Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society Virtual Conference

Organised by the Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society and the National University of Singapore

Abstract Submission Deadline: 05 March 2021 (extended)

Main Conference 28-30 July 2021 | Graduate Conference 26 July 2021 |  Cultural Studies in Singapore Conference 27 July 2021

For more details on submission guidelines and how to submit your abstracts, click here: http://culturalstudies.asia/iacs-conference/

Confirmed Keynote and Invited Speakers

• Prof. Kishore Mahbubani (National University of Singapore)
• Prof. Jomo Kwame Sundaram (Khazanah Research Institute, Columbia University and International Islamic University Malaysia)
• Prof. Sarah Pink (Monash University)
• Prof. Pun Ngai (Lingnan University)
• Prof. Lim Sun Sun (Singapore University of Technology and Design)
• Assoc. Prof. Aswin Punathambekar (University of Virginia) 
• Prof. Chang Kyung-Sup (Seoul National University)
• Prof. Huang, Tsung-Yi Michelle (National Taiwan University)
• Dr. Benjamin Hegarty (The University of Melbourne)
• Dr. Vaibhav Saria (Simon Fraser University)
• Assoc. Prof. Satoko Itani (Kansai University)
• Assoc. Prof. Crystal Abidin (Curtin University)
• Assoc. Prof. Merlyna Lim (Carleton University)
• Dr. Sonia Lam-Knott (University of Oxford)
• June Chua (The T Project)
• Prof. Yoshimi Shunya (The University of Tokyo)
• Assoc. Prof. Luo Xiaoming (Shanghai University)
• Dr. Yatun Sastramidjaja (University of Amsterdam)
• Dr Andy Wang (Academia Sinica)
• Professor Meaghan Morris (University of Sydney)
• Prof. Madhuja Mukherjee (Jadavpur University)
• Prof John N. Erni (Hong Kong Baptist University)
• Prof. Yoshitaka Mōri (Tokyo University of Art)
• Prof. Mary E. John (Centre for Women’s Development Studies)
• Prof. Lily Kong (Singapore Management University)
• Dr. Jae Park (Education University of Hong Kong)
• Dr. Xu Liang (Peking University)
• Prof. Shin Hyunjoon (Sungkonghoe University)
• Prof. Melani Budianta (Universitas Indonesia)
• Prof. Sharmani Patricia Gabriel (Universiti Malaya)
• Ashish Rajadhyaksha (Independent Scholar)

Call for Papers

The C-19 pandemic has upended all aspects of everyday work, life and play.  From emergency lockdowns that required everyone to shelter at home to the gradual lifting of restrictions where working from home and remote learning continue to remain the norm, no one and no mode of human interaction have been left untouched by the virus. It is a cascading disaster involving health, economic and social challenges. Its measures designed to mitigate the virus have changed patterns of consumption and production. Its viral war metaphors have unleashed hostility between people, groups and nation-states. As a catastrophic event, it has precipitated ecological changes to unsettle and defamiliarize our traditional sensemaking of the world. While exacerbating structural inequalities and racial injustices, it has also reminded us there are things we should value, such as care and community. In such times of crisis, we ask: what are the new conditions and conjunctions of culture (cf. Hall, Grossberg)? What are the alternative strategies to think and act critically in ways that do not merely reproduce conventional and confrontational modes of resistance—how can we negotiate the pandemic and its contradictions so we are not just passive conduits of the virus? How can we refuse to be its vector of transmission (cf. Hage)? With the theme of “Culture in the Pandemic Age,” this Conference calls for critical investigation of the various responses to the C-19 with a focus on the specificities of local cultural contexts and practices. We welcome all submissions relating to Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, especially those from the following sub-themes:

• genealogies, theories and practices: pandemic, crisis, contagion, borders and border closures, transmissions and virality, lockdowns and reshoring, etc.;
• art, culture & work: pandemic activism and social movements; heritage, memory and learning histories; creative work as essential and non-essential; working from home—spatial adaptations and design, etc.;
• digital technologies and screens: digital learning and e-pedagogies; new screen ontologies and fatigue, etc.;
•  media & environment: public health and smart city technologies; infodemics and misinformation; social media, platform societies and infrastructures, etc.;
• sustainability & adaptability: anthropocene and climate change; disaster, racial and surveillance capitalisms; social distancing, urban structure, community and density; conditioning the new normal; catastrophe, emergency and resilience, etc.;
• people, space & embodiments: pandemic (im)mobilities; labour and migration; precarity, mutual assistance, solidarity and care; prejudice and xenophobia; rural-urban reaction to the pandemic; masking, contact tracing, hand sanitising, etc.;
• governance & politics: democracy and biopolitics; surveillance and securitization; inter-Asia relations, etc.;
• new Cold-War, new territories & futurism: political economy and industrialization in pandemic; Asia futurism; territoriality and the politics of distance, etc.

Graduate Student Conference (26 July 2021)

The Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society conference will host its Graduate Conference (26 July 2021) before the Main Conference (28-30 July 2021). Our objective is to provide a favorable learning environment for graduate students to present their work-in-progress. While graduate students may submit their abstracts to the Main Conference, we encourage graduate students to submit to the Graduate Conference for better networking opportunities and productive faculty feedback.

Cultural Studies in Singapore Conference (27 July 2021)

The Cultural Studies in Singapore Conference is a first undertaking of its kind as we attempt to identify and address the questions and provocations surrounding culture and its conditions in Singapore. Is there such a thing as Cultural Studies in Singapore? How is culture imagined in Singapore? What is cultural research and what are the cultural questions that occupy the ways Singapore, in its various levels as city, community, country, articulate its culture? Who are the cultural workers and what are the methods and media through which they active cultural work? How are their preoccupations reflected in work on policies, community development and outreach, and civic engagement? We would like to invite all scholars and practitioners (authors, filmmakers, artists, activist, etc.) whose work reside under the banner of ‘cultural work’ in Singapore to submit for the open call. Any scholar or practitioner who is practicing in Singapore, and who is researching on topics related to Singapore are welcome to apply.

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For more details on submission guidelines and how to submit your abstracts, click here: http://culturalstudies.asia/iacs-conference/

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Format: Hybrid (Virtual/Singapore)–Zoom, in-person, pre-recorded presentations. Delegates are invited to present virtually. The keynotes will be live-streamed and where possible, live in Singapore. Socially distanced and hybrid plenary presentations will take place at National University of Singapore.

Submission Format: individual papers, panels, roundtables.

Abstract Submission Deadline: 05 March 2021 (extended)

Announcement of Accepted Panels, Papers, and Roundtables: 26 March 2021

Conference Convenor: Prof Audrey Yue (National University of Singapore)

Conference Committee: Prof Chua Beng-Huat (National University of Singapore), Associate Professor Daniel Goh (National University of Singapore), Visiting Professor Chen Kuan-Hsing (National University of Singapore)

Conference Manager: Dr Wang Jiabao (National University of Singapore)