[Commlist] Call for Papers: Culture in the Pandemic Age

*[REMINDER]
**Call for Papers: Culture in the Pandemic Age*

*Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society Virtual Conference*

Main Conference 28-30 July 2021 + Graduate Conference 26 July 2021

Organised by the Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society and the National 
University of Singapore

**http://culturalstudies.asia/iacs-conference/ 
<http://culturalstudies.asia/iacs-conference/>

*Abstract Submission Deadline: 29 January 2021*

*Confirmed Keynote and Invited Speakers*

  * Prof Kishore Mahbubani (National University of Singapore)
  * Prof Jomo Kwame Sundaram (Khazanah Research Institute, Columbia
    University and International Islamic University Malaysia)
  * Prof Sarah Pink (Monash University)
  * Prof Pun Ngai (University of Hong Kong)
  * Prof. Lim Sun Sun (Singapore University of Technology and Design)
  * Assoc. Prof. Aswin Punathambekar (University of Virginia)
  * Prof. Chang Kyung-Sup (Seoul National University)

*Call for Papers*

The C-19 pandemic has upended all aspects of everyday work, life and 
play.  From emergency lockdowns that required everyone to shelter at 
home to the gradual lifting of restrictions where working from home and 
remote learning continue to remain the norm, no one and no mode of human 
interaction have been left untouched by the virus. It is a cascading 
disaster involving health, economic and social challenges. Its measures 
designed to mitigate the virus have changed patterns of consumption and 
production. Its viral war metaphors have unleashed hostility between 
people, groups and nation-states. As a catastrophic event, it has 
precipitated ecological changes to unsettle and defamiliarize our 
traditional sensemaking of the world. While exacerbating structural 
inequalities and racial injustices, it has also reminded us there are 
things we should value, such as care and community. In such times of 
crisis, we ask: what are the new conditions and conjunctions of culture 
(cf. Hall, Grossberg)? What are the alternative strategies to think and 
act critically in ways that do not merely reproduce conventional and 
confrontational modes of resistance—how can we negotiate the pandemic 
and its contradictions so we are not just passive conduits of the virus? 
How can we refuse to be its vector of transmission (cf. Hage)? With the 
theme of “Culture in the Pandemic Age,” this Conference calls for 
critical investigation of the various responses to the C-19 with a focus 
on the specificities of local cultural contexts and practices. We 
welcome all submissions relating to Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 
especially those from the following sub-themes:

  * genealogies, theories and practices: pandemic, crisis, contagion,
    borders and border closures, transmissions and virality, lockdowns
    and reshoring, etc.;
  * art, culture & work: pandemic activism and social movements;
    heritage, memory and learning histories; creative work as essential
    and non-essential; working from home—spatial adaptations and design,
    etc.;
  * digital technologies and screens: digital learning and e-pedagogies;
    new screen ontologies and fatigue, etc.;
  *   media & environment: public health and smart city technologies;
    infodemics and misinformation; social media, platform societies and
    infrastructures, etc.;
  * sustainability & adaptability: anthropocene and climate change;
    disaster, racial and surveillance capitalisms; social distancing,
    urban structure, community and density; conditioning the new normal;
    catastrophe, emergency and resilience, etc.;
  * people, space & embodiments: pandemic (im)mobilities; labour and
    migration; precarity, mutual assistance, solidarity and care;
    prejudice and xenophobia; rural-urban reaction to the pandemic;
    masking, contact tracing, hand sanitising, etc.;
  * governance & politics: democracy and biopolitics; surveillance and
    securitization; inter-Asia relations, etc.;
  * new Cold-War, new territories & futurism: political economy and
    industrialization in pandemic; Asia futurism; territoriality and the
    politics of distance, etc.

*Graduate Student Conference (26 July 2021)*

The Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society conference will host its 
Graduate Conference 
<http://culturalstudies.asia/iacss-graduate-conference-2021/> (26 July 
2021) before the Main Conference 
<http://culturalstudies.asia/main-iacss-conference-2021/> (28-30 July 
2021). Our objective is to provide a favorable learning environment for 
graduate students to present their work-in-progress. While graduate 
students may submit their abstracts to the Main Conference, we encourage 
graduate students to submit to the Graduate Conference for better 
networking opportunities and productive faculty feedback

*Format: *Hybrid (Virtual/Singapore)--Zoom, in-person, pre-recorded 
presentations. Delegates are invited to present virtually. The keynotes 
will be live-streamed and where possible, live in Singapore. Socially 
distanced and hybrid plenary presentations will take place at National 
University of Singapore.

*Submission Format: *individual papers, panels, roundtables.

*Abstract Submission Deadline:* 29 January 2021

*Announcement of Accepted Panels, Papers, and Roundtables:* 26 February 2021

**

*Conference Convenor: *Prof Audrey Yue (National University of Singapore)

*Conference Committee: *Prof Chua Beng-Huat (National University of 
Singapore),**Associate Professor Daniel Goh (National University of 
Singapore),**Visiting Professor Chen Kuan-Hsing (National University of 
Singapore)

*Conference Manager: *Dr Wang Jiabao (National University of Singapore)

*Conference Contact Email:*  (iacs2021singapore /at/ gmail.com)

For more details on submission guidelines and how to submit your 
abstracts, click here: http://culturalstudies.asia/iacs-conference/ 
<http://culturalstudies.asia/iacs-conference/>

---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------