Archive for FYI

CFP: Transgression as a Secular Value, University of Michigan

04/20/2012 CFP No comments

Perspectives on Contemporary Korea Conference Series 2

Call for Papers
Transgression as a Secular Value: Korea in Transition?
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Oct. 26, 2012
Sponsored by the Nam Center for Korean Studies, University of Michigan

Crossing over lim­its, infring­ing the law, and ignor­ing con­ven­tion are often cited as exam­ples of trans­gres­sion. In tra­di­tional Korea where reli­gion played a vital role in demar­cat­ing social and per­sonal bound­aries trans­gres­sive acts (e.g. engag­ing in illicit sex­ual behav­ior, chal­leng­ing gen­der norms, defy­ing social hier­ar­chies, defac­ing icons and sym­bols, using exces­sive vio­lence etc.) often served as a crit­i­cal means for test­ing these bound­aries of social accept­abil­ity, iden­tity, power, and truth. But what hap­pens to these trans­gres­sive acts after the “demys­ti­fi­ca­tion” and “sec­u­lar­iza­tion” of soci­ety? Do they become obso­lete? If they still test bound­aries, then whose bound­aries do these trans­gres­sive acts test?

Taking cue from the pro­lif­er­a­tion of suc­cess­ful Korean films that take trans­gres­sion as their cen­tral theme, the inter­na­tional con­fer­ence, “Transgression as a sec­u­lar value: Korea in tran­si­tion?,” hopes to bring together schol­ars from both the social sci­ences and human­i­ties to address these and other sim­i­lar ques­tions about the sig­nif­i­cance of trans­gres­sion in mod­ern and pre-modern Korea. The chief objec­tive of this con­fer­ence is to inves­ti­gate the pos­si­bil­ity of read­ing the surg­ing inter­est in trans­gres­sion, which has arguably attained an air of sacred­ness in main­stream cul­ture, as an instance of a search for a “sec­u­lar” value. The con­fer­ence will there­fore encour­age its par­tic­i­pants to ask, when and how did trans­gres­sion become so desir­able and con­sumer friendly (and not just pos­si­ble) in Korea? And, should we asso­ciate this atti­tude towards trans­gres­sion with “the secular”?

The con­fer­ence will explore the notion of trans­gres­sion as a “sec­u­lar” value from a com­par­a­tive per­spec­tive — both tem­po­ral and spa­tial — to under­score and con­tribute to the grow­ing debate on the het­ero­ge­neous nature of sec­u­lar­ity as a way of life. The orga­niz­ers of the con­fer­ence there­fore wel­come papers that crit­i­cally exam­ine trans­gres­sion in either mod­ern or pre-modern Korea and also papers that dis­cuss trans­gres­sion in a broader Asian or global context.

Please sub­mit an abstract of no more than 300 words to con­fer­ence orga­niz­ers at trans­gres­sion AT umich​.edu by June 4, 2012. Please include name, insti­tu­tional affil­i­a­tion, and con­tact information.

Selected par­tic­i­pants will be asked to sub­mit com­pleted papers by September 28, 2012.

The Nam Center for Korean Studies will award travel grants to accepted par­tic­i­pants to defray costs of atten­dance. Lodging and onsite meals will be pro­vided by the con­fer­ence. Conference orga­niz­ers plan to have selected papers pub­lished in an edited volume.

Organizers: Juhn Ahn (Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Michigan, jahn AT umich​.edu) and Nojin Kwak (Nam Center/Department of Communication Studies, University of Michigan, kwak AT umich​.edu)

Faculty position in “gender geography,” Seoul National University

04/18/2012 Job No comments

Advertised as a posi­tion in “gen­der geog­ra­phy,” this posi­tion should inter­est fem­i­nist geo­g­ra­phers and gen­der stud­ies schol­ars with geog­ra­phy empha­sis. It is a tenure-track posi­tion at a top uni­ver­sity in Korea. The posi­tion does not require Korean lan­guage pro­fi­ciency since courses would be taught in English, but of course, some Korean would be help­ful in liv­ing in Korea. There’s a vibrant fem­i­nist com­mu­nity at SNU and other uni­ver­si­ties in Seoul, and this could be a great oppor­tu­nity espe­cially for those with research inter­ests in Korea.


