With apologies for cross-posting, I would like to announce a CFP for a conference that will be held September 30 and October 1 at UC Irvine on the writers Chiri Yukie (1903-1922), Sakiyama Tami (1954- ), Tsushima Yuko (1947-2016), Ishimure Michiko (1927-2018), and Kobayashi Erika (1978-). Information and timeline below; please contact Margherita Long (margherita.long@uci.edu) or Jon Pitt (jpitt@uci.edu) with any questions.
Call for Proposals
“Writers Who Have Seen Too Much: Earth, Kin, Care”
International Japanese Literature Symposium
30 September – 1 October 2022, In Person
University of California, Irvine
This two-day conference gathers scholars who work on five writers: Chiri Yukie (1903-1922), Sakiyama Tami (1954- ), Tsushima Yuko (1947-2016), Ishimure Michiko (1927-2018), and Kobayashi Erika (1978- ). Our title refers to the emotional toll taken by environmental destruction at four ongoing moments in Japanese modernity: the theft of Ainu lands, the theft of Ryukyuan lands, the Minamata mercury poisoning incident, and the Fukushima nuclear disaster. How do those who “see too much” use literature not only to critique but also to affirm? How does literature allow them to engage the earth, and what modes of kinship, both human and more-than-human, do they narrate in the process? Our aim is to open environmental questions in new (and old) directions: disability studies, indigenous knowledges, care feminisms, and philosophies of vitalism. By focusing on figures who have inspired some of the most compelling multilingual scholarship in Japanese literature studies, we want to cultivate relationships between senior and junior scholars while also developing our understanding of how the five writers amplify each other’s projects.
Topics: We welcome proposals on any of the five writers and/or additional figures who are in direct conversation, on topics including but not limited to:
indigeneity and indigenous knowledges/sciences
disability studies
queer/trans ecology
vitalism debates: eugenics vs. anarchism /animism
animal/plant studies
ecopoetics and obligate storytelling
climate caucasianism and transpacific racial justice
activist narrative as literature
eco-marxism
affective labor / feminism / legacies of ribu
Conveners:
Margherita Long, UC Irvine
Jon L Pitt, UC Irvine
Anne McKnight, UC Riverside
Vanessa Baker, UC Irvine
Sponsorship: Generous support from a Japan Foundation Institutional Grant will cover travel and lodging for most participants
Timeline:
6/6/22 Abstracts due
6/27/22 Conference Program Announced
8/15/22 COVID decision: cancel or commit to in-person
8/30/22 One-page paper outlines due to conference website
8/31/22 Panels meet by zoom to identify connections (30 minutes)
9/30/22-10/1/22: Conference
Abstract Submission
- By 5/27/22 midnight to earthkincareconference2022@gmail.com subject heading “conference proposal”
- Include name, email, institutional affiliation, title, 250-word abstract and 100-word bio
- Questions: Margherita Long (margherita.long@uci.edu) or Jon L Pitt (jpitt@uci.edu)
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