September 2002 Racial Awareness and Ethnicity Meeting at NUI Galway

Ethnic diversity and racial tolerance, at a time when such issues are prevalent in the national consciousness, will be the subject of a meeting at NUI Galway organised by CLIOH (Creating Links and Innovative Overviews to enhance Historical Perspective in European Culture). The meeting, which takes place on Saturday 21st September, is the national meeting of CLIOH, a European wide network aimed at bringing the study of history and a critically formed historical perspective to bear on the challenges facing European society and education today.

Entitled 'Racial Discrimination and Ethnicity', the meeting is being organised by Professor Steven Ellis of the Centre for the Study of Human Settlement and Historical Change at NUI, Galway and will feature talks by historians from throughout Europe including experts from Iceland, Austria, Italy and the UK. Topics under discussion include 'Language, Ethnicity and Nationalism in Europe', 'Discrimination in late Medieval Ireland' the 'The Lost Ethnical Variety: Poland during and after World War II' and 'The integration of the Russian-speaking minority in Estonia'.

CLIOH is a large-scale EU project, involving 55 universities, aimed at developing innovative methods in the way history is taught and studied in Europe at all levels. The network, with the support of the Socrates and the Culture 2000 programmes of the European Union, aims at highlighting the role teaching of history plays in forging attitudes.

Information: Máire Mhic Uidhir, Press and Information Officer. Tel: 091 750418