CALL FOR WRITERS

Second and Final Call for Papers

Queer Asian Sites

An International Conference of Asian Queer Studies
Convened by the AsiaPacifiQueer Network and
The Trans/forming Cultures Centre
At
University of Technology, Sydney
City Campus, Sydney, Australia
21, 22 & 23 February, 2007

Held in association with the conference

Queer Space: Centres and Peripheries
20-21 February, 2007

Also at UTS and convened by the UTS Centre for Social Theory and
Design in the Faculty of Design Architecture and Building
( www.dab.uts.edu.au/conferences/queer_space/)

Background

The AsiaPacifiQueer network is convening an international conference, Queer Asian Sites, to be held at the University of Technology, Sydney on the afternoon of Wednesday 21, and all day Thursday 22 and Friday 23 February, 2007 in collaboration with the Trans/forming Cultures (TfC) Key University Research Centre in Communication and Culture ( www.transforming.cultures.uts.edu.au) and the Queer Space: Centres and Peripheries Conference convened by the UTS Centre for Social Theory and Design in the Faculty of Design Architecture and Building.

The two-and-a-half-day conference will feature keynote addresses from major figures in Asian queer scholarship and a series of themed panel streams on intra-Asia/Pacific queer cultural flows.  Confirmed keynote speakers from Asia include:

• Roosanna Flamer-Caldera (Sri Lanka, Co-Secretary General of the International Lesbian and Gay Association [ILGA])
• Prof. Neil Garcia (University of the Phillippines, Diliman)
• Dr Chandra Shekhar Balanchandraan (Dharani Trust, Bangalore,  India)
• Dr Déddé Oetomo (Surabaya University & GAYa  Nusantara, Indonesia)

Professor David Halperin, W. H. Auden Collegiate Professor of the History and Theory of Sexuality at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, will be joint keynote speaker for both the Queer Asian Sites and Queer Space conferences.  The Queer Asian Sites Conference will open with Professor Halperin’s address on the afternoon of Wednesdasday 21 February.  This will be followed by a joint reception for both conferences including a presentation by invited Taiwanese performance artist Shihue Tu.

The Aims of the Conference

The conference will investigate the importance of intra-regional networks and interactions amongst queer cultures and communities in Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. Some English-language research has tended to understand the emergence of new LGBTQ identities in the region in terms of a ‘West and the RestÃt’ model of globalisation based on a one-way py process in which 'the West' exerts influence upon 'the Rest'.  In contrast to this model, the Queer Asian Sites conference will focus on the importance of intra- regional flows of capital, people, knowledge, representation, and community mobilisation around health and rights in the histories and contemporary forms of queer cultures and communities in the region. The types of questions we hope the conference will explore include:

• What is the legacy of the ppre-World War period of Japanese colonial occupation on Taipei’s and Seoul’s same-sex and transgender cultures?
• How has the Confucian  culture of the economically and politically important immigrant Chinese communities in countries such as Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia impacted upon forms of sexual knowledge, representation, and queer lifestyles in those countries?
• What impact does gay and lesbian tourism, both from the West and within Asia and the Pacific, have upon identities and practices in the region?
• How arre responses to health crises such as HIV/AIDS and international human rights movements impacting on LGBTQ community development and activism in the region?
• How are Asian and Pacific diasporic identitiees negotiated in Western queer cultural centres such as Sydney, Melbourne, and Auckland that are located in the region?
• What roles have gay, lesbiaan, and transgender entrepreneurs and the establishment of markets for LGBTQ services and products had on the emergence of queer communities in the region?
• How important is the expansion and cross-boorder transfer of queer capital -- the “pink k dollarâ€ãƒ», the “purple bahtâ€ãƒ», the “lavender yuanâ€ãƒ», the “rainbow rupeew rupeeâ€ãƒ»-- to the public legitimation of LGBTQ commuunities in Asia, Australia, New
  Zealand, and the Pacific?

Abstracts are now invited on these and related topics.

Please send abstracts of no more than 250 words to Queer Asian Sites Conference Manager at the following email address apq@anu.edu.au by 30 September 2006.  Persons who have already submitted abstracts do not need to resubmit.  Persons whose papers are accepted for presentation at the conference will be notified by early October.  A preliminary conference program will also be posted on the AsiaPacifiQueer website in October. (See http://apq.anu.edu.au ). Further details including registration and accommodation will be posted on the AsiaPacifiQueer website later in 2006.

The Queer Asian Sites conference is being run on a limited budget and we regret that no funds are available for scholarships.

