Feb. 20, 2008 – Twenty percent of the U.S. population moves each year. It takes two years on average for the mover to feel settled in the new environment, and that is only domestic migration.
Living in former Yugoslavia, a country torn by ethnic conflict, my family faced the enormous challenge of surviving in a hostile urban war environment. We escaped, first fleeing as refugees to Hungry and then to Germany. With the clothing on our backs and no money in our pockets, my family made an ambitious effort to pursue a better life in the U.S. Having little knowledge of the American culture and no knowledge of the English language we reached for the “American Dream.”
–Marko Mijic, ASUU Government Relations Director, B.S. candidate, University of Utah
Immigration is one of the most intense local and national policy debates today and at the heart of the issue is migration, the movement of people from one country to another. Each year nearly three percent of the world’s population is in motion. In 2005 that number was 192 million people, or the equivalent of roughly two-thirds of the U.S. population, leaving home to find economic opportunity, refuge from hunger or war, family unity or freedom from cultural oppression.
How much immigration can a country, state or county absorb before resources become constrained? How is security balanced at home when security abroad is pushing people out? What happens to the people involved on both sides of a border? Across all of these discussions lurks the profound question of the human rights of all human beings, as citizens of the planet.
To address these and other provocative issues, the University of Utah is teaming up with a host of scholars and community representatives at a conference to be held Feb. 28 and 29. The conference, titled “Migration, Rights and Identities: Examining the Range of Global and Local Needs,” will involve experts from around the country and Canada in a debate on the terms, causes and consequences of migration and will include Utah community leaders like Bishop John Wester, Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, who are grappling with the ethical and practical aspects of migration on the local level.
“We are creating conversations between theory and practice, between specific cases of migration and broader patterns and about the balance between rights of different groups in an unequal world where we are striving to achieve justice,” says George Cheney, director of the Barbara L. and Norman C. Tanner Center for Nonviolent Human Rights Advocacy. “I hope the conference will challenge some of our assumptions about the experiences of migrants and the labels we use to describe them, as well as help move us toward practical policy applications that are sensitive to a range of conditions and needs.”
Of special interest are keynote presentations from Seyla Benhabib, Turkish-born professor of political science and philosophy at Yale University, and Alejandro Portes, who was born in Cuba, a professor of sociology and director of the Center for Migration and Development at Princeton University. Benhabib will address “The Great Immigration Debate: Facts and Fictions, Ideals and Illusions” on Thursday, Feb. 28 at noon in the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Dumke Auditorium. Portes’ presentation on “Bridging the Gap: Ethnic Organizations and the Political Incorporation Process of Immigrants in the United States” will take place on Friday, Feb. 29 at noon in Orson Spencer Hall, Waldemer P. Read Auditorium.
All keynote addresses and panels are free and open to the public. A complete agenda follows below.
The conference is sponsored by the Barbara L. & Norman C. Tanner Center for Nonviolent Human Rights Advocacy, Chamade, College of Humanities, College of Law, College of Social Work, department of communication, department of economics, department of philosophy, department of political science, department of psychology, Honors College, Institute of Public & International Affairs (IPIA), Middle East Center, Office of the Associate Vice President for Diversity, Office of International Programs, Office of Undergraduate Studies and the Unitarian Church.
The Barbara L. and Norman C. Tanner Center for Nonviolent Human Rights Advocacy was founded to encourage University of Utah students and the greater community to seek a life of human rights advocacy and peacemaking through inspiration, education, and participation. For additional information, visit http://www.humanrights.utah.edu/.
All events listed below will be held in the Officer’s Club in Fort Douglas, on the University of Utah campus.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Opening Panel: Conceptions, Categories, and Definitions, 9:15-10:30 a.m.
The Rights of Aliens in International Law: An Historical Overview
Tony Anghie, The University of Utah
Migration, Human Rights, and Shared Citizenship
Deen Chatterjee, The University of Utah
Shedding Light on a Shadowy Existence: From Illegal to Undocumented to Documented to…?
Ken Jameson & Julie Stewart, The University of Utah
Legal Regimes Affecting Migration
Wayne McCormack, The University of Utah
Moderator: Erika George, The University of Utah
Presentations: Guest Scholar Papers, 10:40-11:40 a.m.
International Migration in the New Millennium: Who Migrates and Why?
Richard Bilsborrow, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
To Welcome the Stranger: Realities and Misconceptions About Immigration to the U.S.
Patricia Fernández-Kelly, Princeton University
Moderator: Kim Korinek, The University of Utah
Panel: Reasons, Causes, and Patterns, 2:30-3:45 p.m.
