Identities and Identifications: Politicized Uses of Collective Identities

FLORENCE
 

The Second Euroacademia International Conference

Identities and Identifications

Politicized Uses of Collective Identities

 

CALL FOR PANELS AND PAPERS

17 – 18 October 2014

Villa Vittoria – Palazzo dei Congressi
Florence, Italy

 

 

 

Conference Description

Identity is one of the crown jewelries in the kingdom of ‘contested concepts’. The idea of identity is conceived to provide some unity and recognition while it also exists by separation and differentiation. Few concepts were used as much as identity for contradictory purposes. From the fragile individual identities as self-solidifying frameworks to layered in-group identifications in families, orders, organizations, religions, ethnic groups, regions, nation-states, supra-national entities or any other social entities, the idea of identity always shows up in the core of debates and makes everything either too dangerously simple or too complicated. Constructivist and de-constructivist strategies have led to the same result: the eternal return of the topic. Some say we should drop the concept, some say we should keep it and refine it, some say we should look at it in a dynamic fashion while some say it’s the reason for resistance to change.

 

If identities are socially constructed and not genuine formations, they still hold some responsibility for inclusion/exclusion – self/other nexuses. Looking at identities in a research oriented manner provides explanatory tools for a wide variety of events and social dynamics. Identities reflect the complex nature of human societies and generate reasonable comprehension for processes that cannot be explained by tracing pure rational driven pursuit of interests. The feelings of attachment, belonging, recognition, the processes of values’ formation and norms integration, the logics of appropriateness generated in social organizations are all factors relying on a certain type of identity or identification. Multiple identifications overlap, interact, include or exclude, conflict or enhance cooperation. Identities create boundaries and borders; define the in-group and the out-group, the similar and the excluded, the friend and the threatening, the insider and the ‘other’.

 

Beyond their dynamic fuzzy nature that escapes exhaustive explanations, identities are effective instruments of politicization of social life. The construction of social forms of organization and of specific social practices together with their imaginary significations requires all the time an essentialist or non-essentialist legitimating act of belonging; a social glue that extracts its cohesive function from the identification of the in-group and the power of naming the other. Identities are political. Multicultural slogans populate extensively the twenty-first century yet the distance between the ideal and the real multiculturalism persists while the virtues of inclusion coexist with the adversity of exclusion. Dealing with the identities means to integrate contestation into contestation until potentially a n degree of contestation. Due to the confusion between identities and identifications some scholars demanded that the concept of identity shall be abandoned. Identitarian issues turned out to be efficient tools for politicization of a ‘constraining dissensus’ while universalizing terms included in the making of the identities usually tend or intend to obscure the localized origins of any identitarian project. Identities are often conceptually used as rather intentional concepts: they don’t say anything about their sphere but rather defining the sphere makes explicit the aim of their usage. It is not ‘identity of’ but ‘identity to’.

 

 

The Second Euroacademia International Conference ‘Identities and Identifications: Politicized Uses of Collective Identities’ aims to scrutinize the state of the art in collective identities research, to bring once more into debate the processes of identity making, identity building in both constructivist or de-constructivist dimensions. It is the aim of the Euroacademia conference to open the floor for dynamic multi-dimensional and inter-disciplinary understandings of identities in their historic formation or in the way they shape the present and future of organizations or communities.

 

Euroacademia aims to bring together a wide network of academics, researchers, practitioners and activists that are willing to share and open to debate their research on identity related topics. Disciplinary, trans and inter-disciplinary approaches, methodological assessments and recommendations, single case studies or cross-sectional analyses, reflective essays, experience sharing or works addressing new puzzles are all welcomed.

 

 

Participant’s Profile

The conference is addressed to academics, researchers and professionals with a particular interest related to the topic of collective identities from all parts of the world. Senior and junior researchers are equally welcomed. As the nature of the conference is intended to be multidisciplinary in nature, different academic backgrounds are welcomed.

 

Post-graduate students, doctoral candidates and young researchers are welcomed to submit an abstract. Representatives of INGOs, NGOs, Think Tanks and activists willing to present their work or projects with impact on or influenced by specific understandings of identities are welcomed as well to submit abstracts of their contributions.

 

Abstracts will be reviewed and the participants are selected based on the proven quality of the abstract. The submitted paper for the conference proceedings is expected to be in accordance with the lines provided in the submitted abstract.

