CFP: Southeastern Regional Conference of the Association of Asian Studies

The University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, is the host for the 54thd annual meeting of the Southeast Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (SEC/AAS), to be held January 16-18, 2015. (See the SEC/AAS website:http://www.uky.edu/Centers/Asia/SECAAS for further information.) Proposals for panels on specific Asia-related topics are expressly solicited; panels devoted to teaching Asian subjects at the secondary or college level are also requested.  Individual paper proposals are also welcome.  Only one paper per participant will be accepted. Annual SEC/AAS dues for 2014-2015 are required for submissions to be considered.  Dues are $20; student dues are $10.  Dues checks made payable to SEC/AAS should be sent to Dr. Charlotte Beahan, Department of History, 6-B Faculty Hall, Murray State University, Murray, KY 42071-3341, using the posted membership form.  Note that dues do not cover the cost of conference registration. We urge you to submit proposals by e-mail but regular mail or fax with the information in the box below is acceptable. Proposals should be submitted by October 31, 2014 to the Program Chair, Dr. Xiaoyuan Liu,xyliu.virginia@gmail.com (Please put SEC/AAS proposal and your name on the subject line.) SEC/AAS regrets that it is unable to provide financial assistance to scholars from abroad.  (Attention graduate students!): SEC/AAS will make available three grants of $200each to ease the cost of participation by graduate students presenting papers at the conference.  Indicate graduate student status and whether you would like to be considered for an award along with your personal information (from the text box, below) when submitting your proposal to the program chair. Preference in the awards will be given to graduate students traveling from beyond the immediate region of the conference location. Graduate students should also consider entering their papers in the SEC graduate prize competition; the winner has a chance of appearing on a panel at the 2016 AAS national meeting. All paper/panel submissions should include the following information for all presenters, chairs, and discussants: Name of the presenter Position/title/affiliation Regional and discipline specializations E-mail and mailing address Home and office phone & fax numbers Also, graduate students who wish to be considered for the SEC/AAS travel grants (above) should so indicate. I.  INDIVIDUAL PAPER proposals should also include the following: Personal information (from text box), title of paper, region and discipline of the paper, a 200- to 250-word abstract or summary of the paper, and any audiovisual (AV) or other equipment required for the presentation of the paper. (Please note that equipment requests may only be acted upon if submitted along with the paper proposal.  Satisfying equipment needs at the last minute may not be possible). II.  PANEL/ROUNDTABLE proposals should also include the following: Name of panel organizer or chair (and personal information, in text box); panel title, summary of panel, including discipline and region; names of panel presenters (along required personal information, from text box); for each paper: paper titles and 200- to 250-word abstracts or summaries; name of discussant or chair (along with personal information); a statement as to whether each panelist/discussant/chair has agreed to participate; AV or other equipment required for presentations. (Note that equipment requests may only be acted upon if submitted along with proposals.  Satisfying equipment needs at the last minute may not be possible). III.  DISCUSSANT/CHAIR: Those interested in volunteering to serve as a discussant or a chair for panels put together from individual papers should include their personal information (as above) and their area(s) of expertise. IV.  OUTREACH SESSION:  Those interested in offering a Teaching Methods & Materials Outreach Session should include personal information for each presenter (as above) and indicate the topic, target audience, time requirements, and AV needs.

CFPapers: Special Issue: Southeast Asia in the Humanities and Social Science Curricula

Association of Asian Studies

Education About Asia

EAA seeks submissions for a special section to be published in spring 2015 entitled "Southeast Asia in the Humanities and Social Sciences Curricula," with a particular interest in obtaining feature-length manuscripts and teaching resources essays onSingapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Manuscripts selected for publication should be written in prose that is accessible for high school and/or undergraduate instructors and students. The number of endnotes in manuscripts should be minimal. EAA is especially appreciative of manuscripts that are potentially useful at both the undergraduate and secondary school levels. Please consult the EAA website www.asian-studies.org/EAA/Themes.htm for information on guidelines etc. Prospective authors are encouraged to send manuscript ideas or questions to the editor, Lucien Ellington, via email at l-ellington@comcast.net. The deadline for initial submission of manuscripts is November 20, 2014.

