Looking for Panel Participants
or Looking to Join a Panel?

[ AAS Conference Main Page | Toronto 2012, Call for Papers ]

Please Note: additions to this page are no longer possible.

We provide this service for panel organizers who are looking for participants or for those who have a paper to present and are looking to join a panel.

If you wish to take advantage of this service, please send a short message, up to a MAXIMUM OF 250 WORDS, to Jon Wilson at jwilson@asian-studies.org with the words "AAS 2012 Conference" as the e-mail subject. If you wish to have your announcement removed, please e-mail Jon Wilson. Announcements will be posted between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm EST Monday-Friday.

DO NOT E-MAIL ANY ABSTRACTS OR PROPOSALS. Proposals can only be submitted via the online Call for Papers and not by e-mail.

QUESTIONS? For questions about proposals, please contact a member of the Program Committee or AAS Conference Manager, Robyn Jones, at rjones@asian-studies.org.

TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL for the Program Committee to review for possible inclusion in the 2012 AAS Conference you must follow the instructions and use the forms on the "2012 AAS Annual Meeting Call for Papers" pages.

All proposals must be submitted online by AUGUST 4.

I'm looking to join a panel on gender inequality in China/Asia. Using international and Chinese data, my paper studies the effect of the number of children on gender egalitarianism and the division of housework among couples, especially those with only one child. I also discuss the intergenerational impact – how children grow up as the only child develop their gender ideology. This research will further enable researchers to understand the influence of one-child policy in China and the decreasing fertility rate across the world from a new perspective. If anyone is interested, please contact me at yan-wang-1@uiowa.edu.

I am a MPhil/PhD candidate at the University of London. I am looking to join a panel investigating body image, visual culture, identity and art education. My paper explores how young peoples’ personal and gender identities are constructed by mass media, in particular, through the production of body images. It focuses upon the relationship between body images and eating disorders among young people (age 11-17) in the UK and Hong Kong. A small-scale survey was conducted to illustrate the correlation between a desired body image and eating disorders, as well as making a comparison of the behaviours among secondary students in Hong Kong and London. The aim is investigates the impact of cultural value enforced by the mass media on the desire for a slim physique and the negative stereotyping of obese figures among young people. It is to propose a form of visual literacy in art education to help students critically evaluate the production of particular body images in the media. Please contact me at fanny.wong@hkuspace.hku.hk.

I am a DPhil Candidate at Oxford University working on China and Russia, looking to join a panel. My work is on comparative authoritarianism and critical media. Specifically, I look at the relations between critical media and the Chinese and Russian regimes. If anyone is organising a panel on comparative authoritarianism, state-society relations in authoritarian regimes, or media and society in China, I would be very interested in participating. Please contact me with any questions: maria.repnikova@gmail.com.

We are looking for two panelists to join a panel related China and one discussant. Please contact Dr. Niu at jianghe.niu@gmail.com and 857-234-6696 (cell).

We are a group of academics from the colleges of the University of Delhi, India.We are looking for a fourth panelist to complete our panel on the many voices of the Indian nation-state. While acknowledging the many discourses that hold and stitch together the Indian nation-state,there are many emerging notes of dissent that puncture and question the assumptions underlying the concept.The first panelist looks at the writings of public intellectuals like Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy who challenge dominant discourses of development and progress.Another panelist looks at the issue of disability and how gender inflected disability studies have modified the nature of dominant discourses.The third panelist explores the challenges posed by Dalit lifewritings to both the idea of the nation-state and to theoretical paradigms of lifewritings. Contact meenakshi.chat@gmail.com.

Chair and Discussant needed for our panel on identity in Sri Lanka after the war. We would prefer a professor with knowledge and interest in Sri Lanka. Our panel is comprised of one Columbia PhD graduate in sociology, two Columbia grad students in South Asian studies and education respectively, and one UCLA grad student in political science.

Papers presented are on: 1. The rise of the Vannar caste in Trincomalee during and after the war; 2. Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu; 3. Female participation in political violence/armed resistance; 4. Caste and untouchability after the war in Jaffna. Please e-mail pdk2108@columbia.edu ASAP if interested.

I'd like to join a panel concerning exploring the political economy of tourism and/ or state formation in Post-colonial Asia. My research is focused on tourism development in Goa, India. If anybody is interested please contact me at rtrichur@csus.edu.

I am looking to join a panel on turn of the century photography in Japan/Asia. My paper looks comparatively at Tamoto Kenzo's photography of Ainu men and women in Hakodate and his survey photography of the development of Sapporo in context with Japanese modernity and nation-building. I think the paper would work well on any panel concerned visual culture of this period, indigenous peoples, alternative histories of photography, Meiji photography, border crossing, and discussions of modernity. If interested, please contact Christina Spiker (cspiker@uci.edu).

I am looking to join a panel. My focus is modern Chinese history. My paper discusses the tensions between state and society in early 20th century Changsha, Hunan province. By using selected primary sources to study the events of a rice riot that occurred in 1910, I argue that Changsha's urban peasantry rioted not as the result of a mob mentality, or under the exclusive control of the urban gentry, but out of their own sense of economic justice, what James Scott has referred to as the "moral economy of the peasant." To better understand the rebellious nature of the Hunan peasantry, native traditions of resistance and folk culture will also be discussed. Please contact James J. Hudson at intheyang@yahoo.com.

I am interested to join a panel working on free trade agreements or specifically on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) in East Asia. I am currently working on a paper focusing on the TPP and Japan's possible participation. I can be reached at ben@usm.my (Benny Teh).

I'd like to join a panel on cultural industry or creative industry in East Asia. My paper focus on spatial formation of advertising industry in East Asian cities, and fieldwork at Tokyo and Shanghai. Keywords: advertising industry; geographic concentration; world city; global agency; creativity. If anybody is interested please contact Zhengyuan ZHAO, China Data Center, University of Michigan by zhzhao@umich.edu.

We are looking for panelists joining a panel on the representation of woman workers and peasants in 20th century China. Please contact huangxin@interchange.ubc.ca if interested.

Networked health across constructed landscapes.

Migrant communities originating from Asian landscapes have extended their kinship, patronage and exchange networks in distinctive ways. Materials, practices and attitudes circulate and are represented on both (or more) ends of a diaspora network, creating the appearance of a seamless social landscape through locally particular and physically separate practices. We invite participants to take ‘network’ promiscuously: computer networks, trade networks, ethnobiological networks, Latourian actor networks - and explore how such networks are used to create health and wellbeing. Asian diasporic social groups typically sustain multi-generational, multi-sited, layered and contested understandings of the self, wellbeing, and medicine. How do they create and traverse coherent landscapes that link multiple locations and timeframes in order to achieve health and wellbeing?

We are especially seeking papers that go beyond the simple origin-destination model of diaspora by studying communities with complex global distributions; while this panel is directed to the ‘border crossing’ theme, we anticipate research that looks not at the straddling of fences but the creation of clusters of health care systems, environments, and languages.

Format: coherent and substantial, though not necessarily complete, versions of the papers will be prepared by 1 February and circulated to all participants and discussants. Conversation in the weeks before the panel is encouraged. Discussants will briefly summarize and unfold the paper as received; the author(s) will have a chance to respond, then the panellists and audience.

Proposals to Will Tuladhar-Douglas (will@tending.to) by 2 August, please.

Professor John Tian of Connecticut College and Professor Zhang Wu of UMASS Boston are looking for one panelist on contemporary rural China for the 2012 AAS annual meeting. If interested, please contact Professor Tian at jqtia@conncoll.edu. Thanks.

Japan and its Neighbors: Contemporary and Transnational Memorial Perspectives

We seek one more panelist in sociology or cultural studies and discussant(s) for our multidisciplinary panel that proposes to discuss war remembrance and memory in contemporary Japan. Our objective will be the analysis of the relationship between memories of World War II in Japan and East Asia, through a transnational and multidisciplinary perspective. This will be done thanks to a series of papers, each a specific case focusing on a different aspect, in order to illustrate the internationalization of memory and the roots of the phenomenon. Concretely, we intent to focus on the plurality of memories and experiences, both inside and outside of Japan, and show how these narratives of remembrance were shaped and emerged, as well as their evolution. The main goal of this panel will be to show that if some redress or memory movements find their origins purely in Japan, their evolution is gradually conditioned by the international context in which they evolve and the increasing need to address concurrent narratives, be it of former victims or related to the rise of the perpetrator's conscience in its different forms.

