MCLC: utopias and dystopias panel--cfp

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Nathaniel Isaacson <nathaniel.isaacson at gmail.com>
Subject: utopias and dystopias panel--cfp
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Dear Colleagues,

A friend in Japanese studies and I are trying to form a panel on Asian
Utopias and Dystopias for the 2013 Annual Conference of the Association of
Asian Studies.  

Thus far, the panel abstract is something like:

Broadly conceived, utopias and dystopias serve both as ways of critiquing
present political conditions and as modes of imagining future solutions to
issues of racism and colonialism, technological change and bioethics,
environmental crises and class difference, among others.  This panel seeks
to examine the role of the utopian/dystopian imagination in the context of
East Asian historical conditions and narrative traditions.  While
critiques of "east Asian utopias" risk the assumption of an inherent
dialectical opposition between utopian thought in the occident and orient,
setting up a a problematic (and potentially false) binary, we invite
critical work on sf from other Asian contexts. We are particularly
interested in fostering a trans-Asian dialogue, and examining points of
overlap and divergence in regional iterations of utopian and dystopian
narrative.  For this reason, papers focusing on the Korean Peninsula,
South Asia or Southeast Asia are especially encouraged to submit
abstracts.  

We are leaving this vague in order to be able to consider a wide range of
papers, and a more specific panel abstract will be constructed after
acceptance of individual paper abstracts.

Thus far, we have a paper on Kawamata Chiaki's novel Death Sentences
(1984), and Lao She's City of Cats (1932).  These two papers address
modern narratives in the context of science fiction, but historical
examples of utopian/dystopian narratives will also be considered.

Interested parties should send a 250 - word abstract to: nkisaacs at ncsu.edu

Best, 
 Nathaniel Isaacson