Faculty Position at the Department of Geography
Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea

The Department of Geography, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, invites appli­ca­tions for a full-time pro­fes­sor at all ranks begin­ning September 2012 or March 2013. We seek a per­son with research and teach­ing inter­ests in Gender Geography and related dis­ci­plines. A Ph.D. in Geography or a closely related dis­ci­pline is required at the time of appoint­ment. The suc­cess­ful can­di­date will join the depart­ment that offers degrees at the bachelor’s, master’s and PhD lev­els. In addi­tion, the can­di­date may join the Interdisciplinary Program in Gender Studies, one of the grad­u­ate courses, and may have oppor­tu­nity to do inter­dis­ci­pli­nary gender-related researches with var­i­ous depart­ments sup­ported by the Institute for Gender Research in the University.

Applicants should be Non-Korean Nationals, prefer­ably native English speak­ers. The avail­abil­ity of the posi­tion will be deter­mined by the University, based on the aca­d­e­mic qual­i­fi­ca­tions and expe­ri­ence of the appli­cants. Starting salary ranges approx­i­mately from USD 52,000 at the begin­ning assis­tant pro­fes­sor level and would increase depend­ing on the qual­i­fi­ca­tions and expe­ri­ence. University fac­ulty hous­ing will be avail­able and mov­ing cost will be cov­ered by the University.
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CFP: Salvage and Salvation: Religion, Disaster Relief, and Reconstruction in Asia

04/13/2012 CFP No comments

CALL FOR PAPERS – Salvage and Salvation: Religion, Disaster Relief, and Reconstruction in Asia

Dates:      22 (Thursday) and 23 (Friday) November 2012

Venue:      Asia Research Institute, Seminar Room, Tower Block Level 10, 469A Bukit Timah Road, National University of Singapore, Bukit Timah Campus

Organisers: Dr Philip Fountain and Dr Levi McLaughlin

What does it mean to offer sal­va­tion in the midst of cat­a­stro­phe? What dynam­ics are in play at the inter­sec­tion of reli­gion and dis­as­ter relief in Asia? Over the past few years, Asia has wit­nessed fre­quent mas­sive and high pro­file dis­as­ters, notably the Indian Ocean tsunami (2004), the Kashmir earth­quake (2005), Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar (2008), the Pakistan floods of 2010, and most recently the 2011 earth­quake, tsunami, and nuclear dis­as­ters in north­east Japan. In the wake of these tragedies – and the numer­ous smaller-scale dis­as­ters that also afflict the region – reli­gious orga­ni­za­tions have played piv­otal roles in dis­as­ter response ini­tia­tives. Millions of relief work­ers and bil­lions of dol­lars in aid have been mobi­lized through their net­works. However, despite hav­ing a pro­found impact on the lives of dis­as­ter vic­tims, these ini­tia­tives have gone largely under-reported, and there has been no com­pre­hen­sive attempt to present research on reli­gion and relief in con­tem­po­rary Asia. ‘Salvage and Salvation’ will be the first inter­dis­ci­pli­nary con­fer­ence to bring together researchers, human­i­tar­ian work­ers, and pol­icy mak­ers to address this theme.

Analysis of reli­gion and dis­as­ter relief intro­duces prac­ti­cal and the­o­ret­i­cal con­cerns. Understanding the full ram­i­fi­ca­tions of dis­as­ter requires atten­tion to spe­cific reli­gions involved in recov­ery and the dif­fer­ent posi­tions they assume. Additionally, it can­not be pre­sumed that Asian states are reli­giously neu­tral.  Disasters and relief efforts open new forms of com­mu­nal­ity among affected pop­u­la­tions, thereby alter­ing reli­gion and pol­i­tics and inspir­ing novel social and spir­i­tual tra­jec­to­ries.  Humanitarian actors and grass­roots mobi­liza­tions are also deeply impli­cated in these shifts.  Even self-consciously sec­u­lar human­i­tar­ian orga­ni­za­tions inevitably engage with the reli­gious real­i­ties they encounter in their dis­as­ter responses through vary­ing strate­gies of col­lab­o­ra­tion, accom­mo­da­tion, or exclu­sion of dif­fer­ent reli­gious activ­i­ties. A region-wide com­par­a­tive approach to dis­as­ter and recov­ery should be con­cerned with the broad­est pos­si­ble spec­trum of what ‘sal­va­tion’ may com­prise, whether asso­ci­ated with the state or non-governmental actors or whether des­ig­nated ‘reli­gious’ or ‘sec­u­lar.’
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CFP: US, Asia, and the World: 1914 – 2012

