The Asian Conference on Cultural Studies 2017 (ACCS2017)

Dear Colleague, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) invites you to participate in The Asian Conference on Cultural Studies 2017 (ACCS2017), held Thursday, June 1 to Sunday, June 4, 2017. Submit your abstract by January 12, 2017 to join IAFOR and delegates from around the world in the beautiful city of Kobe, Japan. Registration includes admission to The Asian Conference on Asian Studies (ACAS2017) and The IAFOR International Conference on Japan & Japan Studies (IICJ2017), which are to be held alongside ACCS2017 as part of the same event. This gathering of academics at the intersection of nation, culture and discipline promises a unique environment for conversation, information exchange and networking. Join us at ACCS2017 for interdisciplinary discussion around the shared conference theme of: "Global Realities: Precarious Survival and Belonging" We hope that the broad nature of this theme will encourage the submission of works from a variety of interesting perspectives. IAFOR welcomes submissions to ACCS2017 from all over the world. We encourage you to join us in Kobe to share your research and knowledge in an international, intercultural and interdisciplinary setting. To submit an abstract for presentation or to participate as an audience member, please visit the website or contact us for more information. Submission Deadline: January 12, 2017 Submit your abstract: www.iafor.org/cfp Visit the conference website: www.accs.iafor.org Enquiries: accs@iafor.org In conjunction with our global partners, we look forward to extending you a warm welcome in 2017. ------------- ***Join IAFOR at ACCS2017 and: – Deliver your research findings to a global audience – Have your work published in the Conference Proceedings and considered for IAFOR's peer-reviewed, open-access journals – Benefit from IAFOR's interdisciplinary focus by hearing about the latest research in Cultural Studies, Asian Studies, Japan Studies and more – Participate in a truly international, interdisciplinary and intercultural event – Take part in interactive audience sessions – Network with international colleagues **Register now to take advantage of Early Bird Registration and save over 20 percent. Early Bird Registration is open until February 14, 2017. Please see the registration page for details: www.iafor.org/accs2017-registration *If you have attended an IAFOR conference within the past year, or belong to an affiliated university or institution, we offer additional discounts in appreciation of your support. Please contact us at accs@iafor.org for details. ------------- ***Conference Theme: "Global Realities: Precarious Survival and Belonging" The theme for The Asian Conference on Cultural Studies 2014 in Osaka was "Borderlands of becoming, belonging and sharing". In his presentation, Conference Co-Chair Professor Baden Offord wrote: "Gloria Anzaldua's idea of the borderland has become a critical conceptual rubric used by cultural researchers as a way of understanding, explaining and articulating the in-determined, vague, ambiguous nature of everyday life and the cultural politics of border-knowledge, border crossings, transgression, living in-between and multiple belongings. Borderlands is also about a social space where people of diverse backgrounds and identities meet and share a space in which the politics of co-presence and co-existence are experienced and enacted in mundane ways." Now we revisit that territory under the title "Global Realities: Precarious Survival and Belonging". While retaining the ideas expressed by Prof. Offord in 2014, this conference will turn its focus on to the precariousness of life across the world, life being understood in all its amplitude. Since 2014 we have witnessed the horror of the refugee crisis in Europe and how borders which should have been crossed have been blocked off by barbed wire fences. The whole context of borders, belonging and survival has shifted resulting in an increase in racism, radical nationalisms, terrorism, infringements of human rights, and rising poverty levels, to mention only a few of the globalised problems confronting our world. The result of such precarity, even of the planet itself, has led to a generalised sense of communal and individual vulnerability. Raimond Gaita recently noted, "It is striking how often people now speak of 'a common humanity' in ethically inflected registers, or ethically resonant tones that express a fellowship of all the peoples of the earth, or sometimes the hope for such a fellowship." Hopefully, this conference will discuss the ways and means by which a "common humanity" may be aspired to by future generations. The organisers encourage submissions that approach the conference theme from a variety of perspectives. However, the submission of other topics for consideration is welcome and we also encourage sessions within and across a variety of interdisciplinary and theoretical perspectives. Abstracts should address one or more of the streams, identifying a relevant sub-theme. For the full list of themes, please see the conference website: www.accs.iafor.org ***Conference Programme As well as being a great opportunity for meeting and interacting with some of the biggest names in the fields of cultural and area studies, our conferences create an intellectually challenging but friendly environment for the presentation and nurturing of new ideas, encouraging the research synergies that drive new developments and create new knowledge. Previous speakers at The Asian Conference on Cultural Studies have included: Professor Bill Ashcroft – University of NSW, Australia (renowned critic and theorist, founding exponent of post-colonial theory, and co-author of "The Empire Writes Back") Professor Yvonne Jewkes – University of Leicester, United Kingdom (leading criminologist) Professor John Nguyet Erni – Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong (activist, lawyer and academic) Professor Baden Offord – Curtin University, Australia (internationally recognised specialist in human rights, sexuality and culture) Speakers for the The Asian Conference on Cultural Studies 2017 will be announced in the coming months. ***Conference Organising Committee Professor Emerita Sue Ballyn – Barcelona University, Spain Professor Donald E. Hall – Lehigh University, USA Professor Baden Offord – Curtin University, Australia Dr Joseph Haldane – The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) Dr Richard Donovan – Kansai University, Japan ------------- ***About IAFOR IAFOR welcomes academics from all over the world to our interdisciplinary conferences held in Japan, UK, Spain, USA and the UAE. Our events provide a unique international, intercultural and interdisciplinary environment in which to hear about the latest world-class research and network with leading academics, professionals and practitioners. By facilitating dialogue between the world's academics and thought leaders, IAFOR has become a pioneer in providing the research avenues and visionary development solutions that are necessary in our rapidly emerging globalised world. We welcome you to engage in this expanding global academic community of individuals and network of institutions, and look forward to seeing you at one of our future events. To learn more about IAFOR, please visit our website at www.iafor.org. For enquiries please contact accs@iafor.org.