Dear Sir/Madam, IIAS and the Institute
of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS, Singapore) organise a
conference, which aims to examine the "social
framing" of Asian studies. We cordially invite you to
critically reflect with us on this topic, and look forward
to receive your paper submission.
Framing 'Asian Studies':
Geopolitics, Institutions and Networks
Deadline
30 April 2013
Conference
dates
18 - 19 November 2013
Venue
IIAS, Leiden,
the Netherlands
Conference
"Asian studies", whether broadly defined as the
production and dissemination of scholarly knowledge about
Asia, or narrowly limited to the institutionalized field of
study labeled as such, has constantly been framed by
changing geopolitical
context. The colonial root of
Oriental or Asiatic scholarship, the war-driven migration of
Asian scholars and the dispersion of their expertise, and
the Cold War American investment in both social sciences in
East Asia and in "Asia studies" at home, were just
a few examples. In recent decades, we further witnessed the
rising scholarly interest on Japan, China and India
following their growing political-economic significance, as
well as the emergence of various "alternative
discourses" and "inter-Asia dialogue" as
attempts of intellectual decolonization.
This framing effect is at least partially mediated by the
various institutions
involved in the social process of knowledge
production— foundations, professional associations,
publishers, journals, research institutes, governments to
multinational entities. These institutions operate in ways
that reflect their role, agenda and power relations within
the geopolitical context, and left their imprints, through
funding and agenda-setting, on the intellectual landscape of
Asian knowledge.
Those
institutions constitute various
inter-institutional
networks
through forms of collaboration, and each has its own
network of associated people— for instance, grant
recipients, members, authors, subscribers, staffs and
alumni. Scholars at individual level also form network of
interpersonal ties (educational genealogy, friendship,
citation). These networks not only help distribute
financial, political, intellectual and social resources for
the generation of knowledge about Asia, but also mediate how
such knowledge is disseminated, preserved and accessed.
Investigating the above-mentioned themes further invites
critical examination on the power structure
underlying the knowledge scape:
Who had written about Asia— for what and for
whom? Where has the Asian knowledge been disseminated and
consumed? What (institutional, societal-structural,
national) interest and bias were brought into the knowledge
production? What topics were emphasized or excluded?
Even the term "Asia" as an
epistemological unit could be questioned for its historical
root associated with a European perspective of gazing.
This
conference aims for examination and critical reflection on
the "social framing" of Asian studies by focusing
on the four themes discussed above. We invite paper
proposals that discuss:
- The influence of geopolitical factors on
how knowledge about Asia is produced and disseminated:
colonialism and its legacy, wars and regional conflicts, the
Cold War structure, and the 'knowledge economy' competition
in the new era of globalization.
- The role of various institutions in
promoting and directing the Asia studies: foundations,
professional associations, publishers, journals, research
institutes, governments to multinational entities. We
particularly welcome papers that relate the role of
particular institution(s) to broader geopolitical
context.
- The outlook of various knowledge networks.
We welcome both (a) macroscopic investigations on the
patterns and developmental trajectory of knowledge networks
measured in terms of flows of scholars/ students, capital,
and knowledge, and (b) case studies of a particular
networks of institutions or people on (a particular
branch of) Asian studies.
- Critiques on the power structure underlying
the observed patterns of knowledge production and
dissemination of Asian studies. We encourage reflections
that revisit fundamental questions like: Knowledge for what?
Knowledge for whom? Whose were represented or excluded? How
relevant and biased to use 'Asia' as an epistemological
unit?
Applications &
time line
Expressions of interest are invited to send an abstract of
300 - 400 words together with a short biographical note
before 30 April 2013. Young scholars are
also encouraged to apply. You are kindly requested to use
this web form: http://bit.ly/WSiQYK
The successful
applicants will be informed by 20 May 2013.
We require
submission of a full paper draft of 6000-8000 words by 1
October 2013 to allow the circulation among participants
prior to the event.
We aim at
providing accommodation for all selected speakers of the
conference. Participants are expected to provide their own
travel funding. In exceptional cases only, a request for
travel expenses support may be taken into consideration.
Selected papers from the conference will be published in a
joint IIAS-ISEAS volume.
Contact
For further inquiries, please contact Dr. Albert Tzeng at a.tzeng.iias@xxxxxxxxx.