The IAFOR North American Conference on the Arts and Humanities 2014

The IAFOR North American Conference on the Arts and Humanities 2014 18th to 21st September 2014 Providence, United States of America Abstract Submission Deadline: May 15, 2014 Enquiries: nacah@iafor.org Web address: http://iafor.org/iafor/conferences/the-iafor-north-american-conference-on-the-arts-and-humanities-2014/ Sponsored by: IAFOR - The International Academic Forum The International Academic Forum in conjunction with its global university and institutional partners is proud to announce the First North American Conference on the Arts and Humanities. Hear the latest research, publish before a global audience, present in a supportive environment, network, engage in new relationships, experience the US, explore Boston, New York and New England, join a global academic community... Conference Theme 2014: Individual, Community and Society: Conflict, Resolution and Synergy Conflict from earliest times has been a characteristic of the human condition. The struggle between our individual selves and our social selves arises from what makes us unique on the one hand, being challenged by our being part of an interdependent structure of relationships on the other. The specific blend of experiences, abilities, attitudes, and aspirations, that helps to define us, can sit sometimes uncomfortably alongside our commitments to those closest to us, our communities and our cultures. This can lead to conflict at different levels. Conflict within communities and societies is inevitable given that these groups are based on commonality of geography, values, attitudes, and beliefs that help to differentiate one from another. The dialectic engendered by diversity, however, although it may lead to conflict, can play an important role in the expansion of ideas in communities and societies. One major challenge of modern society is to harness the synergy that emerges from the interactive dialectic generated by these differences. The Arts and Humanities have long recognized these differences and frictions when they try to explain conflict through the systematic exploration of ideas, words, and artistic expression. By proposing such a wide-ranging 2014 conference theme, the organizers hope to encourage exciting new avenues of research, inspire the creation of new explanatory concepts, and provide a context for academic and personal encounters. The resultant exchanges it is hoped will stimulate synergies that cross national, religious, cultural and disciplinary divides. This is central to the global vision of IAFOR. We look forward to seeing you at NACAH 2014! Professor Stuart D.B. Picken NACAH 2014 Conference Chair Order of the Sacred Treasure, M.A., B.D., Ph.D., F.R.A.S. Chairman, Japan Society of Scotland Chairman IAFOR IAB Abstract Submission - Please submit your abstract through the online submission system found on the Call for Papers page of the website. Arts Teaching and Learning the Arts Arts Policy, Management and Advocacy Arts Theory and Criticism Social, Political and Community Agendas in the Arts Visual Arts Practices Performing Arts Practices: Theatre, Dance, Music Literary Arts Practices Media Arts Practices: Television, Multimedia, Digital, Online and Other New Media Other Arts Humanities Media, Film Studies, Theatre, Communication Aesthetics, Design Language, Linguistics Knowledge Philosophy, Ethics, Consciousness History, Historiography Literature/Literary Studies Political Science, Politics Teaching and Learning Globalisation Ethnicity, Difference, Identity Immigration, Refugees, Race, Nation First Nations and Indigenous Peoples Sexuality, Gender, Families Religion, Spirituality Cyberspace, Technology Science, Environment and the Humanities Other Humanities Featured Speakers and Conference Chairs Professor Stuart D. B. Picken NACAH 2014 Conference Chair and Featured Speaker Chair, Japan Society of Scotland and Chair, IAFOR IAB Professor Picken is the Chairman of the IAFOR International Advisory Board. The author of a dozen books and over 130 articles and papers, he is considered one of the foremost scholars on Japan, China, and Globalization in East Asia. As an academic, Professor Picken has devoted more than 30 years to scholarship in Japan, notably as a Professor of Philosophy at the International Christian University in Tokyo, where he specialized in ethics and Japanese thought, and as International Adviser to the High Priest of Tsubaki Grand Shrine (Mie prefecture). He has also served as a consultant to various businesses, including Jun Ashida Ltd., Mitsui Mining and Smelting Corp., Kobe Steel, and Japan Air Lines. In 2008, the Government of Japan awarded Professor Picken the Order of the Sacred Treasure for his pioneering research, and outstanding contribution to the promotion of friendship and mutual understanding between Japan and the UK. The honour is normally reserved for Japanese citizens and is a mark of the utmost respect in which Professor Picken is held by the Japanese Government. More recently, in 2012 he was invited to London to attend a reception at the Japanese Embassy, hosted by Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko as an expression of their gratitude towards Britons who had helped support Japan after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Professor Picken helped organize fundraising efforts through both the Japan Society of Scotland, of which he is the chair, in the UK, and IAFOR in Japan. Although now resident in Scotland, Professor Picken maintains his interests in Japan, as Chair of the Japan Society of Scotland, and through the IAFOR IAB. He is also the Chairman of the Academic Board of New College, Birmingham. He lives near Glasgow with