Call for papers
25th ASEASUK (Association of Southeast Asian Studies UK) conference
Swansea University
11-13 September 2009
Please send abstracts (200-500 words) to the panel convenors or contact them directly if you have any enquiries about your proposed paper. The deadline for abstract submissions is 1 April 09. Conference organiser: Dr Felicia Hughes-Freeland. Email: <F.Hughes-Freeland@swansea.ac.uk>
(1) Environment, sustainability and livelihoods
Contacts: Chris J. Barrow (Swansea University) <c.j.barrow@swansea.ac.uk>; Becky Elmhirst (Brighton University) <R.J.Elmhirst@bton.ac.uk>
Across South East Asia, environments are facing mounting pressures from natural resource exploitation, climate change, urbanization and intensified geographical mobility. The aim of this panel is to explore some of the ecological, social and political dimensions of environment, sustainability and natural resource-based livelihoods in South East Asia, insofar as these are being played out against new geopolitical and global economic conditions. We welcome papers which cover any one of these broad areas and/or the inter-linkages between them, and we are open to submissions from any disciplinary perspective.
(2) Creating resilient tourism in Southeast Asia
Contact: Janet Cochrane (Leeds Met) J.Cochrane@leedsmet.ac.uk
Prominent in the economic landscape of Southeast Asia, tourism also impinges on social, cultural and environmental aspects. It is well known that the industry follows a clear life-cycle, with growth often leading to stagnation and then decline or rejuvenation. Less well understood are the factors which influence these stages, in particular rejuvenation. Papers using case studies and providing conceptual frameworks to explore the different stages and their underlying processes will be welcomed, especially those which apply resilience theory to tourism. It is hoped that an outcome of the panel will be insights into achieving resilient models of tourism.
(3) Theravada Buddhism and culture of the Tai of the Shan States and south-west China
Contact: Susan Conway (SOAS) <susanmconway@hotmail.com>, <sc66@soas.ac.uk>
The Southeast Asian inland region of the Shan States, Sipsong Pan Na (south-west China), Lan Na (north Thailand) and Lan Xang (western Laos) is inhabited by Tai people who have a distinctive culture expressed in secular and religious scripts, literature, architecture, and arts and crafts. The Tai in this region practice a form of Theravada Buddhism distinguished by monastic literary traditions and rituals. This panel focuses on the religious and cultural traditions of the Tai of the Shan States and south-west China that in recent history have been under pressure as a result of extensive cross-border migration, major changes in social structure and loss of traditional monastic sponsorship.
(4) Creativity and gender in Southeast Asia
Contact: F. Hughes-Freeland (Swansea University) <f.hughes-freeland@swansea.ac.uk>
Proposals for papers which address any aspect of gender and creativity in Southeast Asia are welcome. Topics include gendered styles of creativity in performance, patterns of gendered creativity in the literature, film, television or other media, the gendering of creativity in everyday life. You are encouraged to present examples from particular societies and to situate your cases against the changing dynamics of creative processes which arise from distinctive local patterns of gender relations and identities. Our discussions will be set against the proliferation of academic debates about gender relations and representations in Southeast Asia since the mid-1990s. I intend to develop a publication from these and other papers on the subject.