Deadline: January 15, 2012
On 2-3 May 2012, the Asian Dynamics Initiative, University of Copenhagen will convene an international conference to unravel the ‘new’ encounter between Asia and Europe. The conference will feature distinguished keynote speakers and paper presentations from an inter-disciplinary group of scholars, focusing on Europe’s ‘new’ relationship with Asia or the changes in Europe and Asia against the backdrop of such changing relationships.
Scholars are invited to reflect, describe and speculate on the current state as well as the future of Europe’s ‘new’ engagement with Asia. The organizers particularly invite empirical studies, ethnographies and historically grounded accounts of the event – of the rise of Asia – as witnessed in a variety of settings and localities. These include not only different regional experiences, but also transformations experienced at the level of macro policy making to everyday individual choices and patterns.
Abstracts (no more than 250 words) should be submitted by 15 January 2012 to Marie Yoshida (marie.yoshida@nias.ku.dk)
The organizing committee will notify abstract submitters of acceptance by email no later than 27 January 2012.
The idea is to address the political and policy concerns – ranging from anxieties of economic downturn and changing capital flows, climate change attributed to increased energy consumption in growing Asian economies, continued population growth that will potentially lay an even greater demand on the world’s natural resources to fears of Europe losing its competitive edge in a world where Asian economic and military power might have an upper hand. In short, the ‘rise of Asia’ is not an event confined to Asia alone. Its effects can be witnessed in the ways European economies, societies, politics and cultural imaginings are themselves being rearranged as a consequence.
The following sub-themes are suggested, although other topics relevant to the overall Asia-Europe theme are also welcome:
Shifting Centres of Economic Gravity
Environmental Challenges
Urban Imaginaries and Power
Changing Security Dynamics
Historical Difference
Bodies and Boundaries
Cultural Affects
Competition for Resources
Read more on the conference website:
http://asiandynamics.ku.dk/english/rising_asia_anxious_europe/
The conference is organized by the Asian Dynamics Initiative, a cross-faculty and inter-disciplinary research priority area at the University of Copenhagen. http://asiandynamics.ku.dk/english