| Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference Toronto, Canada March 15 – 18, 2012
Benefits of Attending the AAS Annual Conference
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| International Studies Association 53rd Annual Convention April 1-4, 2012, San Diego, California "Power, Principles and Participation in the Global Information Age" Canadian communication theorist Marshall McLuhan famously said, “The medium is the message,” and coined the term “global village.” McLuhan died in 1980, but his insights are even more relevant today. The information environment is drastically different from that of even a decade ago, as new forms of information flows come into existence almost annually. Facebook now has over 500 million users, and Twitter, a service barely in existence three years ago, counts over 175 million users. These tools are not only for finding long-lost school friends or sharing pictures of loved ones: they often are used for political purposes. For instance, both text messages and tweets served as vital communication tools during the 2010 post-election protests in Iran. Indeed, Reuters reported that United States government went so far as to ask Twitter to postpone maintenance and maintain service during this time. Humanitarian groups also use these communications technologies to bring attention to events worldwide: in the wake of Haiti’s 2010 earthquake, the Red Cross collected $30 million in SMSbased donations from US phone users. And the 2010 elections witnessed US political candidates (and their staffs) tweeting and Facebooking like never before. The theme of this year’s conference is inspired by the apparent impact of new information and communication technologies on international and transnational affairs. Information has altered power relations; it has help to globalize norms and principles; it has the potential to bring new participants into political and social processes world-wide. From geographic information systems that bring satellite images to our research to sophisticated form of electronic textual analysis to internet surveys, it is undeniable that a whole range of new technologies is affecting the way we think about and do research in international studies. The conference seeks to address the following questions: How have the rapid and fundamental changes in information and communication technologies influenced the political environment and altered global connections? • How and to what extent has the global availability of information undercut the monopoly of state authorities to define and control "the truth"? How has information impacted political and social authority - e.g., in countries as diverse as China, Russia, and the United States? How has information impacted the relationship between private and public actors? What about national security in an era of Wikileaks? We welcome papers that think through what new forms of information technology mean for the “strength” of the state, its ability to control information, frame and manipulate political discourse, and what this means for states’ relationships with a broad range of private actors. • What new forms of civil society cooperation (local, transnational, global) are premised on the cheap availability of information, as well as on low communications costs? How have strategies of existing civil society groups changed in response to new communications technologies? Are some traditional groups, or groups in some regions of the world, disadvantaged by the rise of new technologies? Is the way people communicate undermining social capital or producing a new type of social capital? We welcome papers that explore the ways in which new information technologies have affected civil society organization, cooperation and participation at all levels of politics. • How is information transmitted, and what are the political, economic and distributional implications of various models of transmission? Do social networks matter in the transmission of information, and in its interpretation? Does “new media” differ from or change the role of the traditional media? We welcome papers that explore the social consequences of new information technologies – who benefits, but also who is excluded, in comparative perspective. • How does information affect global governance? Have modern forms of information transmittal increased participation in national, transnational and global affairs? Has it contributed to transparency in global governance? Does it democratize international governance systems? We welcome papers that look at the implications of new information technologies for global governance, accountability, and participation. In particular, we encourage papers that think through the availability of information for the global strategic environment, broadly understood. • How has the availability of information impacted international studies as an academic discipline? What are the most important new sources of information available to researchers in recent years? In what ways does the flood of information change the methods by which we assess arguments and validate truth claims? Has the wealth of information encouraged consensus on what constitutes "evidence" or has it undermined such consensus? What new questions are we able to ask – as well as potentially to answer? We welcome papers that examine the impact of the information revolution on modern international studies research, from satellite-based data, to web-scraping to electronic document coding projects. Furthermore, we welcome reflection on how new information and communication technologies alter the questions we are able to ask, as well as critical reflections on the limits of new ways of “knowing.” For more information, go to http://www.isanet.org/annual_convention |
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Ninth International Conference on the Philippines The Ninth International Conference on the Philippines will be held at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, USA, from May 22-25, 2012. Held at approximately four-year intervals since 1980, this conference seeks to bring together specialists in all academic areas concerning the Philippines or Filipinos anywhere in the world. Within the context of disciplinary and cross-disciplinary sessions we aim to foster interdisciplinary conversations among academics, policy makers, and interested members of the global community that will bring about greater understanding of Philippine matters and address issues of importance for the future of the Philippines and Filipinos in the homeland and its diasporas. Depending upon funding, it is anticipated that some of the sessions will be internet-based to incorporate presenters located outside the United States. ICOPHIL Committee |
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Call For Papers: Between the Mountain and the Sea: Positioning Indonesia The Fifth International Indonesia Forum Conference sponsored by Yale University and Gadjah Mada University will be held at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta on July 9-10, 2012. As an interdisciplinary conference bringing together once again scholars from Indonesia and many other nations, the Fifth International Indonesia Forum seeks to provide a platform for scholars who keenly follow developments in Indonesia to discuss the various ways and contexts by which the state, scholars, individuals, civil society organizations, and other interest groups have recreated, redefined or re-imagined Indonesia's past, present and future in response to, or along with, its changes: political, environmental, climatic, religious, conceptual, geo-strategic, social, pop cultural, and intellectual. Papers that deal with the various aspects of positioning Indonesia in the global or regional stage, in the increasingly fragile natural environment, as well as positioning Indonesian citizens and communities within this multicultural nation are welcome. For more information, go to http://www.yale.edu/seas/IIF-GadjahMada2012.htm. |
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Call for Papers: International Conference on Language Proficiency Testing in the Less Commonly Taught Languages The Sirindhorn Thai Language Center at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand is organizing the international conference on “Language Proficiency Testing in the Less Commonly Taught Languages to commemorate the 84th Birthday of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose concern for the use of Thai language with carefulness and competence has been widely known among Thai people. The main goal of the conference is to promote the understanding and the use of language proficiency testing among Thai language professionals and to provide a venue for conference participants to exchange knowledge and experience in language instruction and language proficiency testing. The conference also aims to bring together language teachers, educators, administrators and other stakeholders especially in the Less Commonly Taught Languages to discuss, share research, theory, and best practices on current language proficiency testing, language teaching of the LCTL, both for native and non-native speakers.
Abstract submission: Proposals can ONLY be submitted online via the following site: http://www.stc.chula.ac.th/Conference.html For more information about the conference, go to http://www.stc.chula.ac.th/Conference.html. |
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Call for Papers: GLOBALIZATION AND POPULAR CULTURE The 2012 Midwest Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association announce a call for papers for a conference on Globalization and Popular Culture. We invite abstracts/papers/panels that explore theoretical, empirical, and methodological approaches to the study of popular culture on the global stage. Appropriate submissions include research in international mass communication, global cultural encounters, postcolonial studies, national cinema, international advertising campaigns, etc. For more information about the conference, including how to submit to a different area, please visit the full CFP online at http://mpcaaca.org/columbus-2012/2012-cfp/. The deadline for submissions is April 30, 2012. Submissions should include your name (and the names of any co-presenters), affiliation, email address, and a 250-word abstract. Also, please indicate in your submission whether your presentation will require a TV and DVD player. Note that LCD projectors will not be provided by MPCA/ACA. To submit, visit our online submission system at http://submissions.mpcaaca.org/. |
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