Please contact Alexandre Benod at alexandre.benod[at]gmail.com or Arnaud Doglia arnaud.doglia[at]gmail.com if you are interested in participating to this panel.

I'd like to join a panel concerning Chinese presence in Africa. My paper is focused on China and Chinese perception in Zambia. If anybody is interested please sent E-mail to Jaroslaw Jura: jaroslaw.jura@gmail.com.

I am looking a panel on early modern history of Southeast Asia or autonomous history in Southeast Asia. My paper focuses on the rise of Hatien in the context of autonomous history in eighteenth century Lower Mekong Delta. It is an effort to challenge the centralized historiography in narrative on Hatien by relocating its traditional historical perspective, shifting a new angle of version, autonomous history in searching for Hatien’s economic, political and cultural role of the eighteenth century mainland Southeast Asia. Please contact Vu Duc Liem, Southeast Asian Studies Center, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand by email: vuducliemhnue@gmail.com.

I would like to organize or participate in a panel on the theme of "English in South Asia." The rationale for the panel is to discuss how English creates inequalities in the South Asian countries. In south Asian the penetration of English at least in the urban areas is visible everywhere. The medium of education distinguishes the well-educated and economically advantaged urban dwellers from the undereducated and economically distressed rural population. Englsih have always been been central to the exercise of power in South Asia. The aim of this panel is to discuss the power and status of English in South Asia. I am interested in papers on both the history of and history in South Asian countires during the colonial period and also after the colonial period. Potential topics include, but are not limited to: language and power (English and regional language,etc.), Transition culture and language, Identity and multilinguality; language in Education, bilingualism and globalization and language policy.

A final note: Since the study of English is important in South Asia and is not limited to now only ehtnic identity, I am mostly interested in the topics like language policy and language politics, globalization and impact on language policies and the role of English in the edcational systems. Please contact Dr. Tania Hossain(Lecturer, Dokkyo University, Japan) by by email (kstania2@dokkyo.ac.jp; kstania2@hotmail.com) by August 2.

We are looking for a discusant as well as one more panelist for our panel titled, "Translation, Interpretation, Sinicization of 'World' in Modern China". Current proposed papers are addressing 1) From "History of Myth" to "Myth History" in late 20th Century Chinese Mythology 2) Philological Imagination: How do the Japanese Rightists use the Ideographic Myth and the Chinese Classics? and 3) Translation between two cultures cultures - from Ether to Benevolence. Please contact us at luscinia@korea.ac.kr (YH Hong).

I have coordinated a panel on 'Traveling Diseases and Its Cure in South Asia', which seeks to investigate migrants in and from South Asia and their health issues. Those interested in submitting their research papers as participants, or wish to be discussants and chairperson of the panel please contact, Bina Sengar at binasengar21@gmail.com, with their brief resume and paper abstract at its earliest by 31st July, 2011.

I am a PhD candidate at the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University. I am looking to join a panel exploring the relationship between art and empire building, or the development of the handicraft industry in early modern East Asia. My paper investigates the crucial role of imperial technocrats in the porcelain production and transmission of technological knowledge during high Qing period (1680s- 1750s) in China. This paper showcases how technocrats transmitted the Qing court’s demand and mobilized local source, how they acquired and used their skill and knowledge which constructed a different realm of episteme than the scholar-official’s or literati’s world.
I am a cultural historian but will be more than glad to join art history, history of science and cross-border panels. My email is kc2422@columbia.edu.

I am looking to join a panel on Asians and Organ Donation and Transplantation. I am interested in presenting a paper on Asian-American Adolescent's Willingness to Donate Organs and Engage in Family Discussion about Organ Donation and Transplantation. Please contact Joyce Trompeta at joyce.trompeta@ucsfmedctr.org.

I would like to organize or participate in a panel on the theme of "Asian Cities under Colonial Regimes." The rationale for the panel is to move away from earlier historiography of Asian Cities, which either analyzed large sections of Asia through classification based on functional criteria (e.g. market cities vs. sacred centers vs. colonial cities), or tied individual cities to nationalist narratives of history, and towards a more nuanced understanding of shifting power relations in urban contexts. Cities have always been central to the state and the exercise of power, from the earliest state-formations to the colonial and semi-colonial states that swept across the region from the 16th century to the mid-20th century. How do cities reflect the complexity and diversity of colonial states throughout Asia? How has colonialism shaped cities, and how have cities in turn shaped colonial power?

I am interested in papers on both the history of and history in Asian cities and urban spaces during the colonial period. Potential topics include, but are not limited to: power relations in/through space (monuments, street names, colonial architecture, etc.); the practice of colonial and semi-colonial power in urban space; and Asian engagement with ‘the West’ via urban space.

A final note: Since the study of Asian cities has been dominated, much like the region itself, by a handful of exceptionally large, complex primate cities, such as Bangkok, Manila, or Tokyo, I am especially interested in papers dealing with intermediate, regional, or provincial cities.

Please contact Taylor Easum (PhD Candidate, UW-Madison) by by email (easum@wisc.edu) by August 1.

I am looking for a panel to join with the paper on the ways of using Old-Javanese poetical works to reconstruct certain aspects of social and religious situation of a respective period. The poem I am working with is “Kunjarakarnadharmakathana” (about 14-15 centuries, Majapahit); its analysis gives information on the relationships between different religious groups in Majapahit, as well as on the religious practices of Javanese Tantric Buddhism and concepts behind them. If anybody is interested, please email Alexandra Kasatkina, kasatkina@kunstkamera.ru.

Panel: The Korean Chinese Diaspora and its Homeland(s)

I am organizing a panel on the Korean Chinese Diaspora and its diaspora-homeland relations with North and South Koreas. The panel seeks to address a variety of issues that ethnic Korean communities in Northeast China are currently facing, including, but not limited to, diasporic homecomings, labor migration, ethnic inclusion/exclusion, multiculturalism, and diaspora identity and politics. Please contact Yeong-Hyun Kim at kimy1@ohio.edu if you are interested in presenting your paper in the proposed panel.

We are looking for panelists and discussants for a panel addressing CEDAW and employment in North East Asia. Current proposed papers are addressing 1) macro-level changes in gender equality by occupation in Japan and South Korea since the implementation of the EEOL and the EEA and 2) case studies of the impact of the EEOL at a mail-order company in Tokyo and a large electrical company in Tohoko. We are specifically looking for people who wish to present on the effect of CEDAW and the EEA on employment in South Korea, though those researching gender and employment in North Korea, or a comparative study between Japan and South Korea would also be suitable. We are looking for 1 to 2 more panelists as well as a discussant. Please contact Kirsti Rawstron at kjr838@uowmail.edu.au.

Seeking a presenter for a panel on participatory politics in contemporary China

We are putting together a panel on participatory politics in contemporary China. We already have papers on deliberative practices, public hearings. political participation and representation in China. We are seeking one more paper that might focus on deliberative democracy, political participation mechanisms, politics of representation, citizenship, state-society relations or political/administrative reforms. Papers on specific case studies in urban/rural China and theoretical papers on the possibility of participation and deliberation in authoritarian settings are both welcome. Please contact us at cergenc@bu.edu and baogang.he@deakin.edu.au.

I am looking to join or propose a panel on post-Second World War Japan under US occupation. My topic is demobilized soldiers and my paper is specifically focusing on demobilized soldiers in the media and the creation of civil society, and includes some comparative aspects about occupied West Germany. It would fit in with papers on other returnee groups, US occupation policy, social and cultural currents, media and civil society overall, and comparative/transnational Cold War and occupation, among others. Please feel free to e-mail me at birgit.schneider@email.wsu.edu.

Panel: East Asian/Japanese Celebrity Culture

I am looking for presenters and a discussant for a panel on celebrities and star systems in East Asian media, with an emphasis on film, television, and advertising. Potential proposals may focus on film stars, tarento, and/or idoru production/maintenance networks or on individual personae. Please contact Colleen Laird (calaird@uncg.edu), PhD Candidate at the University of Oregon and Lecturer in Japanese Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. For the sake of cohesion, I am particularly interested in papers related to Japanese media industries (from any historical era of star production), but I welcome all interested inquiries regardless of geographic specificity. If there is a strong collection of papers across borders, I am willing to alter the scope of the panel to accommodate. Please send me an email with an abstract (250 words max) and a brief bio. Thank you.

I am looking to propose or join a panel on religious developments in Asian immigrant communities outside Asia. As a Latin Americanist/Caribbeanist I am interested in the religious and political changes within the large Javanese community in Suriname, South America. I am flexible on the framework of the panel. Please feel free to email me at hofte@kitlv.nl.