Registration and Fee

 

The Registration is Closed

 

The Participation Fee Includes:

 

  • the registration fee
  • participant’s package with all the materials for the conference
  • eligibility for publishing of the presentation in the conference volume
  • a copy of the electronic volume
  • access to Euroacademia discussion group and newsletters
  • 2 daily coffee brakes with typical Italian snacks and refreshing drinks during the conference (water/sodas)
  • sparkling wine welcome drink on 17th of October 2014
  • a 4 course buffet lunch on 17th of October 2014
  • a 4 course buffet lunch on 18th of October 2014
  • certificate of attendance
  • access to optional social program

 

Please be aware that the final confirmation of attendance will be considered upon the payment of the participation fee until the 18th of September 2014 in the Euroacademia account:

Euroacademia

Name of the Bank: Belfius

Bank account IBAN: BE45 0688 9724 6589

BIC: GKCCBEBB

Branch: Agence BARRIERE – CHAUSSEE DE WATERLOO 216, 1060, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM


The participation fee can be paid through bank transfer . A confirmation of receipt will be sent to selected participants by e-mail together with the scanned invoice. The original invoice will be delivered to accepted participants on site at the conference.

Unfortunately, Euroacademia has no available funds for covering transport and accommodation to/in Florence. Participants are responsible for securing funding to cover transportation and accommodation costs during the whole period of the conference. Official invitation letters can be sent by Euroacademia to the financing institution to confirm the selection and participation in the conference upon request.

Social Activities and Publication

A specific spot in the conference program will be dedicated to social networking and therefore all the participants interested in setting or developing further cooperation agendas and prospects with other participants will have time to present and/or promote their project and express calls for cooperation.

 

A specific setting (Social Corner) for promotional materials connected with the topic of the conference will be reserved for the use of the participants. Books authored or edited by the participants can be exhibited and promoted during the whole period of the conference and can also be presented within the conference package based on prior arrangements.

 

An optional dinner and as social event will be organized for the second evening of the conference in a typical Italian cuisine restaurant as optional program for the willing participants. The social dinner will be held based on participant’s prior confirmation and it costs 30 Euro to be covered by the participants individually.
An optional walking tour of historical center of Florence will be available to willing participants on Sunday 19th of October 2014.

Publication:

Selected papers will be published in an electronic volume with ISBN after the confirmation of the authors and a double peer-review process based on an agreed publication schedule. All the papers selected for publication should be original and must have not been priory published elsewhere. All participants to the conference will receive a copy of the volume.

Important Dates
15 August 2014 Deadline for Submitting Panel Proposals
12 September 2014 300 words abstracts and details of affiliation
13th of September 2014 Latest notification of acceptance
15 September 2014 Sending the Registration Form
20 September 2014 Payment of the conference fee
8th of October 2014 Sending the draft paper to be uploaded on the web site of the conference
10th of October 2014 Publication of the conference program and uploading the draft papers on the website
17th of October 2014 The conference commences at 9.30 am

Venue and Directions

 

The conference will take place in the conference premises of the beautiful Villa Vittoria – Palazzo dei Congressi, centrally located in the heart of Florence, few steps away from the Santa Maria Novella church and the amazing Duomo with its cupola del Brunelleschi and Campanile di Giotto making easily accessible within a walking distance any part of the amazing Renaissance treasure of the historic center.

Located inside the 18th century Villa Vittoria – Palazzo dei Congressi boasts prestigious auditoriums and is surrounded by a centuries-old garden. The charming interiors of the venue are characterized by a combination of Florentine antique furniture with modern and functionally designed halls. Villa Vittoria and its adjacent Lemon House are connected to the Fortezza da Basso through a pedestrian square, thus forming a conference area which is completely accessible on foot, in the heart of the city. It is a luxury establishment where the secret ingredients of tradition, history and modernity are blended in perfect proportions and surrounded by marvelous edifices that host the largest Renaissance art collections in the world.

 

Villa Vittoria – Palazzo dei Congressi

Firenze Fiera, Piazza Adua, 1,
Florence, Italy, 055 49721

 

 

A city-size shrine to the Renaissance, Florence offers frescoes, sculptures, churches, palaces, and other monuments from the richest cultural flowering the world has known. Names from its dazzling historical past—Dante, Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli—are some of the most resonant of the medieval age.

But to see the Tuscan capital simply as Europe’s preeminent city of art would be to ignore not only its role as a dynamic and cosmopolitan metropolis, but also to overlook its more unsung charms—Italy’s most visited gardens (and its best ice-cream parlor), idyllic strolls on balmy summer evenings, a broad range of specialty shopping, sweeping views over majestic cityscapes, eating experiences that range from historic cafés to the country’s most highly rated restaurants, and the kind of seductive and romantic pleasures that somehow only Italy knows how to provide.

Florence is the best place to discuss and affirm diverse identities as it is a beautiful place that significantly shaped the modern identity of Europe through humanism, love for beauty, amazing arts and craftsmanship, respect for the past and a look into the future.

See full information about the conference Location & Map:

HERE

Conference participants are responsible for arranging the accommodation and travel to Florence.

Conference Program

 
 

See the conference panels with abstracts below by clicking on the panel numbered tabs.

