Center for Social Innovation

Published: June 02, 2009 Download  53 minutes, 24.5mb, recorded 2008-03-28

According to some critics, we are in a period in which the phenomenon of the "nation state" is coming to an end. At the same time, people are recognizing that the need to understand how individuals identify with regional, ethnic, and religious traditions and identities is critical in addressing global problems. This panel discussion, sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, explores how social enterprise can both mitigate the pernicious consequences of the insularity inherent in nationalism and enhance the positive opportunities for social change within established heritage and cultural traditions. Experts consider issues ranging from multiculturalism within countries to cross-national and international cultural challenges and opportunities.

Beverly Crawford is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where she teaches international political economy, is codirector of the European Union Center of Excellence, and serves as associate director of the Institute of European Studies. She has worked extensively with governmental and non-governmental agencies, and has advised the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education. She has written several books, including Economic Vulnerability in International Relations and Power and German Foreign Policy. Crawford received her MA from Boston University and her PhD in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in foreign policy and international political economy.

Jonathan Hearn is a social anthropologist and senior lecturer in politics and sociology at the School of Social and Political Studies, University of Edinburgh, where he also serves as director of undergraduate teaching and has convened the MSc in nationalism studies. He is the author of Claiming Scotland (2000), based on ethnographic and historical research on the home rule movement in Scotland in the mid-1990s, and Rethinking Nationalism (2006), which takes a critical look at how theories of nationalism deal with concepts of culture and power. Hearn is currently developing research on the nature of legitimacy in capitalist liberal democracies. He holds a BA in anthropology from Bard College and an MA and PhD from the City University of New York.

Vaughan Jones is the chief executive of Praxis, a center in East London that provides advice and support services to migrants and refugees from all over the world, as well as a meeting place for displaced communities. Jones was involved in the organization's formation and has worked there for 25 years. He came to Praxis with a youth work background and was the director of New Horizon Youth Centre for young homeless in Central London. He has also worked for Barnardos and as a teacher. He has served on many Tower Hamlets committees relating to homelessness and race equality, and has participated in strategic partnerships, especially Tower Hamlets Homelessness Partnership, the Refugee Forum, and the Living Well CPAG.

Father Michael Allan Lapsley is a South African priest and social activist. Born in New Zealand, he trained as an Anglican priest in Australia in the early 1970s before coming to South Africa in 1973. His visa was not renewed in 1976 due to his affiliations with the banned African National Congress. In April 1990, Lapsley was the victim of a letter bomb sent to him by an operative of the Civil Cooperation Bureau, which resulted in the loss of both hands and an eye. He founded the Institute for Healing of Memories in 1998.

Abdul-Rehman Malik is a contributing editor at Q-News, a London-based Muslim current affairs magazine.

Resources:

• Praxis
• Institute for Healing of Memories
• Rediscovering Social Innovation, a Stanford Social Innovation Review article
• Review: How to Change the World, a Stanford Social Innovation Review article (subscription required)