WELCOME
Diversity Conference, 2005
Welcome to website of The Fifth International Conference on Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations. To be held at the Institute of Ethnic Administrators, Beijing, China from Thursday 30th June to Sunday 3rd July, 2005, the conference will address a range of critically important themes in the study of diversity today. Main speakers will include some of the world’s leading thinkers in the field, as well as numerous paper, workshop and colloquium presentations by researchers and practitioners.
This is a conference for any person with an interest in, and concern for, mediating cultural difference. All are encouraged to register and attend this significant and timely conference. A range of tour and accommodation options is also available.
The Institute has on-site accommodation, and is located in beautifully landscaped gardens on the edge of Beijing’s green belt, near to the world heritage Summer Palace.
Participants are also welcome to submit presentation proposals, either as 30 minute papers, 60 minute workshop, or jointly presented 90 minute colloquium sessions. Parallel sessions are loosely grouped into streams reflecting different perspectives or disciplines. Each stream also has its own talking circles a forum for focused discussion of issues.
Presenters may choose to submit written papers for publication before or after the conference in the International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations. Presentations submitted for publication will be fully refereed and published in print and electronic formats. For those unable to attend the conference in person, virtual registrations are available, which provide access to the online edition of the conference proceedings. Virtual participants can also submit papers for refereeing and publication in the Journal.
If you would like to know more about this conference, bookmark The Diversity Conference site and return for further information — this site is regularly updated. You might also wish to subscribe to the Conference Newsletter
For any other inquiries, please contact us.
Background
The Fifth International Conference on Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations
Now a major international conference, the Diversity Conference was first held in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia in 2000, then at the University of Hawai’i in 2003 and University of California, Los Angeles in 2004. The conference has a history of bringing together scholarly, government and practice-based participants with an interest in the issues of diversity and community. The conference examines the concept of diversity as a positive aspect of a global world and globalised society. Diversity is in many ways reflective of our present world order, but there are ways of taking this further without necessary engendering its alternatives: racism, conflict, discrimination and inequity. Diversity as a mode of social existence can be projected in ways that deepen the range of human experience. The conference will seek to explore the full range of what diversity means and explore modes of diversity in real-life situations of living together in community. The conference supports a move away from simple affirmations that 'diversity is good' to a much more nuanced account of the effects and uses of diversity on differently situated communities in the context of our current epoch of globalisation.
China has 55 recognised ‘minorities’, constituting approximately 70 million people, and occupying more than 60 per cent of the territory of China, including, most importantly, its vast western regions. Policy towards minorities is rapidly evolving, particularly in the context of dramatic economic and social change in contemporary China, and with WTO accession, greater integration into the world economic and political community.
In addition to linguistic, cultural, ethnic and ‘racial’ diversity, the conference will also pursue its well established interest in other aspects of diversity, including the intersecting dynamics of gender, sexual orientation, (dis)ability, locale and socio-economic background.
The conference looks at the realities of diversity today, critically as well as optimistically and strategically. The conference will be a place for speaking about diversity, and in ways that range from the 'big picture' and the theoretical, to the very practical and everyday realities of diversity in organisations, communities and civic life.
In the realm of civic life, local and national communities daily negotiate the diversity resulting from immigration, refugee movement, settlement and indigenous claims to prior ownership and sovereignty. And at the same time, communities increasingly recognise and negotiate a plethora of other intersecting and sometimes contrary diversities. At the local level this may create a kind of civic pluralism, a new way of living in community. Nationally, governments sit uneasily between increasingly demanding local diversities and the cultural and political forces of globalisation. And within organisations, 'diversity management' has emerged as a field of endeavour to negotiate human resource and customer relationship issues arising from differences of gender, ethnicity/race, sexual orientation and disability (to name a few aspects of diversity). To what extent, however, do these remain marginal managerial concerns? Could or should diversity become a 'mainstream' issue for the whole organisation?
International Advisory Board
The Fifth International Conference on Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations and the International Journal of Diversity
- Paul James, Globalism Institute, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
- Mary Kalantzis, Innovation Professor, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
- Andrew Jakubowicz, Faculty of Humanities, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia.
- Jock Collins, Faculty of Business, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia.
- Geoff Stokes, Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia.
- Brendan O'Leary, Solomon Asch Center for the Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict, University of Pennsylvania, USA.
- Samuel Aroni, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.
- James Early, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA.
- Peter Sellars, Theatre, Opera and Film Director.
- Barry Gills, University of Newcastle, UK.
- Walter Mignolo, Duke University, USA.
- Ien Ang, University of Western Sydney, Australia.
- Michael Shapiro, University of Hawai'i, USA.
- Duane Champagne, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.
- Peter McLaren, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.
- Owens Wiwa, African Environmental and Human Development Agency, Toronto, Canada.
- Jackie Huggins, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit, University of Queensland, Australia.
- Mililani Trask, Indigenous Expert to the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues for the Economic Council of the UN Assembly, Hawai’i, USA.
- Armareswar Galla, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
- Guosheng Y. Chen, Chinese Australian Studies Forum, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
- Peter Phipps, Globalism Institute, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
- Bill Cope, Centre for Workplace Communication and Culture, Australia.
Local Organising Committee
- Dr Bamo Ayi, Deputy Dean of International Relations Department, State Ethnic Affairs Committee of China; Professor, Central University for Nationalities, China
- Ha Jingxiong, Former President of Central University for Nationalities, China; Chairman of National Research Planning Committee in Ethnic Education
- Zheng Yushun, Executive Vice-Principal, Central Institute of Ethnic Administrators, China; Vice President of Central University for Nationalities, China; Director of Research Centre for Chinese Minority Women
- Dr Yang Shengyoung, Director of the Training Division; Professor, Central Institute of Ethnic Administrators, China
- Dr Yali Zou, Founder and Director of the Asian American Studies Center and Associate Professor of the Department of Educational Leadership and Cultural Studies, University of Houston
Who Should Attend
- Academics and educational administrators in the fields of globalisation, nationalism, anthropology and cultural studies, tourism studies, ethnic studies, indigenous studies, gender studies, disability studies, gay and lesbian studies, diversity management.
- Research students.
- Public administrators and policy-makers.
- Private and public sector leaders: diversity management, equal employment opportunity, human resource development.
- Workplace trainers and change agents.
Supported By
- Institute of Ethnic Administrators, Beijing, China
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The Globalism Institute, RMIT, Melbourne, Australia.
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Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia.
Conference Sponsor:
- The Globalism Institute, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Conference Organisers
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Common Ground
