immigrantchildren.ca

The program for the November 2011 Honoring the Child, Honoring Equity conference, hosted by the Youth Research Centre, University of Melbourne, has been posted (with updates promised as they become available – and full and final conference program by November, 2011). The conference website includes a few sessions related to diversity and integration, including the following, but it also addresses diversity from the broadest perspective and examines everything from working with children with disAbilities, politics and more. Worth bookmarking to see the scope of the sessions being offered.

Nicola Surtees, University of Cantebury, gives a paper exploring “privilege and silence with respect to family diversity, equity and inclusion in early childhood education. … challenges the primacy of the nuclear family model as a benchmark for families calling for ways of thinking and talking about forms of kinship that open up possibilities for all families”.

Follow developments of the 2011 Honoring the Child, Honoring Equity conference at the conference website.

A call for papers for the 2012 International Conference hosted by the Korean Association for Multicultural Education (KAME) on May 11-12, 2012 at Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea. The conference theme is Diversity, Equity and Excellence in Education.

The conference will provide a platform for researchers, policy makers, and practitioners in the field of multicultural education to share ideas and research findings and develop a worldwide network of scholarly discussions.

KAME invites submissions of manuscripts (or extended abstracts which are detailed enough for the organizers to judge the merits of the paper). Any presentation pertaining to the conference theme or related topics dealing with research agendas and policy issues in the field of multicultural education are welcome.

Submit manuscript or extended abstract electronically with a short curricular vitae to kame2008@naver.com by November 10, 2011. The KAME will inform the authors of whether the submitted paper is accepted by December 10, 2012.

A special issue of Global Studies of Childhood (Vol 1, No 2, 2011) on the impact of migration on the lives of children has been released. Edited by Ada Lai and Rupert MacLean, the issue includes the following articles:

Ravinder Sidhu, Sandra Taylor & Pam Christie. Schooling and Refugees: Engaging with the complex trajectories of globalisation.

Su-Ann Oh. Rice, Slippers, Bananas and Caneball: Children’s narratives of internal displacement and forced migration from Burma.

Rajeshwari Asokaraj. Resisting Bare Life: Children’s reproduction of quotidian culture in a Sri Lankan camp.

Antonina Tereshchenko & Helena C. Araujo. Stories of Belonging: Ukrainian immigrant children’s experiences of Portugal.

Celeste Y.M. Yuen & Rosalind Wu. New Schooling and New Identities: Chinese immigrant students’ perspectives.

For information on the journal, see the Global Studies of Childhood website.

From The Future of Children listserv:

Nearly a quarter of schoolchildren in the United States are immigrants or the children of immigrants. A substantial percentage of these children, especially those from Latin America, are falling behind in school and as a result, face a bleak economic future.

On April 20, The Future of Children, a joint project of Princeton University and the Brookings Institution, will host an event: Immigrant children falling behind: Implications and policy prescriptions and release the latest issue of its journal. The issue is devoted entirely to several aspects of the status and well-being of immigrant children. An accompanying policy brief proposes a set of policy recommendations that could improve their attainment, including expanding preschool programs, improved English Language Learner instruction, and congressional passage of the DREAM Act to allow undocumented students to attend college.

The event will begin with an overview of the journal and the policy brief by the editors, Marta Tienda of Princeton and Ron Haskins of Brookings. Following the overview, a panel of experts will present arguments for and against the DREAM Act and comment on how the educational achievement of immigrant children can be improved.

After the program, the speakers will take questions from the audience.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011, 9am -11am, The Brookings Institution, Falk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC. Info: events@brookings.edu or 202.797.6105.

First International Cities of Migration Conference, The Hague (Netherlands), October 3 – 4, 2010. Program to include:

Networking reception and dinner hosted by the Municipality of The Hague
Opening keynote speaker: At home in the city
Plenary speaker: Why cities matter
International city leaders panel: Strategies for city success
Marketplace of good Ideas: Integration in practice
Debate: Migration and the media: friend or foe?
Integration town hall: Understanding the opportunity agenda
Closing keynote: The City of tomorrow

Cities of Migration is led by the Maytree Foundation in Canada, with international partners in Germany (Bertelsmann Stiftung), the United Kingdom (Barrow Cadbury Trust), New Zealand (Tindall Foundation) and Spain (Fundacion Bertelsmann).

Detailed program (to date). For more information, visit the conference website and/or contact citiesofmigration2010@maytree.com.

Top 10 international twitter accounts. Inclusion on my lists does not imply endorsement or support for these organizations; it’s just that they are some of the tweeps I follow to keep me informed about what’s going on in immigration, multiculturalism, diversity and etc. And, as in previous editions of this series, I’ve included the bio provided by the tweep itself in quotations, with my comments following. This list is overly American, I know. Please send suggestions for more international flavours.

1. http://twitter.com/CitiesMigration ~ “An international project showcasing innovative ideas on immigrant integration from major cities across the world”.
2. http://twitter.com/migrationwatch ~ “(A)n independent think tank chaired by Sir Andrew Green. We have a distinguished Advisory Council from diverse ethnic and professional backgrounds”. The UK. Interestingly, they don’t follow anyone.
3. http://twitter.com/ImmPolicyCenter ~”PC is an immigration research and advocacy org that seeks to shape a rational national conversation on immigration through its research and analysis”.  USA.
4. http://twitter.com/forcedmigration ~ “Forced Migration Online (FMO) provides instant access to a wide variety of online resources dealing with the situation of forced migrants worldwide”.
5. http://twitter.com/ImmigrationTwit ~”Reliable immigration news updates, in plain English. Expert-practitioners filter dozens of sources; you get all the facts: Your Immigration Insiders’ Digest!”.  US focus, with some international content.
   
