After the first decade of the 21st Century, one of the central and persistent problems across the globe is that of reconciling differences in contemporary societies and building social solidarity. These problems are manifest in a range of different contexts: revolution and civil war in North Africa and the Arab States; renewed famine and infrastructural failures in Africa; Islamophobia and right wing racism and mono-culturalism in Europe and the former Soviet states; the intractability of reconciliation and unification in divided societies like Cyprus; the temporal frailty of aspiring new nations such as Palestine; and signs of breakdown in law and order in inner cities in the UK and Germany.

This conference seeks to provide a space for scholars to take stock of the present context and share knowledge – specific or general, empirical or theoretical, with a view to develop and explore the possible ways forward to minimizing violence, discrimination, exclusion and oppression as the means by which difference is managed by political structures. It is hoped the conference will facilitate the development of more constructive, democratic, participative and inclusive means of promoting solidarity without negating difference and diversity. The conference is intended to be cross disciplinary and welcomes papers from scholars whose research crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries. Papers and panels are sought for presentation at parallel sessions where each paper will have a strict maximum of 20 minutes presentation time on panels of 2 papers with 25 minutes per paper discussion time.

Please see our website for more information: www.differenceandsolidarity.org