CFP: "Globalization: Cultures, Institutions and Socioeconomics" (30 May; 12-13 Dec; Hong Kong)

International Conference on "Globalization: Cultures, Institutions and Socioeconomics"
To be held in Hong Kong, December 12-13, 2008
Co-Sponsored by The Chinese University of Hong Kong
and Washington University in St. Louis



Along with recent trends of globalization, a significant focal point of research has been issues related to "Greater China," a notion that originally entailed the potential economic integration of China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong (including Macau) and has lately been broadened to include Singapore, Southeast Asian Chinese communities, and overseas Chinese in other countries. Despite some political repercussions, Greater China has become an indisputable economic reality today. But economy is not the strongest element at play; rather, a more prevalent and consequential factor is culture and its role in formal institutions and informal social customs.

This conference is designed to study the causes and consequences of globalization from cultural, institutional and socioeconomic perspectives, focusing particularly on topics related to Greater China. It invites scholars to investigate questions such as these:
· What perspectives can we deploy to investigate the different and yet similar cosmopolitan cultures of Hong Kong, Taipei, Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, Macau, Shenzhen, and other cities?
· How do the cultures of these cities work in practice and how are they embedded in everyday-life situations as locatable phenomena?
· What approaches can we use to explore the experience of place and space, the dynamics between local and global, culture and economy, and the dilemmas of knowledge in these cities?
· How do states, empires and nations, corporations, shops and goods, literature, music, film, etc., figure in our examination of the cultures of consumption and production in these cities?
· How do places develop meanings for people? What are the struggles over defining who belongs in a place in these cities?
· What role do travel, information technology, and other means of communication play in shaping a global city network among these cities and beyond?

The conference will feature several distinguished keynote and plenary-session speakers, including Nobel Laureate Douglass North and Professors Frank Dikötter, Robert Hegel, Chang-Tai Hsien, Gordon Mathews, Hui Wang, and Shaoguang Wang. All sessions will be held on the Chinese University of Hong Kong campus, while the conference dinner will be housed at the world-renowned Hong Kong Jockey Club.

Although we prefer complete papers, submissions of long abstracts will be considered. Submissions of organized sessions are also welcome. All submissions must be made through e-mail to all the co-chairs of the program committee no later than May 31, 2008: Lingchei Letty Chen, Ann Louise Huss, Laikwan Pang, and Ping Wang. We anticipate having the preliminary program posted by June 15, 2008.