CFP: Rethinking Settler Colonialism and Indigenous Heritage in Asia (Association for Critical Heritage Studies 2020)

Roslynn Ang Announcement
Location
United Kingdom
Subject Fields
Anthropology, East Asian History / Studies, Indigenous Studies, South Asian History / Studies, Southeast Asian History / Studies

Proposals are invited for the following panel for the Association of Critical Heritage Studies 5th Biennial Conference 2020: Futures 

Panel Session: Rethinking Settler Colonialism and Indigenous Heritage in Asia (Association for Critical Heritage Studies 2020)

Date:26 – 30 August 2020

Venue: University College London, London, United Kingdom  

Website: https://achs2020london.com/

Session Abstract

Settler colonialism imposes a structure on Indigenous Peoples and their territories, which serves to eliminate Indigenous Peoples for settlers to establish themselves on these territories. At the same time, it seeks to appropriate Indigeneity for the settlers to express independence and produce a settler society as different from the country of origin. Under the influence of the transnational Indigenous movement that gained prominence in the last two decades, Indigenous heritage has emerged as a form of resistance and empowerment for Indigenous communities to negotiate their marginalisation within the settler colonial context. While there is a growing interest in the relationship between settler colonialism and Indigenous heritage, most studies have focused narrowly on the experiences of Indigenous Peoples in North America, Australia and New Zealand, which offer limited applicability for Indigenous Peoples in Asia who face starkly differentpolitical, cultural and social dynamics. 

In this panel, we seek to examine the relationship between settler colonialism and Indigenous heritage in the Asian context, and the impacts on the Indigenous Peoples and their heritage. We are interested in case studies which examine:

  • How settler colonialism takes shape in the context of a lack of first contact narratives in Asia, focusing on how the state re-conceptualises its relationship with Indigenous minorities. 
  • How settler colonialism intersects with majority settlers’ postcolonial nation-building project, through assimilation policies, processes of displacement and occupation, arbitrary re-drawing of nation-state boundaries, and appropriation of Indigenous heritage in consumer/popular culture. 
  • How Indigenous Peoples in Asia draw on their Indigenous heritage to navigate the complex political, cultural and social dynamics in which they are embedded within for their future survival, and how this mobilisation of Indigenous heritage transforms their cultural heritage and communal identity, as well as their place and position within the dominant settler societies in which they reside. 

 

Abstract Submission

Please send your abstract of not more than 300 words (with sufficient details of the significance of the research question(s), conceptual framing, methodological route and key findings), with an accompanying title, as well as a brief biography (maximum of 150 words) with your name, affiliation and contact details (including email address) to yc277@leicester.ac.uk by 10 October 2019 (Thursday). Successful applicants will be notified by 14 October 2019 (Monday). For successful applicants, please submit a full paper of about 6,000 to 8,000 words to us by 1 August 2020 (Saturday). These papers will be pre-circulated prior to the conference, with a view for publication either in a special journal issue or an edited book in the future. All enquiries should be directed to yc277@leicester.ac.uk.

Contact Information
Dr. Roslynn AngGlobal Perspectives on Society Teaching FellowNYU ShanghaiEmail: roslynn.ang@nyu.edu Dr. Yunci CaiLecturer in Museum StudiesUniversity of Leicester (UK)Email: yc277@leicester.ac.uk
Contact Email
roslynn.ang@nyu.edu