Jewish Londoners Conference

When:           Sunday 15 February 2009
Where:          London Metropolitan Archives, 40, Northampton Road, London, EC1R 0HB
Time: 10am-4.30pm
Cost:           £30 / £20 (including lunch)
Booking:        Call on 020 7332 3851 or email ask.lma@cityoflondon.gov.uk

PROGRAMME

10  am          Arrival, Registration and Welcome

10.30 am Memory and The Jewish East End

Rachel Lichtenstein. Artist, archivist and writer, Rachel is the author of Rodinsky’s Whitechapel and co-author, with Iain Sinclair of Rodinsky’s Room. Her most recent publication is On Brick Lane, the first of a trilogy of books on London streets. This talk explores approaches to discovering and recording history through recollection.

11.15 am Responses to Mosley and the British Union of Fascists

David Rosenberg. David is a teacher and local historian who has done research on how different sectors of the Jewish community understood and responded to the threat posed by Mosley’s British Union of Fascists in the East End; how they helped defeat Mosley and what it revealed about the fault lines within the Jewish community of the 1930s.

12.15pm London Synagogues

Dr Sharman Kadish is Director of Jewish Heritage UK and AHRC Research Fellow and Part-time Lecturer in the Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Manchester. She has written several books and numerous articles on Anglo-Jewish history and heritage, including Jewish Heritage in England: An Architectural Guide , published by English Heritage in 2006.

1pm Lunch (includes behind the scenes tour and a look at some original documents and a chance to view a reminiscence film )

2.30pm The Jewish Community and Freemasonry

Susan Snell is Archivist and Records Manager at the Library and Museum of Freemasonry. This talk explores the Jewish community in Freemasonry, with particular reference to the Jewish community in Jamaica and its interchange with Hoxton and other areas in London.

3.15 pm Benjamin Disraeli

Helen Langley. Helen is Head of Modern Political Papers in the Bodleian Library and the editor of Benjamin Disraeli: Scenes From an Extraordinary Life. This presentation will explore aspects of his life with consideration given to his being compelled to convert from the Jewish faith to Christianity at age 13, his London associations and his youthful visits to the Middle East.

4pm Tea and close

6th Annual Forced Migration Student Conference Call for Papers Call for Papers. “Refugees: Lives Pushed to the Margins?”

The 6th Annual Forced Migration Student Conference organised by postgraduates and hosted by the Refugee Research Centre at the University of East London on Saturday the 25^th and Sunday the 26^th of April.

Living a life in the margins or a marginalised life is a recurrent trope in the field of forced migration studies. Throughout the whole refugee experience from persecution and flight to settlement and integration, refugees find themselves pushed to the margins and often excluded. The marginalisation of various categories of forced migrants brings into question the effectiveness of protection regimes. Livelihood strategies of forced migrants are formulated at the very margins of society, some of whom are compelled to do so ‘outside’ the law. How do refugees negotiate identities that help them to combat social exclusion? Adopting a reflexive gaze, as researchers and aspiring academics we must ask ourselves how considerable and pertinent are the dialogues of practitioners and academics? Is academia to be confined to the sidelines or can it be more engaged with forced migrants? In which ways can the study of forced migration be related to wider global issues?

The conference invites papers that fit within the broad theme of the conference and forced migration more generally. We solicit papers that converge on the following sub-themes of the conference:

1)    Conversations and interdisciplinary dialogues (scholarly, policy, practitioners, NGOs)

2)    Sites of liminality and change (state; regional; local, trans-national; familial; individual)

3)    Conversations in issue-areas (development; human rights; migration; security; post-conflict)

4)    Sites of experience (gender; flight; re-settlement; camps; exclusion)

Postgraduate students (Masters/MPhil/PhD) are invited to submit abstracts for papers (no more than 250 words) and a personal profile (no more than 100 words). They should be sent, with full contact details, by 4pm on 26th January 2009 to: fmconference2009@googlemail.com

Posted in:  Refugee Studies and Conferences & Events.

Conferences and Events

New events from ODI: A long road home Thursday, 13 November, 17.00 – 18.30 Palace of Westminster, Committee Room 12, St. Steven’s entrance

Speakers Include: Sara Pantuliano, Margie Buchanan-Smith and Paul Murphy.

