MCLC: Modes of Activism and Engagement--cfp

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: jonathan benney <arijdb at nus.edu.sg>
Subject: Modes of Activism and Engagement--cfp
***********************************************************

The Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore is
holding a conference titled "Modes of Activism and Engagement in the
Chinese Public Sphere" on 26-27 April 2012. We encourage all list members
to consider submitting papers for consideration. Details are supplied
below; for more information please refer to
http://www.ari.nus.edu.sg/events_categorydetails.asp?categoryid=6&eventid=1
237 .

Thanks,

Jonathan Benney

===========================================================

In the wake of the Arab Spring, the London riots, and the "occupation" of
Wall Street, new strategies of public activism are emerging and being
debated. With China's fragmented authoritarian landscape, its conscious
avoidance of electoral politics, and its increasingly complex public
sphere, Chinese activists ‹ whether urban or rural, individual or
collective, local or internationalised ‹ are developing novel and
complicated ways of promoting their objectives and resolving their
disputes. The plethora of public "mass incidents", the crackdown on
lawyers and public intellectuals of early 2011, and the development of a
transgressive and satirical online culture all provide new and substantial
challenges to the stability and authority of the Chinese party-state.

This conference will aim to explore and assess the new strategies of
activism which have emerged in China over the past decade. It will rely on
a broad interpretation of activism and public engagement, ranging from
public protests and anti-government discourse to dispute resolution at a
local level. In particular, the conference aims to explore the ways in
which the Chinese public has made use of changes in their public sphere to
develop strategies for the promotion of ideas and dispute resolution. It
will also aim to address the effect of the "individualization of Chinese
society" (to use Yunxiang Yan's term) on activism, and to draw
distinctions between activism done as a collective and performed by
individuals.

The conference would particularly welcome papers covering:

* the emergence of a class of individual activists who work and promote
their interests outside of corporatist bodies;
* independent candidates for local election in China, and their struggles
with the state;
* the party-state's response to particular well-known activists and public
intellectuals (Ai Weiwei, Chen Guangcheng, Liu Xiaobo, Hu Jia, and so on)
who have worked against the state;
* strategies used by individual activists (use of media, direct action,
petitioning and law, etc.); and
* clashes, whether conceptual or practical, between corporatised
organisations (for example, NGOs or quasi-NGOs, the state's law
enforcement apparatus, including the relatively new "stability
maintenance" structure) and individuals.

Beyond this, however, papers providing a comparative or strategic
perspective on different forms of activism (comparing the urban and the
rural, or the online and the offline, for example) would also be very much
welcomed.

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

Paper proposals should include a title, an abstract (300 words) and a
brief biographical sketch (150 words or less).
Proposals should be emailed to Dr Jonathan Benney at arijdb at nus.edu.sg
before 31 January 2012.
Successful applicants will be required to send, approximately one month
before the conference, a paper of about 5,000-8,000 words based on
unpublished material.

Based on the quality of proposals and the availability of funds, partial
or full funding is available for successful applicants. Full funding would
cover air travel to Singapore by the most economical means, plus board and
lodging for the duration of the conference. Participants are also
encouraged to seek funding for travel from their home institutions.

CONTACT DETAILS

Organisers:

Dr Jonathan Benney
Postdoctoral Fellow, Asia Research Institute, NUS
Email: arijdb at nus.edu.sg

Dr Peter Marolt
Research Fellow, Asia Research Institute, NUS
Email: aripwm at nus.edu.sg

Secretariat:

Ms Valerie Yeo
Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore
469A Tower Block, Level 10, Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 259770
Email: valerie.yeo at nus.edu.sg
Tel: (65) 6516 5279
Fax: (65) 6779 1428