Call for Paper Proposals: ECSAS Panel P06: "Rethinking regions: Cultural formations and circulation through and across regional boundaries"

Anne Murphy Announcement
Location
France
Subject Fields
Asian History / Studies, Area Studies, Cultural History / Studies

We encourage scholars at all levels to consider submitting a proposal for this panel for the 2018 European Conference on South Asian Studies, 24-27 July 2018 in Paris (organized by Centre d’Études de l’Inde/Asie du Sud (CEIAS), CNRS/EHESS, Paris). Paper proposals will be accepted at the ECSAS website (see below) until 30 November 2017.

 

P 06: Rethinking regions: Cultural formations and circulation through and across regional boundaries

M. Boivin1, A. Murphy2, P. Zehmisch3

1Center for South Asian Studies (CEIAS), Paris, France, 2Department of Asian Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, 3Center for Advanced Studies, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany

Short panel abstract 

How can we combine attention to regional particularity with a concern for cross-regional historical connections and cultural formations? This panel will explore the tension between the region and the cross-regional, exploring cultural formations and circulations in relation to regional specificity.

Long panel abstract 

Even though "area studies" has been subject to significant critique, most of us continue to think in regional terms about our work. This is a necessary feature of historically-tuned, highly contextualized work, intertwined with locally embedded research questions. Such a commitment is not, therefore, to be dismissed easily. At the same time, we know that the cultural formations in specific regions are intimately linked to a broad range of cultural practices across a wide geographic range. Furthermore, while the vernacular has been examined in recent scholarly literature in relation to the cosmopolitan, we are only beginning to study the relation between the vernacular, which may be both understood in linguistic terms and as a locally rooted dimension of everyday life, and the regional as well as the cross- or trans-regional. In what ways could a trans-regional reading enhance our understanding of specific regions, adding complexity to how we understand the local and particular? How can we usefully investigate the impact of cross-regional circulation on the making of the vernacular, in order to enhance our understanding of how boundaries of language, “tradition”, place, and belonging are both maintained and crossed?
 
Not limited in terms of chronology or place, this panel will allow specialists of different disciplines to explore the tension between the vernacular, the regional, and the trans-regional.

For more information and to propose a paper for the panel, see:

https://www.ecsas2018.org/

https://www.ecsas2018.org/call-for-papers/

The Call For Papers closes 30 November 2017.

Contact Information

M. Boivin, Center for South Asian Studies (CEIAS), Paris, France; A. Murphy, Department of Asian Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; P. Zehmisch, Center for Advanced Studies, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany

Contact Email
anne.murphy@ubc.ca