My colleagues and I are organizing a panel for AHA 2020 titled "The Everyday Lives of Norms: Militarism, Masculinity, and Prostitution in Twentieth-Century Asia." This panel is broadly focused on norms (militaristic and gendered) and how they govern everyday dynamics, practices, and relations across three areas: prostitution, soldiering, and universal conscription. Papers center on everyday prostitution in late colonial India (1918-1947), masculinity and soldiering in Cold War South Korea, and the gendered dynamics of compulsory military service under Park Chee Hung's authoritarian rule (1968-1979). All papers consider the everyday instantiations of militaristic and gendered norms across distinct contexts, and make of use of themes of everydayness, gender dynamics, and sexuality.
We are a seeking a chair and commentator for this panel, and prefer individuals who have done work on South Asia or the Asia-Pacific with an emphasis on themes of militarism and gender.
Interested individuals should write to me at zsameen@uchicago.edu.
Zoya Sameen, PhD candidate, University of Chicago