"Modern Korean Art: Issues that Define It / Defy Us."

Panel description: The realization of modern Korean art continues to engage with the larger questions of identity, nationalism, colonialism, and modernity that concern Korean studies. This panel seeks papers that offer a broad critical historiography, or focused case studies of artwork or artists that address these questions including, but not limited to the "beginnings" of modern Korean art, how the term is defined (is it modern Korean art or Korean modern art?), and/or how foreign influences have enhanced or hindered its development. Other "problems" and/or issues regarding its development will also be considered. Please email 250-word paper abstracts to Virginia Moon by Sunday, July 31, 2011, 9pm PDT / 12 midnight EDT, or earlier, at vhmoon@gmail.com.

PANEL TITLE: “Care Migration in East Asia” (Looking for Presenters and Discussants)

Please contact Seonggee Um, Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Toronto (seonggee.um@utoronto.ca). I am organising a panel on international migration of care in East Asia, focusing on (but not limited to) the development of care/(im)migration policies on marriage migration and/or migrant care work in three countries of Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. The Chair person is already chosen, and another researcher and I will take part in as presenters on either single- or multiple-country study paper. I am now seeking two more presenters and two discussants. If interested, please send me an email with (1) your affiliation and research area; (2) your interested position as presenter or discussant; (3) if you’d like to be a presenter, proposed presentation topic and brief description; and (4) any suggestion on the panel. Thank you very much for your interests!

SEEKING PANEL CHAIR AND DISCUSSANTS
PANEL TITLE: "Contested Spaces: Women, Religion, and Agency in South and Southeast Asian Public Spheres"

Please contact Rina Williams at rvw3k@virginia.edu. The panel crosses geographical and disciplinary boundaries to explore how women have carved out spaces of agency within religious contexts in public spheres from South to Southeast Asia. Working across four disciplines, the authors unravel the spaces women create for themselves in contexts where religious laws, texts, political parties, and social movements are otherwise and often assumed to constrict their room for maneuver. One presenter examines the use of religious ideas as a tool for gender justice and moral agency, based on feminist ethnography of Malay Muslim women activists.

Another shows how different interpretations of religious texts have brought about new forms of women’s collective agency in the context of Islamic revival in Indonesia. A third presenter argues that despite the dilatory effects of British colonial rule and religious textual law on South Asian women, many Hindu widows used the Anglo-Indian courts to extend and defend the limited property rights granted to them by Hindu law. And the fourth presenter focuses on the All-India Muslim League from 1906 until 1940, arguing that while ideological conceptions of nationalism were deeply gendered, the participation of women in the party was attenuated. Taken together, the papers lead us to examine women’s agency in religiously inflected public forums empirically, rather than relying on assumed constructs of victimhood and oppression, while refining and empiricizing our conceptions of empowerment.

I am looking to propose or join a panel on specific gender issues in China. My research explores how the Uyghur society in Xinjiang responds to the Chinese government’s attempt to export its model of parity between the sexes. Through a semantic analysis of Uyghur sexist proverbs, my paper aims to identify the theories and practices regarding women and gender in the Uyghur young society. I am flexible on the framework of the panel. Please feel free to email Elena Caprioni: e.caprioni@ubc.ca.

I am wondering if anyone is organizing a panel on statelessness, citizenship, nationalism and ethnicity in South Asia. I am interested in presenting a paper on statelessness and citizenship of the Biharis in Bangladesh. Please email me: Omar Faruque, Sociology Department, University of Toronto, faruque.omar@gmail.com.

I am looking to propose or join a panel on the reform of Chinese Film Industry (1978-present). My paper will apply institutional theory on the case of Chinese film industry to examine Chinese media phenomenon to search for its internal logic of development and reform. The basic research question is how did the Chinese government transform itspropagandatool and what is its implication to the discourse of "rising China" and "soft power." Please feel free to email Katherine Chu katherkc@usc.edu.

I am looking for three papers and a chair to compose a panel on contemporary labour struggles in India for AAS in Toronto, 2012. Please see the draft panel abstract pasted below. If you're interested in this, please send me an abstract (250 words max) and your full name, address, e-mail, and institutional affiliation by July 25th, 2011. Contact Dia Dacosta, dacosta@queensu.ca.

Panel Title: Learning from Labour in Contemporary India

This panel builds on recent calls to ‘stretch labour historiography’ by asking how we know labour struggles in contemporary India when we see them. In light of the massive global and local transformations underway since the 1970s, scholars have alternately mourned the ‘lost worlds’ of industrial labour struggle or celebrated the promise of thinking about labour ‘beyond the factory’. Ultimately,however, much scholarship on labour struggles tends to view labour struggles in terms of transformations and interruptions in the nature of contemporary capital.

This inter-disciplinary panel proposes to learn from labour, in part, by refusing to pit nostalgia for industrial labour mobilisation against current calls for focusing on struggles beyond the factory. This panel contributes to recent scholarship in political economy, postcolonial historiography, development studies, cultural studies and more by asking what forms of belonging, citizenship, and political mobilisation are actually produced by nostalgic mourning for lost worlds of labour struggle. Likewise, it asks what new spaces, affects, and forms of labour struggles are generated when we consider labour struggle beyond the
factory. What, if anything, do these new spaces and forms of labour struggle accomplish in terms of the limits of capital?

Some themes for papers might include: Dispossession and the relation of labour struggles to land, climate change, and
environment; the politics of caste and Dalit movements in reimagining the labour-capital relation; the celebration
and marketization of knowledge economy and society and its effects on the forms, spaces, and possibility of labour struggles; the affects and effects of the creative economy, cultural activism, and cultural production on spaces and meanings of labour struggle; the politics of gender and sexuality in contemporary labour struggles; and labour struggles and the financialization of Indian economy, society, and everyday life.

I would like to join a panel that focuses on consumer practices and consumer culture in Asian societies. As a sociologist, my research has focused on identifying the cultural and organizational factors that are propelling the growth of the organic foods sector in the United States. I have recently begun to extend this research by examining the consumption of “green” and “ethical” products (such as organic and Fair Trade) at a field research site in Nanjing, China. I would be able to contribute a paper that discusses the extent to which these products have penetrated the urban Chinese consumer market, as well as the social and cultural factors that are shaping how consumers receive these products. More generally, the paper considers the nature of cultural understandings of ethical and civic responsibility in relation to consumption in China. Ethical consumption has become increasingly prominent in the United States and Western Europe in the last decade, but local histories and belief systems may shape how this phenomenon spreads to developing consumer societies in Asia.

Please contact Michael Haedicke at michael.haedicke@drake.edu if you would like to talk about this paper.

Locating citizenship: the “spatial turn” in Asian practice

Cross-disciplinary panel for AAS 2012, Toronto

This panel aims to address issues of space in the making of states and citizens in Asia, with a focus on how the distinctive histories of state-oriented place-making in Asia and the interaction between these and the spatial configurations of colonial rule and global capital are shaping citizenship practices in the present. The panel will be composed of three substantive papers and a theoretical paper to be contributed by Bryan Turner. I am looking for two substantive papers for this panel. If you are interested, please e-mail me a 250-word abstract by July 31. Organizer: Sophia Woodman, University of British Columbia; E-mail: sophia99@interchange.ubc.ca.

Negotiating Inclusion and/or Differentiation through History: The Uses of Memory and History

Seeking papers from anthropologists, historians, sociologists, and scholars of other disciplines who study the social use of history and memory. In particular, I am interested in proposing a panel of papers, not focused on one region or nation, that would consider how individuals and/or organizations use, or have used, the histories or memories of localities, 'local' groups, or regions in order to articulate their inclusion in and/or differentiation from more encompassing types of communities, such as regional, ethnic, religious, or national communities. Through this panel, I hope to develop a space for a discussion that may consider such questions as how and with which genres of history and memory do 'local' figures engage  more encompassing or dominant communities, how do people response to different contexts by choosing to stress their 'local' community's inclusion in or differentiation from more encompassing communities, how do these relatively more local and more encompassing social fields influence one another, and what are some potentially significant differences and/or similarities in these politics of memory and history. Please feel free to send an introductory e-mail with information on region or period of interest.
Ian Wilson, PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology, Syracuse University; E-Mail: iawilson@maxwell.syr.edu.

