UNESCO Chair Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts (RILA)

FOR INFO ONLY

Please note that the deadline for submission of proposals for our first Spring School has now passed.  This page is for reference only. 

Further details of the programme and how to register will be posted on our website in due course.   Any questions, please email unesco-rila@glasgow.ac.uk 

 

SPRING SCHOOL

The Arts of Integrating: 
Stories of Refugee Hospitality and Agency

 

 CALL FOR PAPERS / WORKSHOPS / INTERVENTIONS

Wednesday 9 – Friday 11 May 2018

Kinning Park Complex
43 Cornwall Street, Glasgow, G41 1BA

Organised by the UNESCO Chair for Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts

Deadline for submission 19 February 2018

 

The Artists and Academics working with the UNESCO Chair at the University of Glasgow would like to invite workshop proposals for their first Spring School.  

In recent years, there has been a renewed focus on the place of the arts and arts based methods, or languages and multilingual methods, in the work towards intercultural integration with refugees. This has opened up new forms of academic and artistic endeavour, as well as new methods.  For this first Spring School we invite arts-based interventions and workshops as well as academic papers, and are particularly keen to receive proposals that seek to blend, in experimental form, both artistic and academic forms of presentation. 

The UNESCO team are interested in multiscalar understandings of integration as a practice rooted in hospitality, at all levels of society, from the individual and home, to local communities, institutions, cities and towns, to the national and international. The concept of integration has attracted critique in academic and public discourse when used as unidirectional, suggesting a one way process and burden of effort resting solely with the refugee.

The Spring School will showcase the ways in which individuals, communities, societies and institutions have accommodated and hosted each other and reflect on the ways in which the arts and academic research offer insights into the processes of welcome and integration. Interpreted in the broadest sense, these themes range from how we engage with our neighbours to topics such as slavery and imperialism and their connection to the present. In particular, the Spring School will focus on artistic, multilingual and educational dimensions.

Proposals for panels, papers, performances and workshops are welcomed which address any of the themes below: 

1) Arts and the Integrating person

a. The affective dimensions of intercultural learning where refugee experiences are part of the context
b. Arts and Language in supporting resilience, mental health and wellbeing.

2) Integrating practices in Community, Educational and Cultural Institutions

a. Museums / migratory collections
b. Choirs / theatre groups – grassroots groups 
c. Festivals 
d. Visual arts

3) Technologies and Techniques of Integrating and Resisting Disintegration

a. Technology & remote learning (MOOC / e.g. in context of siege in Gaza / Technology for inclusion – utilising arts and creative practice and/or multilingualism)
b. The aesthetic dimensions of integration work in institutions of learning and cultural heritage

Suggested duration of presentations: 

• Workshop / panel / performance: 90 mins
  Session blocks through the day will be about 90 mins in length, so any proposals with a performative or workshop element should bear this in mind.  This is just a guide and proposals of a longer/shorter duration will be considered. 

• Academic papers/presentations: 30 mins
  If your proposal has a more academic slant then please submit as a paper/presentation. Academic proposals will be allotted 30 mins (20 mins presentation plus 10 mins Q&A) and grouped accordingly by the organisers.

Please be aware that the size of the audience will be a maximum of 80 people. If your session only works with a smaller number of people, please state this clearly in your proposal and we will try to accommodate this where we can.

Format of submission

Please send your submission to UNESCO-RILA@glasgow.ac.uk in one of the following formats:

• Written description/abstract of maximum 500 words

• Link to an Audio/video recording of maximum 2 minutes

Please include the names of the people involved in your session, as well as the name(s) of the organisation(s) they are from. If you need audio-visual equipment, we advise you to get in touch with us to see what is available in the venue.

Deadline for submission is midnight on 19 February 2018. Proposals will be reviewed the following week and you will be notified of the outcome by 26 February.

Keynotes

Prof Alison Phipps (UNESCO Chair, University of Glasgow)
Jane Bentley (musician, Art-Beat)
Prof Charles Forsdick (AHRC Theme leadership fellow ‘Translating Cultures’, University of Liverpool)
Dr Nazmi Al-Masri (Islamic University of Gaza)
Amal Azzudin (Equality and Human Rights Officer at Mental Health Foundation)

Fees & Expenses

The organisers cannot pay fees to those who will present at the Spring School, however we will cover travel expenses for leaders/presenters.  This will be discussed with you in due course if your proposal is accepted for the Spring School.

Childcare: Due to the location of the event, it will not be possible to provide on-site childcare.  If you will require childcare, please get in touch with the organisers as soon as possible, to see if we can assist or partially subsidise childcare as required.

 

For questions, comments, to discuss your ideas, please contact the UNESCO Secretariat at UNESCO-RILA@glasgow.ac.uk.

 

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First published: 4 December 2017