"Uprooting Area Studies"--Grad Conference (31 Dec; 2 Feb; Santa Cruz, Calif)

UC Santa Cruz Asia-Pacific-Americas Research Cluster Graduate Student Conference on "Uprooting Area Studies"
February 2, 2008

The Asia-Pacific-Americas Research Cluster (APARC) at the University of California, Santa Cruz is pleased to present its third annual Graduate Research Conference on the theme of considering the social, political, and epistemological implications of area studies in an increasingly interconnected world. APARC invites submissions from graduate students from any discipline on topics that address, complicate, or illustrate the knowledge-making practices of area studies. How are regions defined, constructed, and reflected through scholarship and pedagogy? In what ways can we usefully re-imagine areas that have been delimited by academic and political boundaries, geographical features, histories, or religions? Finally, how do inquiries that are situated within an area studies framework figure into contemporary transnational connections of technology, capital, and migration? We welcome papers on a broad range of topics that address or refigure region-making practices.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER:
Takashi Fujitani, Associate Professor of History at the University of California, San Diego, will deliver a keynote address entitled "Total War and Inclusionary Racism: Japanese as Americans and Koreans as Japanese in WWII." Professor Fujitani is the author of "Splendid Monarchy: Power and Pageantry in Modern Japan" (University of California Press, 1996) and is co-editor of "Perilous Memories: The Asia Pacific War(s)" (Duke University Press, 2001). His forthcoming book is "Racism Under Fire: Japanese as Americans and Koreans as Japanese in WWII."

CONFERENCE DATE: Saturday, February 2, 2008 at the University of California, Santa Cruz

SUBMISSIONS:
Papers from any discipline are welcome. Please send to aparc.ucsc@gmail.com the following: your title, abstract (500 word limit), institutional and departmental affiliation, and class year by Monday, December 31, 2007. Applicants will be notified by January 10, 2008. Conference updates will also be posted to APARC's website at http://www2.ucsc.edu/aparc/.

Important note: Due to budgetary constraints and policies, we are unable to fund student airfare. Participants are asked to secure funding at their home institutions. We sincerely hope that this will not prevent contributions to this promising event.

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Asia Pacific Americas Research Cluster
University of California, Santa Cruz
http://www2.ucsc.edu/aparc/
aparc.ucsc@gmail.com