In 2007, the conference will be held in in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from 3 to 6 July. This conference will address a range of critically important themes in the study of diversity today. Main speakers will include some of the world’s leading thinkers in the field, as well as numerous paper, workshop and colloquium presentations by researchers and practitioners.

This is a conference for any person with an interest in, and concern for, mediating cultural difference. All are encouraged to register and attend this significant and timely conference. A range of accommodation options is also available.

Participants are also welcome to submit a presentation proposal either for a 30-minute paper, 60-minute workshop, a jointly presented 90-minute colloquium session.

Parallel sessions are loosely grouped into streams reflecting different perspectives or disciplines. Each stream also has its own talking circle, a forum for focused discussion of issues. For those unable to attend the conference in person, virtual participation is also available.

We encourage all presenters to submit written papers to The International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations, a fully refereed academic journal. Virtual participants may also submit papers for consideration by the journal. All conference participants who have finalised their registration will receive a complimentary online subscription to the journal. This subscription is valid until one year after the conference end date.

If you would like to know more about this conference, bookmark the Diversity Conference site and return for further information-the site is regularly updated. You might also wish to subscribe to the conference and journal newsletter.

For all enquiries, please contact the conference secretariat.

Background

The International Conference on Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations

Now a major international conference, the Diversity Conference was first held in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia in 2000, then at the University of Hawai’i in 2003, the University of California, Los Angeles in 2004, the Institute of Ethnic Administrators in Beijing in 2005 and with Xavier University of New Orleans and Louisiana State University in 2006.

The conference has a history of bringing together scholarly, government and practice-based participants with an interest in the issues of diversity and community. The conference examines the concept of diversity as a positive aspect of a global world and globalised society. Diversity is in many ways reflective of our present world order, but there are ways of taking this further without necessary engendering its alternatives: racism, conflict, discrimination and inequity. Diversity as a mode of social existence can be projected in ways that deepen the range of human experience. The conference will seek to explore the full range of what diversity means and explore modes of diversity in real-life situations of living together in community. The conference supports a move away from simple affirmations that 'diversity is good' to a much more nuanced account of the effects and uses of diversity on differently situated communities in the context of our current epoch of globalisation.

In addition to linguistic, cultural, ethnic and ‘racial’ diversity, the conference will also pursue its well established interest in other aspects of diversity, including the intersecting dynamics of gender, sexual orientation, (dis)ability, locale and socio-economic background.

The conference looks at the realities of diversity today, critically as well as optimistically and strategically. The conference will be a place for speaking about diversity, and in ways that range from the 'big picture' and the theoretical, to the very practical and everyday realities of diversity in organisations, communities and civic life.

In the realm of civic life, local and national communities daily negotiate the diversity resulting from immigration, refugee movement, settlement and indigenous claims to prior ownership and sovereignty. And at the same time, communities increasingly recognise and negotiate a plethora of other intersecting and sometimes contrary diversities. At the local level this may create a kind of civic pluralism, a new way of living in community. Nationally, governments sit uneasily between increasingly demanding local diversities and the cultural and political forces of globalisation. And within organisations, 'diversity management' has emerged as a field of endeavour to negotiate human resource and customer relationship issues arising from differences of gender, ethnicity/race, sexual orientation and disability (to name a few aspects of diversity). To what extent, however, do these remain marginal managerial concerns? Could or should diversity become a 'mainstream' issue for the whole organisation?

The Diversity Conference is a participants' conference, including numerous parallel sessions. The conference organising committee is inviting proposals to present 30 minute papers, or 60 minute workshops or 90 minute colloquium sessions. These can be:

• Academic or research papers, or
• Presentations describing educational initiatives.

The International Journal of Diversity

Conference participants can submit papers to the Diversity Journal, before the conference and up until one month after the conference. Papers submitted for publication will be fully refereed. The publication decision is based on the referees' reports.

For those unable to attend the conference in person, a virtual registration will provide participants access to the electronic version of the journal, as well as the option to submit papers to the Diversity Journal.

For more information about the journal please visit the Publish Your Paper page.

Who Should Attend

• Academics and educational administrators in the fields of globalisation, nationalism, anthropology and cultural studies, tourism studies, ethnic studies, indigenous studies, gender studies, disability studies, gay and lesbian studies, diversity management.
• Research students.
• Public administrators and policy-makers.
• Private and public sector leaders: diversity management, equal employment opportunity, human resource development.
• Workplace trainers and change agents.

For more information about this conference, please go to http://d07.cgpublisher.com/welcome.html.