Social, Political and Economic Impact of Migration: Variance of Remittance Effects On Latin American Countries
Isabel Dulfano, The University of Utah
Immigration of People and Ideas in the Arab World
Ibrahim Karawan & Mahmoud Hamad, The University of Utah
Undocumented Immigrants in Utah as Observed in the Utah Population Database: Demographics, Residence, and Geographic Mobility
Tom Maloney & Tom Kontuly, The University of Utah
What War is Good For: Exploring the Development of Social, Political, and Human Capital of War Refugees
Julie Stewart, The University of Utah
Moderator: Garth Mangum, The University of Utah
Panel: Experiences, Effects, and Implications, 4-5:30 p.m.
How Should Corporate Social Responsibility Address Human Labor Migration and Human Rights, Especially in Light of Corporate Globalization?
Erin Ortiz, The University of Utah
Esther Agyeman-Budu, Kent State University
George Cheney, The University of Utah
Collective Identity and Everyday Discrimination Among Bosnian Refugee Youth
Monisha Pasupathi & Cecilia Wainryb, The University of Utah
Distinctions in National Identity and the Immigration ‘Problem’: Nationalism, Construal of Identity and Emotional Prejudice Toward Immigrants
Ben Peterson, The University of Utah
International Migration and Human Development: A Cross-National Analysis of Developing Countries
Matt Sanderson & Jeff Kentor, The University of Utah
Personal, Social, and Ecological Factors of Loneliness and Life Satisfaction Among Rural-Urban Migrants in Shanghai, China
Ming Wen, The University of Utah & Guixin Wang, Fudan University, China
Moderator: Johanna Watzinger-Tharp, The University of Utah
Friday, February 29, 2008
Panel: Security Implications, 8:45-10 a.m.
The Spillover Effect: Homeland Conflicts and Canada’s Migrant Communities
Stewart Bell, The National Post, Canada
Terrorist Radicalization in the Diaspora
Kim Cragin, RAND Corporation, Washington, D.C.
Migrants, Migrant Communities, Social Capital and Violence
Ben Judkins & Steve Reynolds, The University of Utah
Moderator: Bruce Hoffman, Georgetown University and The University of Utah
Presentations: Guest Scholar Papers, 10:15-11:30 a.m.
Bridging Multiple Worlds: Cultures, Immigrant Youth Identities, and Pathways to College
Catherine Cooper, University of California, Santa Cruz
Home But Far Away From Home: The Case of Utah Refugees
Macleans Geo Ja-Ja, Brigham Young University
Moderator: Monisha Pasupathi, The University of Utah
Community Panel, 2:45-4 p.m.
Adan Batar, Catholic Community Services
Agnes Chiao, United Way
Bart Hill, Deseret Industries
Alice Larkin Steiner, League of Women Voters
Elissa McConkie, International Rescue Committee
Moderators: Julie Stewart, The University of Utah & Bishop John Wester, Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City
Concluding Panel Discussion on Policy Implications, 4:15-5 p.m.
Guest Scholars & Experts
Moderators: Ken Jameson & Cecilia Wainryb, The University of Utah
Examining the Range of Local and Global Needs, Thursday and Friday, 8-5 p.m., Commanders House, Fort Douglas
Exhibit of Photography, Oral Histories and Films
Photographs & Exhibits
Comments from Megan Hallett, curator of education for the Utah Museum of Fine Arts
Contradictory Rhetoric Regarding International Students, Scholars, and Workers
Celeste Wells, doctoral candidate in communication
Creating Tongan History in Salt Lake City: Implications for Tongan Identity in Utah
Susan Wurtzburg, lecturer in gender studies
Fahina Tavake-Pasi, Tongan-American Society of Utah
Honors College Immigration Forum
Vicky Newman, assistant professor of communication and Honors College
Oral & Multimedia Histories
Utah’s Refugee Voices
Meg Brady, professor of English and ethnic studies
Mary Gould, doctoral candidate in communication
Films
Easy Targets
A 30-minute documentary film produced by: Growing Up in Salt Lake City youth research team; Caitlin Cahill, assistant professor of community studies; Matt Bradley, Honors College; Angela Romero, YouthCity Government, Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office; and University of Utah students Sonia Caraveo, Denise Castaneda, Ariana Prazen and Roberta Targino.
Honors College Immigration Forum
A 20-minute documentary film produced by Vicky Newman, assistant professor of communication and Honors College.
Partial Stories of Displacement
A 30-minute documentary film by Azadeh Saljooghi, doctoral candidate in communication.
Participants will be available for interviews throughout the conference. To schedule pre-conference interviews or interviews during the conference contact Rick Pike at 801-585-9200 or rick.pike@csbs.utah.edu.
The University offers free satellite uplink services from our state of the art television facility located on campus. To book an interview via uplink with one of the conference participants or any university expert, please visit: http://unews.utah.edu/?action=broadcast.
A podcast will be available approximately one week after the conference.
For a complete list of events, visit www.humanrights.utah.edu/forum.