Sudan’s peace agreement is approaching its most testing time. As up to two million displaced people attempt to re-settle in areas that are impoverished and ill-prepared, a number of colossal challenges present themselves. Action is urgently needed to address massive and rapid urbanisation, encourage civilians to disarm and provide opportunities for the sustainable use of natural resources, including land in urban areas. Infrastructure and markets need to be developed and equitable access to essential services must be put in place. This ODI meeting, hosted by the Associate Parliamentary Group on Sudan, will launch the second phase of a study by the Humanitarian Policy Group on reintegration in Southern Sudan and the Three Areas. The authors, Sara Pantuliano, Margie Buchanan-Smith and Paul Murphy, will outline the key obstacles faced by returnees and the strategies that must be put in place to support one of the world’s largest return and reintegration processes. Wendy Fenton, an independent consultant with over 20 years of experience working in Sudan, will act as a discussant at this event. Source: ODI. Further Information and to book a place, please visit: http://www.odi.org.uk/events/2008/11/11-long-road/index.html The following three events were listed on the Welcome To Your Library (WTYL) email digest. Further details of the WTYL project can be found here:

Asylum seeker and refugee seminars

(Source: IRR e-digest)

http://www.irr.org.uk/pdf/CWDC_leaflet.pdf

Tue 4 November, Coventry

Thu 27 November Sheffield

Tue 2 Dec, Southampton

The Children’s Workforce Development Council, working with Northumbria University and the National Foundation for Educational Research, have set up a series of seminars to understand the skills and knowledge of people working with refugee and asylum seeker families. The long term aim is to provide training for individuals or groups to fill skills or knowledge gaps in relation to work in this area. Anyone working in local authorities or voluntary organisations with this audience is invited to attend to share understanding and good practice. Booking form: http://www.irr.org.uk/pdf/CWDC_form.doc

Promoting integration of vulnerable migrant groups

http://www.ippr.org/events/?id=3264

24 November, ippr, London This is the third in a seminar series supported by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and draws on the findings of the JRF’s Immigration and Inclusion Programme. It will focus on irregular migrants, transient labour migrants and asylum-seekers and refugees. Participants will receive copies of new ippr research on the integration of Bangladeshi, Iranian, Nigerian and Somali migrants. The seminar aims to:

• translate recent research on immigrant integration and social inclusion into policy recommendations
• consider the impact of policy interventions targeted at irregular migrants, transient labour migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees
• share work and to consolidate networks between researchers and policymakers
• disseminate best practice in migrant integration and social cohesion.

More information and details of speakers at weblink above. For further information or to confirm attendance please contact Holly Andrew, Migration and Equalities Team, ippr 0207 470 6170 or h.andrew@ippr.org

Fortress Britain: is immigration working? http://www.ippr.org/ipprnorth/events/?id=3221

1 December, Urban Café, Dance City, Newcastle Professor Andrew Geddes from Sheffield University will argue that immigration frenzies in the media and politics are largely missing the point. He will explore what he believes are more relevant questions on how to effectively manage migration, past, present and future. For more information email north@ippr.org

Moroccan Memories in Britain

http://moroccanmemories.org.uk/index.html

(Source: Community Archives & Identities blog)

Wealth of resources from the project run by the Migrant and Refugee Communities Forum. The following events taken from the Institute for race relations email digest, (http://www.irr.org.uk/):

e v e n t Demo against crisis in DRC http://www.irr.org.uk/2008/november/ha000015.html 11:00am, 8 November 2008 — Demonstration in Manchester to protest against deportations to the Congo. e v e n t Lesbian and gay asylum seekers http://www.irr.org.uk/2008/november/bw000012.html 1:00pm, 28 November 2008 — Training on issues faced by lesbian and gay asylum seekers when claiming asylum in the UK.

Posted in: Refugee Studies and Conferences & Events.

Supporting disabled refugees and asylum seekers

The launch of new research into disabled refugees and asylum seekers will be held at London City Hall on Friday 14th November from 9am-1pm.  The research has been commissed by the Research and Consultancy Unit at the Metropolitan Support Trust.

The event will be by invite only and further information can be found on the Refugee Support website.  Publicity for this event can additionaly be found via the Institute for Race Relations website.

Posted in: Conferences & Events.