******************************************************
* http://www.anthropologymatters.com *
* A postgraduate project comprising online journal, *
* online discussions, teaching and research resources *
* and international contacts directory. *
******************************************************
CALL FOR PAPERS
‘Continuity and Change: (Re)conceptualising Power in Southeast Asia’
March 26th-28th 2009
Hosted by CRASSH (Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and
Humanities),
University of Cambridge, UK
Keynote Speakers:
James Scott (Sterling Professor of Political Science and Professor of
Anthropology, Yale University)
Shelly Errington (Professor of Anthropology, UC Santa Cruz)
The study of power in contemporary Southeast Asia has never been more
timely. Over the last half-century, the region has undergone innumerable
far-reaching changes. It has witnessed the rise of postcolonial nation-
states, rapid industrialization, economic growth and democratization but
also genocide, political upheaval and widespread repression. Power lies at
the core of these important developments, whether in the form of brute
military force or as a more capillary ‘disciplinary’ influence on religious
and political subjectivities. New religious, economic and political
movements—all drawing deeply on local traditions while proposing new forms
of personhood, civil and political society—cut across national, cultural,
ideological and sectarian boundaries.
Yet for all that power can be detected in Southeast Asia, there seems to be
little specifically Southeast Asian about it contemporary scholarly
analyses. This is both puzzling and ironic given the central role that
earlier ethnographic studies of Southeast Asia once played in identifying
distinctively regional modalities of power, prompting us to reconsider
how ‘power’ could be most profitably studied in Southeast Asian contexts.
‘Continuity and Change’ will be a major interdisciplinary and international
conference on Southeast Asia. Its key aim is to reopen the debate on the
issue of ‘power’—both in real life and academic scholarship—as it is
manifest across the region. Conference themes and questions will include:
• Are there, or were there ever, distinctly ‘Southeast Asian’ notions
of power that could still exist as alternatives—or complements—to Western
folk and political models?
• Are scholars’ analytic imaginaries of power in relation to
nationhood and governance congruent with the imaginaries of Southeast
Asians witnessing or involved in such projects and processes?
• What are the shapes that power takes?
• How have recent theoretical developments within various disciplines
reshaped our understanding of the nature and location of power?
• How useful is the concept of ‘Southeast Asia’ as a geographical,
political and analytical entity in dealing with these issues?
We invite papers from scholars working in the arts, humanities and social
sciences whose research illuminates novel, exciting and challenging
dimensions of power in Southeast Asian contexts across space and time.
Abstracts, 250 words in length, should be submitted to
[log in to unmask]
For further details, see our website:
http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/542, or email us at the address above.
Key dates:
Submission of Proposal: 1st October 2008
Announcement of accepted proposals: 1st November 2008
Circulation of Paper Abstracts and Panels: 1st March 2009
Organizing Committee:
Liana Chua
Joanna Cook
Nick Long
Lee Wilson
University of Cambridge
*************************************************************
* Anthropology-Matters Mailing List *
* To join this list or to look at the archived previous *
* messages visit: *
* http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/Anthropology-Matters.HTML *
* If you have ALREADY subscribed: to send a message to all *
* those currently subscribed to the list,just send mail to: *
* [log in to unmask] *
* *
* Enjoyed the mailing list? Why not join the new *
* CONTACTS SECTION @ www.anthropologymatters.com *
* an international directory of anthropology researchers *
***************************************************************
|