Organizer 1
Karl Henrik Svensson
ph.d. student/coordinator
IMER/Norway/Bergen, University of Bergen, Norway
The Rokkan Centre Fosswinckl.2, 5007 Bergen

Tel: + 47 55 58 97 35
Fax: + 47 55 58 97 12
Email:karl.Svensson@sefos.uib.no


Organizer 2
Randi Gressgaard
Ph.d. student/researcher
IMER/Norway/Bergen, University of Bergen
The Rokkan Centre Fosswinckl.2, 5007 Bergen

Tel: + 47 55 58 97 36
Fax: + 47 55 58 97 12
Email:Randi.Gressgard@sefos.uib.no


Organizer 3
Christine Jacobsen
Ph.d. student/Researcher
IMER/Norway/Bergen, University of Bergen
The Rokkan Centre Fosswinckl.2, 5007 Bergen

Tel: + 47 55 58 97 37
Fax: + 47 55 58 97 12
Email:Christine.Jacobsen@sefos.uib.no



Workshop description:
The workshop will have a general orientation towards examining migration as a gendered process. Focus will be on questions concerning gender difference in ethnic and religious minorities, and on the gender question in the minority- majority interaction. How do different groups of men and women negotiate gender difference, and what kinds of agreements and dilemmas do the existence of different discourses on gender produce in contemporary Western societies? Of particular interest is the recent debates regarding the arguably problematic relationship between feminism and multiculturalism. These questions have been discussed with regard to Muslim women in the West (e.g. the Muslim headscarf, polygamous and arranged marriages). Gender relations and sexuality are often central in defining religious and cultural traditions. This may have important consequences for women and men and their possibilities of forming gendered and sexual identities. Religion and culture as sites of production and contestation of gender and sexual identities will be explored both empirically and theoretically during the workshop. In continuance with this, attention will be paid more generally to the theoretical, epistemological and ethical questions that arise in relation to themes such as relativism, universalism, cultural difference and multiculturalism. These theoretical questions should be confronted with empirical research, since empirical realities repeatedly turn out to be more creative and complex than our theoretical models suggest.


Goals of the workshop:
To improve knowledge and understandings about gender differences in ethnic and religious minorities and on the gender question in the minority-majority interaction.




Policy relevance and topic: The issue of gender equality and multiculturalism is highly relevant to the formulation of policies with regard to integration, communal rights for minority groups, and gender equality.


How international comparisons are included: Besides that the workshop aims to focus gender discourses in western societies in general, the contributors will explore theoretical, epistemological and ethical questions that arise in relation to the gender issue and its relatedness to the minority-majority interaction.



Presenters / participants /other information
Questions of Gender in a Multicultural Society

Christine Jacobsen
IMER- University in Bergen, Norway
Christine.Jacobsen@sosantr.uib.no

& Randi Gressgård:
IMER- University in Bergen, Norway
Randi.Gressgard@sos.uib.no


Multiculturalism and gender
Yvonne Mörck,
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Yvonne.Morck@sociology.ku.dk


Title to be announced
Anja Bredal, Institute for Social Research, Norway
anja.bredal@isaf.no,anja.bredal@start.no

Title to be announced
Humera Ibrahim,Canadian Heritage, Canada
Humera_Ibrahim@pch.gc.ca


The Rise of a Womanist Movement among Muslim Immigrant Women in Alberta
Earle H. Waugh,
Professor, Islamic Studies,
University of Alberta, Canada








Summary:
The workshop will have a general orientation towards examining migration as a gendered process. Focus will be on questions concerning gender difference in
ethnic and religious minorities, and on the gender question in the minority-majority interaction. Of particular interest is the recent debates regarding the arguably problematic relationship between feminism and multiculturalism, as for instance in debates with regard to Muslim women in the West. During the workshop,
the relationship between gender and multiculturalism will be explored empirically and theoretically.

















Date: 10 September


(1 session is 3 hours)
Number of sessions: 1

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