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The first International Conference Sociology of Education in Southern Europe: a step forward (SESE Conference) is the result of an in-progress scientific network among Sociologists of Education in Southern European countries. The conference is being held over the 25 and 26 May 2020, at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Milan, Italy).

The initiative is promoted by the ‘Sociology of Education’ Section of AIS (Associazione Italiana di Sociologia) with: Association Française de Sociologie (Réseau Thématique ‘Sociologie de l’Education et de la Formation’); Associação Portuguesa de Sociologia (Secção de ‘Sociologia da Educação’) and Federación Española de Sociología (Comité de Investigación de ‘Sociología de la Educación’).

The SESE Conference aims at sharing theoretical and empirical contributions on Sociology of Education from a Southern European perspective. The starting point is the international debate on the so-called “Theories of the South” (Connell, 2007), “Epistemologies of the South” (Santos, 2007) and the call for a “Global Sociology” (Burawoy, 2016), also in a postcolonial perspective. These approaches make urgent to seek new insights to think about the “Global South”, which can include different sociological voices, especially in Sociology of Education.

“South” could be assumed as a metaphor of disadvantage, exclusion, exploitation, inequality, poverty, periphery; but it also could mean community, localism, solidarity, and creativeness. We wonder whether a Southern analysis of educational issues may be suggested, both at a national and cross-national level, by considering the many ‘Souths’ that exist anywhere, even within the ‘Norths’. Adopting a Southern perspective does not mean to foster North-South divisions, neither inside nor outside the scientific community. On the contrary, we propose to explore and widen the opportunities of international dialogue among Sociologists of Education (and other educational and social scientists) beyond the already-known North-South divides.

Some preparatory reflections in this perspective have been published recently on the Special Issue of IJSE. Italian Journal of Sociology of Education (3/2019) and RASE. Revista de Sociología de la Educación (3/2019), entitled At the Margins: Challenges for Sociologists of Education in Southern Europe. There were also previous initiatives that have enabled the beginning of the dialogue between educational sociologists from Portugal and Spain (see Alves, Torres, Dionísio, Abrantes, 2016 and Cabrera, 2018) that is now significantly enlarged to other countries.

The first SESE Conference addresses these general questions:

• Can we identify common or different educational issues and patterns in Southern European contexts?
• Can we share interpretive frameworks for a better understanding of education in these societies?
• Can we define common solutions for the main educational problems?
  
• What is the relationship between the social scientists’ location in the South and their research work or their theoretical frame?

During the SESE Conference, Peter Mayo (University of Malta), Marta Soler Gallart (University of Barcelona - ESA President) and other invited keynote speakers, together with interested scholars and emerging researchers will contribute to the scientific debate. As the Southern perspective seems not to be consolidated among European Sociologists of Education, the conference has the purpose to go a step forward in this direction, shading light on emerging trends and identifying new issues for the research agenda. It would be also of interest to understand in what ways the sociological professional associations work in the Southern Europe.

Two plenary sessions, four pre-organized semi-plenary sessions and 12 parallel paper sessions will be organized in Milan at the UCSC venue.

CALL FOR PAPERS

For the paper sessions, scholars in Sociology of education, and other educational and social sciences, coming from any countries, are invited to submit proposals for single oral presentations, that would:

1. Address socio-educational problems in Southern Europe;
2. Reflect on theoretical or methodological issues,
3. Assess policies and design solutions,

from a Southern perspective.

Topics:

Proposals should address a wide range of topics investigated through the lens of the “South”, such as:

• Educational inequalities (ethnic, gender, socio-economic inequalities, social mobility and educational poverty);
• School-training-work transitions (ESL, NEET, etc.);
• Family and parents, school and teachers;
• Educational policies, school organization and leadership;
• Non-formal and informal education;
• Childhood and Youth;
• Migration and education;
• Media, ICT and education;
• Cultural practices;
• Epistemologies of the South;
• Emancipatory Sociology of Education;
• Social movements.

Languages:

The promoting associations think plurilingualism is a value to be achieved. During the conference different languages will be practiced.

English is the official language of the conference, but other European languages are welcome: Italian, Spanish, French and Portuguese. Contributors should provide slides or other presentation materials in English but may deliver the oral presentation in any other language (in each session the presence of a linguistic mediator will facilitate the communication).

Deadlines:

The abstract must be sent by email, by the 9 February 2020.

It must be written in English and should include: - Title - Author(s) and institutions - Correspondent author’s email address - Structured synthesis of the contribution: aims and relevance, methods, results (300 words max + 5 keywords).

The Scientific Committee of the SESE Conference will select abstracts for oral presentations. Priority will be given to submissions that have a clear link to the conference theme.

The submitters will receive notification by the 1 March 2020.

Registration should be done on the Conference website by the 1 April 2020.

The final Program of the SESE Conference will be online after the 1 May 2020.

Conference registration fees*

* Price includes conference material, lunch and coffee breaks, guided tour in Milan.

After the conference, authors of presented papers can be invited to send their paper for a publication proposal in an international journal or edited book.

SESE Scientific Committee

FRANCE: Séverine Chauvel, Filippo Pirone

ITALY: Gianluca Argentin, Rita Bertozzi, Maddalena Colombo, Maurizio Merico, Marco Pitzalis, Emanuela Rinaldi, Marco Romito, Mariagrazia Santagati

PORTUGAL: Mariana Gaio Alves, Bruno Dionísio, Leonor Lima Torres

SPAIN: Leopoldo Cabrera Rodríguez, Jordi Garreta Bochaca, Francesc Jesús Hernàndez i Dobon, Fidel Molina Luque, Alicia Villar Aguilés

Local Organising Committee

Maddalena Colombo and Mariagrazia Santagati, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Coordinators) Paolo Barabanti, Gianluca Battilocchi, Guia Gilardoni, Diego Mesa, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Gianluca Argentin, Emanuela Rinaldi, Marco Romito, University of Milan-Bicocca