We are seeking for panelists on "Sustainable Development/Education for Sustainable Development in China (or Asia)"

Any papers on related topics in India would be especially welcome. We are Jingjing Lou and Yimin Wang. Dr. Lou is an assistant professor in Beloit College and her work focuses on how townization in rural China altered the ecology of countryside, both physically and metaphorically, and how that shaped the way rural youth view their schooling and society. Yimin is a doctoral student at Indiana University and her paper is about a green school in rural China. If you are working on the related topics in China or other Asian countries, and would like to be on the same panel, please email to yimwang@indiana.edu and/or loujingjing@gmail.com. Thanks!

SEARCHING FOR A PANEL CHAIR, AND DISCUSSANTS

PANEL TITLE: "Collaboration and Resistance in South Vietnam: Assessing New Evidence on Nation-building during the Vietnam Crisis, 1950-1975"

Please contact Harish Mehta at hmehta@rogers.com or at harish.mehta@utoronto.ca

The Panel theme is: the South Vietnamese government and the United States were often at odds over the idea of nation building. Three papers on this panel make extensive use of new material from the national archives of Vietnam in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and a fourth paper employs recently declassified material from the U.S. archives of President Richard Nixon. Together these papers present a fascinating new portrait of the relationship between the hegemonic United States and its South Vietnamese client. The existing literature on the regime of President Nguyen Van Thieu is extremely limited, and the Vietnamese documents help enhance our understanding. One of the papers explores how lobbyists for Presidential Candidate Richard Nixon spent more time on furthering their own business interests than on conducting diplomacy for Nixon. Another paper shows that a human rights group in South Vietnam actively protested the American intervention in Indochina in the 60s and 70s.

We seek a chair/discussant and two participants for a panel entitled “The Tais that Bind: Ethnohistorical Perspectives on Local Agency and Livelihoods in the Sino-Southeast Asian Borderlands.” Taking inspiration from Jean Michaud and Tim Forsyth’s recent edited volume, Moving Mountains, we seek to bring together historians, anthropologists, and other social scientists working on the region. Our aim is to explore the ways in which local communities fashion and maintain livelihoods in the face of political, economic, and cultural directives introduced by state entities, whether imperial, colonial, socialist or post-socialist. One paper explores how Tai communities of the Guizhou-Guangxi-Yunnan borderlands used magico-religious practices to engage Qing imperial authority in the mid-eighteenth century. Another contribution will examine the socio-historical processes of waterside ethnicities in southwest China (such as the Bouyei) by synthesizing environmental anthropology and historical anthropology. If interested, please contact Jodi Weinstein at jodiweinstein@comcast.net before August 1.

I would like to propose or join a panel on the "Religious Exchange among China, Korea and Japan". I am Ph.D. from Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China. My research focuses on Taoism in ancient Japan, discussing the relationship between Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism when they spread from China into Japan around 5c-9c. Other approaches and topics would be welcome. Please feel free to contact Xiaoling Mo (momoxiaoling@gmail.com) with your abstract or questions.

I am looking to join (or even create) a panel relating to issues of "Citizenship, Religion and Education in Asia.” My specific research focus on to understand the pedagogic techniques through which citizenship education is imparted to the students. It becomes important to investigate if the religious ideal and cultural differences, especially those from diverse background itself flow into citizenship education, and if so then how does the instruction vary with respect to students belonging to different religion. What are the various methods of instruction used by the school to inculcate citizenship education, and what are the ways in which students receive such instruction? The study is, therefore, an attempt to focus on the dialectical relationship between religious identity and citizenship education in an educational institution, and considers the ways in which ideas, values and pedagogic transactions are negotiated and renegotiated at various levels, by the students, the teachers, the home environment and the school as an organization.

I would be keen to work with other scholars who are looking at the impact of political change, legislation, sociology, education on improving citizen in Asia. Ideally, I would be interested to present on a panel which showcases a range of country studies as well as range of methodologies. Looking forward your reply and positive cooperation. Please contact dparimala_univ@yahoo.com.

I would like to propose a panel on 'Environment and Sustainable Development in Southeast Asia countries.' Participants with either a political science or a sociological background who are interested in proposing topics about environmental and sustainable issues in the the Southeast Asian countires are welcome to join. Please feel free to contact Natalie Wong (wnw500@york.ac.uk) with your abstract or enquiry.

"Call for Participants for Roundtable on Teaching history through the work of Amitav Ghosh"

In Sea of Poppies and River of Smoke (the first two volumes of his Ibis Trilogy), Amitav Ghosh sheds light on the myriad of ways in which opium wreaked havoc on the lives of the millions of people, from the Indian peasants forced to grow the poppies and then process the opium, to the residents of China, which was forcibly opened to the sale of the banned drug.

This roundtable seeks to engage in a discussion of Amitav Ghosh’s work (focusing on his two most recent novels, but also including reference to his earlier works of fiction) and how historians of South Asian and Chinese history might use these texts to bring a deeper awareness to students of the actual impacts of the various dimensions of colonialism and early globalization of peoples lives.

If interested please send a 250 word abstract describing how you have, or would like to use the work of Amitav Ghosh in your teaching. The abstracts need to be received by July 26, and please be sure to include your full name, email address, mailing address, institutional affiliation and academic discipline. Many thanks, Jackie Armijo (armijo@gmail.com) Qatar University

I am looking to join a panel covering media, state propaganda, international relations and war in East Asia with the period covering 1931-1945. My dissertation research focuses on the global publicity networks of the KMT regime under Chiang Kai-shek and I intend to present a paper on the tussle among the KMT's Central News Agency, Reuters and the puppet Wang Ching-wei regime in 1940-41. I would be interested to present in a panel which showcases a range of countries, including China, Japan, US and Britain. Please contact Tim Shu at scts2@cam.ac.uk.

I would like to join a panel for the 2012 AAS conference on the topic of international student identities, internationalization of higher education, and/or student mobility. My research is about the construction of Chinese international students’ identities through their international education experiences at two Japanese universities, which exemplify recent Japanese government internationalization policies and programs. The interviews with Chinese undergraduate international students and faculty and staff members at the universities reveal that, while the Japanese universities practice internationalization for their competitive advantage in the domestic and international higher education market, Chinese international students strategically take it up to attain a competitive and irreplaceable identity in the employment market in China and beyond. I am flexible with which aspect of my research to focus depending on other panels' interest. Please contact tsukadah@interchange.ubc.ca.

I am looking to join a panel on Chinese art, or related to issues in Chinese painting and/or contemporary Chinese art. My presentation paper will discuss the 13th century Chinese painter Chen Rong and his jiu long tu or “Nine Dragons scroll,” the historical practice of dragon painting, and how contemporary Chinese artists are now reinterpreting this particular painting and theme. Please contact me, Jacqueline J. Chao, at Jennifer.Chao@asu.edu.

I would like to propose or join a panel on the consumption of Asian commodities, especially cultural commodities. My sociological research focuses on Indonesian foods and the ways that they are consumed within upscale American luxury markets; other approaches and topics would be welcome. Participants with a social science background who are interested in proposing topics about consumption and consumer markets in Asia are also encouraged to join. Please feel free to contact Amy Singer (asinger@knox.edu) with your abstract or questions.

I wish to organize a panel on "State and Politics in Contemporary South Asia." Through this broad theme, proposals are welcomed on any topic related to contemporary politics, society, government, economy, religion and/or culture in South Asian Countries, particularly India, Pakistan, and Bagladesh. Examples may be the role of religious parties, the ethnic minorities, sectarian conflicts, media, judiciary, Sufism, federal politics, etc, and their effect on politics and state functioning. I myself want to present a paper in this panel regarding media activism and its effects on politics of Pakistan. If you have any proposal related or similar to this theme, please send a 300-word proposal including your name, address, e-mail, and institutional affiliation by July 28 to: Muhammad Atif Khan, Doctoral student, Institut d’Etudes Politiques, Grenoble, France at atifir@hotmail.com.

Urban Generation: Cultures and Histories of Work and Play in the Southeast Asian City

This panel demonstrates the development of new forms of urbanism in Southeast Asia through an exploration of generational differences and emergent cultures of work and play in the city. Deepening market reforms, new patterns of mobility, and the metropolitan desires of youthful populations in the region have reinforced perceptions of the city as the unquestioned seat of modern occupations and recreations. The particular opportunities and risks that have come to signify urban lifestyles are rooted in the discourses and practices of work and play and are critical in the production of urban identities. Mapping generational attitudes and experiences onto the generation of novel cultures of work and play in the city, the panel aims to bring together a range of contemporary and historical perspectives on urban life in Southeast Asia. In so doing, it will take stock of past and present forms of urbanism, and suggest the roles of an emergent "urban generation" in building the futures of cities and nations. We invite papers from a wide range of disciplines. Please contact either Tim Karis (anthropology, UCSD) at tkaris@ucsd.edu or Allen Tran (anthropology, UCSD) at a3tran@ucsd.edu if you have any questions.

