Abstract
Deadline: 3/1/2003
Event:
Asian Studies on the Pacific
Coast (ASPAC) 2003 Annual Meeting
Event
Date & Location:
6/19-6/22/2003; East-West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii
Website:
http://www.aspac.org/Call_for_Papers/call_for_papers.html
Information:
The AAS president for 2003, James L. Watson, recently
published a study of the acceptance of McDonald's in East
Asia (Golden Arches East,1997). Its dust cover asks "What
are the cultural implications of this phenomenal success?
Does the introduction of American fast food undermine local
cuisines, many of them celebrated for centuries? Does it,
as some critics fear, presage a homogeneous, global culture?
Watson's
questions and more achieve even greater urgency in the context
of another ubiquitous American cultural invention, the Internet.
It has spawned a confusing host of neologisms and redefinitions,
e.g., hypertext, virtual reality, netizen, cyberspace, noowar,
denial of service, swarm attack.
E-mail
has become our preferred medium of communication. The World
Wide Web is an endless, quickly evolving archive of contemporary
and historical data in every field of inquiry. It is spawning
electronic journals (e.g., e-ASPAC ) and virtual universities.
Netizens are evolving unique forms of political activism
and demanding new forms of political representation. It
is enabling new forms of criminal, terrorist and protest
organization. It enabled the Burmese Diaspora to pressure
Massachusetts into passing a selective purchasing legislation.
It permits Hindu caste associations to expand awareness.
Every area of scholarship, including Asian Studies, has
been affected.
Our
use of the Internet is almost as second nature as use of
a library. We encourage panels and papers to be consciously
aware of the Internet and acknowledged ways in which it
has enriched, or at least modified, conventional research,
while at the same time continuing to pursue our own myriad
substantive interests. With that in mind, we invite paper
and panel proposals on all topics of Asian studies. Broad
themes for ASPAC 2003 include:
--Impact
of technology on Asian studies
--Education about Asia
--Asian strategic affairs
--Globalization
--NGOs and Asian development
--Integration, devolution and national stability
--Pacific Island states
--Society and the arts
These
themes by no means exhaust the range of interests represented
in ASPAC. New ones may emerge once abstracts have been received.
The John
and Mae Esterline Prize for outstanding student papers
will be awarded at the ASPAC 2003 conference. Application
Deadline is April 15, 2003. All conference papers will be
considered for inclusion in the ASPAC electronic journal.
Submission
Guidelines / Information:
Paper Proposal Form available online at http://www.aspac.org/Paper_Proposal_Form/paper_proposal_form.html.
Registration
Information:
Registration Form available online at http://www.aspac.org/Registration_Form/registration_form.html.
Contact:
William Vanderbok, ASPAC 2003 Chair
5613 Fairhaven Avenue
Woodland Hills, CA 91367-3925
E-mail: Vanderbok@ASPAC.org
E-fax: (443) 596-1291