Thinking European Identities: Visions, Narratives and Multicultural Claims

Chair: Emanuel Crudu (Euroacademia, Paris and Brussels)

 

Politicized Identifications: From National Pride to Branding of Nations and Regional Identities

Chair: German Mendzheritskiy (Librarium Archives Russe de la Presse Ancienne)

 

Identities and the Cities: Urban Transformations, Transition and Change in Urban Image Construction

Chair: Catherine MacMillan (Yeditepe University, Istanbul)

  • The Politics of Globalization and Heritage in Havana, Cuba
    Gabriel Fuentes, School of Architecture, Marywood University, USA
    The Politics of Globalization and Heritage in Havana, Cuba This paper briefly traces the global politics of 20th century development in Havana, particularly in relation to tourism. It then analyzes tourism in relation to preservation / restoration practices in Old Havana using the Plaza Vieja (Old Square)—Old Havana’s second oldest and most restored urban space—as a case study. In doing so, it exposes preservation / restoration as a dynamic and politically complex practice that operates across scales and ideologies, institutionalizing history and memory as an urban design and identity construction strategy.

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  • Daniela Vicherat Mattar, Leiden University College, The Hague
    “I Am the Space Where I Am”: Public Spaces and the Quests for Identity in Multicultural Cities In this paper I explore public spaces as the “corners” were processes of identity formation are produced, anchored, contested and recreated anew. The paper focuses on examining Puerta del Sol in Madrid and Plaza Italia in Santiago, their relevance to their respective identities of their cities and city-dwellers, the mutual determinations and the cultural images that each person project onto others, albeit the representations of these images during the recent social movements experienced in both cities.

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  • Art in Oslo: Old, New, Borrowed and Blue – Creating a New Identity for the City and its People
    Ekaterina Bagreeva, Russian Economic University of G. V. Plekhanov
    Art in Oslo: Old, New, Borrowed and Blue – Creating a New Identity for the City and its People The presentation introduces the work of the great Norwegian patron of the arts, Christian Rignes. He undertook the task of making citizens proud of their heritage, extracting the essence of the Norwegian soul and identity, as well as bringing the genius of artists like Dali, Rodin and Buseyne to the Norwegian woods. His Ekeberg Park in the East with sculptures underlining feminime qualities, balance the dominance of masculinity of the Vigeland Park in the Oslo West-End.

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  • Like a Bomb Hit it! The Urban Regeneration of Manchester since 1996
    Eamonn Canniffe, Manchester School of Architecture
    Like a Bomb Hit it! The Urban Regeneration of Manchester since 1996 The contention of this paper is that, despite massive and expensive reconstruction, his observation still holds true. Manchester's status as a problematic example of British urban regeneration presents difficulties in assessing the impact and significance of urban design.

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Ethnicity, Citizenship and Identifications: Minorities and Migrants

Chair: Ekaterina Bagreeva (Russian Economic University of G. V. Plekhanov, Moscow)

 

Performing Identities in Literature, Visual Arts and Design

Chair: Daniela Vicherat Mattar (Leiden University College, The Hague)

  • Mother, Motherhood and Motherland: Identity and Conflict in the Poetry of Perveen Shakir
    Katherine Peters, Faculty of Arts, Design and Technology, University of Derby, Derby, United Kingdom
    Mother, Motherhood and Motherland: Identity and Conflict in the Poetry of Perveen Shakir This paper focuses on various stages of Shakir’s biographical journey employing the theoretical framework of dialogism which reveals the development of feminisms, and how they balance in the end. No critical study on Shakir from a third-world postcolonial Pakistani perspective, analysing her poetry within a theoretical framework, has been written so far, and therefore this study is an invaluable contribution to current scholarly knowledge of the discipline.

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  • The Concept of Identity Through Jhumpa Lahiri’s 'The Namesake'
    Fulya Kincal, Kirklareli University, Turkey
    The Concept of Identity Through Jhumpa Lahiri’s ‘The Namesake’ . By representing her characters at the crossroad where both local and global spaces meet and constant negation between different aspects of lives appear, Lahiri depicts a transnational space for the Indian immigrants in the United States. Although the immigrants’ tenacity in clinging to the past is obvious in such space, a constant negotiation between different identities, recasting the fixed identities is seen as inevitable in The Namesake.

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  • The Art of Memories? Deirdre Madden and her Time Present and Time Past
    Zuzanna Sanches, University of Lisbon, Portugal
    The Art of Memories? Deirdre Madden and her Time Present and Time Past This essay will analyse the operations of memory as a self—contained system that finds its utmost realisation in art, here still—life photography. We will look at Deirdre Madden’s latest novel Time Present and Time Past where the plasticity of cognitive memory and the subjective interpretation of an image complement visual narratives of photography in the absence of human life.

