CFP: Asia and the Other (Taipei; 31 Dec; 23 June)

ASIA AND THE OTHER
International Conference
Department of English
National Taiwan Normal University
Taipei, TAIWAN
June 23, 2007
(Deadline for Proposals: December 31, 2006)

Confirmed Invited Speakers:
**Sneja Gunew, Professor of English and Women's Studies, University of British Columbia
**Hugh J. Silverman, Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Literature, Stony Brook University
**Scott Slovic, Professor of Literature and Environment, University of Nevada, Reno

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.

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. Imperialism 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, feform 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@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@ntnu.edu.tw
Department website (with link to conference website):
http://www.eng.ntnu.edu.tw/