2004 INTER-ASIA CULTURAL STUDIES CONFERENCE:
'CULTURAL THEORY FOR ASIA: NEW PEDAGOGIC POSSIBILITIES'

In association with
Inter-Asia Cultural Studies

Supported by
Christ College

In partnership with
The Japan Foundation

and

Asia Research Institute
National University of Singapore

Dates: 23-25 February, 2004
Venue: Christ College, Bangalore

The 2004 IACS Cultural Studies Conference brings together eminent Asian scholars from 12 countries to debate issues of Asian Cultural Theory. This conference continues previous CSCS conferences furthering the field, including The Human Sciences and the Asian Experience (2000), Feminisms in Asia (2001) and 'Alternatives': Political Theory/Activism/Cultural Studies (2001) (see Conferences).

An additional purpose of the 2004 IACS Conference is to focus especially on the concerns of undergraduate and graduate faculty from humanities and social sciences departments. In collaboration with the Educational Initiatives Programme (EIP) and with Christ College, Bangalore, the 2004 IACS Conference seeks to address new issues of cultural theory as these affect curricular and pedagogic issues.

About Inter-Asia Cultural Studies:

The Inter-Asia Cultural Studies journal (published by Routledge), now into its fourth year, has received recognition as one of the most significant pan-Asian platforms for investigating cultural theory and the relationship between cultural theory and cultural/political movements. The IACS Editorial Board, which consists of representatives from over 15 Asian countries, has periodically met in different countries in order to engage with local writing on local issues that would otherwise be inaccessible outside its immediate context and its native languages.
(For further information, see http://www.inter-asia.org).

Previous IACS Conferences:

The 2004 IACS follows from previous conferences in Taipei (1998), Problematising Asia, and in Fukuoka (2000, in association with the Kyushu University), Transformative Era, Transformative Work. Both conferences produced several influential papers from China, Korea, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan and India published in the journal. These conferences additionally have generated a range of other outcomes in terms of local exchanges, feeding into other (and related) events, and in supporting various kinds of local academic work, inside as well as outside the University.

Previous panels include: (Taipei 1998): Historical-Discursive Formation of "Asia", Cultural Effects of Capital Flow, Labour Movement and Labour Migration, Local Responses to the "Rise" and "Fall" of Asia, Problematising the City, Colonialism, Nationalism and Cultural Identities, and the Politics of Sexuality; (Fukuoka 2000): Movement: Focus on Migrant Labour, Journal Alliances, Feminisms in Asia, Youth Culture, Western Imperialism and Japanese Colonialism, Asian film/melodrama, Indigenous and Critical Perspectives on the Ocean and Oceania, Post/Cold War.

Collaborations:

The Asia Research Institute (ARI) was established as a university-level institute in July 2001 as one of the strategic initiatives of the National University of Singapore (NUS). The mission of the Institute is to provide a world-class focus and resource for research on the Asian region. ARI engages the social sciences broadly defined, and especially interdisciplinary frontiers between and beyond disciplines. Within NUS it works particularly with the Faculties of Arts and Social Sciences, Business, Law and Design, to support conferences, lectures, and graduate study at the highest level. ARI provides support for doctoral and postdoctoral research, conferences, workshops, seminars, and study groups. It welcomes visiting scholars who wish to conduct their research on Asia in Singapore, and encourages collaboration with other Asian research institutes worldwide.

Christ College, founded in 1969, is one of Bangalore's leading undergraduate and graduate institutions in the humanities and social sciences. (For further information see http://www.christcollege.edu).

The Educational Initiatives Programme at CSCS has been doing collaborative work to explore questions of interdisciplinarity in undergraduate education. This work is contextualised by the need to understand the implications that new cultural theory and interdisciplinarity might have to the future of academic institutions, within the contexts of academic autonomy, vocationalisation and the crisis of the University. In its two years of existence the Educational Initiatives Programme has undertaken eight full courses in various institutions, and conducted nine workshops, in association with Christ College, the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology and on its own: a 'young researchers' workshop' run entirely by students, and 'consultancy' workshops with the Bangalore and Kuvempu Universities and with Ninasam, Heggodu. In addition, under the Documentation Programme, CSCS has undertaken to produce a substantial Report on the Status of Arts & Culture Funding, as well as put in place the technological infrastructure for a major electronic documentation programme to feed its forthcoming MA in Cultural Studies in collaboration with the Kuvempu University. The EIP has also collaborated with the National Centre for the Biological Sciences and the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, and has international links with the Yonsei University, Seoul.

