The University of Barcelona holds an international conference on nationalisms in Europe and Australia
From January 17 to 19 the Historical Building of the University of Barcelona will hold the international conference «Nationalism old and new: Europe, Australia and their others», organized by the Center for Australian and Transnational Studies (CEATS) of the University of Barcelona and the European Association for Studies of Australia (EASA). The conference will comment on the identity nationalism and populism within the framework of Europe-Australia, and will specially focus on migration policies, refugees and national minorities.
From January 17 to 19 the Historical Building of the University of Barcelona will hold the international conference «Nationalism old and new: Europe, Australia and their others», organized by the Center for Australian and Transnational Studies (CEATS) of the University of Barcelona and the European Association for Studies of Australia (EASA). The conference will comment on the identity nationalism and populism within the framework of Europe-Australia, and will specially focus on migration policies, refugees and national minorities.
A group of experts will touch on issues such as the structural links between policies in Europe and Australia regarding migrations, refugees and asylum seekers, or the role Australian studies can play from the European perspective to promote an understanding of policies on tolerance and exclusion.
The conference will start on Wednesday January 17 at 9 a.m. with the opening ceremony, held by the rector of the University of Barcelona, Joan Elias, and representatives from the Australian embassy and Casa Àsia, among other collaborating members, in the Aula Magna in the Historical Building.
Among the different conferences, there is a colloquium by two speakers from the Australian Catholic University on the policies on indigenous communities and educational paradigms: Kristina Everett will focus her speech from a non-aboriginal perspective, while Nerida Blair will talk from the aboriginal view. The conference will have other experts such as Shirley Steinberg, from the University of Calgary (Canada), an educator committed to human rights; Baden Offord and Suvendrini Perera, from Curtin University (Australia), globally known regarding human rights; Tabish Khair, from the University of Leeds (England), expert on xenophobia in Europe, and Dolores Herrero, from the University of Zaragoza (Spain), expert on postcolonial literature.
During this conference, the gallery of the Paranimph will offer the exhibition “Nationalism old and new: Europe, Australia and their others”, in which several international artists will show a series of sculptures and an audiovisual setting themed on nationalism as a source of artistic inspiration.
The schedule for the conference includes a concert by the singer and songwriter Neil Murray on Wednesday January 17 at 8 p.m. in the Aula Magna, and the following day, in the same place, several book presentations by authors such as Paul Arthur, Helen Gilbert and Iva Polak will take place.
The European Association for Studies of Australia is organizing this two-year international conference on several topics surrounding history, culture or policies in Australia. Some of the previous editions were dedicated to focusing on landscape changes in Australia, maintenance of the nation or frontier policies. These meetings have taken place in several European cities such as Liege (Belgium), Bordeaux (France) or Copenhagen (Denmark) among others.