In Search of New Perspectives, Methods and Finer Factors of Identity Formation—from East Asia to the World
4 – 5 September 2015
St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, UK
Deadline of Abstract Submissions: Friday, 10 April
Conference Objective
Multiple, mercurial, flowing, strategic, transcultural and transnational, context-dependent and socially constructed—these are characteristics of contemporary identity observed by postmodernist theorists. Yet, a chronic debate is that these attributes can neither entirely fit into individuals’ perception of self-identity, nor thoroughly correspond with their sense of subjectivity when individuals take political actions or fulfil their particular roles in identity politics. More precisely, when the significant influence of social contexts—i.e., perceived history, social structure, the operation of state apparatus, etc., which mainly contribute the postmodernist characteristics of identity—has been widely recognised, how should we explain the heterogeneity of identity emerging in similar contexts? How should we account for the diversity of political action taken by individuals who are supposed to share the same identity?
This conference proposes to regard East Asia as a starting point to deal with this analytic dilemma (yet, the scope of this conference is not limited to this region). For instance, as China is increasingly cultivating a strong nation-image both domestically and internationally, it is also creating a homogeneous cultural and political identity—that is, to be culturally ‘Chinese’ is to recognise the communist regime. Meanwhile, the increasing advocation for a differentiative Taiwanese or Hong Kong identity, in spite of the two governments’ pro-China and pro-neoliberal tendencies, has amounted to a historic high, arguably catalysed by large-scale student movements during the last year which aimed to pursue democratic values, legislations and social equality. Conventional factors, for instance, the recognition of one’s nation and ethnicity and the state’s effort of nation building, are either insufficient or too broad to explicitly depict the mechanism of how these identities are constructed or formed. The influence exercised by elements of other dimensions, such as culture, political ideology, social psychology, etc., should be given credit and further clarified by researchers.
Conference Themes
This conference calls for papers that share the common goal of exploring new constitutive factors and developing new perspectives of identity research. Several themes are designed (but not limited to) as follows:
Theme 1. Theorising and Measuring Identity
Theme 2. State and Identity
Theme 3. Society and Identity
Theme 4. Individual and Identity
This is only a preliminary design which attempts to offer broad guidance in our journey of studying identity. We are indeed excited to see research, not only using various research materials—either individual ones like autobiography, diary, novel, music/art work, online comments/articles, or general ones like newspaper, textbooks, advertisements, state propaganda, etc.—but also covering diverse types of identity, such as national, ethnic, political, class or gender identity, or identities based on the classification of social roles or virtually created in the Internet.
Rules of Submission
The submission deadline is Friday, 10th April. The abstract (up to 300 words) is expected to succinctly include research objectives, theoretical frameworks, research methods, summary of research findings and main arguments, and intellectual contributions or social and political implications. Please also list three to five keywords and attach a short biography of the author. All abstract should be emailed to: asian@sant.ox.uk with the subject heading ‘TSP 2015 abs’, which ensures the submission will not go to spam folder. We will shortly reply with confirmation of receipt.
Funding for travel and accommodation may be available to authors whose papers are selected. The full papers with a maximum length of 8,000 words must be submitted by 20 August 2015. A selection of accepted papers will be considered for publication in either an edited volume or a peer- reviewed journal special issue. Once again, prioritiy will be given to focuses on Taiwan and East Asia, but papers dealing with identity issues in other parts of the world are equally welcome.
Enquiries: asian@sant.ox.ac.uk or tel: (+44) 01865-274559
Please see our official website and Facebook page for updates (e.g. latest news and invited speakers)