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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dear Colleagues:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>For your interest.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Denis Salter</DIV>
<DIV><BR><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><I><STRONG>MINORITY
DISCOURSES IN A CROSS-/TRANSCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE: EASTERN/CENTRAL EUROPE AND
CANADA <BR></STRONG></I>An international, interdisciplinary conference to be
held in Ustron (Poland), 26-28 April 2002, which will examine questions created
by the presence of minority groups (ethnic, sexual or other) in democratic
societies. Minority voices pose a fundamental challenge to the democratic ethos
based on the equality of all human subjects in terms of civil rights and
political representation. Countries of Central/Eastern Europe (like other
democratic societies) have been searching for and working towards a development
of plausible local solutions to the complex problems of minorities. The
organizers propose a comparison between minority discourses in long-established
democracies on the one hand and young democracies on the other. The Canadian
example might prove particularly helpful in this respect. Canada has been hailed
as a role model for the world, combining a social conscience with a
clear-sighted political agenda, but in the eyes of some critics its
multicultural politics of difference does not always bring the expected results.
Since the conference has an interdisciplinary character, we invite a wide range
of perspectives, including literature, arts, law, history, political science,
sociology, psychology, queer and gender theory, media and cultural studies,
etc.</FONT></FONT><BR><BR></DIV></FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial
size=2>******************************************************<BR>'If we rule the
world together then we can succeed in peace and let each other be different and
have different opinions and different cultures. If there was no diversity then
life would be boring. Imagine me looking exactly like you or acting the same
way! LIFE NEEDS difference and until we realise it then we will not achieve our
hope of world peace!"-Natasha Salter, written on the occasion of her 11th
birthday (20 November 01).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>***************************************<BR>Denis
Salter<BR>Professor of Theatre<BR>McGill University<BR>853 Sherbrooke St
West<BR>Montréal <BR>H3A 2T6</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>T: (514) 398 6573<BR>F: (514) 398 8146<BR>E: <<A
href="mailto:d.salter@videotron.ca">d.salter@videotron.ca</A>><BR>
<<A
href="mailto:denis.salter@mcgill.ca">denis.salter@mcgill.ca</A>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Home Office<BR>4965, avenue Connaught<BR>Notre Dame
De Grace<BR>Montréal<BR>H4V 1X4</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>T: (514) 487 2568<BR>F via Email: (309) 294
0444<BR>E: <<A
href="mailto:d.salter@videotron.ca">d.salter@videotron.ca</A>><BR>
<<A
href="mailto:denis.salter@mcgill.ca">denis.salter@mcgill.ca</A>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="http://www.arts.mcgill.ca/programs/english/english.html">http://www.arts.mcgill.ca/programs/english/english.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial
size=2>******************************************</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>