The following panel has been approved by 2015 ACLA annual conference secretariat. Those interested please contact xinning13[at]jlu[dot]edu[dot]cn:

The (Re)vision of Nature, Eco-consciousness, and Modern Chinese Literature

A vibrant and productive branch of modern literary theory, eco-criticism not only unsettles the old anthropocentric view of nature and humanity and fuels environmentalist activism, but contributes, directly or indirectly, to the (re)construction of national and ethnical identities, gender roles and cultural self-imaginations in different historical contexts.  Also a cosmopolitan movement that urges a collective response of human race to the environmental challenges in the modern world, eco-criticism nonetheless vehemently condemns the rapacious and hegemonic globalization through foregrounding the importance of locality and the attachment of human beings to their immediate living environments. By contrasting what Spivak terms as “planetarity” to capitalist globalization, eco-criticism promises a cultural pluralism based on mutual recognition and respect.

Read More

The Association for Asian Performance invites panel proposals and/or individual paper proposals for the Association of Theatre in Higher Education 2015 conference

Conference Dates and Location
July 30—August 2, 2015
Montréal, Québec, Canada
Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth Hotel

Conference Theme

Je me souviens [I Remember]: We invite you to continue to dream as we look towards our 2015 Conference in Montréal.  Quebec’s simple but provocative motto, which is not without controversy over interpretation, caught the imaginations of the members of your 2015 Conference Committee—both metaphorically and geographically.  For ATHE’s members, in the broadest sense, it invokes thoughts of remembering—remembering theatre at its best, when its immediacy and humanness is embraced, remembering our past and how it points to the future, and remembering our power to instigate change.

As most ATHE members will cross the national border of Canada and the provincial border of Quebec—which is recognized as a nation within Canada, and onto territory claimed by the First Nations Iroquois people, “Je me souviens” [I remember] can be defined by considerations of place as well. Issues of country/isolation/assimilation that began in Phoenix, as well as acts of revolt/revolution, quiet and otherwise, give rise to consideration of the silences, the unsaid, the gestures, the sub-text, the dangers, the misunderstandings, the non-discursive in the “in-between” terrain between cultures, countries, and constituencies in Canada and beyond.  Building on this, we can also embrace inter/trans-national and inter/trans-cultural exchanges in performance texts, process, or production.

Read More

Memory, Moment, and Mobility in East Asia

East Asian Languages and Cultures Graduate Student Conference

University of Southern California, April 11-12, 2015

Proposal Submission Deadline: November 30, 2014 The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Southern California Graduate Student Conference invites graduate students from around the world conducting research in all disciplines related to East Asia to submit abstracts for our 2015 conference, to take place April 11 – 12, 2015. This conference aims to investigate and formulate new theorizations of memory, moment, and mobility as well as rethink how communities and individuals construct narratives in the context of East Asia. All three topics can be interpreted widely in relation to various fields, including linguistics, history, religion, literature, visual studies, new media, and cinema. Topics can include but are not limited to:

• The role of mobility in second language acquisition
• Constructed narratives of history or remembering in film, literature, and/or language
• Intersection between transpacific movement and religion
• Construction of memory in transnational cinemas
• The interplay between memory and moment in literature
• Representations of memory and history in East Asia
• Examining local communities in relation to global migration

Read More