CFP: Changing Asia in the Globalized World: Boundaries, Identity, and Transnationalism

York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR) Third International Graduate Student Conference

May 1-2, 2015

York University

Glendon Campus, Toronto, Canada

The concept of “Asia” implies a fixed geographical, demographic, economic, political, and cultural region. However, viewed from multiple perspectives, its “essence” becomes indeterminate and boundaries fuzzy. From colonization to decolonization, from military invasion to cultural inter-penetration, from international power struggle to regional association, Asia and Asian Diasporas are affected by and affecting globalization in various ways.

Interested participants should submit by email a paper title, abstract with keywords (250 words maximum) along with brief biographical information (name, affiliation, stage of graduate study) by November 1, 2014. Please email submissions to the conference organizers at: ycargrst@yorku.ca. More information about the conference can be found on the web site:ycar.apps01.yorku.ca/events/ycar-graduate-student-conference-2015/.

CFP: New Directions in Indian Ocean Studies at OUCIP, Hyderabad, India

 February 26-28 2015

The Osmania University Centre for International Programmes (OUCIP) proposes to organize an international  conference on what is new and innovative in Indian Ocean studies in February 2015 in Hyderabad, India.

With increasing concerns for environment, climate change, natural calamities, and biodiversity, scholars across disciplines are moving towards Ocean Studies.  The oceanic turn in sciences and  humanities will be critical to shaping a new world order in the twenty-first century.

The recent upsurge in Indian Ocean Studies is part of this  phenomenon.  It is obvious that this field has moved beyond its  traditional ‘marginal studies’ to a global discourse involving  natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. 

A growing body of multi disciplinary Ocean Studies has brought within its  fold fascinating new dimensions from the Indian Ocean region. This new knowledge will influence both policy and practice in this region.

Scholars, researchers and students are invited to submit proposals by November 10, 2014, to oucipprogrammes@gmail.com

Proposals should arrive in MS Word, Times New Roman, 12 Font, and include a title, the name  of the author/coauthor, institutional affiliation, postal address, and email contact information.  The conference is open to all disciplines.

Some examples of areas that could be covered in proposals:

New research in Indian Ocean history: roots and routes

The Indian Ocean and India’s regional histories

Science and technology

Power dynamics: old and new

Indian Ocean: myth, folklore and literature

Forms of culture, cuisine and arts 

Indian Ocean and coastal communities

Climate change and survival in the vicinity of the Indian Ocean

CFP: Shifting Boundaries: The Study of Islam in the Humanities

April 11th-12, 2015 University of Vermont, Billings Hall | Burlington, VT Call for Conference Papers Attacks on the humanities as viable and valuable have become widespread in recent years. Despite these growing critiques, the study of Islam is benefitting from incorporating a variety of disciplinary and cross-disciplinary approaches in humanities; in turn the study of Islam has pushed the boundaries of critical theory and its applications and created greater opportunities for scholars to connect humanistic inquiry with issues of global relevance. The result has been an increase in the breadth and depth of our understandings of how expressions of Islam have operated in society. The goal of the conference is to reflect on the role study of Islam plays in ongoing developments in humanities research, as well as critiques of “humanities” more broadly. We seek dynamic papers that connect Islamic Studies--which we define as broadly as possible--to broader critical concerns in the humanities and related social sciences. We are especially interested in papers that address or engage critical cultural studies and issues of the academy (metanarratives about studying Islam that incorporate theoretical concerns, the value of the humanities, or issues of pedagogy). We also welcome papers that address the broad categorical study of Islam; aspects of Muslim life, “culture,” or practice; or Islamicate literatures or histories.   Topics may include: “the death of humanities:” contributions to or critiques of the humanities from the perspective of Islamic Studies “state of the discipline:” where Islamic Studies stands (historically, popularly, critically) insider/outsider issues in constructing narratives of Islam engagement with gender and post-colonial theories Muslim literatures (political, novels, poetic, memoir, etc.) issues of digitality (social media, accessibility of sources, internet Islams, etc.) We acknowledge that just as Islamic Studies is not a monolith, neither are the humanities. We welcome scholars who engage in critical inquiry in what are traditionally understood as humanities fields and disciplines, which includes but is not necessarily limited to: religious studies, ethics, art history, linguistics, philosophy, literature, as well as those aspects of social sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods in fields such as anthropology, sociology, geography, and area studies. Keynote Speaker The Shifting Boundaries: The Study of Islam in the Humanities conference will span two days, and feature two keynote events. We warmly welcome Juliane Hammer (UNC-Chapel Hill) as a distinguished keynote speaker; Dr. Hammer will address both theoretical and practical concerns facing Islamic Humanities, as a professor, theorist, ethnographer, and current co-chair of the Study of Islam Section at the American Academy of Religion. We will also feature a keynote panel, highlighting scholars across various disciplines in humanities and social sciences and their approaches to research as well as broader discussions about disciplinary contours that shape the(ir) study of Islam. The panel highlights regional strengths in Islamic studies, broadly defined. It will feature Professors A. Kevin Reinhart (Dartmouth); Bogac Ergene (UVM);Ata Anzali (Middlebury); and Sajida Jalalzai (St. Michael’s College). Proposal Deadlines Abstracts (250 words) and proposals (no more than 1,000 words) are requested by November 30, 2014. Acceptances will be sent by mid-December. Full papers are expected by March 15, 2014. Please email your abstract and proposal in .pdf format to shiftingboundaries@gmail.com. Organizers Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst, University of Vermont Zahra Ayubi, Dartmouth College

Call for Manuscripts: Southeast Asia in the Humanities and Social Sciences Curricula

We are developing a special section that will be published in spring 2015 entitled “Southeast Asia in the Humanities and Social Sciences Curricula.” We hope to publish a special section that includes articles and essays representative of a wide range of academic disciplines. Manuscripts selected for publication should be written in prose that is accessible for high school and/or undergraduate instructors and students. The number of endnotes in manuscripts should be minimal compared to more traditional scholarly journals.

Editor, Education About Asia
302 Pfeiffer Stagmaier Hall, Dept. 2222
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Chattanooga, TN 37403

Prospective authors should be aware that there is almost an even division between the percentage of our readers who are undergraduate instructors and the percentage of our readers who are secondary school teachers. We are especially appreciative of manuscripts that are potentially useful at both the undergraduate and secondary school levels. Please consult the EAA guidelines, available on the website under my signature, before submitting a manuscript for this special section. Pay particular attention to feature and teaching resources manuscript word-count ranges. Prospective authors are also encouraged to send possible manuscript ideas or any questions to me via email at l-ellington@comcast.net.

The deadline for initial submission of manuscripts is November 20th 2014. However, our manuscript word count ceilings are modest and we purposefully limit the number of endnotes for manuscripts since the journal is intended for educated lay people. I am particularly interested in obtaining both feature-length manuscripts and teaching resources essays on Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia but will promptly respond to authors who might be interested in submitting manuscripts on other Southeast Asian topics. We hope that the special section will be multi-disciplinary.

Lucien Ellington
e-mail: l-ellington@comcast.net
Web Site http://www.asian-studies.org/EAA/

CFP: Wild Spaces and Islamic Cosmopolitanism in Asia (submissions due September 24, 2014)

DATE	:	14-15 January 2015
VENUE	:	Asia Research Institute (ARI), Seminar Room, Tower Block Level 10  469A Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 259770, NUS Bukit Timah Campus
WEBSITE	:	http://www.ari.nus.edu.sg/events_categorydetails.asp?categoryid=6&eventid=1579

Jointly organised by Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, and International Centre for Muslim and non-Muslim Understanding, University of South Australia. 