I would like to collaborate on a panel with likeminded scholars. My proposal is as follows:

HOW THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CAMBODIA TRANSFORMED ITSELF INTO THE ROYAL GOVERNMENT OF CAMBODIA

The paper will study how the People’s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK) established in 1979 managed to become the sole dominant political force in the Royal Government of Cambodia today. It will analyze the interactions of the PRK in the corridors of power of Cambodia with domestic and international actors in three periods of transition in Cambodian politics: 1. From one communist power, the Khmer Rouge backed by China to another, the PRK backed by Vietnam in which the latter suffered from international economic and political isolation as a result of United Nations non recognition and internationally backed insurgence at its borders, 1979 to 1991; 2 From international isolation to massive international intervention by the United Nations Transitional Authority of Cambodia (1992-93) and 3.From massive international intervention to an elected Royal Government of Cambodia, initially ruled by two parallel governments representing the Royalists FUNCINPEC and the Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) the political arm of the PRK later named the State of Cambodia (SOC) who came in first and second in the elections respectively. Finally, the will examine the factors which led to a violent clash in July 1997 in which the CPP emerged victorious and Hun Sen, who was prime minister since 1986 became the sole prime minister until today. In the process, Hun Sen has replaced Sihanouk, who has dominated Cambodian politics since 1941, as the central political figure in the country.

Please contact BennyWidyono@aol.com.

A Call for Papers Associated with the Association of Asian Studies Conference in Toronto, March 15 to 18, 2012

We are looking for participants for a conference panel or panels focused on the making of Canada-Asian relations as a history of diverse exchanges that might be termed “other diplomacies” (Der Derian 1987). By “other diplomacies”, we mean Canada-Asia engagements that, like state diplomacies, “mediate estrangement” (Der Derian 1987), but do so outside of the purview of conventional state foreign and economic policy institutions and processes.

Simply put, our aim is to paint a more fulsome picture of the nature and scope of Canada-Asia relations and how they have been produced through a diversity of relationships and processes at multiple levels through time outside the purview of conventional foreign and economic policy institutions and processes, though they may be influenced by and in turn shape state diplomacy. As such, we aim at transdisciplinary panels that draw together scholarly analyses of a range of cultural, economic, social, political, environmental and other linkages between Canada and Asia, from the family, workplace, and local, to the national and global.

The temporal focus will be on the post-WWII period when Canadian engagement with Asia increased substantially due to rising economic, political and social interaction across the Pacific.

Proposals should be sent to Mary Young <marouyou@yorku.ca> and Susan Henders <henders@yorku.ca> by July 30, 2012. They must include a proposed paper title and abstract (max. 500 words).

“Internet and its Social, Cultural and Political Dimensions”

I wonder if it is possible to collect an adequate number of presentations on the topic of internet use, ranging widely from e-government, web censorship, to users’ behavior—any issues pertaining to the internet. Potential presenters and discussants are welcome to join the panel and contact me at xiaji@iupui.edu. I am an assistant professor in library and information science at Indiana University.

We are looking for a discussant and a panelist to join our panel on self-censorship in women's writing. If you are interested, please contact Chengjuan Sun at chengjuansun@gmail.com.

Call For Papers: "Social Politics of National Defense in Postwar Japan"

We are looking for panelist, discussant, and chair for our panel, tentatively titled "Social Politics of National Defense in Postwar Japan" for the AAS meeting in Toronto in March 15-18, 2012. The panel will explore various kinds of social, student, and resident movements regarding the issues of national defense in postwar Japan, as well as policymakers’ observations and choices on this issue. It will examine the intersections between society and state, everyday people and policymakers, and domestic and international politics, seeking to go beyond the conventional dichotomy of top-down versus bottom-up or domestic versus international histories.

My paper, for example, looks into the intensification of pro- and anti-rearmament appeals during the Korean War, intending to connect the formation of national defense policy—later labeled as Yoshida Doctrine—with everyday people, social movements, and memories of World War II. Another panelist's paper investigates military base protests in mainland Japan, specifically the protests at Tachikawa Air Force base outside Tokyo (Sunagawa) in the mid 1950s. It will explore the nature of these protests, particularly the various critiques articulated by the protestors, to examine how anti-base movements changed the context in which the United States and Japan thought about postwar defense.

I apologize for this last-minute call, but if you are interested in participating in this panel, either as a presenter or as chair/discussant, please contact MASUDA Hajimu (History, Cornell) at hm93@cornell.edu.

“Reconsidering ‘Liberalism’ in Wartime East Asia”

I am interested in putting together an AAS panel on the confusing but ever-influential notion of “liberalism,” ideally, but not necessarily, during the interwar and wartime period in Japan and/or Taiwan, Korea, and Manchuria.

I am flexible on the framework of the panel, but the intent is to trace discursive transformations of social, political, and economic thoughts in interwar and wartime East Asia—a historical change of intellectual tide with the pervasive notion of “liberalism” during this period. The panel will unpack the tangled notion of “liberalism” and seek to address its historical legacy. My paper, for example, analyzes Japanese intellectuals’ discussions on social policy in the 1930s and 1940s, looking into an anti-control yet interventionist tendency and its historical implications.

If you are interested in participating in this panel, either as a presenter or as a chair/discussant, please contact Akiko Ishii <ai47@cornell.edu>. Also, if my paper will fit, I am happy to join an existing panel.

"Contentious Politics in China": This panel comparatively examines social, political, and/or cultural conflicts and activisms in contemporary China.We particularly welcome papers with a focus on class, gender, and/sexuality dynamics in various social movement areas, e.g. environment, labor, health, land, etc. Please send a 250 word abstract and a brief professional biography to Changdong Zhang at zhangchd@u.washington.edu by Monday 25 July 2011.

"Media, Nuclear Power, and Disasters" CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS (July 31 response deadline).

The Fukushima incidents have brought renewed attention to the issue of nuclear power and disasters as well as media representations. This panel tackles issues of media representation and issues of nuclear power and disasters through an interdisciplinary approach. We seek additional panelists and a discussant for the AAS meeting. The current papers proposed involve an analysis of global media frames of the Fukushima incident and an analysis of articles regarding Japanese adoption of nuclear power within a strong anti-nuclear normative environment. We are seeking participants from any relevant discipline, most likely from environmental, media, global studies, global governance, or international relations perspectives. Please contact Steven B. Rothman (srothman@apu.ac.jp) before July 31 if you are interested in participating or would like additional information.

I am looking to join a panel on South Korea's foreign policy. My paper focus on South Korea's Middle East relations in the last 50 years. Feel free to email Dr. Alon Levkowitz Levko@smile.net.il.

I would like to join a panel which needs a paper on Medieval Chinese literature (220-960). Please feel free to contact me at yuetoronto.zhang@utoronto.ca. Thanks for your consideration.

Panel proposal/Call for Participants: Science Fiction and Empire in East Asia

I am looking to organize a panel centered on the issue of the intersections between the emergence of science fiction and the history of imperialism in East Asia. This panel will work from the premise that the emergence of science fiction is grounded in the history of imperialism. While it is not reducible to it, the narratives of science fiction are indebted to colonial ideologies and the “planetary consciousness” established by global conquest and the circulation of commodities and cultural practices. In this respect, science fiction was not only a transnationally travelling mass literary genre; moreover, in its very language and rhetoric, science fiction functions more broadly as a mode of awareness that poses the very problem of transnationality in all its uneven flows and asymmetrical relations of power. As the site of overlapping imperialisms and the object of a techno-orientalizing gaze, East Asia makes for a potentially rich test case for interrogating the intersections of science fiction and colonial discourses.

We would like to invite two to three panelists to join us for the 2012 AAS Annual Meeting in Toronto. Papers on a range of topics surrounding the linkages between colonialism and science fiction (broadly construed) or alternatively scientific discourse/rhetoric with a particular attention to translingual and transnational interchanges are welcome. Please contact and send an abstract of 250 words or less to Baryon Posadas (baryon.posadas@utoronto.ca) by July 31st if you are interested.