Areas for Discussion:

The Higher Education Scenario, Reclaiming Spaces: Reordering Pasts: (Urban Studies/Urban Design), State Violence And Reparation (History), Multiculturalism (Sociology/Anthropology), Migration Panel, Cultural Hegemonies, Film Studies/Media Studies/Visuality Panel, Law Panel, Curriculum/Institutional Linkages.

Participants Include:

Aisa Kiyosue, Osaka University
Anirudh Paul, Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture, Mumbai
Ashish Rajadhyaksha, CSCS
Chen, Kuan-Hsing, Tsing Hua University, Taiwan
Cho (Han) Haejoang, Yonsei University, Seoul
Chua Beng-Huat, National University of Singapore
Ding, Naifei, National Central University, Taiwan
Firdous Azim, University of Dhaka/Naripokkho
Hee-Yeon Cho, SungKongHoe University, Seoul
Hilmar Farid, University of Indonesia
Hok Bun Ku, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Joyce Chi-Hui Liu, Taiwan
Kakarala Seetharamam, CSCS/National Law School of India University, Bangalore
Kim, Hyun Mee, Yonsei University, Seoul
Kim, Soyoung, Korean National University of Arts, Seoul
M.S.S. Pandian, Chennai
Madhava Prasad, Central Institute for English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad
Meaghan Morris, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
Melani Budianta, University of Indonesia, Jawa Barat
Paul Willemen, University of Ulster, Coleraine
Rehan Ansari, Filmmaker and writer, Pakistan
S.V. Srinivas, CSCS
Shamsul A.B., The National University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur
Shekhar Krishnan, Independent scholar, Mumbai
Shunya Yoshimi, University of Tokyo
Sun Ge, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing
Tejaswini Niranjana, CSCS
Valentina Vitali, University of Ulster, Coleraine
Wang Hui, Tsinghua University, Beijing
Wang Xiaoming, CCCS, Shanghai University
Yan Hairong, Princeton University
Yasuhiro Tanaka, Okinawa International University
Yoshitaka Mori, Kyushu University, Fukuoka
Zakir Hossein Raju, School of Communication, Independent University, Dhaka

Correspondence:

Write to: asiaconference@cscsban.org

Programme

February 21, 2004: CSCS Classroom

10:00 -
Inauguration of Student Pre-Conference
(organised by students of CSCS and Yonsei University)
Sessions: 10 AM-1 PM - 2 PM-4 PM
Panel 1: 'In/Disciplines'
Moderator: Ratheesh Radhakrishnan, CSCS
Participants: S Revathy (Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai), Smita V. (Hyderabad Central University, Dept. of English), Nimanthi Rajasingam (The International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Sri Lanka), Shravika Dhimani Dhamanupola (University of Colombo) and Sivagnanam Jeyasankar (Eastern University, Sri Lanka)

Panel 2: 'Urban Legends'
Moderator: Nishant Shah (CSCS)
Participants: Seo Young Park (Culture and Gender Studies, Yonsei University, Seoul), Kaiwan Mehta (Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture, Mumbai), Hirata Yukie (Dept. of Sociology,Yonsei University, Seoul)

Panel 3: 'Theorizing Culture'
Moderator: Meera Ashar (CSCS)
Participants: Azmi Aziz (ATMA, Univ. Kebangsaan Malaysia), Noor Hasidah Sulong (ATMA, Univ. Kebangsaan Malaysia), N. Vijay Sai (CIEFL, Hyderabad), Ajay Sekher (Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam)

Lunch for all participants and visitors at CSCS

February 22, 2004: CSCS Classroom

10:00 - 13:00 & 14:00-16:00 -
Student Pre-Conference continues

Panel 4: 'Rethinking Social Sciences'
Moderator: Dunkin Jalki (CSCS)
Participants: Shijith PK (University of Delhi), Rajat Rana (National Law School of India University, Bangalore), Sharath Chandra (CIEFL, Hyderabad), Leju P. Thomas (Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam).

