ASIAN STUDIES IN AFRICA: Challenges and Prospects of a New Axis of Intellectual Interactions

We are issuing a second call for proposals aimed particularly at panels and roundtables sponsored by institutions. These institutions and their affiliates are welcome to submit their abstracts by 15 June. We also extend the deadline to 15 June to late-coming individual abstracts.

A-ASIA INAUGURAL CONFERENCE
ASIAN STUDIES IN AFRICA: Challenges and Prospects of a New Axis of Intellectual Interactions
Accra, 15-17 January 2015

Organized by the Association of Asian Studies in Africa (A-Asia) in cooperation with The International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS)

CALL FOR PANELS, ROUNDTABLES AND PAPERS - Deadline 15 June 2014 (new deadline)

In 2015, the A-ASIA in cooperation with ICAS will organize its first biennial conference with the theme: Asian Studies in Africa: Challenges and Prospects of a New Axis of Intellectual Interactions. It will be the first conference held in Africa that will bring together a multidisciplinary ensemble of scholars and institutions from the continent and the rest of the world with a shared focus on Asia and Asia-Africa intellectual interactions.

The conference, through panels and roundtables, will seek to assess the prospects for Asian studies in Africa in a global context by addressing a number of theoretical and empirical questions that such enterprise will raise: How should Asian studies be framed in Africa? Is Asian studies relevant for Africa? What is the current state of capacity (institutional, intellectual, personnel, and so on) for Asian studies in Africa and can this be improved and how? How does (and must it?) Asian studies dovetail into the broader field of ‘Area studies’ as it has been developed, mainly in Western institutions? Are new narratives required for understanding the very visible contemporary presence of Asia in Africa and Africa in Asia? What is the current state of research on Africa-Asia (transnational) linkages?

We invite proposals for panels, roundtables, papers and book presentations in the fields of Asian-African interactions studies.

Deadlines: Proposals should be in English, French or Portuguese. They should be submitted online before 15 June 2014. All panel, roundtable, and paper proposals should clearly outline the methodological approach(es) taken and whether they contribute to the theoretical and/or empirical objectives of the conference (see the Application Forms on our website).

The working languages of the conference will be English, French and Portuguese, but all power point presentations must be in English.

For the A-ASIA conference 2015 the A-Asia/ICAS Africa-Asia Book Prize will be organized.

Further information about registration fees, the venue, and logistics will be provided on the conference website once the panels and papers have been accepted.

Organizers
The A-Asia was established in Chisamba, Zambia, in November 2012 on the occasion of the Asian studies in Africa Roundtable, which was organised by the University of Zambia, the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) and the South-South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development (Sephis).
A-Asia is registered in Zambia. Its steering committee consists of: Lloyd Amoah (Ashesi University College, Ghana); Thomas Asher (Social Science Research Council, USA); Scarlett Cornelissen (University of Stellenbosch, South Africa); Webby Kalikiti (Secretary A-Asia / University of Zambia); Liu Haifang (Peking University, China); Yoichi Mine (Doshisha University, Japan); Oka Obono (University of Ibadan, Nigeria); Philippe Peycam (International Institute for Asian Studies, the Netherlands).
ICAS is the premier gathering of Asia scholars in the world. Since its foundation in 1997, ICAS has brought more than fifteen thousand Asia scholars from 60 countries together at 8 conventions which has resulted in new long term international research partnerships and many publications. The ICAS Secretariat is hosted by IIAS. The ICAS International Council consists of Maris Diokno (Southeast Asian Studies Regional Exchange Program, Philippines); Praesenjit Duara (Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore), Carol Gluck (Columbia University, USA); Michael Hsiao (Academia Sinica. Taiwan); Tak-Wing Ngo (University of Macau); Philippe Peycam (International Institute for Asian Studies, the Netherlands); Aromar Revi (Indian Institute for Human Settlements, India); Henk Schulte-Nordholt (Chair International Institute for Asian Studies, the Netherlands) Hiromu Shimizu (Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Japan); Paul van der Velde (Secretary ICAS).

Travel fund
Very limited financial support may be made available to specific scholars residing in Africa and some junior or low-income scholars in other parts of the world. If you would like to be considered for financial support, please submit the Grant Application form in which you state the motivation for your request. Please note that the conference operates on a limited budget, and will not normally be able to provide more than a partial coverage of the conference exppenses. The form should be submitted before 15 June 2014. Requests for funding received after this date will not be taken into consideration.
Please address all enquiries to: Dr Paul van der Velde at icas@iias.nl