CFP: Social relations and Human Security Conference

The Centre for Social Relations is Calling for papers on topics relevent to the network, including the role of belief and the impact of Secularism and Pluralism in local, national and international contexts.

Social relations and Human Security Conference

Friday 22nd – Saturday 23rd March
Centre for Social Relations (incorporating the Institute
of Community Cohesion), Coventry University

We live in an interconnected world that transports social issues across and between people, sectors, communities and societies. Tackling some of the drivers and misconceptions that underpin the most pressing problems for societies today –ethnicity, the environment, or socio-economics – requires continued multi-disciplinary dialogue between, governments, practitioners and publics.

The context of contemporary people-to-people relationships and the consequences of differences are both an opportunity and challenge for human security agendas. The question of how we interact, whether at work or at home, with people who we perceive as different to us is central to our sense of stability and security, not just for ourselves, but also for our families and communities. How do we challenge polarising narratives and negative representations through new models of engagement or dialogue? How can we develop communities where people interact in a meaningful way and experience true equality of opportunity? How can we help to equip people in the UK and globally to live engaged and peaceful lives in pluralistic societies?

In learning to understand how our social relations play out in communities both locally and globally, we can begin to address how to live together in peaceful relationships in a world of difference.
Keynote speakers include:
Professor Linda Woodhead, Professor in the sociology of religion in the Department of Politics, Philosophy & Religion at Lancaster University,
Prof. Salman Hameed, Director Centre for the study of Science in Muslim Societies, Hampshire College, US.
Registration Fees: Coventry University will be offering a subsidized rate for registration and accommodation for all delegates and a significantly subsidized rate for registration and accommodation to all postgraduate students, recently qualified postdoc’s or early career scholars who are not currently in full-time employment. Registration fees will be advertised shortly.
Publications: We are currently in discussion with publishers to produce an edited volume of selected papers from this conference. Further details will be available in due course and a call for submissions will be circulated to those who successfully submit a paper to the conference.
Abstract submission:

Our conference will explore the importance of work under the broad banner of social relations in policymaking, international inter-cultural dialogue/cross-community dialogue and academic research. Applied research, empirical studies and critical theoretical papers are welcomed on topics including, but not limited to:
• Agendas for social relations at a community level
• The role of belief, class or ethnicity in society, public space, or discourse
• New directions in intercultural dialogue/cross community dialogue
• The impact of top down vs. bottom up approaches on communities and policy
• Individuality vs. Individualism
• Secularism and Pluralism in local, national and international contexts
• Multiculturalism, Identity and Integration
• Inter-generational conflict/relations
• Do we need a new social contract for diversity?
Proposals are welcomed from researchers of all nationalities at all stages of their careers.
Session proposals should normally consist of three or four papers, with or without a commentator/chair. Sessions will be 90 minutes to 2 hours long. Proposals for alternative types of session (eg. round-table or witness seminar) are strongly encouraged. Please discuss this with us in advance of the Call for Papers deadline.
Proposals for individual papers should include an abstract of no more than 250 words. Abstracts should not contain footnotes and should be comprehensible to a non-specialist audience.
The deadline for submitting a session or abstract is 14th January 2013

Abstracts should be submitted to: socialrelationsevents@coventry.ac.uk
Any enquiries should be directed to: Dr Fern Elsdon-Baker
For further information and updates please go to:

http://www.cohesioninstitute.org.uk/NewsEvents/SocialRelationsAndHumanSecurity