The Regional Oral History Office (ROHO) at the University of California, Berkeley, is offering a one-week advanced institute on the methodology, theory, and practice of oral/video history. This will take place at The Bancroft Library on the Berkeley campus from August 13–17, 2012. The cost of the five-day institute is $950.

Designed for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, college faculty using oral history interviews as part of a research project, the institute is also open to museum, institution and community-based historians engaged in oral history work. The goal of the institute is to strengthen the ability of its participants to conduct research-focused interviews and consider the special characteristics of interviews as historical evidence in a rigorous academic environment.

Further information and online applications are available at http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/education/institute. Please contact Director Robin Li with any questions.

The Canada Research Chair in the Political Economy of Gender and Work, Political Science, Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies, York University is pleased to announce a competition for a Postdoctoral Fellowship, tenable at York University for the 2012–2013 academic year.

The Chair invites applications from scholars who have earned a doctorate in the Social Sciences and who have a research background in fields such gender & work, work & society, labour studies, or political economy. The Fellow’s research program will involve participating in the various projects directed by the Chair, such as the Global Employment Standards Database, and a research group on Employment Standards Enforcement. Experience using both qualitative and quantitative research methods would be an asset.

The Fellow will receive a stipend of $40,000, office space, use of a computer and full access to university libraries.

Applications will be reviewed starting on June 8, 2012 for a position to commence August 1, 2012. Applicants should submit a cover letter, including a brief research statement, curriculum vitae, a writing sample, and the names of three academic references to:

Dr. Leah F. Vosko
Canada Research Chair in the Political Economy of Gender and Work
618 (Gender and Work Unit)
York Research Tower
York University
Toronto, ON Canada
M3J 1P3

Applications from non-Canadian scholars, as well as scholars with diverse work experience in public sector organizations or NGOs, are welcome.

The position will commence as early as August 1, 2012 (or to be negotiated), and is subject to budgetary approval.

June 7–8-9, 2012
University of Padova, Italy

Pentecostalism emerged on a global scale in the twentieth century as one of the most influential religious movements and the most important recent development in Christianity.

With its new styles of religious leadership, powerful communication strategies, and widespread urban proliferation, Pentecostalism is creating new social orders and religious spaces while reshaping cities into battlegrounds of spiritual warfare.Massive Pentecostal crusades and religious events are transforming the nature of contemporary religious experience in many parts of the world. With the power of their charisma, messages and promises of salvation, deliverance, healing, and prosperity, women and men pastors have been steadily gaining influence in social, urban, religious and political spheres and challenging the power of mainstream religions and governments.

The conference brings scholars from Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the US together for a comparative analysis of the social, aesthetic and religious impact of Pentecostalism on global cities and societies. Plenary speakers include some of the leading thinkers in these areas.

Conference Program and website: http://www.pentecostalaesthetics.net/

International Conference
Conference Date: June 25–27, 2013

Organized by Department of English, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan, with the participation of Institut d’Etudes Transtextuelles et Transculturelles, Universite Jean Moulin, Lyon, France

FEATURED SPEAKERS
Simone Bignall (University of New South Wales, Australia)
Joyce C. H. Liu (National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan)
Brett Neilson (University of West Sydney, Australia)
Mark Rifkin (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA)
Naoki Sakai (Cornell University, USA)
Marcelo Svirksy (University of Wollongong, Australia)
*Other speakers to be confirmed

Over the past several decades, Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben’s work has attracted a growing amount of interest spanning a wide range of disciplines in the humanities and the social sciences, including philosophy, literary theory, political philosophy, migration studies, security studies, geography, social and cultural studies of science and medicine, etc. The increasing recognition accorded to Agamben’s oeuvres has more recently resulted in the beginning of a serious dialogue about the transcultural aspects of his work, particularly with regard to the epistemological legacy of colonization, state-building, and revolution in the non-Western world. This conference aims to explore the enormous transversal potential of Agamben’s work by staging its transdisciplinary and transcultural dimensions. It is open to non-specialists (specialization defined here in relation to both Asia and Agamben) from any discipline interested in the mix and mutation of Asia and Agamben as a platform for transcultural investigation.

****For the complete CFP and other details, please visit the conference website:
http://www.concentric-literature.url.tw/AgambenConference/

Chun-yen Chen
Department of English
National Taiwan Normal University
Taipei, Taiwan
Email: chunyenchen AT hotmail.com

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 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.

As Korea’s leading university, Seoul National University (http://www.snu.ac.kr) is globally renowned for its excellence in research and education. The University and the department are especially interested in candidates who can contribute to the diversity and globalization of the academic community of the University.

Qualified applicants should send their complete curriculum vitae, statement of research and teaching interests, and names of three references with addresses preferably by email to Dr. Yangmi Koo (yangmi AT snu.ac.kr) and Dr. KeunBae Yu (kbyu AT plaza.snu.ac.kr). Alternatively, applicants can also mail the documents to KeunBae Yu, Chair, Department of Geography, College of Social Sciences, Seoul National University, 599 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 151–746, Korea. Review of applications will continue to be accepted until the position is filled.

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.’
We are seeking paper presentation proposals that will address the following topics (and related themes) as they relate to the Asian region:

• Analysis of the types of humanitarian work undertaken by Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, and other religious groups in response to disasters, including rescue operations, medical and post-traumatic care, fundraising, reconstruction, mitigation, proselytizing, spiritual counseling, and other interventions
• Doctrinal, ritual, clerical, and/or institutional innovations occasioned by religious disaster responses
• Imaginations and perceptions of religion by state actors and humanitarian organizations
• Collaborations between religious organizations, state actors, humanitarian organizations, and community groups in disaster response initiatives
• Emerging transnational networks forged between religious groups, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), donor organizations, and other actors engaged in disaster responses
• Reconfigurations of local communities following religious and/or secular disaster relief initiatives
• Contrasting visions of ‘salvation’ offered in response to disasters and the ramifications of these visions

Papers from any field in the humanities or social sciences that employ any type of methodology are welcome. We are particularly interested in submissions that employ data from fieldwork. Analytical papers by development practitioners or representatives of religious institutions/groups drawing on field experience relevant to this topic are also encouraged.

SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS
Paper proposals must be for original, previously unpublished work. Selected papers from the conference proceedings will be compiled for an edited volume. Proposals should include a title, abstract (250–300 words), and a brief personal biography (150 words). For more detailed guidelines or questions regarding specific paper proposals, and for obtaining a Paper Proposal Form, please contact the conference organizers.

Please submit all applications to Dr Philip Fountain by 15 May 2012.  Successful applicants will be notified by 15 June 2012 and will be required to send a draft paper (5,000–8,000 words) by 15 October 2012. Travel and accommodation support is available from the Asia Research Institute, depending on need and availability of funds.

CONFERENCE CONVENORS
Dr Philip FOUNTAIN, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. Email: aripmf AT nus.edu.sg
Dr Levi MCLAUGHLIN, North Carolina State University. Email: lmclaug2 AT ncsu.edu

SECRETARIAT
Ms. Valerie YEO, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. Email: valerie.yeo AT nus.edu.sg

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.

Prospective authors should be aware that approximately fifty percent of our readers teach at the undergraduate level and the rest are secondary or middle school teachers. Please consult the EAA guidelines, available on the website under my signature before submitting a manuscript for this special section. Pay particular attention to feature and teaching resources manuscript word-count ranges. Prospective authors are also encouraged to share possible manuscript ideas with Lucien Ellington via email. The deadline for initial submission of manuscripts is July 20, 2012.

Web Site: http://www.asian-studies.org/EAA/

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 binghamton.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 binghamton.edu).