04/13/2012 CFP No comments

Call for Manuscripts: “US, Asia, and the World: 1914 – 2012” EAA Winter 2012

Education About Asia (EAA) is the peer-reviewed teach­ing jour­nal of the Association for Asian Studies. Our approx­i­mately 1,800 read­ers include under­grad­u­ate instruc­tors as well as high school and mid­dle school teach­ers. Our arti­cles are intended to pro­vide edu­ca­tors, who are often not spe­cial­ists, with basic under­stand­ing of Asia-related con­tent. Qualified ref­er­ees eval­u­ate all man­u­scripts sub­mit­ted for con­sid­er­a­tion. Most of our sub­scribers teach his­tory, the social sci­ences, or the humanities.

We are in the process of devel­op­ing a spe­cial sec­tion enti­tled “US, Asia, and the World: 1914 – 2012” for the win­ter 2012 issue of EAA. In this spe­cial sec­tion, we invite authors to sub­mit man­u­scripts that encom­pass a wide range of US-Asia top­ics that focus upon inter­ac­tions and sig­nif­i­cant events draw­ing from diverse areas of study includ­ing the arts, diplo­macy and pol­i­tics, eco­nom­ics, mil­i­tary his­tory, and soci­ety and cul­ture. We are look­ing for man­u­scripts con­cern­ing all areas of Asia. We seek man­u­scripts both from his­to­ri­ans of Asia and schol­ars and teach­ers with exper­tise on the US and other parts of the world. We are inter­ested in man­u­scripts on top­ics such as “Asia and the War to End All Wars,” “The Pacific War and How It Changed the World,” “The US, China, and Taiwan,” “Nixon’s Visit to China,” “The Rise of Buddhism in the US,” “The US, Southeast Asia, and the Cold War,” “How East Asia’s Postwar Rise Changed America,” and “US-India Relations Before and After 1991.” The top­ics listed in this post are offered only as exam­ples and authors who are inter­ested in other top­ics are encour­aged to con­tact the editor.

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CFP: Intersections with Science, Medicine, and Technology in Korea

04/04/2012 CFP No comments

Call for Papers:
Intersections with Science, Medicine, and Technology in Korea

Binghamton University, State University of New York
October 20, 2012

We invite orig­i­nal papers on the themes of sci­ence, med­i­cine, and tech­nol­ogy in Korea for an inter-regional work­shop to be held October 20, 2012 at Binghamton University.  Multi-disciplinary in focus, this work­shop seeks to inter­ro­gate inter­sec­tions between med­i­cine, sci­ence, and tech­nol­ogy with Korean soci­ety his­tor­i­cally to the con­tem­po­rary present.

We rec­og­nize that med­i­cine, sci­ence, and tech­nol­ogy serve as effec­tive lenses through which to enhance under­stand­ings of soci­etal trans­for­ma­tions; trans­la­tions and trans­fers of knowl­edge and tech­nol­ogy; gov­ern­men­tal­ity, gen­der and social rela­tions; kingdom/nation/empire-building; and spa­tial arrange­ments in both the past and present.  What are the desires dri­ving pro­mo­tions of sci­ence, med­i­cine, and tech­nol­ogy?  How do those devel­op­ments reflect and/or shape the con­texts within which they emerge?  The work­shop orga­niz­ers are look­ing for papers on any time period that inves­ti­gate cir­cu­la­tions of related knowl­edge, prac­tices, peo­ple, and mate­r­ial goods; Korean Medicine or hanŭi; and tech­nolo­gies in con­tem­po­rary soci­ety.  We also wel­come paper pro­pos­als on other areas related to Korean sci­ence, tech­nol­ogy, and medicine.

Interested schol­ars are encour­aged to sub­mit a pro­posal with a work­ing title, abstract (300 words max­i­mum), and brief C.V. to kore­anstud­ies AT bing​ham​ton​.edu  by May 31, 2012.  Notification on the sta­tus of pro­pos­als will be made by June 20th.  Selected par­tic­i­pants must sub­mit com­pleted papers by September 15, 2012 to be read by all par­tic­i­pants and dis­cus­sants prior to the work­shop.  This work­shop is made pos­si­ble by a grant from the Academy of Korean Studies. Workshop orga­niz­ers intend to pub­lish an edited vol­ume based on the work­shop outcomes.

Please e-mail queries to Sonja Kim (skim AT bing​ham​ton​.edu).

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