The Immigrant Tourist Industry
An ESF Exploratory Workshop on the Commodification of Cultural Resources in Cosmopolitan Cities
University of Amsterdam, Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, December 7-9, 2003
The Workshop is sponsored by the European Science Foundation.
Purpose of the Workshop:
The purpose of the workshop is to explore the manifestations of commodified cultural diversity by immigrants in gateway cities and deals with the question of how these expressions of culture can be transformed into a vehicle for socio-economic development to the advantage of both immigrants and the city at large. The primary focus is the role of immigrant entrepreneurs and workers in the emerging tourist industry as well as their interaction with other actors in this industry. The relative roles of public, private and civil society actors are important points of attention in this context. By addressing this problematic from an interdisciplinary and comparative perspective, the workshop aims at a much more thorough understanding of the structural dynamics of commercial manifestations of cultural diversity by immigrants, as well as their impact on immigrants' connection to the knowledge economy, and urban socio-economic development in general.
Applications:
The papers will be discussed in a small, high quality two and a half days workshop with a limited number of participants. Papers must be circulated up front. Those interested are asked to send abstracts of 500 words on themes that relate directly to a background document. After the deadline of the abstracts (February 1, 2003) the organizer will select the most interesting proposals and invite the authors to the workshop in December 2003.
Contact information:
Dr Jan Rath
Institute of Migration and Ethnic Studies (IMES)
University of Amsterdam
Rokin 84
1012 KX Amsterdam, The Netherlands
voice +31-20-525 3623 (secretary 3627)
fax +31-20-525 3628
Email: rath@pscw.uva.nl
Call for Papers website: users.fmg.uva.nl/jrath/ImmEnt/esf.htm