More info on International Conference on Cohesive Societies (ICCS) 2022

Abstract

As the world gravitates to cultural plurality and contestations, it is an opportune time for us to reflect how our connections with the social “others” can be forged and strengthened. The imperative for action is no longer driven by the proverbial desire for global peace or cohesion, but to also address a generational crisis in climate change, structural inequality and growing emotional destitution. This seminar on everyday multiculturalism examines the lived experiences and intersections in our daily rituals and aspirations that we can harness to forge stronger ties with the social “others”. Importantly, we would like to expand and explore how a sense of collective identity, destiny and shared responsibility can be curated in a world that is increasingly fractured and divided. This webinar is inspired by Confident Identities, Connected Communities, the book that builds on the conversations from the 2022 edition of the International Conference on Cohesive Societies (ICCS).

About the Speakers

Selvaraj Velayutham is Associate Professor of Sociology at Macquarie School of Social Sciences, Macquarie University. His research interests are in race-relations and racism in Singapore, migration work and informal sport and everyday multiculturalism. His work on everyday racism and convivial multiculture advanced new ways of conceptualising taken for granted quotidian encounters and experiences of discrimination and the many facets of getting along with difference.

Laavanya Kathiravelu is Associate Professor of Sociology, and Associate Chair of Graduate and Continuing Education, School of Social Science, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her research and teaching interests lie in the intersections between migration & citizenship, urban studies, and race and ethnicity. While focused empirically on Southeast Asia and the Persian Gulf, her work also speaks to broader epistemological and conceptual debates. She was Fung Global Fellow at Princeton University between 2015-2016 and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity (2011-2014). In 2022, Laavanya was a Fulbright Fellow at the City University of New York. She also sits on the Executive Boards of AWARE, an organisation advocating for gender equality, and HOME, a migrant rights and welfare charity.

Leong Chan-Hoong, PhD, is a Senior Fellow of Social Cohesion Research at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University. Prior to this, he led the evaluation and data analytics team in Verian (formerly Kantar Public), a global policy advisory firm. Chan-Hoong serves on the International Advisory Board of Centre for Applied Cross-cultural Research at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and the National Integration Council of the Ministry of Culture, Community, and Youth.  He is also a Fellow and elected board member (2019-2023) of the International Academy for Intercultural Research, where he chairs the Rae and Dan Landis Outstanding PhD Dissertation Award Committee (2019- present).  His research is centred around immigration, ethnic relations, national narratives, and human-environment interactions.