Panel 5: 'Mediations'
Moderator: Subhajit Chatterjee (CSCS)
Participants: Munsia Naureen Ahmed (School of Communication Independent University, Bangladesh), Fahmidul Haque (University of Dhaka, Bangladesh), Kim Hee Won (Culture and Gender Studies, Yonsei University, Seoul), Preeta Menon (J.P. Shroff Arts College, Valsad, Gujarat), Madhuja Mookherjee (St. Xaviers College, Kolkata), Madhumeeta Sinha(CIEFL, Hyderabad).

Lunch for all student pre-conference participants, IACS Editorial Board meeting members and visitors

16:00 - CSCS Main Building
'The Future of Film Studies':
Roundtable Debate
on the occasion of the formal announcement of the Ph.D. programme in Film Studies
Paul Willemen (University of Ulster, Coleraine), Opening Statement
Participants: Ravi Vasudevan (SARAI/CSDS, Delhi), Madhava Prasad (CIEFL, Hyderabad), Moinak Biswas (Dept. of Film Studies, Jadavpur University, Kolkata), Kim Soyoung (Korean National University of Arts, Seoul), Valentina Vitali (University of Ulster), CSCS faculty.

20:00 -
Welcome Party at CSCS

February 23, 2004: Christ College Auditorium

10:00-10:15 -
Welcome To All Participants And Audience: Director, CSCS; Principal, Christ College; Editor, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies

10:15-11:00 -
Inaugural Statement:
Kuan-Hsing Chen(Tsing Hua University, Taiwan)
'Asia as Method'

11:00-11:15 - Coffee

11:15-13:00 -
Panel: Multiculturalism: The State and Culture
Panelists:
Satish Deshpande (Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi) Panel Abstract
Meaghan Morris (Lingnan University, Hong Kong) 'Mourning and Multiculturalism: an "Expatriate" Perspective'
Sherry-Ann Singh (University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad), 'Hinduism and the State in Trinidad'
Chair: Athi Sivan Mariappan (National University of Malaysia)
Respondent: Melani Budianta (University of Indonesia)

13:00-14:00 - Lunch

14:00-15:30 -
Panel: Primitivising The East
Panelists:
Shamsul A.B. (National University of Malaysia) 'Primitivizing The East: Reviving The Myth Of The Violent Native'
Rehan Ansari (Writer and Filmmaker, Lahore), 'Crisis and media/the media in crisis: Corporate media and the ethnic/community/independent press-the case of the Urdu press in New York post 9/11'
J.S. Sadananda (Kuvempu University, Karnataka) 'The Bababudhangiri Dharga Controversy: Understanding the Implications of a Secular Approach'
Chair and Respondent: A.K. Ramakrishnan (School of International Relations, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam)

15:30-16:00 - Coffee

16:00-17:30 -
Roundtable: Reformulating The Agenda
Panelists:
Cho Heeyeon (Sungkonghoe University, Seoul), 'Reflecting the "Third World" in the Context of Neo-liberal Globalization'
Wang Hui (Tsinghua University, Beijing) 'Imagining Asia: A Genealogical Analysis'
Sumathy Sivamohan (University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka) 'Displaced territory: Narratives of Women's Experiences of Travel, Migration and Place'
Chair and Respondent: Chua Beng Huat (National University of Singapore)

February 24, 2004: Christ College Auditorium

10:00-11:30 -
Panel: Re-Claiming Spaces, Dis-Locating Cities
Panelists:
Yoshitaka Mori (Kyushu University) 'New Cultural and Political Movements in Japan in the Age of Globalization: The Emergence of 'Freeter' Class and Anti-War Movements in the Street'
Anirudh Paul (Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture, Mumbai) 'Re (instituting) the Architecture of the City: The Endeavor from the Space of the Extracurricular'
M.S.S. Pandian (Visiting Fellow, Sarai/CSDS. Delhi) 'Two Inscriptions: Story of a Statue in Madras'
Shekhar Krishnan (Independent researcher, Mumbai) 'Ideas, Institutions, Spaces: Mumbai'
Chair: Shunya Yoshimi (University of Tokyo)