How have state and non-state efforts to distribute Muslims in time and space allowed for the containment of religious populations, or contributed to new manifestations of diversity and mobility? Did the contests between containment and connection generate new social, political, and ethical frameworks that might be construed through the explanatory framework of “Islamic cosmopolitanism”? This conference jointly hosted by Asia Research Institute, NUS, and UniSA’s International Centre for Muslim and non-Muslim Understanding, presents a focus on these questions.
Islamic groups and individuals have long conceived of their faith as reflecting ideals of a broader universal community, a global umma. However, the actual practices and perceptions of what is considered the relevant boundaries and horizons of the Muslim community have varied across time and place. This international and interdisciplinary conference is designed to explore the interplay between projects of enclosure and the fashioning of cosmopolitan Islamic subjectivities in Asian contexts, historically and ethnographically. With the term “enclosure” we refer to those “productive” state and non-state projects designed to organize local populations within discrete geographic formations and homogenous religious communities. The term “Islamic cosmopolitanism” is used to denote a broad range of open-ended identities, affiliations, and engagements that allowed Muslims to stake out positions in a wider, global frame. The larger goal of the conference is to explore the relationship between efforts to control Muslims in the lightly regulated “wild spaces” of Asia, and paradoxically, the subsequent mobilities, connections, and ethical frameworks of mutual obligation that grew out of such efforts. This conference will bring established and early-career researchers together to explore how faith-based identities are negotiated. Contributors may address spaces anywhere in Asia, and no temporal constraints apply.

The objectives of this conference are:

·         Articulate flexible definitions of Islamic cosmopolitanism across Asia

·         Examine historically and ethnographically the dialectic between Muslim and non-Muslim diversity on the one hand, and the influence of forces of enclosure which seek to regulate and homogenize belief and practice on the other

·         Map the re-constitution of Muslim beliefs, practices, and networks at the blurry boundaries of spatial and regulatory enclosure as a technique of power

We invite original research papers that ask the following questions: 

-          How do state and non-state actors attempt to territorialise lightly-regulated spaces? How do location based programs encourage ‘development’ outcomes in national, proto-national, regional, or urban areas? How do religion and Islam fit into this process of regulation?

-          In what ways do the social tensions created by forces of enclosure generate interactive responses from Muslims? How do these factors influence electoral behavior, negotiations in the pursuit of livelihoods and resources, and the emergence of social and political movements?

-          How might the technologies of enclosure, paradoxically, generate reconfigured expressions of mobility, belonging and identification that transcend homogenized spatial and spiritual regimes? How did Muslims utilize modern transportation and communications technologies, weapons, schools and other instruments usually associated with state control to articulate geographically unbounded alternatives?

-          What constitutes “cosmopolitanism” in modern Muslim contexts? Should cosmopolitanism be construed strictly in terms of ethical, theological, and philosophical outlooks, or in a more practical and historical frame of mobility and border crossing? Where is this mobility located? What spatial forms are created and transcended in interactions between enclosure and cosmopolitanism?

-          Can cosmopolitanism be a useful lens beyond urban middle and upper middle class circulations for understanding Muslims in lightly regulated “wild spaces”?

SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

Paper proposals should include a title, an abstract of 350 words maximum and a brief personal biography of 150 words for submission by 24 September 2014.Please send all proposals to Dr Joshua Gedacht at arijsg@nus.edu.sg. For a copy of the submission form, click here. Successful applicants will be notified by 15 October and are required to send in a completed draft paper (5,000 - 8,000 words) by 15 December. Based on the quality of proposals and availability of funds, partial or full funding may be granted to successful applicants. Participants are therefore encouraged to seek fund for travel from their home institutions. Full funding covers air travel to Singapore by the most economical means, plus board and lodging for the duration of the conference. 
CONVENORS 
Dr Joshua GEDACHTAsia Research Institute, National University of Singapore
Dr Amrita MALHIInternational Centre for Muslim and non-Muslim Understanding, University of South Australia
Assoc Prof Michael FEENERAsia Research Institute, and Department of History, National University of Singapore
Prof AbdouMaliq SIMONEInternational Centre for Muslim and non-Muslim Understanding, University of South Australia