The Conference studies the dynamics of local cultures in response to growing international exchanges of people, goods and ideas (and vice-versa) and its implication for economic and social cohesion. It the also EURODIV Final Conference and as such it aims to conclude a five-year interdisciplinary tour on the many facets of cultural diversity.

The Conference is organised around three topics:

  • Local productions and global trade. Diversity shows in the things that we buy and sell: goods sold in markets, clothing, food and restaurants, artwork, and in public/private ethnic ceremonies and celebrations. A number of industries, such as publishing, music, cinema, crafts, fashion and design, are more than other industries able to vehicle cultural identity and diversity. Together with artistic expressions, they provide an entry point to study the dynamics of cultural identities at local level. At the same time, global trade in cultural products and services is growing. We welcome theoretical and empirical papers looking at how cultural industries and art production change as a result of this interplay between the global and the local.
  • Peoples and companies. People from practically every part of the world are confronted with aspects of other societies and cultures, through e.g. tourism, consumers goods, the media. Companies operate in multiple locations and have long supply chains spanning all over the globe. This open-ended global flows shape a dynamic and fluid context where peoples and companies continuously (re)define their identity. Homogenisation and heterogenisation forces are contemporaneously at work. We welcome theoretical and empirical papers studying how individuals and companies accommodate and define their identity in this changing and fluid context.  In particular, we welcome papers studying the emergence and (cultural) behaviour of transnational companies, communities and networks.
  • Policy perspectives. As the triad of territory, culture and people evaporates, the ability of national, regional and local boundaries to enclose cultures and regulate cultural exchanges is under pressure. In this new uncertain and ambiguous setting some maintain that society will disintegrate if its members are not bound together by a string of common values, cognitions and motives. In a ‘resurgence of tradition’, the retaining, emphasising and glorifying the values of the past imply that external elements and influences are rejected. Others accept the diversity of values, norms and practices, within and between groups. The question is about the risks deriving from the absence of common interests and representations.  We welcome papers studying concretely specific policies elaborated at sovra-national, national, regional or local level to answer these challenges. Example may refer to cultural, trade, migration policies to embrace or reject differences and external influences.