 2006.

The conference has a history of bringing together scholarly,
government and practice-based participants with an interest in the
issues of diversity and community. The conference examines the concept
of diversity as a positive aspect of a global world and globalised
society. Diversity is in many ways reflective of our present world
order, but there are ways of taking this further without necessary
engendering its alternatives: racism, conflict, discrimination and
inequity. Diversity as a mode of social existence can be projected in
ways that deepen the range of human experience. The conference will
seek to explore the full range of what diversity means and explore
modes of diversity in real-life situations of living together in
community. The conference supports a move away from simple
affirmations that 'diversity is good' to a much more nuanced account
of the effects and uses of diversity on differently situated
communities in the context of our current epoch of globalisation.

In addition to linguistic, cultural, ethnic and 'racial' diversity,
the conference will also pursue its well established interest in other
aspects of diversity, including the intersecting dynamics of gender,
sexual orientation, (dis)ability, locale and socio-economic
background.

The conference looks at the realities of diversity today, critically
as well as optimistically and strategically. The conference will be a
place for speaking about diversity, and in ways that range from the
'big picture' and the theoretical, to the very practical and everyday
realities of diversity in organisations, communities and civic life.

In the realm of civic life, local and national communities daily
negotiate the diversity resulting from immigration, refugee movement,
settlement and indigenous claims to prior ownership and sovereignty.
And at the same time, communities increasingly recognise and negotiate
a plethora of other intersecting and sometimes contrary diversities.
At the local level this may create a kind of civic pluralism, a new
way of living in community. Nationally, governments sit uneasily
between increasingly demanding local diversities and the cultural and
political forces of globalisation. And within organisations,
'diversity management' has emerged as a field of endeavour to
negotiate human resource and customer relationship issues arising from
differences of gender, ethnicity/race, sexual orientation and
disability (to name a few aspects of diversity). To what extent,
however, do these remain marginal managerial concerns? Could or should
diversity become a 'mainstream' issue for the whole organisation?

The Diversity Conference is a participants' conference, including
numerous parallel sessions. The conference organising committee is
inviting proposals to present 30 minute papers, or 60 minute workshops
or 90 minute colloquium sessions. These can be:

Academic or research papers, or
Presentations describing educational initiatives.

The International Journal of Diversity

Presenters have the option to submit papers to the Diversity Journal,
before the conference and up until one month after the conference.
Papers submitted for publication will be fully refereed. The
publication decision is based on the referees' reports.

For those unable to attend the conference in person, virtual
registrations are available. This provides participants access to the
electronic version of the journal, and also the option to submit
papers to the Diversity Journal.

Who Should Attend

- Academics and educational administrators in the fields of
globalisation, nationalism, anthropology and cultural studies, tourism
studies, ethnic studies, indigenous studies, gender studies,
disability studies, gay and lesbian studies, diversity management.
- Research students.
- Public administrators and policy-makers.
- Private and public sector leaders: diversity management, equal
employment opportunity, human resource development.
- Workplace trainers and change agents.