[AIW] CFP: New Perspectives on Transpacific Connections: The Americas and the South Pacific, Munich, 25-28 April 2013
AIW - Bartl
bartl at american-indian-workshop.org
Wed Apr 18 11:44:37 CEST 2012
Call for Papers
New Perspectives on Transpacific Connections: The Americas and the South
Pacific
Conference at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, 25-28 April 2013
Convenors: Eveline Dürr and Agnes Brandt, Institute for Social and Cultural
Anthropology, LMU Munich
Recent changes in political and economic constellations in the Pacific Rim
reconfigured power relations and patterns of exchange between the Americas
and the Pacific region. Through agreements such as the Trans-Pacific
Partnership (TPP) new conditions for trade and exchange are provided across
the Pacific. As a result, regional and cultural spaces that have long been
perceived as separate emerge as closely interconnected.
However, while transpacific crossings have accelerated over the past decade,
such connections date back to colonial and pre-colonial times and have
existed ever since. There is tentative evidence that pre-Columbian voyages
across the Pacific created linkages between the Americas and Polynesia as
early as AD 1300. In the sixteenth century, regular shipping routes across
the Pacific connected the Philippines with New Spain. In more recent times,
bilateral trade has intensified and South-South engagements are growing
considerably. While commercial interests still play a pivotal role,
cooperation increasingly extends beyond trade and comprises a wide range of
activities in areas such as culture, knowledge, education, media, politics,
the arts, and sciences.
Research on transpacific connections has focused on trading activities and
on political relations. Consequently, the dominant disciplinary perspective
is economics and trade. Anthropological contributions and cultural and
social sciences perspectives in general are under-represented in this
novel research terrain. Furthermore, the great majority of these recent
investigations into transpacific relations focus on connections between the
Americas and Asia, in particular on relations between Latin America and
China, as a new emerging force in the region. Far less researched, however,
are linkages that connect the Americas with the Southern part of the
Pacific, including Australasia and South East Asia. A particularly
under-researched field are transpacific indigenous connections, for
instance, the export of successful models of cultural revitalization across
the Pacific and their localized appropriation and reinterpretation by
indigenous actors.
The aim of the conference is to bring different perspectives on cultural
connections between the Americas and the South Pacific into dialogue and to
explore a wide range of links between these cultural spaces. It aims to
reach beyond Sino-Latin American collaborations and to include these rather
neglected Southern linkages. It asks how these connections have developed
over time, which local responses they have generated, and what impact these
processes have in the region in terms of representational forms and
strategies, and new cultural practices (e.g., spirituality, music, food,
gender, lifestyle). Such a perspective is essential when discussing mobility
and migration as these patterns have changed dramatically in recent years.
For instance, whereas in the past migrants tended to be of lower education
and class background, today they are often skilled and economically powerful
lifestyle or professional migrants. As a result, both migration and
representation patterns have been transformed.
By extending the focus beyond East Asia to the Southern Pacific region
including Island connections with the Americas, this conference aims to
provide a more comprehensive understanding of the new dynamics and shifting
relations in the region. While it also wants to trace linkages with North
America, it is particularly concerned with Latin America and South-South
engagements. Furthermore, without neglecting the historical dimensions, the
focus is on the diverse and unprecedented contemporary forms of cultural,
social and economic encounters, and on the shifting physical as well as
virtual representations of Latino/a and Pacific populations. Central topics
to be discussed are:
· indigenous connections
· migration and new mobilities
· political/economical relations
· historical (dis-)continuities
We particularly invite actor-oriented contributions from anthropology and
its neighbouring disciplines dealing with face-to-face encounters, relations
from below, and direct transcultural interactions and relationships.
Provided we can secure funding, we will cover the costs for travel,
accommodation, and conference participation for presenters.
Please submit an abstract of 200-250 words in English by 15 June 2012 to:
transpacific-americas-2013 at lmu.de
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