Registration for the Queer Space conference is being administered separately and any inquiries should be addressed to: queerspace@uts.edu.au

 

The ABC-CLIO World History Encyclopedia

ABC-CLIO is in the process of developing a comprehensive 21-volume Encyclopedia of World History. The work is an ambitious undertaking, and we are seeking the writing contributions from interested scholars. We are particularly anxious to make contact with those who are interested in writing on the history of Southeast Asia in all time periods.

Within the encyclopedia, we will explore major themes through the development of specific topics. Our goal is to bring our readers a balanced and engaging view of the human experience. We will need qualified scholars to write on every aspect of the history of humanity. Anyone interested in helping with this enterprise should send an e-mail message to me at mvallance@abc-clio.com <mailto:cneel@abc-clio.com>, with a brief curriculum vita attached. It would be helpful if they would indicate in the e-mail the regions, topics and time periods about which they are comfortable writing.

Best Regards,

Monique Vallance
Editorial Assistant
World History Encyclopedia
ABC-CLIO
P.O. Box 1911
Santa Barbara, CA 93116-5505
(805) 968-1911, ext 132
(800) 368-6868, ext 132
mvallance@abc-clio.com

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Oriental Society of Australia "World Without Walls: Asia and the West"
Date: 3-7 December 2006
Venue: School of Languages and Cultures, University of Sydney, Australia

The Fiftieth Anniversary of The Oriental society of Australia (OSA) will be celebrated with an International Conference. The format will be focussing upon the relevance of Asian Studies in the 21st century. The aim of this international and interdisciplinary conference is to bring together scholars from all over the globe, not only to discuss problems related to the study of history, culture and institutions of Asian countries but also to exchange news and views with colleagues in the humanities and arts, particularly those who study cultures derived from Europe, in the Americas and Australasia.

An abstract of 200 words should be sent care of the Submissions Editor at OSA2006@arts.usyd.edu.au, by the 10th of April 2006.

For more information about the Oriental Society of Australia (OSA) and its journal, please visit: http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/publications/JOSA/journals.htm.

For details about the conference please visit:
http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/conference/OSA2006/

CALL FOR PAPERS

GRADUATE WORKSHOP ON THE CHALLENGES OF THE AGRARIAN TRANSITION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
29 - 30 June 2006
Hosted by Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore

URL: www.ari.nus.edu.sg/conf2006/challenges.htm

In collaboration with the Challenges of the Agrarian Transition in Southeast Asia (CHATSEA) project, the Asia Research Institute is hosting a workshop for graduate students to be held on the campus of the National University of Singapore.

This 2- day workshop will provide students enrolled on either Masters or PhD programmes with the opportunity to present and discuss their methodologies and ongoing research activities under the auspices of the CHATSEA project.

The CHATSEA project is currently underway in 5 Southeast Asian countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. It involves collaboration between several universities in these countries and also universities in Canada, Europe and Australia.

The agrarian transition represents perhaps the most profound process of
social change of the last three centuries. In the wealthier countries of the global North it is a transformation that is largely complete, but in the developing societies of the global South it is still very much underway.

This transition can be defined as the transformation of societies from primarily non-urban populations dependent upon agricultural production and organized through rural social structures, to predominantly urbanized, industrialized and market-based societies. Six processes of change can be identified as central to this transition. These are
1) agricultural intensification and territorial expansion;
2) increasing integration of production into market-based systems of exchange; 3) accelerating processes of urbanisation and industrialisation;
4) heightened mobility of populations both within and across national
borders;
5) intensification of regulation, as new forms of private, state and supra-state power are developed and formalized to govern agricultural production and exchange relationships;
6) processes of environmental change that modify the relationship between society and nature to reflect new human impacts and new valuations of resources.

Several of the senior CHATSEA project researchers will also attend the workshop to lead the sessions exploring these areas.

ELIGIBILITY & APPLICATION PROCEDURE

This workshop is for full-time Masters or PhD students whose dissertation projects deal with the various aspects of agrarian transition in Southeast Asia and are at different stages in the preparation of their MA and PhD theses.

Graduate students should submit a 200-word abstract of their proposed paper using the attached PROPOSAL FORM, no later than 18 April 2006. The abstract should clarify the substantive issues which your paper will address and be firmly grounded in your own research project. Please include your name, institutional affiliation, email address and other contact information. One confidential letter recommendation from a supervisor should also be forwarded by the same date.

Graduates will be selected on the content of the submitted projects, the
potential for useful exchanges among them and the benefits of including a wide range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches and intellectual traditions. Successful applicants will be informed by 28 April 2006.