“Postwar East Asia in the Globalizing World Political Economy”

We seek a chair/discussant(s) and one or two more paper-givers. Our panel will examine how post-1945 East Asia has contributed, and adapted to, globalization and the changing dynamics of the international system. It will focus on the increased political importance of the state in the expanding world market and the growth of inter-/trans-national institutions, movements and discourses beyond the systemic conflicts between capitalism and communism of the “Cold War paradigm.” We now think that the panel would discuss in particular the rise of multilateral institutions such as ADB, ASA/ASEAN, UNCTAD, G-5, etc., within the Asia/Pacific region as well as East Asia and the world. But possible paper topics also include other trans-Cold War social networks in East Asia and beyond among, for example, women, students, workers, tourists, migrants, crime organizations, environmentalists, pacifists or theorists and practitioners of the East Asian economic models. I will discuss Japan and the making of the G-5. J. Lin (History, UCB) will reconsider post-1949 Taiwan’s agricultural development with particular reference to the role of international organizations and transnational networks in Asia and beyond. We are open to critiques of our trans-Cold War globalist/institutionalist stance and welcome contrary historical and theoretical views (from realist historians and IR scholars, for instance). If you are interested, please contact Taka Daitoku (History, Northwestern) at t-daitoku@northwestern.edu.

I am currently working on a research project on the Chinese Jews and I am interested in forming or joining a panel at AAS 2012 in Toronto. My tentative paper title will be “Jews and Judaism in China: Myths, Mysteries, and Misunderstandings”, in which I will examine the inscriptions of the tablets found at the synagogue in Kaifeng and will focus on the assimilation of the Kaifeng Jews and the decline of the Kaifeng Jewish community. Feel free to respond to qzhao@skidmore.edu.

The Art of Short Fiction. I am writing about the Chinese short fiction of Yang Jiang (1911-) and of her husband, Qian Zhongshu (1910-1998), a subject that begs many questions about satire, intimacy, the short story and its structure and modern spirit. I'd love to join a panel with short story scholars from other traditions. I'm quite interested in the question of whether modern Chinese literature has been a grave disappointment, and if so, how and why this is the case. Please contact field.jessel@gmail.com.

Social Change and the Family in Asia

We are looking for up to four papers that explore the influence of social and economic change on family lives in Asian societies. In particular, we are interested in research that examines forms of social inequality and the mechanisms of status reproduction through the family. Possible research topics include, but are not limited to, formal and informal channels of social/status reproduction, effects of family on social mobility, influence of changing political, economic, and cultural conditions (both trans-national and national) on family-based strategies. Both quantitative and qualitative work is welcome. If interested, please send your paper title and abstract to Assistant Professor Shirley Sun (Shirley.sun@nyu.edu) or Associate Professor Xiao Hong (XiaoHong@ntu.edu.sg) at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Call for Collaborators re: Childhood and Adolescence, Education, Friendship, East Asia

I am an anthropologist of childhood and adolescence. My dissertation considers adolescent friend relationships at a Japanese junior high and high school for long-term absentees. I would like to co-organize or participate on a panel about socialization in East Asia. Although I am flexible, I imagine focusing on a topic such as alternative educational environments, emotional development, and child and adolescent sociality. Please contact me (Heather Hallman) at hspector@ucsd.edu if you are interested in collaborating on this panel.

Call for Papers: The Visual Politics of East Asia: Lens-based Images in the Modern World

We are looking for two or three papers to complete a panel on visual culture in Modern East Asia. Our panel will focus on how power and politics are reflected through visual media in the twentieth century. Please submit papers to manion@usc.edu by July 25th for consideration.

While objects of the individual or social gaze can be understood on their own, we must also consider the many lenses through which they are perceived. These may include the object itself, the media apparatus, the mode of display, the ultimate consumer audience, and the social structures and ideologies that form and inform the work as well as the artist. Photographic technologies record and establish power relationships such as those related to racial, class, gender, and economic inequalities. These gained impact through the mediums’ assumed objectivity and ability to record “truth.”

This panel proposes to expose and examine the role images play in the formation of power within the context of modern East Asia. Papers might address but are not limited to the following: to what extent does visual media reinforce or challenge existing beliefs and assumptions, where can the distinction between resistance and compliance be found, what are the existing hierarchies of race, gender, class, etc. in modern East Asian contexts and how do visual media expose these or change them?

JAPAN AS A SOFT POWER GLOBAL LEADER: THE ROLE OF FOREIGN AID

Japan has slipped as a dominant global economic power in the last decade as it fell behind China and earlier as it dropped as a foreign aid donor. Academics and policy makers in Japan and elsewhere have been questioning Japan’s relative economic decline. This malaise has extended to more traditional sources of power based on the country’s constitutional restraints on its military and the widespread domestic norms of pacificism. Yet this view of Japan’s sources of being a global power is framed by a traditional perspective of realism with the emphasis on hard power. I argue that Japan has considerable soft power which is expressed through its influential foreign aid programs; indeed Japan’s development and use of soft power is transforming the country into a global leader, especially in the area of foreign aid. In my paper I ask the following questions: What is soft power in the context of Japan; how has Japan demonstrated it as a global leader; and how has Japan used foreign aid as a form of its soft power?

Howard Lehman, Associate Professor of Political Science University of Utah lehman@poli-sci.utah.edu

I am looking to join a panel on state making and state-society relations, Chinese revolution, Sino-Japanese War, Chinese military modernization, or Chinese masculinities. My dissertation examines how the state, the military community, the civilian society and soldiers themselves participated in the making of soldiers’ masculinities between 1925 and 1945. I am quite flexible and would like to join similar panels on other parts of Asia. Please feel free to contact me at xu.210@buckeyemail.osu.edu.

I am looking to join a panel on issues of transnational migration, gender, marriage, and family in Japan and/or China. My dissertation focuses on cross-border marriages between Japan and China. In particular, I am interested in how marriages become a site where the conceptions of gender, personhood, and communities as well as colonial memories are negotiated on a transnational scale. I am quite flexible and would be willing to join a panel on Japan, China, or Border Crossing. Please feel free to contact me at yamaura@eden.rutgers.edu.

Call for papers: “Sino-Japanese Relations in the Cold War, 1945-1989.” Cold War history is one of the most vibrant fields in the discipline. Access to new archival sources has dramatically increased our understanding of the diplomatic history of the Cold War, Sino-American and US-Japan relations. New approaches to Cold War history have also expanded historical inquiry to include issues of how the Cold War affected (or was affected by) local and international issues of race, gender, ethnicity and national or cultural identity. I would like to organize a panel that brings together scholars who apply these new sources or approaches to the study of Sino-Japanese relations during the Cold War. If interested, please send a 250-word paper proposal and contact information to Robert Hoppens at rjhoppens@utpa.edu by July 31st.

I am proposing a panel on Practices and Development of Critical Qualitative Research in East Asia. The panel will focus on four specific thematic issues: (1) methodological and epistemological principles and issues of doing critical qualitative research (CQR) in the disciplinary and/or geopolitical periphery; (2) generic aspects of CQR across disciplinary, historical and/or geopolitical contexts; (3) strategies for facilitating productive engagement and dialogues across disciplinary and/or geopolitical boundaries; (4) strategies for enhancing the practice of CQR within various hegemonic research environments. If you're interested in joining the panel, please contact Ping-Chun Hsiung (pingchun.hsiung@gmail.com) with abstract and other information by July 31. I'll answer any questions you may have!

I would like to organise or participate in the panel on the theme of "Time in Transnational Asian Communities" with the following rationale: Much scholarly research on Asian transnational urban communities focuses on the relationship between place and group identity. Urban ethnic communities have been analyzed in terms of their particular ethnic character, and characterised as the products of ‘third culture’ or of self-orientalising practices. The influences of temporal dimensions have been notably missing from the debates on transnational Asian communities. This panel will seek to contribute to discussions on transnational community-making discourses and practices by investigating the dynamics of temporal and spatial imaginings in group identities. It will engage with the following questions: How does a particular conception of time shape Asian migrant urban and communal spaces? What role does time play in articulating transnational communities’ culture and tradition? How does time shape their understandings of home? Contributions on these and related questions with empirical studies on any transnational Asian communities in any party of the world are welcome. Please send your proposals and a brief biographical note by July 31 2011 to e.v.barabantseva@manchester.ac.uk.

Call for papers: Panel on State Categories and Their Social Consequences in Chinese History, Association for Asian Studies conference, Toronto, March 15-18,2012. We are seeking paper proposals to form one or two panels exploring the social consequences of state-imposed categories in Chinese history.

