The Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism (ASEN) is holding its 17th Annual Conference, entitled “The Dark Face of Nationalism: Violence, Extremism and the Nation”, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, April 17-19, 2007, at the London School of Economics.This conference will explore those aspects of nationalism that most often make headlines, generating a popular impression of nationalism as an overwhelmingly negative force in world history. This compels us, as scholars in the field of nationalism studies, to confront certain questions addressing the extent to which such an impression may or may not be justified: Are violence and exclusion the inevitable consequences of nationalism? To what extent is the discourse of the nation implicated in the violent ideologies of the last century? What is the relationship between nationalism and ideologies such as fascism, racism and religious fundamentalism? The conference will address these questions and others, in the course of examining the various manifestations of violent and extreme nationalism, both historical and current, around the globe.

The conference includes keynote addresses from leading scholars in the field, along with opportunities for scholars from various disciplines to examine the violent aspects of nationalism in a series of panel sessions.

Professor Carolyn Marvin, University of Pennsylvania: Back to Basics: Is Violence Necessary?

Professor Montserrat Guibernau, Queen Mary, University of London: National identity and the New Radical Right

Professor Paul Bew, Queen’s University, Belfast: Exclusion or Inclusion? The Ambiguities of Irish Nationalism, 1789-2006

Professor Roger Eatwell, University of Bath: Fascism and Neo-Fascism

Professor Mark Juergensmeyer, University of California, Santa Barbara: The Global Violence of Religious Nationalism

Professor Peter Van Der Veer, Utrecht University: Violence and Transendence in Asia

View the conference website and programme at

http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/ASEN/conference2007.htm

http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/ASEN/asen2007-programme.htm

Presenters are expected to register for the conference. Further enquiries are welcome at asen@lse.ac.uk.

ASEN, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE

Tel: +44 (0)20 7955 6801 Fax: +44 (0)20 7955 6218

www.lse.ac.uk/asen