CFP: Serialization in Asia, University of Washington

Center for Korean Studies, University of Washington-Seattle

Call for Papers: “Serialization in Asia”

Proposals Due July 1st, 2014

The Center for Korean Studies at the University of Washington invites paper proposals for “Serialization in Asia,” a conference on serialized cultural production to be held at the University of Washington, May 15-16, 2015.

The premodern and modern eras in Asia witnessed increasing creation and consumption of cultural products in serialized form. Beginning most prominently in the nineteenth century, seriality emerged as one of the core components of cultural productions in many fields, and it continues to become an ever more powerful mechanism in the twenty-first century, ubiquitous in fields as diverse as literature, radio, film, TV, comic books, games, and various web-based formats.

We will hold “Serialization in Asia” with the aim of opening up interdisciplinary and interregional discussions on the following questions: How will our understandings of cultural products and related phenomena change when we take seriality as a pivotal theme to examine them? In what ways does serialization shape, reshape, or complicate the work, its reception, and the medium through which it is delivered? How can we relate evolutions in new media to more conventional forms of serialization? How does seriality relate to our socio-cultural reality and our perception of the world around us? What socio-historical components have been involved in the seriality’s flourishing in Asia, and how do those components differ from place to place?  What similarities and differences are there between serial production in Asia and the rest of the world? How can we understand this specific but pervasive cultural form in relation to the formation of the modern?

We will ask participants to submit papers of 6,000-8,000 words to be circulated before the conference, so that the conference itself will serve as stage for informed and engaged discussion.  After the conference, select participants may be invited to revise their papers in light of comments received to prepare them for publication as part of a planned edited volume.

Please email a 300–500 word proposal accompanied by a brief biography or CV to: Center for Korean Studies at uwcks@u.washington.edu.

Proposals should be submitted by July 1st, 2014 to receive full consideration.