MCLC: Imagining Globality--cfp reminder

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Heather Schmidt <heather.schmidt at ualberta.ca>
Subject: Imagining Globality--cfp reminder
***********************************************************

REMINDER & EXTENSION: CFP - Imagining Globality: China’s Global Projects
in Culture

University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada - June 12-14 (Wed-Fri), 2013

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Pál Nyíri, Professor of Global History from an
Anthropological Perspective, Vrije Universiteit (the Netherlands)

Please note the deadline for submissions to the "Imagining Globality"
conference have been extended to February 11, 2013.

The China Institute at the University of Alberta will be hosting a
conference to explore China's global projects in culture and how these
projects variously imagine a global world and China's place in it.

Recent popular and academic discourses have speculated much on "China's
rise" and its implications for the future global order. Representations of
China, which oscillate between a positive 'rise' or negative 'threat',
bestow on the Chinese state, explicitly or implicitly, the power to make
the world over according to its own desires. The concept ofglobal projects
(as theorized by Anna Tsing) enables us, however, to analyse larger global
processes as a composite of projects. Such global projects may work
together or to conflicting ends, but each is culturally and
institutionally specific and thereby circumscribed in its ability to shape
the global order according to its own imagined globality.

As 'soft power' issues increasingly make their way into China's official
state discourse, it becomes necessary to consider the ways in which
individuals and organizations in and from China are engaging with the
world through culture, both officially and unofficially. The images and
imaginaries being generated through the various cultural global projects
emanating from China are significant in understanding how Chinese
individuals and organizations see China, how they hope to be seen by
others, and how they are discursively negotiating China's shifting place
in the world.

This interdisciplinary conference will bring together scholars from
diverse backgrounds to explore the ways in which China has in the recent
past and is today engaging with the world culturally. We invite
submissions from scholars in the social sciences and humanities whose
research engages with the following broad themes:

1) China Imagined: In what ways are the Chinese state, organizations and
individuals portraying China? Who are the key actors (or what are the key
events) shaping projected images of China? To what ends do such
representations work? What tensions and/or contradictions may exist across
different depictions or in what ways might they be mutually reinforcing?

2) Globalities Imagined: In what ways do China's various global projects
imagine the world, and in particular China's role/place in it? In what
ways do depictions intended for global circulation and consumption
reinforce or contradict narratives intended for home audiences? What
intellectual/social/cultural contributions is China generating to address
global issues? 

3) Cultural Political Economy: In what ways is Chinese culture being used
as a resource in global engagements (cultural, political, economic, or
otherwise) and to what purpose? In what ways is cultural power tied to
China's growing economic and political interests?

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

· China's culture industries in global context (e.g. media, film, music,
cultural products)
· Confucius Institutes
· China's soft power and/or cultural diplomacy
· China's mega-events
· Popularization and/or circulation of Chinese culture outside China (e.g.
TCM, Chinese New Year)
· China's contributions to issues of global concern (e.g. development,
governance)
· China's cultural engagements with different regions such as Africa,
Asia, North America, Europe, etc. (i.e. how does China engage differently
with different geographical regions?)· Chinese culture and transnational
capitalism (e.g. corporate diplomacy)
The deadline for submission of presentation proposals has been extended to
February 11, 2013.

Proposals should be approximately 300 words in length and submitted by
email (preferably in the text of the email) to
imaginingglobality at ualberta.ca. Please also include your name,
designation, department, and institution. Applicants will be notified of
acceptance by late February 2013.

Accommodations and some meals will be provided to panelists.

For additional information, please contact the conference organizers at:
imaginingglobality at ualberta.ca <mailto:imagingglobality at ualberta.ca>.

If you feel your question(s) may be pertinent to others, please also feel
free to contact us through our facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/China-Institute-at-the-University-of-Alberta/
171003582915953

Conference webpage:
http://www.china.ualberta.ca/Conferences/ImaginingGlobality.aspx