his wife and two children. Yuriko Saito NACAH 2014 Featured Speaker Professor of Philosophy Rhode Island School of Design, USA Yuriko Saito, born and raised in Japan, received her BA in philosophy from International Christian University (Tokyo, Japan) and Ph. D. in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has been teaching at the Rhode Island School of Design since 1981, where she received the Frazier Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1999. Her research area is aesthetics with a focus on everyday aesthetics, environmental aesthetics, and Japanese aesthetics. She teaches these subjects regularly, as well as introductory courses in philosophy. Her work and what she gained from teaching at RISD resulted in Everyday Aesthetics, recently (2008) published by Oxford University Press. Professor Gary E. Swanson NACAH 2014 Featured Speaker Mildred S. Hansen Endowed Chair in Journalism The University of Northern Colorado, USA IAFOR International Director of Program for Media and Film Gary E. Swanson is currently the Mildred S. Hansen Endowed Chair and Distinguished Journalist-in-Residence at the University of Northern Colorado, USA. From 2005-2007 Professor Swanson was a Fulbright scholar to China and lectured at Tsinghua University and the Communication University of China. In summer 2008 he was Commentator for China Central Television International (CCTV-9) and their live coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games. Swanson repeated his assignment covering the London Olympics for CCTV-4 in the summer of 2012. Previously, he was professor and director of television for nine years at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University where he taught mostly graduate broadcast students. He has been an educator for 26 years; 20 years spent teaching at the university level. Swanson is an internationally recognized and highly acclaimed documentary producer, director, editor, photojournalist, consultant and educator. He has given keynote speeches, presented workshops and lectured at embassies, conferences, festivals, and universities throughout China, South Africa, India, Papua New Guinea, Japan, The Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Singapore, Greece, Germany, Jordan, Spain, Portugal, Peru, the United Kingdom and the United States. Swanson has compiled a distinguished professional broadcast career spanning 13 years: From 1978 to 1991, Swanson worked for the National Broadcasting Company where he was honored with national EMMY's for producing and editing: 'The Silent Shame,' a prime-time investigative documentary; 'Military Medicine,' a two-part investigative series on NBC News; and 'Hotel Crime,' an investigative news magazine piece. Swanson was an editor for 'breaking news' and features for NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, the Today Show, Sunrise, Sunday Today, NBC Overnight, A Closer Look, Monitor, and other prime time news magazines. Swanson covered 'breaking news' in 26 states and Canada for the network including trips and campaigns of presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and Bill Clinton. Swanson was the Fulbright distinguished lecturer and consultant in television news to the government of Portugal in 1989, and in 1992, he covered the XXV Olympics in Barcelona, Spain for NBC News as field producer and cameraman. Swanson has earned more than 75 awards for broadcast excellence and photojournalism including three national EMMYâ 셲, the duPont Columbia Award, two CINE 'Golden Eagles,' 16 TELLY's, the Monte Carlo International Award, the Hamburg International Media Festival's Globe Award, the Videographer Award, The Communicator Award, the Ohio State Award, the CINDY Award, the 2011 Communitas Outstanding Professor and Educator award, the 2013 Professor of the Year award, and many others. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana with a Bachelor's degree in Education in 1974, and a Master's degree in Journalism in 1993. Professor Baden Offord NACAH 2014 Featured Speaker Professor of Cultural Studies and Human Rights and Co-Director of the Centre for Peace and Social Justice Southern Cross University, Australia Vice President-International, Cultural Studies Association of Australasia IAFOR International Director of Program for Cultural Studies Baden Offord is Professor of Cultural Studies and Human Rights in the School of Arts and Social Sciences, Southern Cross University, Australia. Globally recognized as a specialist in sexuality and human rights, in 2012 he was a sponsored speaker to the 14th EU-NGO Human Rights Forum in Brussels and conducted a three-week lecture tour of Japan sponsored by the Australian Prime Minister's Educational Assistance Funds post the Great Eastern Tohoku Earthquake in 2011. Baden's interdisciplinary research cuts across the fields of Cultural Studies, Media Studies, Creative Writing, Cultural Geography, Socio-legal Studies, Asian Studies, Australian Studies and Critical Pedagogy. In 2010-2011 he was Chair (Visiting Professor) in Australian Studies, Centre for Pacific Studies and American Studies, Institute for Advanced Global Studies, The University of Tokyo and has held several visiting professorships/fellowships in Spain, the United States, India, New Zealand and Japan. He is the Vice-President (International) of the Cultural Studies Association of Australasia. Recent publications include the book Activating Human Rights and Peace: Theories, Practices, Contexts (Ashgate, London: 2012) and articles in Asian Studies Review; The Review of Education, Pedagogy and Cultural Studies; Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies; and Critical Arts: A journal of South-North Cultural and Media Studies.