While scholars often consider the state efforts to categorize andthus to control its population a practice after the emergence of the modernstate, the Chinese state has a long tradition of doing so. Based on itsspecific interests, the state is able to use political power to build newboundaries between populations while clearing previous ones. Moreover, thesestate-imposed categories often had far-reaching impact on society and explainedthe formation of ethnic groups, classes, and other social existences in Chinese history.

This panel intends to shed light on this salient feature of theChinese state in imperial and contemporary times with empirical studies andtheoretical discussions. We present examples of the state’s classification ofpopulations to explore the continuity and change in this state practice and itssocial consequences. Wealready have three papers on this theme: two papers are about the impact ofstate-imposed categories on property and wealth distribution in Northeast China,in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries respectively. The third paper is astudy of the impact of state-imposed categories on ethnicity from theperspective of historical sociology.

We invite proposals examining this issue in any period of Chinese history. Please send your 250-word paper abstracts to shuang-chen@uiowa.edu by July 24, 2011.

I am eager to contact colleagues to collaborate on a panel proposal for the upcoming conference of The Association for Asian Studies, to be held in Toronto, Canada, March 15-18, 2012. My paper is titled Avalokiteshvara, the All-Sided One: Buddhist Art and Cultural Hybridization. The evolving nature of Avalokiteshvara beyond India is the underlying theme of my paper. It will examine how Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, was venerated by different Asian countries, such as India, Cambodia, Java, Tibet, China, and Japan, and assumed an array of configurations. I wish to evaluate some of the prominent modes in which Avalokiteshvara and related deities appeared in Buddhist art and consider the cultural cross-pollination that occurred. Please contact madhokp@ecu.edu.

Call for paper proposals on "Japanese Modernity as a Hermeneutical Problem."

The late Professor Michael Marra (UCLA) introduced hermeneutics into Japanese studies around one decade ago. However, in Japanese studies hermeneutics has not yet gained the significance it deserves. The intention of this panel is to explore the scope that hermeneutics could provide to a reexamination of Japanese modernity. The panel aims to open new perspectives on a field of research that for a long time has been dominated by comparative social sciences and/or so-called "Ideologiekritik" (critique of ideology).

In order to do so, we will draw on the notion of "modern social imaginaries" developed by Charles Taylor, which provides a methodological clue for giving a description of Japanese modernity that allows for recognizing its irreducible otherness, while at the same time avoiding the pitfalls of "Nihonjinron."

Accordingly, the panel will focus on the interrelatedness of ideas and practices in modern Japan: it will inquire into the horizon of understanding that makes modern Japanese practices valid and that provides them with a widely shared sense of legitimacy. This horizon finds expression in all spheres of social, political, and economic behavior that make up Japanese modern life and, most notably, not only in how intersubjective relationships are imagined and put into practice, but also in how basic notions like individual, society, freedom, justice, equality, among others, are generally understood.

Please email paper abstract (250 words) to Hans Peter Liederbach at hpl@kwansei.ac.jp by July 31.

Tentative Title: Pipes, Posts and Wires: The Social History of Public Utilities and Transportation in Modern Asia

The question of public utilities in modern Asia has rarely been one to trouble economic or urban historians. When administered by colonial institutions, the development of public utilities has been recorded with exacting detail, and the data has been used to support claims on the centrality of public utilities in economic development. Yet the empirical aspects of public amenities, while relevant, are not readily usable to the historian who seeks to understand how these amenities were used and understood, whether or not they were perceived as novel and/or convenient, or the kinds of values that were projected onto or transmitted from them. Proceeding from the understanding that public utilities in Asia involved flows of capital, hardware, and knowledge, this panel explores the ways in which pipes, posts and wires were integrated with local ways of life and spheres of knowledge. I seek papers from a range of geographical areas and methods, with an emphasis on cases in which public utilities are not read as the fruition of scientific rationalism. If interested, please send a 250-word abstract and brief bio to Monica Guu (University of Toronto) at monica.guu@utoronto.ca.

I would like to attend the AAS Toronto meeting and to present a paper. My problem so far has been that I cannot find other scholars working with the materials I want to introduce. I would like to join an appropriate panel, but don’t know which panel that might be. My paper is titled “Constructing the Family in Republican China: Shandong 1944.” This uses a hand-written copy called a shouchaoben 手抄本, which although short and written in an unpracticed hand, reveals much about this family and the text’s author. These materials are appearing in the flea markets in China, but are being ignored by scholars and often tossed away even by the book sellers. Any suggestions about an appropriate panel or person to contact will be appreciated. Please contact rsuleski@suffolk.edu.

I am looking to join a panel on issues of migration and education. My research focus is on the schooling experiences of low-income teenage immigrant students going to Hong Kong from less affluent places, predominantly rural mainland China and South Asia. I am open to presenting a paper on topics related to adaptation, educational pathways, aspirations shaping and cultural identities. Please contact Wai-chi Chee at cheewaichi@cuhk.edu.hk.

I am looking to join a panel on media and popular culture in postwar Japan. My doctoral research is on postwar Japan's entertainment television. My paper will focus on how television entered into the everyday life of Japanese people in postwar period, and how this new media experience raised concerns of media's social responsibility. Please feel free to contact me at these11@uchicago.edu.

"NGOs and State Interactions Across Asia": This panel comparatively examines the role and impact of the state in the contemporary development and activities of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) across Asia. We welcome papers with a theoretical focus and/or address specific case studies looking at central or local states' interaction with NGOs in various areas, e.g. education, health, migrants, environment, etc. Please send a 250 word abstract and a brief professional biography to Jennifer Hsu at jenniferhsu@cantab.net by Monday 25 July 2011.

I am interested in either joining a panel or jointly creating one about Southeast Asia. My research focus is on dams in the Mekong region with a particular focus on Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. Hence, the topic lends itself to being under a wide range of panel themes including security (since it qualifies as either an energy security or non-traditional security issue), the environment, political power, institutional/civil society formation or economic development in Southeast Asia or, if needed, under specific ASEAN countries – Thailand, Laos, or Vietnam. I’m quite flexible and would like to join other Southeast Asia/East Asia researchers, so please feel free to contact me at pprashanth711@gmail.com.

Call for paper proposals for AAS Toronto 2012 on the theme of “Loss and Recovery in Modern Japanese Literature”.

Panel proposal description: The tumultuous changes, transformations and displacements accompanying rapid modernization, industrialization and nationalization projects in Japan produced profound and pervasive losses on multiple fronts: cultural, social, personal, spiritual, material etc. Serious Japanese writers sought to document, constitute and recover from such losses in their imaginative works and, in so doing, left invaluable existential, intellectual and affective records regarding the costs, in human and identity-related terms, of modernization, militarization, imperialist expansion, total war and unconditional surrender. This panel analyzes and interprets literary representations of losses both tangible and intangible, as well as ritualistic, symbolic and narrative efforts to cope, come to terms with and recover from the psychological traumas of modernity, war, defeat and occupation. Loss arguably defines modern Japanese experience in general, and Asia Pacific War and endless postwar experience in particular. The fundamental issue still facing both individual and collective is how to move from (self)destructive melancholia through mourning to life-(re)affirming recovery and renewal.

Please email 250-word paper abstracts to David Stahl at: dstahl@binghamton.edu by July 29, 2011.

Proposed Panel: "At-Risk and Institutionalized Children in Contemporary China." We are looking for one discussant and one paper panelist to join this panel. This is an interdisciplinary panel that includes a political scientist, sociologist, historian, and education specialist. We currently have three papers; two that deal with Chinese orphanage care and one on issues faced by autistic children. We seek one additional paper that deals with marginalized children, ideally on a different topic. If interested, please contact Lkwang@mail.ubc.ca.

Proposed panel: Ethical Value Chains in South Asia: Analysis and Evaluation of Globalized Initiatives in Local Places. Session organizers: Sapna Thottathil (UC-Berkeley, USA) and Annelies Goger (UNC-Chapel Hill, USA).

Abstract: Food scares, labor violations, the debt crisis, and reports of various other environmental and social ills in the developing world has spurred the growth of many ethical consumption initiatives in the past 30 years, from Fair Trade to Project Red. These initiatives aim to ameliorate the problems arising from the globalization of production, particularly for laborers and producers. Responding to calls from consumer groups, academics, development practitioners, and industry officials, this panel aims to evaluate the dynamics surrounding ethical production schemes in the South Asian context, from a Global Value Chain (GVC) perspective. Papers will also explore localized dynamics, and how regional histories, cultural forms, and political economy articulate with these globalized chains to reconfigure production systems in both celebratory and unfavorable ways. The ultimate purpose of this panel will be to critically engage with these value chains, to understand if, why, and how meaningful transformations in production are occurring in South Asia, and how local influences shape the direction of and participation within ethical production.

