Special Issues Call for Papers: Transformations and New Positions in Asia

Editors: Kimberly Kay Hoang (Boston College), Ya-Wen Lei (Harvard University)

The editors seek manuscripts from scholars across multiple disciplines in the social sciences and humanities (communication studies, cultural anthropology, economics, history, political science, and sociology) for an expected publication date of 2017.

Background to Special Issue
Asia is rapidly ascending. East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia’s dynamic economies have captivated the attention of Western political and business leaders, and attracted more foreign direct investments than any other region in the world. The political and economic transformations of the region have generated a new center of gravity that increasingly challenges long established cultural and social hierarchies and the West’s place at the top of the global order. Urban landscapes throughout Asia are reordered as new elites emerge alongside a host of migrant workers striving for global, regional, and local recognition.

This volume calls for papers from rising junior scholars (assistant professors, postdoctoral fellows, and advanced graduate students) whose research contributes to new perspectives on Asia. We seek empirically based original research papers that describe and analyze the multidimensional transformations occurring in East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. We will focus on the following themes:

- Global and regional flows of capital transforming local economies

- Social and political resistance in the region

- New structures of labor and work

- The rise of new elites and a new middle class

- Cultural transformations in local social hierarchies

- Labor, migration, and urbanization

- Citizenship and boundaries of nation-states

In addressing the above themes, we hope to provide a more systematic understanding of the political, economic, social, and cultural changes happening throughout Asia. We seek original research papers that have not been published and are not currently under review with another journal. Papers should be a maximum length of 8000 words following the positionsstyle guidelines. 

Please submit papers to both: Kimberly Kay Hoang  (kimberly[dot]hoang[at]bc[dot]edu) and Ya-Wen Lei (yawenlei[at]fas[dot]harvard[dot]edu) via e-mail no later than January 15, 2015. Acceptance notifications will be made by February 15, 2015. Please direct all questions and correspondence via e-mail to both editors of this special issue.