University of Tromsø on October 18th – 19th 2007.

This year’s conference will focus on aspects of migration and urbanisation. We have asked for papers that will trace the reasons for migration, including push factors that range from poverty to forced eviction, and pull factors such as access to education and new economic opportunities. We also focus on urban living conditions and the basis for social and political organisation.

Central in the Indigenous struggle has been the close ties to the land and the quest for control over traditional territories. Still, an increasing number of Indigenous people live outside their traditional land and/or derive their means of livelihood from sources other than customary land use. A central question will then be to explore how indigenous identity is expressed and maintained in new urban settings. The speakers will in different ways address the questions above.

The conference languages will be English, Spanish and Sami.

More information: http://www.sami.uit.no/forum/2007/invitasjon.html