[URBANTH-L]CFP: Asia and the Other (Taipei, Taiwan)

[Angela Jancius]

ASIA AND THE OTHER
International Conference

Department of English, National Taiwan Normal University
Taipei, TAIWAN

June 23, 2007 (Deadline for Proposals: December 31, 2006)

The year 1984 witnessed the taking place of a pioneering conference entitled 
"Europe and Its Others." With the publication of Edward W. Said's 
_Orientalism_ only a few years apart, the conference organized by the 
University of Essex engaged in discussions heralded in Said's monumental 
work and presented some of the most groundbreaking writings in the 
then-emerging field, "postcolonial theory," with the participation of 
numerous thought-provoking scholars, Said himself included. Now, a little 
over two decades later, the Department of English at National Taiwan Normal 
University invites proposals for an international conference, ASIA AND THE 
OTHER, soliciting input on Asia's positioning in light of the question of 
the Other/other.

Presenting a similar-sounding theme with slight revision to the Essex 
conference, we would like to examine whether or not the idiom of the 
Self/Other demarcation is still relevant in the context of Asia. If yes, 
relevant in what ways? Is the present-day Asia still imagined in the same 
fashion as the old Orient once was? Does the rising economic force of Asia 
grant Asian countries "Occidentalist" optics through which they represent 
their others as old Orientalists did them? Without fixed conceptual 
presumptions, ASIA AND THE OTHER is interested not only in Asia's relations 
with "its" others, but also in Asia's relations with "the Other/other" as an 
ethical, political, epistemological, or ontological problematic. ASIA AND 
THE OTHER seeks to revisit issues taken up by earlier postcolonialist 
theorists with a different geopolitical focus; reexamine and update 
theoretical apparatuses often adopted in the discussions of the Self/Other 
issue, employing the realities of Asia, past and present, as examples; and 
stimulate conversations regarding the tensions or mutual productivity in 
cross-cultural, cross-national encounters.

We welcome proposals from various disciplines, including (but not limited 
to) anthropology, art history and theory, cultural studies, film and media 
studies, gender studies, geography, history, linguistics, literary studies, 
performance studies, philosophy, political science, religion studies, and 
sociology. We are particularly interested in submissions that not only 
provide historically-grounded reflections but also boldly reassess 
predominant theoretical concerns in their specific field.

**Confirmed Invited Speakers:
1) Sneja Gunew, University of British Columbia
2) Hugh J. Silverman, Stony Brook University
3) Scott Slovic, University of Nevada, Reno
**Panel themes include (but are not limited to) the following:

1. Discourses of the Other: Asian governments' foreign policies in history, 
cultural transformations occasioned by the arrival of Westerners, identity 
and class structure,
ethnic imagination, subaltern cultures

2. Revolution, Democracy, and Their Influence: nationalism, democratic 
reform, Marxism and Communism, cultural trends, social reform

3. mperialism and Colonialism: the rise and fall of imperialism and 
colonialism in the region, immigration, development of Asia after 
colonization

4. Cultural Exchange in the Pacifics: evolution in language, spreading of 
technology, development of medicine, influence of Buddhism, arrival of 
Christianity, aftermath of wars, reform in education system, impact of 
interracial marriages, implication of gender issues

5. Contemporary Literature and Comparative Literature: postcolonial 
literature, immigration literature, diasporic
literature, popular literature, genre comparison and development

6. Cinema, Visual Culture, Art, and the Media: representations of Asia in 
film, arts, music, popular cultures, and broadcast

7. Criticism and Reflections on Theory: postcolonial theory, minority 
discourse, other theoretical discourses engaging the Self/Other issue

8. Impact of Modernization: economic development, urbanization, 
globalization, consumerism, piracy culture, spatial politics, subcultures

Papers may be presented in English or Chinese. Please send your proposal 
(500 words maximum) and a brief curriculum vitae by December 31, 2006 via 
e-mail to Chun-yen Jo Chen <jochen at ntnu.edu.tw> or by snail mail to 
Organizing Committee, ASIA AND THE OTHER, Department of English, National 
Taiwan Normal University, 162, Ho-ping East Road, Section 1, Taipei, TAIWAN.

Notifications of acceptance will be made prior to January 31, 2007. Full 
papers (10-15 pages in length) are due May 15, 2007. Papers written in 
English may be submitted to _Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies_ to 
be considered for publication in a special issue dedicated to the conference 
theme.
Inquiries should be addressed to:

Organizing Committee, ASIA AND THE OTHER
Department of English, National Taiwan Normal University
162, Ho-ping East Road, Section 1, Taipei, TAIWAN
Phone: 02-2363-6143 ext. 205 (from outside of Taiwan: 886-2-2363-6143 ext. 
205)
E-mail: jochen at ntnu.edu.tw

Department website (with link to conference website): 
http://www.eng.ntnu.edu.tw/
Chun-yen Jo Chen
Department of English
National Taiwan Normal University
162, Ho-ping E. Road, Sec. 1
Taipei, TAIWAN
Phone: (+886) 2-23632664 ext. 205
Email: jochen at ntnu.edu.tw
Visit the website at http://www.eng.ntnu.edu.tw