Graduates selected have to submit their detailed proposals, approximately 5 to 10 pages in length, by 6 June 2006. These are not expected to be final drafts but will be circulated to participants by email beforehand to enable fruitful discussions.

Please send abstracts and letter of recommendation to Ms Rina Yap at
aribox3@nus.edu.sg.

FUNDING

On-campus shared accommodation will be provided for students travelling
from overseas. A limited number of travel subsidies will be available for non-Singaporean residents travelling within Asia. Priority for financial assistance will be given to students from less-advantaged institutions in Asia where such funding is not available. Lunches, refreshments and a workshop dinner will be provided during the workshop.

Applicants seeking financial assistance should first seek funding from
their universities or from other sources, and should also indicate when submitting their abstracts that they may be applying for a travel subsidy.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Religious Festival in Contemporary Southeast Asia

In celebration of its commencement, the academic program Southeast Asian Text, Ritual, and Performance (SEATRiP) of the University of California, Riverside will organize a conference entitled, "Religious Festival in Contemporary Southeast Asia," on February 16-18, 2007 in Riverside. The conference will explore festivals as embodied narratives in which the connections between religion and nationalism, globality and locality, tourism and politics are drawn, urgent issues that invite careful unfoldings in Southeast Asian Studies today. Our ideas for this conference are steered by two complementary assumptions. Firstly, religious festivals are pivotal events in the life of a local community, no matter how heterogeneous itself. Secondly, in spite of its differences, Southeast Asia is tied together by certain commonalities, and a discussion of religious festivals could make a substantial contribution to determining these commonalities.

In order to make the conference lively and focused to be commemorated by the publication of a volume of interconnected essays, participants are invited to address some of the following issues and questions:

• Religious festivals are concentrated moments of communality and expressions of a community's faith. However they are also a means of empowering political and economic networks.  What is the nature of the intersection of the sacred and the secular in religious festivals celebrated in Southeast Asia today.

• Increasingly inherent to religious festivals are the concerns of the tourist industry: religious festivals are actively employed for tourist consumption. In this process of touristification, issues of authenticity, locality, and heritage have become more prominent, but also more problematic.

• Religious festivals often foreground narratives of various sorts, which are stories of origins and beginnings. Performative activities such as dancing, singing, chanting, procession, and theatrical presentations, i.e the central elements in every festival, are embodiments of these narratives, evoking those very beginnings in a continuous cycle. How do these embodiments occur?

• Religious festivals are extraordinary occasions in which, among many other things, gender is played out and displayed in public. How are festivals gendered in contemporary Southeast Asia?

• Festivals are by nature repetitive, and repetitions are by definition a process of similarities and differentiations. discussion of any festival necessarily implies articulation and a distinct interest in shifts and changes over time.Â

Kindly email your title and abstract (not to exceed 2 pages, double spaced), no later than 15 July 2006 to:

Dr. Patrick Alcedo
Program for Southeast Asian Studies
Department of Comparative Literature
University of California, Riverside
Email: <patrickalcedo@gmail.com>

Conference Organizers and Editors:
Patrick Alcedo
Hendrik M.J. Maier
Sally Ann Ness

CALL FOR PAPERS

SEAGA Conference 2006
Sustainability and Southeast Asia
28 to 30 Nov 2006
@ Nanyang Girls High School, Singapore

Please visit http://www.seaga.co.nr/ for details

SEAGA, the Southeast Asian Geography Association, celebrates its 16th year as an association of geographers and professionals in related fields like history, the geo and environmental sciences, urban planning and others in academia, education, government and the private sector in the region, in 2006. The SEAGA Conference 2006 is also the 8th conference that is being organised since the association was established in 1990.

SEAGA is inviting trans-disciplinary perspectives of sustainability from scholars, policy makers and entrepreneurs as well as researchers and teachers. The aim is to debate the progress which the Southeast Asian region has made towards sustainability. Such assessment concerns national governments, local processes in cities and the agricultural areas as well as the business sector. This debate should translate the concept of sustainability into terms relevant for all who have worked to advance the cause. Sustainability is however, a contested concept and there is an urgent need to provide the terms upon which citizens and governments alike, consumers and producers can engage effectively with processes of realising the goals that have been set.

