2008 Events

SYMPOSIUM
Southern Worlds: South Africa and Australia Compared
25–27 November 2008
Monash South Africa
www.southernworlds.com

The first of its kind, this international symposium, hosted by the Monash University South Africa campus in Johannesburg, covered themes including the historical relationship between Australia and South Africa, cooperation and trade between the two economies, population movement and multiculturalism in each country. Keynote speakers included Jim Davidson, Bhadra Ranchod, Norman Etherington, Jonathan Hyslop, Sipho Seepe and Marilyn Lake. The conference featured an optional tour of the Constitutional Courts and the township of Soweto.

CONFERENCE
Fifth Diversity Matters Conference: Diasporas in the Commonwealth
19–20 November 2008
Monash Malaysia
www.diversitymatters2008.com

The Fifth Diversity Matters Conference was organised by the Australian Multicultural Foundation, the Commonwealth Foundation, the Monash Institute for the Study of Global Movements, The Statesman of India and the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute. Hosted by the Monash University Malaysian campus, the conference consisted of plenary sessions and workshops to establish the diasporas in the Commonwealth and investigate the following: identity and integration; community and political participation; the new environment; the politics of sending and receiving countries; and other issues.

More information on the conference proceedings can be found in Around the Globe Vol 6 No 1, the electronic copy of which is available on the Publications page on this website

WORKSHOP
Social inclusion: The Chinese and Italian Communities in Prato
27 October 2008
Monash Prato Centre, Italy

‘Social inclusion’ was a one-day academic conference organised by Monash University Professors Russell Smyth from the Business and Economics faculty, Graeme Johanson, director, Centre for Community Networking Research, and Annamaria Pagliaro, director, Monash Prato.

The workshop was an opportunity to hear and discuss research findings from the groundbreaking study of the Chinese communities in Prato. The project examined the work choices, image and perceptions in the media and in the community, uptake of new communication options, issues of identity and integration and other factors affecting the expatriate Chinese community in Prato.

Living Outside the Walls: The Chinese in Prato, edited by Graeme Johanson, Russell Smyth and Rebecca French, was published by Cambridge Scholars and is now available.

CONFERENCE
Integration Futures
22–24 October 2008
Monash Prato Centre, Italy
www.integrationfutures.com

Following two highly successful conferences, ‘Immigration Futures' (2004) and ‘Multicultural Futures' (2006), ‘Integration Futures' highlighted the challenges to cohesion and integration in societies, especially in education, the media, economic and workplace inequality, and policies for inclusiveness.

It was organised and sponsored as a partnership between International Metropolis Project (Canada), the Monash Institute for the Study of Global Movements and the Australian Multicultural Foundation (Australia) and with co-operation from the Centre of Migration Policy and Society at Oxford University (UK). More information on the conference proceedings can be found in Around the Globe Vol 6 No 1, the electronic copy of which is available on the Publications page on this website

WORKSHOP
Nations of Immigrants: Australia and the USA
19–21 October 2008
Monash University Prato Centre, Italy

2008 marked 15 years since the publication of the landmark book Nations of Immigrants (edited by Jupp and Freeman, OUP, 1993). Over that time, much has changed in terms of immigration policy in receiving countries such as Australia and the US.

The Monash Institute for the Study of Global Movements and the University of Texas in Austin organised a workshop that focused on comparing US and Australian immigration policy developments, experiences and challenges in each country over the 15-year period prior to 2008. This workshop brought together international scholars at the Monash Centre in Prato, and research from the project was to be published in a book edited by Professor John Higley of the Texas University at Austin, Dr James Jupp of the Australian National University and Professor John Nieuwenhuysen with Ms Stine Neerup of the Monash Institute for the Study of Global Movements.

SYMPOSIUM
South Africans in Britain
30 May 2008
The Commonwealth Club, London

Monash South Africa, the Menzies Centre at King’s College London, in collaboration with the Monash Institute for the Study of Global Movements organised this symposium. London has long been the destination of choice for South Africans as a place to visit, settle or work for a while. But since the country's first democratic election in 1994, and its re-entry into the Commonwealth, the number of South Africans in London has risen dramatically. Although this influx has been widely recognised in both South Africa and Britain, there has been little serious attention paid to the demographics of these newcomers and the type of life they live here. This symposium redressed this, presenting new specially-commissioned research and presentations from representatives of the South African and UK governments, and from South African business, media and marketing leaders.

The book South Africans in Britain is due to be published by UNISA soon.