MCLC: Bordering China: Modernity and Sustainability--cfp

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: martin backstrom <backstrom at berkeley.edu>
Subject: Bordering China: Modernity and Sustainability--cfp
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CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Berkeley Summer Research Institute
 ³Bordering China:  Modernity and Sustainability²
 
August 1-10, 2012
Institute of East Asian Studies
University of California, Berkeley

The Berkeley Summer Research Institute, organized in partnership with the
Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, is pleased to announce its call for
proposals for an intensive residential research workshop that will take
place in the summer of 2012 at Berkeley.

 
Themes and Topics

For much of the 20th century China defined its quest for modernity in
terms of the industrialization and the urbanization of its economy and
landscape.  State policies and private initiatives in pursuit of specific
goals within this general framework have brought along significant
transformations.  China today is a land of gleaming towers as well as
polluted air, of high-speed railroad connections as well as massive
population dislocations, of an abundance of manufacturing wealth as well
as a paucity of natural resources.   A vibrant environmental discourse
meanwhile has been on the rise.  Under the general heading of
³sustainability² this discourse calls attention to issues of social
equity, the power politics of resource allocations, the humanistic
constructions of people and nature, the globalization of world economies,
and the contestations over ecological imperialism.

Drawing upon the imaginaries as described above, this Research Institute
invites proposals that will contribute to a focused conversation
concerning the following.

³Bordering China²:  Instead of works on China Proper, we invite proposals
that examine happenings and issues that cut across the territorial
boundaries of the Chinese nation. Bordering China are regions such as
Northeast Asia, Mongolia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and Maritime
Greater China as well as the various Chinese territories of Northeast,
Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Tibet, Southwest China, and Southeast China. We
seek proposals that will permit a focused examination of environmental and
resource issues that cut across conventional borders concerning any of
these regions.

³Modernity²: The infrastructural ³soft² and ³hard² wares of modernity
range from currencies to railroads, water wells and value systems to
credit mechanisms and educational institutions, so that people and goods
might be facilitated in their moves for border-crossing connections across
long distance.  Modernity in this sense also carries ramifications,
usually of a disrupting nature, for embedded systems of networking,
beliefs, ways of life, communities and identities. We seek proposals that
speak specifically to the impact of modernity on communities and
identities in the bordering regions of China.

³Sustainability²:  Politics and pragmatics are as potent as history and
philosophy in approaches to issues of sustainability.   We seek proposals
that will open up the discussion of ³sustainability² in light of debates
of social justice, discursive authority, politics of resources and global
connections ­ all in the context of communities and identities in the
bordering regions of China.

Organization & Logistics

Youtien Hsing (Geography, UC Berkeley), Tsui-jung Liu (Academia Sinica),
Robert Weller (Anthropology, Boston University) and Wen-hsin Yeh (History,
UC Berkeley) will serve as the co-conveners of the Research Institute.

The Research Institute aims to convene senior scholars (post-PhD) in all
stages of academic careers (post-doctoral researchers, lecturers,
assistant professors through full professors) who are currently actively
developing a book manuscript or research project on themes and topics as
described above. 

Invited participants are expected to make two presentations:  a work of
original research (chapter-length from a work-in-progress) based on one¹s
current project, and a primary text (or texts) pertaining to the source
materials of one¹s work.

Participants are also expected to serve as respondents to a doctoral
student conference that will take place on August 4, 2011.

Other activities include a Sunday outing to the wine country and
participation in a series of featured lectures that combine scholarly and
social functions.

Papers presented at the Research Institute may be invited to appear in a
special issue of the journal Cross-Currents jointly published by the
Institute of East Asian Studies at Berkeley and the Research Institute of
Korean Studies, Korea University.

Invited participants should plan to arrive at Berkeley by Tuesday, July
31, 2012 in time for a welcome reception, and to depart on Saturday,
August 11, 2012.   Full participation for the entire duration of the
Research Institute is expected of all participants.

Participants are responsible for their roundtrip airfare to Berkeley.  The
Research Institute will cover all meals and lodging at a standard rate
that provide full internet and library access and cleaning service from
July 31 through August 11.  Participants who wish to bring families and/or
prefer hotel stay may choose to make up the differences in costs at their
own expense.  Details may be arranged upon invitation to participate

Deadlines and Notifications

Applicants are invited to submit a project description that is no more
than 3 pages, single-spaced, in length, plus a bibliography of the
project, and curriculum vitae, to the attention of Ms. Yu Welch
(yuwelch at berkeley.edu) at the Institute of East Asian Studies (IEAS),
University of California, Berkeley, by January 20, 2012.  Notifications of
acceptance will be sent before March 1, 2012.

Please contact IEAS for further information about the Research Institute.
-- 
Martin Backstrom, PhD
Associate Director, Institute of East Asian Studies
University of California, Berkeley
2223 Fulton St., 6th Floor. Berkeley, CA  94720  USA
T: 510-642-2815 F: 510-643-7062 C: 510-295-5874
http://ieas.berkeley.edu <http://ieas.berkeley.edu/>