Conference Theme

Sustainability and Southeast Asia is the conference theme in 2006 and we are inviting multidimensional perspectives of
sustainability from scholars, policy makers and entrepreneurs as well as researchers and teachers. The aim of the conference is to debate the progress that has been made towards sustainability in the Southeast Asian region by national
governments, in cities and the agricultural areas and among its businesses. This debate should begin with the translation
of the concept of sustainability into terms relevant for interested parties and vested interests. While recognising that sustainability is a contested concept, there is nonetheless the urgent need to provide the terms upon which citizens and governments alike, consumers and producers can engage effectively with processes of realising the goals set.

Second Call for Papers
This is a second call for papers. Abstracts of papers are to be sent to SEAGA Conference Organising Committee at
seaga@nie.edu.sg by 31 May 2006.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Singapore Graduate Forum on Southeast Asia Studies
Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore
July 28-29, 2006

The Asia Research Institute (ARI) of the National University of Singapore (NUS) invites applications from advanced postgraduate students who are engaged in research on Southeast Asia to attend its inaugural Singapore Graduate Forum on Southeast Asia Studies.

The two-day workshop, the first of an annual series of forums for graduate students who work on Southeast Asia, will be organised thematically around issues that include religion, international relations, politics, gender, and language.

In addition to student presentations, experts of the region have been invited to give keynote speeches. Among these will be Professor Wang Gungwu, Director of the East Asian Institute, NUS, and Professor Dato' Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, Director of ATMA (Institute of the Malay World and Civilization), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Advanced postgraduate students working on Southeast Asia are invited to submit abstracts based on work in progress as well as polished final drafts. NUS students are encouraged to take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity to interact and exchange ideas with students from ASEAN countries as well as those from other regions whose interests focus on Southeast Asia.

Fees and Singapore expenses will be covered for those whose abstracts are accepted for presentation. Some funding is also available to cover regional travel costs, on application.

Submission of Paper Proposal:
Graduate students should submit a 200-word abstract of their proposed paper using the PROPOSAL FORM no later than 30 May 2006. Successful applicants will be advised by 12 June 2006. The abstract should clarify the substantive issues which your paper will address and be firmly grounded in your own research project.

Please include your name, institutional affiliation, e-mail address and other contact information. One confidential letter of recommendation from a supervisor should also be forwarded to this address by the same date.

Those selected have to submit full-length papers, of around 5,000 words in length, by 7 July 2006.

Please send abstracts to Miss Alyson Rozells at: ariaar@nus.edu.sg by 30 May 2006.

For more details, logon to http://www.ari.nus.edu.sg/conf2006/1stAseanGraduateWorkshop.htm

CALL FOR PAPERS FOR A SPECIAL JOURNAL COLLECTION

Gender and Nation-building in the Border Zones of Asia

Although significant scholarly attention has been given to the feminisation of transnational migration within Asia, relatively little attention has been given to the role that migrant women play in gendered representations of borders and border regions. Closer attention to the inter-play between gender, class, ethnicity and sexuality within border zones, reveals the processes by which boundaries and nations are produced. Migrant women often play important discursive roles in the construction of national boundaries; as prostitutes, entertainers, domestic workers, factory workers, wives, or mistresses, they are often portrayed as bearers of racial impurity or inferiority, and culturally disruptive to an accepted 'way of life'.

This collection of papers seeks to examine the part that territorial borders play in the construction of gendered ideologies of the nation within Asia by drawing on studies of women who cross borders legally or illegally to live and work within border zones. Border zones may refer to areas of disputed territory between nations or to spaces occupied by communities that share territorial boundaries. In particular, we welcome empirical research about borders that separate nations (e.g. the Thai-Burma border) as well as internal boundaries within nations (e.g. the China-Hong Kong border).

Deadline for submission of abstracts of no more than 300 words is 7th April 2006, with final papers ready for submission in September 2006. Authors are requested to pay particular attention to the ways in which their research sheds light on the gendered processes of nation-building in host and/or sending countries.

For enquiries and to submit abstracts, contact: Lenore Lyons (Director, Centre for Asia-Pacific Social Transformation Studies, University of Wollongong, Australia) at Lenore_Lyons@uow.edu.au

CALL FOR PAPERS

Sex, Power and Slavery: The Dynamics of Carnal Relations under Enslavement in the Indian Ocean World

An interdisciplinary conference on Sex, Power and Slavery: The Dynamics of Carnal Relations under Enslavement in the Indian Ocean World (defined as Africa from the Cape to Cairo divide eastwards, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia including the Indonesian Archipelago and Australasia, and the Far East) will take place on the campus of McGill, University, Montreal, Canada, from Thursday, 19th April to Saturday, 21st April 2007.

