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The Mobilities and Belonging Initiative are calling for abstracts for their Mixed Race in Australia and the region symposium being held 8-10 June 2015 at UWA.

Conveners: Farida Fozdar,

Date : Monday 8-Wednesday 10th June, 2015

Venue: University of Western Australia (UWA)

Website : The Mobilities and Belonging Initiative

People of ‘mixed race’ are often seen as marginal individuals managing cultural and psychological tensions, or alternatively valorised  as the vanguard of an integrated, post-racial, cosmopolitan world (Edwards et al. 2012). Such dichotomies ignore the complex lived reality of being mixed – ranging from ‘passing’, to constructing multiracial identities, to embracing a cultural identity not necessarily reflected in one’s appearance (see Perkins, 2007; Paradies, 2006; Song and Aspinall, 2012; Jones, 2011). Mixed identities are not singular and fixed, but multiple and fluid (Nandi & Platt 2012; Tilbury, 2007; Paradies, 2006), often characterised by ‘ordinariness’ (Caballero, 2012). The lived experience of being ‘mixed’ is strongly influenced by political and social context (Luke and Luke, 1999). While a growing body of research exists on ‘mixed race’, more productive approaches are needed to investigate the cultural production of ‘mixedness’.

Perhaps surprisingly, Australia and the region lag behind the rest of the world in research on ‘mixed race’. There has been little public debate about the place of ‘mixed race’ in Australia and New Zealand (see Fozdar and Perkins, 2014). The subject does rate a hearing in Australia, however, in regard to people of mixed Aboriginal descent (Andrew Bolt style) (see Paradies, 2006). The social and political contexts of mixed race in Australia, New Zealand and the region offer complex histories of colonisation and migration, making this region an important counterpoint to the large bodies of research undertaken in the UK and US.

We invite papers on mixed race in Australia and surrounding countries, with a particular focus on mixed race across the life course (Csizmadia, 2012), the health and development of young people and families;  cross-country comparison, and transgenerational effects. We are keen to include papers on mixed race of all types.

Please email your paper title and abstract (200 words) to Brian Spittles ( [email protected] )  by 28 March, 2015 . Please include a brief bio (50 words) including your affiliation and position details.

Invited speakers include:

• Prof Rosalind Edwards (Southampton)
• Dr Chamion Caballero (LSE)
• Prof Yin Paradies (Deakin)
• Prof David Trigger (UQ)
• Dr Kirsten McGavin (UQ)

Symposium registration details will be available soon on the website (free registration).

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