We are delighted to welcome you to the conference on InterAsian Connections V: Seoul. This is the fifth conference in the series (Dubai 2008, Singapore 2010, Hong Kong 2012, Istanbul 2013), which have become an exciting venue enabling the intersection of research agendas and the networking of researchers to develop important and new paradigms on Asian pasts, presents, futures and global connections.

OVERVIEW

Host: Seoul National University Asia Center
Dates: April 27-30, 2016

We are pleased to announce that InterAsian Connections V: Seoul, the fifth in this international conference series, will be held April 27-30, 2016, in Korea, at the Seoul National University Asia Center.

This series showcases innovative research from across the social sciences and related disciplines and explores themes that transform conventional understandings of Asia. Crossing traditional area studies boundaries and creating international and interdisciplinary networks of scholars working to theorize the intersection of the “global” and the “regional” in a variety of contexts, the conference reconceptualizes Asia as a dynamic and interconnected historical, geographical, and cultural formation stretching from West Asia through Eurasia, South Asia and Southeast Asia to East Asia.

Following the model used in previous conferences, the 2016 Seoul conference–comprising ten concurrent, closed director-led workshops and plenary sessions open across workshops and to the general public—will be structured to enable intensive working group interactions on specific research themes as well as broader interactions on topics of shared interest and concern.

PLEANARIES 

CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS

Conviviality beyond the Urban Center: Theorizing the “Marginal Hub”
Workshop Directors: Magnus Marsden (Social Anthropology and Sussex Asia Centre, University of Sussex) and Madeleine Reeves (Social Anthropology, University of Manchester)

Forced Migration in/of Asia: Connections, Convergences, Comparisons
Workshop Directors: Elaine Lynn-Ee Ho (Geography, National University of Singapore) and Cabeiri Robinson(International Studies and Anthropology, University of Washington)

Frontier Assemblages: Political Economies of Margins and Resource Frontiers in Asia
Workshop Directors: Michael Eilenberg (Culture & Society, Aarhus University) and Jason Cons (LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin)

Genealogies of Financialization: Reframing Sovereignty in Asia (1600–present)
Workshop Directors: Sankaran Krishna (Political Science, University of Hawaii at Manoa) and Saeyoung Park(Modern Korean Studies, Leiden University)

Geo-political Economies of (Post) Developmental Urbanization in East Asia
Workshop Directors: Bae-Gyoon Park (Geography Education, Seoul National University) and Jamie Doucette (School of Environment and Development, University of Manchester)

Knowledge Mobilities and the Prospects for InterAsian Urbanisation
Workshop Directors: Francis Collins (Geography, School of Environment, University of Auckland) and Kong Chong Ho (Sociology, National University of Singapore)

Logistics of Asia-Led Globalization: Infrastructure, Software, Labor
Workshop Directors: Brett Neilson (Institute for Culture and Society, University of Western Sydney) andRanabir Samaddar (Director, Calcutta Research Group)

Mecca InterAsia
Workshop Directors: Engseng Ho (History and Anthropology, Duke University, and Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore) and Cemil Aydin (History, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)

Mediated Populism across Asia
Workshop Directors: Paula Chakravartty (Gallatin School of Media, Culture and Communication, New York University), Zeynep Gambetti (Political Science and International Relations, Bogaziçi University), and Srirupa Roy (Centre for Modern Indian Studies and Political Science, University of Göttingen)

The Social Economy and Alternative Development Models in Asia
Workshop Directors: Euiyoung Kim (Political Science and International Relations, Seoul National University) and Hiroki Miura (Institute of Korean Political Studies, Seoul National University)

REVIEW

Seoul National University Asian Center(SNUAC) held the ‘InterAsian Connections V: Seoul (2016)’ from the fifth April 27th to 30th in cooperation with Social Science Research Council (SSRC), and other leading foreign universities and Asia-specialized research institutions (University of Göttingen, University of Hong Kong, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Yale University). This was fifth following conferences held in Dubai(2008), Singapore(2010), Hong Kong(2012), and Istanbul(2013).

The IAC meeting in Seoul was composed of two parts. Plenary Session held on April 27th went along a public session for participation of public who are interested in the IAC. In addition, this session was composed of IAC Alumni session organized by SSRC and the local session organized by SNUAC. The keynote session of the local session was delivered by Professor Lisa Yoneyama(University of Toronto) under the title of ‘National Histories and the Cold War: A Transpacific Critique’. Panelist were Professor Juliette Chung(National Tsinghua University) and Professor Myoung-Kyu Park(Seoul National University, Director of Institute for Peace and Unification Studies).

Lisa Yoneyama spoke about National History question, which can be seen thorugh nationalist revisionisms, the state interventions, as well as the wartime “military comfort women”, and argued that they also need to be undersood geohistorically in relation to the failed post WWII transitional justice.

The workshops were held separately under 10 different themes as below, throughout April 27th to 30th.

• Conviviality beyond the Urban Center: Theorizing the ‘Marginal Hub’

• Force Migration in/of Asia: Connections, Convergences, Comparisons

• Frontier Assemblages: Political Economies of Margins and Resource Frontiers in Asia

• Genealogies of Financialization: Reframing Sovereignty in Asia (1600~present)

• Geo-political Economies of (Post) Developmental Urbanization in East Asia

• Knowledge Mobilities and the Prospects for InterAsian Urbanization

• Logistics of Asia-Led Globalization: Infrastructure, Software, Labor

• Mecca InterAsia

• Mediated Populism across Asia

• The Social Economy and Alternative Development Models in Asia

Apart from the academic gathering, the participants also had some time to make friends and interact. A jazz band was invited to the group dinner on April 28, and the participants had a great time, which goes beyond their academic interactions.

On the last day of the conference, all the workshop participants shared the outcome of the three-day discussion of each workshop groups in a series of Directors’ Plenary sessions. Directors of each workshop groups presented the major findings and developments of the workshops. Professor Srirupa Roy (University of Göttingen) and Professor Myungkoo Kang (Seoul National University) gave closing remarks in the final session celebrating the success of the three-day event.

This IAC Seoul conference was the largest-scale event of the IACs. SNUAC has joined the network of InterAsian Partnership as a core institutional partner of the IAC, which is in line with SNUAC’s long-term goal of becoming a global hub for Asian Studies.

* InterAsian Connections V: Seoul conference: http://snuac.snu.ac.kr/?u_event=18053

* Keynote Speech:

http://snuac.snu.ac.kr/?u_event=interasian-connections-v-seoul-conference-keynote-speech

* Summary of Presentations and Programs: https://s3.amazonaws.com/ssrc-cdn2/iav-program-web-5717f97de0035.pdf