Events

Jointly organized by Asia Research Institute, and Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore.

CHAIRPERSON

Dr Kiven Strohm, Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

Cities are increasingly important actors in the field of migration and integration policy but cities cannot be understood in isolation, in part because actors at the municipal level can easily find themselves torn between the imperatives of different levels of governance (White 2019a; Hepburn and Zapata-Barrero 2014; Scholten 2013). At the same time, cities’ particular position—at the intersection of local and global—can also represent a strategic advantage, both in terms of knowledge transfer and in terms of internal organizational dynamics. There are an increasing number of city-based inclusion networks that offer resources for making cities more welcoming and more inclusive, but each of these networks draws from different philosophical and disciplinary traditions and engages differently with local “policy worlds” (Shore et al 2011, White 2019b). In this presentation I will explore how one such network, the Council of Europe’s Intercultural Cities program (ICC), has evolved over its ten year history, not only in terms of membership and geographical coverage, but also in terms of its attempts to respond to changes in global political sensibilities. Economic and political considerations have led to a process of re-scaling as ICC has increasingly become involved in mediation between the municipal and national levels and as the Council of Europe attempts to reach the conventional boundaries of a united Europe. Three cases from the Council of Europe’s observer states will be considered (Montréal, Mexico, Hamamatsu) in order to examine not only the shifting dynamics of power between cities and states, but also the impact of international networks on cities’ abilities to mobilize local and sub-regional forms of political capital.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Bob W. White is Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Director of the Laboratory for Research on Intercultural Relations (LABRRI) at the University of Montréal. He is a member of several international research networks and has served as visiting professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, at the University of Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar and the Max Planck Institute in Gottingen. He has published extensively on popular culture, cultural policy and globalization, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. His current research focuses on intercultural practice and policy in increasingly diverse urban settings. In 2012 he created a multi-sectoral research partnership on intercultural dynamics in Montréal (“Montréal Ville Interculturelle’, SSHRC, 2012-2020) and since 2016 he is the coordinator of the Réseau des municipalités en immigration et relations interculturelles du Québec (RÉMIRI). In 2014 he published (with Lomomba Emongo) the first edited volume on the history of intercultural practice and policy in Québec (L’interculturel au Québec: rencontres historiques et enjeux politiques, Montréal: PUM). His most recent book is titled Intercultural Cities: Policy and Practice for a New Era (London: Palgrave McMillan) and he is currently working on a critical theory of intercultural communication.

REGISTRATION

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