Migration, diversity and the changing face of New Zealand

The changing face of migration in an increasingly diverse society will be the focus of this year’s University of Auckland Winter Lecture series, Nation Transformed: the place of migration in 21st century Aotearoa-New Zealand.
Marking 30 years since the watershed 1987 Immigration Act, this six-lecture series considers how the added diversity of migrants has transformed the nation’s social and cultural fabric.

Organisers and presenters Dr Francis Collins and Associate Professor Wardlow Friesen have put together a series that explores “the fundamental changes migration has brought and will continue to bring over the 21st century”.

The two University of Auckland academics will deliver the opening lecture – Worlding Aotearoa-New Zealand: migration and the making of national futures.

Other lectures will be delivered by:
• Emeritus Professor Manying Ip (Asian Studies, University of Auckland) – Chinese in the cultural mosaic
• Professor Tahu Kukutai (National Institute of Demographic and Economic Analysis; University of Waikato) – Never the twain shall meet? Bridging the Indigenous-Immigration research divide
• Associate Professor Yvonne Underhill-Sem (Social Sciences, University of Auckland) – Pacific migration to Aotearoa: ‘more than meets the eye’
• Dr Rachel Simon-Kumar (Population Health, University of Auckland) – the ‘desirable’ migrant and the race politics of immigration
• Associate Professor Alan Gamlen (Hugo Centre for Migration and Population Research, University of Adelaide) – Emigration and diaspora: an increasingly important feature of the political landscape
“While migration is a common topic of politics and public debate it is also poorly understood in terms of its political and economic foundation, internal mechanics and implications for communities,” says Dr Collins. “This lecture series seeks to both capture and extend the way the public imagines and engages with migration.”

Lectures will discuss the relationship between migration, settlement and tangata whenua; race politics and changes in the preferred migrant; and Asian and Pacific migration. The series will also explore the nation’s relationship to its diaspora and the future of migration and settler society in the 21st century.

The free lecture series runs on consecutive Wednesdays at 1-2pm, starting Wednesday 2 August and ending Wednesday 6 September.

Venue: Lecture Theatre 342, Building 423 (Conference Centre), 22 Symonds Street, Auckland

Visit www.winterlectures.ac.nz for more information.

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