6. http://twitter.com/langology ~ “Fun with language, language and linguistic news, links, events, research and more”. Where do they find this stuff?
7. http://twitter.com/statelessness ~ “(P)rogram coordinator @ OPEN SOCIETY JUSTICE INITIATIVE. tweeting & thinking about citizenship & statelessness”.
8. http://twitter.com/DiversityExec ~ “awareness – impact – action” from the US-based Diversity Executive magazine.
9. http://twitter.com/nprpolitics ~ “Political coverage and conversation from NPR News”.
10. http://twitter.com/TheEconomist ~ “Official site for The Economist“.

Coming next . . . top ten tweeps on research sources and top ten tweeps on immigrant, refugee children and youth. Send me your picks!

The International Human Rights Law Clinic, the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity (UC, Berkeley) and the Immigration Law Clinic (UC, Davis) have recently released a policy brief entitled “In The Child’s Best Interest? The Consequences of Losing a  Lawful Immigrant Parent to Deportation”.

The brief reviews the current state of immigration law in the United States and the impact of the deportation of “lawful permanent resident parents” of more than 100,000 children (of which, more than 80,000 are US citizens).  A harrowing look at the impact of such deportations on children’s lives, education and relationships.

IPSCAN - the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, sponsors the upcoming conference One World, One Family, Many Cultures: Strengthening Children and Families Affected by Personal, Intra-Familial and Global Conflict Sept 26-29/10 in Hawaii. From the conference description:

“Our theme, One World, One Family, Many Cultures, recognizes that in spite of our differences we live in one world that is a global family made up of many cultures that can work together towards a common goal of strengthening families, and preventing abuse and neglect of our children. The world faces many challenges with unfortunate conflicts among nations and tragic effects of armed conflict on our families, children and communities. The increase in violence among family members and its painful effects on our children have also challenged us to find ways to strengthen families and prevent family violence. Knowing the value of diversity in our efforts to prevent harm to our children, we invite the nations of the world to share their cultural experiences, values, and traditions to empower the youth of our nations to work together”.

Conference sub-themes:
1. Cultural Perspectives in Strengthening Families and Protecting Children
2. Identifying, Treating and Preventing Family and Sexual Violence
3. Impact of Armed Conflict on Families and Children
4. Family Strengthening: A Key to the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect
5. Youth Empowerment in the Prevention of Generational Child Abuse and Neglect.

For more information, visit the conference website.

Should folks fortunate enough to be born in the ‘developed’ world be obliged to share their privilege with those less lucky? Author – and Canada Research Chair in Citizenship and Multiculturalism, Ayelet Shachar thinks so. In her new book “The Birthright Lottery”, Shachar investigates the accident of birth and proposes several ways to reconsider (and bestow) citizenship.

Arguing that citizenship status has been arbitrarily given in most nations by birthright and that a child born in Canada ought not have such an unfair advantage over a child born in a poor nation. Among Shachar’s suggestions is a levy on “the inheritance of citizenship” or that citizenship be awarded based on the individual’s “genuine connection” to a country. Shachar asks important and provocative questions on what responsibilities global citizens have to each other.

The theme for the 2010 NAME (National Association for Multicultural Education) conference is “Empowering Children and Youth: Equity, Multiculturally Responsive Teaching and Achievement Gaps”. The international conference runs from Nov 4-6, 2010 in Las Vegas NV.

Deadline is April 17, 2010. For more information and to access the online submission form, see the conference website.

Among the showings at Toronto’s annual Hot Docs film festival, running from April 29-May 9, 2010 are:

In the Name of the Family ~ about Aqsa Parvez and her so-called honour killing

Listen to This ~ Pianist Thompson Egbo-Egbo starts a music program at his former school in Toronto’s Jane-Finch community

Babies ~ just babies in settings around the world (also see film website)

Grace, Milly, Lucy … Child Soldiers ~ the lives of Ugandan child soldiers

The Day I Will Never Forget ~ about female genital mutilation in Kenya

Made in India ~ about tourist surrogacy and the reproductive industry in developing countries.

The (US-based) National Association for Multicultural Education will hold its next – and its 20th – conference November 4-6, 2010 in Las Vegas, NV. The theme is Empowering Children and Youth: Equity, Multiculturally Responsive Teaching and Achievement Gaps. From the call:

“Since the founding of NAME, it has become clear that empowerment of children and youth, and the urgency of addressing achievement gaps, dropout rates, and the larger equity issues within which they are embedded, includes marginalization on the basis of race, class, language, sexual orientation, gender, disability, and religion. In fact, rather than being separate and distinct communities, they overlap in complex ways, suggesting that teaching should be multiculturally responsive. … Further, these issues transcend concerns within the U.S., inviting international dialog about diversity, equity, multiculturalism, and justice”.

“The vitality of NAME flows from its diverse membership. Thus, it is NAMEs policy to ensure presentations by and about diverse ethnic, racial, gender, language, religious, socioeconomic, sexual orientation, disability, and geographic groups. Presentations by teachers, school administrators, community activists, government and organization officials, higher education faculty, and others interested in the conference theme are encouraged. Students (high school, undergraduate, and graduate) and international scholars, practitioners, and activists are also encouraged to submit proposals”.

For more information, and to submit an online proposal (deadline is April 17th), visit the NAME website.