Call for Papers (Abstract Submission Deadline:August 15)

15-17 November 2013

Transnational Currents of US-China Relations: The 10th Anniversary of the American Studies Network (USCET-ASN) in China

The relationship between China and the United States has never been just a bilateral affair. The tenth anniversary conference of the American Studies Network explores US-China relations for the broader international contexts of Asia, the Pacific and the globe. During more than two centuries of interaction between the two countries, American and Chinese identities and relations have been shifting and changing in ways that trouble any easy distinctions between East and West. Furthermore, the commercial, cultural, diplomatic, political, intellectual, literary, and religious dimensions of American-Chinese interactions have impacted many other cultures and influenced our understandings of the regional and hemispheric categories of Asia and the Pacific. As the legacies of diasporic migrations between the two countries continue to this day, do cultural identities exceed any one national orientation or even challenge the category of nationalism itself? How have the politics in the US, China, and other Asia Pacific nations evolved in response to the increasing economic and social interdependence between the two countries? How have US-China relations changed in the age of globalization and how do these changes impact other Asian countries? By answering these questions, our aim is to assess the current state and broader context of American Studies in Greater China and other East and Southeast Asian countries. How far have we come during the first ten years of the American Studies Network, where do we need to go in the future?

We welcome abstract submissions from scholars of all disciplines in the social sciences and the humanities. Possible areas of inquiry include, but are not limited to:
• History, current state, and future of American Studies in China and Asia Pacific
• Transnational perspectives on US–China relations
• Evolving US-China relations in the Asia Pacific context
• Greater China and the US
• Politics of historical memory in US-China relations
• US-China relations and the creative industries (film, publishing, television, arts market, theme parks, advertising, architecture, design, fashion, radio, computer games, software, music, performing arts)
• Uses of soft power and American culture in the Asia Pacific context
• Panda diplomacy and emerging examples of popular culture diplomacy
• Transnational themes in Asian-Western narrative media (literature, film, television)
• The Internet, new media, and Web 2.0 in Greater China

Please submit abstracts (500 words max.) to asn2013@hku.hk by August 15, 2013.

Venue: The University of Hong Kong, Centennial Campus

Contact: Dr. Tim Gruenewald (tgruene@hku.hk), Jodie Klein (jklein@uscet.org)