11:30-11:45 - Coffee

11:45-13:15 -
Panel: Cold War, Partition And State Violence
Panelists:
Hilmar Farid (University of Indonesia, Jakarta) 'Mass Extermination in Indonesia, 1965-66'
Ritu Menon (Women Unlimited, New Delhi), ' For We Are All, All Honourable Men: State Violence, State Reparation & the Gender Dimension'
Kakarala Sitharamam (CSCS Bangalore) 'Rethinking "Remedies" for Gross Violations of Human Rights'.
Chair: Kuan-Hsing Chen

13:15-14:00 - Lunch

14:00-15:30 -
Panel: Inter-Asia Migrations: Cross-Border Marriages, Migrant Sex and Domestic Work and Multilayered Discriminations
Panelists:
Yan Hairong (Princeton University) 'Self-Development of Migrant Women and the Production of Suzhi (Quality) as Surplus Value'
Hsia Hsiao Chuan 'Internationalization of Capital and the Trade in Asian Women - The Case of 'Foreign Brides' in Taiwan'
Ko Huk Bun (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong) 'Body, Dress and Cultural Exclusion: Experiences of Pakistani Women in "Global" Hong Kong'
Aisa Kiyosue (Osaka University) 'Rethinking Female Labour Migration from Positive Views'
Chair and Respondent: Naifei Ding (National Central University, Taiwan)

15:30-15:45 - Coffee

15:45-17:15 -
Panel: Cultural Hegemonies
Panelists:
Kanak Dixit (Himal, Kathmandu) 'The Diminutive Neighbour Syndrome'
Yasuhiro Tanaka (Okinawa International University) 'The Media Representation of "Okinawa" and US/Japan Hegemony'
Neluka Silva (University of Colombo) 'Sinhala Teledrama in Sri Lanka: A Case of Cultural Hegemony'
Chair: Firdous Azim (University of Dhaka)
Respondent: Rehan Ansari (Writer and Filmmaker, Lahore)

February 25, 2004: Christ College Auditorium

10:00-11:30 -
Panel: Film/Media/Visuality Theory in the Classroom (New Curricular Practices - 1)
Panelists:
Valentina Vitali (University of Ulster, Coleraine) 'Why study cinema?'
Zakir Hossain Raju (Independent University, Dhaka) 'Media and Film Studies Curriculum in Bangladesh Universities'
Naresh Rao (Christ College, Bangalore) 'Curriculum Development for Undergraduate Level Journalism Course at Christ College'
Chair and Respondent: S.V. Srinivas (CSCS, Bangalore)

11:30-11:45 - Coffee

11:45-13:00 -
Roundtable: Teaching Cultural Studies (New Curricular Practices - 2)
Participants:
Stephen Chan (Lingnan University, Hong Kong)
Joyce Liu (National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan)
Wang Xiaoming, (CCCS, Shanghai University)
Chair: Tejaswini Niranjana (CSCS, Bangalore)

13:00-14:00 - Lunch

14:00-15:.30 -
Roundtable: Teaching Cultural Studies (New Curricular Practices - 3)
Kim Hyunmee (Yonsei University, Korea)
Shunya Yoshimi (University of Tokyo)
Respondent: Satish Poduval (Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad)
Chair: Tejaswini Niranjana (CSCS, Bangalore)

15:30-15:45 - Coffee

15:45 - 17:15 -
Round-Table: Institutional Linkages
Panelists:
Kim Soyoung (Korean National University of the Arts, Seoul)
Paul Willemen (University of Ulster, Coleraine)
Chua Beng Huat (Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore)
Anu Taranath (University of Washington),
J.S. Sadananda (Kuvempu University, Shimoga)
Etienne Rassendran (St. Joseph's College, Bangalore)
Geetha Narayanan (Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore)
Chair and Respondent: Ashish Rajadhyaksha (CSCS, Bangalore)