Deadline for submission of abstracts is 1st August 2006.

The review process will be completed by 1st October 2006. Papers selected for the conference must be submitted no later than 1st February 2007.

A wide range of subjects will be given consideration. Prospective participants are asked to consider the following themes:

- sexual relations within the enslaved community
- sexual relations between the enslaved and non-slaves
- sexual relations within maroon communities
- the sex slave traffic
- structures of sexual enslavement
- the harem
- concubines
- eunuchs
- homosexuality and enslavement
- enslaved children and sex
- rape
- affective relationships within the enslaved community; between the enslaved and non-slaves
- sex and the enslaved household
- enslavement, sex and the slave-owning household
- enslavement, sex and disease
- enslavement, sex and taboos
- sex and enslavement as reflected in traditions, myths and literature
- sex as slave agency

The conference will follow the Avignon model. Papers will be grouped according to theme, and a summary presented by a discussant during sessions devoted to each theme. Individual authors will NOT present papers; rather, all papers will be posted on the website after 1st February 2007.

Each session will involve a presentation by the discussant, followed by general discussion. Therefore, it is essential that all conference-goers be familiar with all of the papers under consideration. In the Interests of fostering debate, the number of conference participants will be limited.

As it is our intention to publish selected papers, participants must submit only original unpublished material, and grant conference convenors exclusive publication rights to their paper for a period of one year following the conference.

The registration fee is $150 US ($60 US for students), payable by 1st March 2007. The late registration fee (after 1st March 2007) is $200 US ($80 US for students).

All those interested in participating should complete the application (see below) and return by email attachment to:

gwyn.campbell@mcgill.ca
Or by post to Gwyn Campbell, Canada Research Chair in Indian Ocean World
History, Department of History, McGill University, 855
Sherbrooke St.W.,
Montreal, P.Q., Canada H3A 2T7

Conference sponsors:
McGill University, the Centre for Developing-Area Studies (CDAS), the Indian Ocean World Centre (IOWC), and the Department of History, McGill University.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies Conference

Thirty-fifth Annual Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies Conference. October 27-29, 2006. Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey

The 2006 MAR/AAS Annual Conference will be held at Seton Hall University on October 27-29, 2006. The Conference theme will be "Connecting Asias: Places, Peoples, Portrayals." We use the plural in recognition of the fact that Asia is not a unified site. The Asias that we learn from, study, and interact with are many. Papers may deal with Asian pasts, the Asian present, or imagined Asian futures.

To propose a panel or an individual paper, please send completed the proposal form along with a one-page abstract for each proposal paper by May 1, 2006 to Dr. Diditi Mitra, MAR/AAS 2006 Program Chair at the address on the bottom of this page by mail, or e-mail (as an attachment). Acceptance notices will be sent to you by June 1, 2006. Further details will be available on the website (www.maraas.org).

In order to submit a proposal for the 2006 meeting, you must be a 2006 MAR/AAS member or submit a membership application to Executive Secretary, Dr. Diane Freedman, MAR/AAS, Department of Social Science, W2-40, Community College of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA. 19130. Annual membership is $10.00. To obtain MAR/AAS membership information, go to (www.maraas.org) or contact Dr. Diane Freedman (215-751-8547, dfreedman@ccp.edu).

June 20, 2006 will the deadline for conference pre-registration for presenters ($50.00 for current members, $60 for non-members, $30 for current member students, and $35 for non-member students). When non-members pay the pre-registration fee ($60), the membership fee for 2006-2007 will be complimentary. Pre-registration by this date is necessary if you wish your name to appear in the program.

We welcome participation from faculty, graduate students, undergraduate students, independent scholars, and professionals, and invite you to propose innovative combinations of proposals. Limited funds to support travel to the meeting for South/Southeast Asian specialists only will be available for the 2006 meeting.

Dr. Diditi Mitra, Program Chair
Department of Sociology
Brookdale Community College
765 Newman Spring Road
Lincroft, NJ 07738
E-Mail: dmitra@brookdalecc.edu

Application Form (DEADLINE: May 1, 2006)
Thirty-fifth Annual Mid-Atlantic Region
Association for Asian Studies Conference
October 27-29, 2006
Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey

Send this Application Form along with One page Abstract or Inquiries to:
Dr. Diditi Mitra, Program Chair
Department of Sociology
Brookdale Community College
765 Newman Spring Road
Lincroft, NJ 07738
E-Mail: dmitra@brookdalecc.ed
Acceptance notice will be sent to you by June 1, 2006.