Papers already on the panel include: (1) a case study of gender-relations in the responsible garment industry in Sri Lanka, and (2) an analysis of emerging organic farming movements in the state of Kerala, India. Additional papers are invited that cover similar themes. Interested panelists should email Sapna Thottathil, sapna.thottathil@berkeley.edu, by 29 July.

I am looking to join or organize a panel on issues of body, gender, and national identity. My paper will be about Japanese- and Korean-American survivors of the atomic bombs, with a focus on their shifting memories and identities after WWII. I am a cultural historian, but I am open to any disciplinary approaches, methodologies, and geographical locations. Please contact Naoko Wake at wake@msu.edu.

I am seeking a panel for the 2012 AAS Conference, with the theme of Chinese nationalism, national identity, historical memory or foreign policy-making. My doctoral dissertation is on the research topic of nationalism and China's Foreign Policy Formulation. The paper I will present at the conference is entitled is "Enduring National Identity Embedded in Chinese History: A Discursive Dynamic beyond Regime Manipulation." Please feel free to contact Ning Liao at nliao001@odu.edu if you are interested.

I am looking to join a Panel on South Asia. My paper is based on fieldwork research conducted in summer 2010 on domestic violence shelters in Chennai, India. Although there is seemingly only one domestic violence shelter operating in Chennai, based on research it was evident that there are several organization existing in Chennai which not only provide shelter, but counseling and other services to women who are directly affected by domestic violence. What this research reveals is a gap between availability of services provided for victims of domestic violence, and the dissemination of knowledge regarding these services. This paper is an examination of the options/alternatives available to women who are affected by domestic violence in Chennai, and how the services provided by various organizations and law enforcement agencies are in turn influenced by a public culture discourse of family and women’s status within it. Please contact smoni@saclink.csus.edu.

I would like to organize or join a panel on non-governing political parties in regimes dominated by a single party. Please contact me at serena.liu@gatref.demon.co.uk.

I would like to join a panel for the 2012 AAS conference. My research field is Security, Conflict and Peace Studies, contemporary South Asia, especially focused on conflict prevention between local police and people in India. My paper is also focused on communalism, violence, law enforcement, local governance and civil society. I am open to presenting a paper on these topics. Please feel free contact Miharu Yui at mi_haru15y@yahoo.co.jp. Thank you.

Proposed Panel: "The Politics of Language and Language of Politics in Asia" = Various actors and interest groups competing with each other use different words, phrases and rhetoric as tools to justify their actions and pursue their goals. Such rhetoric often invoke specific symbolic meanings to appeal to the masses and shape public discourse, but nevertheless, are in themselves, arenas of contestation by different powerful actors. My own research is focused on investigating public discourse during the dynamics process of democratic breakdown and re-equilibration in Thailand. I seek panelists working on other countries who share similar interests to join me in this panel. Please contact elvin.ong@politics.ox.ac.uk if you are interested.

My doctoral dissertation research is on changes and continuities of patterns of circulation of minors in China before and after the implementation of the International Adoption Program. This research is based on more than 2 year fieldwork in rural areas in China. I would like to join a panel with others working on issues related to circulation of minors in Asia or International Adoption from Asia. Please contact julyetts@gmail.com.

I am looking to join a panel on Labor/Trade Unions/Union Education in Asia.  An assistant professor of history at Athabasca University, AB, Canada, my current research focuses on union education in post-Maoist China. Please contact Shiling McQuaide at shilingm@athabascau.ca.

I would like to propose a panel on labor migration from Central Asian countries (Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan) to other developing or developed countries, especially to Russia. Personally, I am interested in the Central Asian migrant’s organizations in the Russian Siberia but any scholar interested in the region and the issue of migration in general is welcome to join. Please, feel free to contact me – Artem Rabogoshvili (Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle, Germany), e-mail: rabogoshvili@eth.mpg.de.

Panel on Chinese Buddhist Perspectives on Education: Transmission of Tradition and the Challenges of the Modernizing State. We want to organize one or two panels exploring different levels of interaction between Chinese governments and Buddhist institutions in the domain of education. We are looking for papers discussing issues such as (1) how the reforms of monastic education from the early twentieth-century China to today Taiwan reflect the political agenda of the Ministry of Education and other governmental offices and legislation; (2) the intervention of Buddhist groups to support state education projects; (3) the adoption of Buddhist perspectives in the reform of secular education. The panel addresses these research questions in a diachronic perspective (early twentieth-century China, Mao and post-Mao period, post-colonial Taiwan, and today China and Taiwan), looks at continuities and shift of reform policies between PRC China and ROC Taiwan, and investigates contemporary cross-strait relationship through the analysis of the Buddhist involvement in the mission of education. We already have a proposal on monastic education in Taiwan and one on Zhuxue in contemporary China.

We are looking for submissions on Buddhist monastic education, as well as Buddhist perspectives on education, in Late Qing, Republican China, as well as contemporary China. Proposals discussing the specific situations of Taiwan and Hong Kong are also welcome. Please send your proposals to alaliber@uottawa.ca and travagnins@gmail.com.

I am looking to join a panel either on Medicine in Pre-Modern (especially Tokugawa) Japan, or Sexuality in Japan (or across Asia). My current research focuses on medical views of sexuality in Edo-period Japan, especially as they emerge from the discourse on Nurturing Life. Please contact Angelika Koch at ack39@cam.ac.uk.

I am looking to join a panel for the 2012 AAS conference. My doctoral research focuses on gender and caste as conceived and articulated by the Self-Respect Movement (more generally known as the Dravidian Movement) in late colonial south India. I particularly consider sexuality, marriage reform, and Tamil/Dravidian nationalism. I am open to presenting a paper on any of these topics. Alternatively, I am also willing to organize a panel if no suitable panel is available as yet. Please contact Uma Ganesan at uma@cinci.rr.com. Thank you!

Call for collaborators: East Asia in the 1980s. I am looking for panelists who are interested in collaborating on a panel proposal focusing on the 1980s (in East Asia, including Korea, China and Japan) for the 2012 AAS conference in Toronto. I am Dr. Soyang Park and an Assistant Professor at OCADU in Toronto. I specialize in the cultural and art history of modern South Korea and also teach contemporary East Asia art practices and theory at my institution. The session is expected to explore the commonality and diversity of issues and agendas of the 1980s society and art of East Asian regions. I myself am interested in presenting a paper on the avant-garde art of the 1980s in South Korea, called minjung art. Any thoughts and proposals on the 1980s are welcome, but proposals regarding art and cultural history for a more focused discussion is preferable. Please send any proposals (250 words) by July 15 so we will have time to work on the final proposal (individual proposals and session proposal), which is due August 4. I am responsible for writing the session proposal (250 words). Contact soyang_72@hotmail.com.

I would like to join a panel for the 2012 AAS Conference in Toronto. My research field is the economic history of China in the early twentieth century, specially focused on the Northeast China economic relationship between 1916 and 1928. My paper is also focused on monetary systems, multiple currencies and market structure. Please feel free to contact Miriam Kaminishi at miriamkaminishi@gmail.com.

My doctoral dissertation research is on the transmission of knowledge in government protected group-performances of "Important Intangible Cultural Assets" in Korea. I'd love to join a panel with others working on issues related to transmission, preservation of intangible heritage or issues related to heritage/memory/authenticity. Please contact cedarbough@gmail.com.

Individuals interested in presenting a paper on the panel Northeast Asian Security Issues: Cold War Paralysis at the AAS Conference in Toronto in March 2012 should contact Anthony DiFilippo at difilippo@lincoln.edu. Papers should be focused on security issues relevant to any of the countries in Northeast Asia.

My area of research interest is Classical and traditional Chinese philosophy and religion. I am looking for some panelists to join a session on the main schools of thought of Chinese tradition (Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism, Buddhism). Papers can either focus on antiquity or be related to the recent developments of these schools. Please send an abstract of 250 words to anna.ghiglione@umontreal.ca.

I am looking to join a panel for the 2012 AAS Conference in Toronto. My area of research interest is concerned with South Asian Economic Issues pertaining to poverty, malnutrition, unevenness, hunger, food security, WTO issues, and agriculture. I would like to join a panel that focuses on the least developed economies of Asia in general and South Asia in particular. My topic of the discussion remains open or as decided by the panel. Please contact Satya B. Yadav, drsby2001@yahoo.in.