Conference Workshop, part of Inter-Asian Connections IV: Istanbul

Workshop Directors: Alice Jim (Department of Art History, Concordia University) and Henry Tsang (Faculty of Culture & Community, Emily Carr University of Art & Design)

Workshop Participants: Rachel Amtiz (National University of Singapore), Jacqueline Armijo (Qatar University), Gay Breyley (Monash University), Manuela Ciotti (Aarhus University & Indiana University), Viet Le (California College of the Arts), susan pui san lok (Middlesex University), Ian Alden Russell (Koç University), Valerie Soe (San Francisco State University), June Yap (National University of Singapore).

Co-organized and co-sponsored by the Social Science Research Council, Yale University, the National University of Singapore (NUS), the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (HKIHSS) at the University of Hong Kong, Göttingen University and Koç University – collectively the “Conference Organizing Committee.”

The Inter-Asian Connections Conference Organizing Committee is pleased to release the final agenda for the upcoming international conference, Inter-Asian Connections IV: Istanbul.

To be held in Istanbul and hosted by Koç University, the conference will host seven concurrent workshops led by two or three directors and showcasing innovative research from across the social sciences and related disciplines. Workshops will focus on themes of particular relevance to Asia, reconceptualized as a dynamic and interconnected historical, geographical, and cultural formation stretching from the Middle East through Eurasia and South Asia, to East Asia. Six workshops were chosen competitively from among 43 applications while one was organized by the host institution.

The conference structure and schedule have been designed to enable intensive ‘working group’ interactions on a specific research theme, as well as broader interactions on topics of mutual interest and concern. Accordingly, there will be a public keynote and plenary sessions in addition to closed workshop sessions. The concluding day of the conference will bring all the conference participants together for the public presentation and exchange of research agendas that have emerged over the course of the conference deliberations.

CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS

“After Neoliberalism?” The Future of Postneoliberal State and Society in Asia
Workshop Directors: Emel Akçali (Department of International Relations and European Studies, Central European University), Ho-Fung Hung (Sociology, Johns Hopkins University) and Lerna Yanik (Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Kadir Has University)

Asian Early Modernities: Empires, Bureaucrats, Confessions, Borders, Merchants
Workshop Directors: Kaya Sahin (Department of History, Indiana University) and Hendrik Spruyt (Department of Political Science, Northwestern University)

Contemporary Art and the Inter-Asian Imaginary
Workshop Directors: Alice Jim (Department of Art History, Concordia University) and Henry Tsang (Faculty of Culture & Community, Emily Carr University of Art & Design)

Inequalities in Asian Societies: Bringing Back Class Analysis
Workshop Directors: Deniz Yükseker (Sociology, Koç University), Ching Kwan Lee (Sociology, UCLA) and Can Nacar (History, Koç University)

Porous Enclaves: Inter-Asian Residential Projects and the Popular Classes from Istanbul to Seoul
Workshop Directors: John Friedmann (School of Community and Regional Planning, University of British Columbia) and Erik Harms (Anthropology and Area & International Studies, Yale University)

Rescuing Taste from the Nation: Oceans, Borders and Culinary Flows
Workshop Directors: Krishnendu Ray (Department of Nutrition, Food Studies & Public Health, New York University) and Cecilia Leong-Salobir (University of Wollongong)

The Sounds and Scripts of Languages in Motion
Workshop Directors: Jing Tsu (East Asian Languages and Literatures, Yale University) and Ronit Ricci (School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia-Pacific, The Australian National University)