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  • Museum and Identities: The Example of African American Museums
    Gwennaëlle Cariou, Université Paris Diderot
    Museum and Identities: The Example of African American Museums Museums can play a role in the creation of an identity of a state or a country (like in 19th century Europe), and for communities, to show their importance and the part they took in the American history and culture, and the way they are different from that. For African Americans, the situation is peculiar: African American being both part of American history and culture and being different from that.

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  • Design:Approach,Profession, Professionalism & Service of Relevance for Societies and their Economies
    Gerhard Eichweber, Value Group, Switzerland
    Design:Approach,Profession, Professionalism & Service of Relevance for Societies and their Economies The paper outlines further, how education better starts from the most difficult cases, such as Design and, moreover, Corporate Design, for industrial goods, moreover with investment goods of individual solutions and extremely short series. Because, who can give these a common "Gestalt-Language", will also be able to do it with mass-produced durable and consumer goods.

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Virtual Identifications, Identities, Borders and Post-Colonial Readings

Chair: Emanuel Crudu (Euroacademia, Paris and Brussels)

 

Legal Aspects of European Citizenship and Domestic Applied Quantitative Models

  • Legal and Political Aspects of the European Union Citizenship
    Zbigniew Czubinski, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland
    Legal and Political Aspects of the European Union Citizenship By elucidating the legal aspects of citizenship and nationality in domestic law and of identification through citizenship in international law, I will argue that the introduction of European Citizenship can be interpreted as a great achievement or "invitation" to political turmoil in the EU.

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  • Testing the Reliability of 2011 Census - Albania Using Benford’s Law
    Fejzi Kolaneci, University of New York in Tirana, Albania
    Alma Përmeti, Ministry of Interior Affairs of Albania
    Aurela Biçaku, University “Aleksander Moisiu” Durres, Albania
    Testing the Reliability of 2011 Census – Albania Using Benford’s Law The main purpose of the study is to test the hypothesis whether the second digit of demographic data 2011 Census-Al obeys Benford’s law. We consider 2827 data divided into five groups. The source of official data is INSTAT. These 2827 official data obtained from 2011 Census-Al are suspectable for manipulation.

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  • An Investigation to the Daily Exchange Rate Euro/Albanian Lekë During the Period 03 January 2013 – 12 September 2014
    Fejzi Kolaneci, University of New York in Tirana, Albania
    Alma Përmeti, Ministry of Interior Affairs of Albania
    Aurela Biçaku, University “Aleksander Moisiu” Durres, Albania
    An Investigation to the Daily Exchange Rate Euro/Albanian Lekë During the Period 03 January 2013 – 12 September 2014 The main purpose of the study is to test the fair game hypothesis as well as the foreign exchange market efficiency for daily exchange rate process Euro/Albanian Lekë over the period 03 January 2013 – 12 September 2014 in Albanian currency market.

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  • Villa Vittoria – Palazzo dei Congressi

     

    Piazza Adua 1 – Florence, Italy

  • Conference program

     

    • October 17, 2014
      • 09:00 - 09:30Registration of Participants ((Registration Desk))
      • 09:30 - 10:30Welcome and Opening Remarks - Open Floor Workshop: Identities and Identifications
      • 10:30 - 11:00Coffee Break and Snacks
      • 11:00 - 13:00Panel 1: Thinking European Identities: Visions, Narratives and Multicultural Claims
      • 13:00 - 14:30Tuscan Specialties Buffet Lunch – Villa Vittoria
      • 14:30 - 16:30Panel 2: Politicized Identifications: From National Pride to Branding of Nations and Regional Identities
      • 16:30 - 17:00Coffee Break and Snacks
      • 17:00 - 19:00Panel 3: Identities and the Cities: Urban Transformations, Transition and Change in Urban Image Construction
      • 19:00 - 19:45Welcome Drink – Aperitivo in Firenze
      • 19:45 - 21:30Optional Social Dinner in Florence
    • October 18, 2014
      • 09:00 - 11:00Panel 4: Ethnicity, Citizenship and Identifications: Minorities and Migrants
      • 11:00 - 11:30Coffee Break and Snacks
      • 11:30 - 13:30Panel 5: Performing Identities in Literature, Visual Arts and Design
      • 13:30 - 15:00Tuscan Specialties Buffet Lunch – Villa Vittoria
      • 15:00 - 17:00Panel 6: Virtual Identities and Visual Identifications
      • 17:00 - 17:30Coffee Break and Snacks
      • 17:30 - 18:30Panel 7: Domestic Applied Data and Quantitative Models of Analisys
      • 18:30 - 19:00Concluding Remarks and Discussions
      • 19:00 - 21:00Optional Social Dinner in Florence
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