The deadline for abstract submission for the UC Berkeley-UCLA Southeast Asian Studies Conference is January 20, 2020. The conference will take place April 24-25, 2020 at UCLA campus.

Conference chair: Professor George Dutton (Asian Languages and Cultures, UCLA)

This conference is designed to explore aspects of group and individual identity in the region. Broadly conceived, papers would consider the ways in which people are articulating, embracing, or contesting different forms and reconfigurations of personal or group identity. Such forms might encompass aspects of ethnic, gender, or religious identities, or perhaps overlaps across these and other dimensions of identity. Papers might consider the political implications of how people and groups articulate or embrace identity and possible conflicts pitting groups against the state or each other. The hope is that papers will explore newly emerging forms of identity as well as long-existing ones that are being reconceptualized or reasserted in new circumstances. Proposals from all disciplines are welcome as are ones that cross disciplinary lines.

Possible paper topics might touch on any of the following:

• state ethnic labeling policies and their implications;
• contestation centered on competing ethnic identities and terminologies;
• identities or communities formulated in terms of gender or sexual orientation;
• identities defined in terms of religious affiliation or organizations;
• academic, state, or public discourse surrounding racial or ethnic identities;
• ethnic or identity politics that cross national boundaries and complicate state narratives.

The two centers invite submissions for presentations from scholars and graduate students conducting original research in the social sciences and humanities that address the primary theme of the conference. Abstracts (up to 500 words) should be emailed to UCLA CSEAS by Monday, January 20, 2020. Abstracts should include your name, affiliation and discipline and contact information (including e-mail address).

The conference is open to all scholars and graduate students. Some travel funding is available for faculty and graduate students at UC and CSU campuses.

The conference will be held at UCLA and cosponsored by the UCLA Library.

Contact:
UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies
11288 Bunche Hall
Box 951487
Los Angeles, CA 90095
cseas@international.ucla.edu

The Center for Southeast Asia Studies at UC Berkeley and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at UCLA form a consortium U.S. Department of Education Title VI National Resource Center for Southeast Asian Studies.