Call for papers for YCAR graduate student conference

cultural building

Graduate associates of the York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR) are calling for papers that seek to rethink and reconstruct the conventional framework of “Asia” from a broad range of disciplines for the (Re)Constructions: Researching and Rethinking Asia graduate student conference, running April 26 to 27, 2013. The deadline to submit an abstract is Dec. 1.

The question of reconstructing the conceptual frameworks for research in Asia and Asian Diaspora has been actively debated in the last few decades. These discussions pay critical attention to the modern politics of constructing Asian spaces and identities, and of disseminating knowledge of the area throughout the world.

Taking up this challenge, this conference will explore how our own work can better contribute to this understanding, and point out the misunderstandings of the categories, spaces and frameworks constructed as part of Asian Studies within and beyond the territorial limits of “Asia.”

The conference keynote speaker will be Professor Vinay Gidwani of the Department of Geography and Institute of Global Studies, University of Minnesota.

The organizing committee welcomes graduate research with interdisciplinary approaches. For a complete list of topics, visit the conference website.

Interested participants should submit a paper title, abstract with keywords (250 words maximum), along with brief biographical information (name, affiliation, stage of graduate study) by Dec. 1 to YCARreconstructions2013@gmail.com.