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[Abe' Mark Nornes]

Conference Announcement

The conference takes place between Nov. 16 and 18, 1998. 

One of the most conspicuous changes in the current post Cold War era is
the economic transformation of
Asian countries.  A new open relation of Asia with the West has however
brought in not only a kind of
disproportionate material abundance but also unprecedented Western
influence on its cultural structures,
symbols, and expressions.  The David C. Lam Institute for East-West
Studies is pleased to present a forum
for an East-West dialogue on Asian Cultures in the New World Order.  The
focus will be Asia's
re-interpretation of itself and the West's re-alignment of its relation
with Asia as expressed in
contemporary popular culture.  Hong Kong, being the ultra-metropolitan
city of the East, will provide the
best environment for the meeting of international scholars for such a
purpose.


Venue

The conference venue is the Lam Woo International Conference Centre on
the Hong Kong Baptist
University campus.  Located on the new Shaw Campus of the University on
Renfrew Road, Kowloon
Tong, it provides attractive meeting rooms and the latest audio-visual
aids for presentations.  Participants
may stay in the University's NTT International House, which is adjacent
to the conference venue and
within easy access to public transportation, restaurants, and shopping.  


Program

The Program will be contingent upon paper and panel proposals received
and is expected to consist of
keynote addresses, plenary presentations, theme-based panels, and a
concluding session on the last day of
the conference.


Call for Papers and Pre-Constituted Panels

The Conference seeks to address the following questions:

*What is the "New Asian Generation?" What is the relation of this "New
Generation" with its traditions
and with the West?  Will the great tide of transnationalism built by
global corporations and media
empires render regionalism obsolete?  Is regionalism an essentialist
idea?

*In the face of pervasive "new" ways of life, which  largely originated
in the West, how do Asians
interpret and express themselves in their new material/cultural
environment?  How does a specific
culture shape, organize, and activate modern tools of culture, such as
cinema, music, video, fashions, etc.

*How can contemporary Asian cultures be conceptualized "outside" of
these cultures?  What kind of
interpretative strategies are justified in an East-West dialogue?  Are
there possible discourses outside of
post- or neo-coloniality, modernity and post-modernity, feminism and
class theory?

To submit paper or pre-constituted panel proposals please send TWO
identical copies of:

(I) a one-page (200 words) paper proposal OR a pre-constituted panel
proposal with a one-page  description
of the overall panel and a one paragraph  description for each of the
three papers of the panel, and (II) a
maximum two-page personal resume (please indicate e-mail and summer
address) to the Conference
Secretary.

Deadline: April 30, 1998


Conference Secretary

Wendy Chan, Conference Secretary,
The David C. Lam Institute for East-West Studies,
Hong Kong Baptist University,
Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong.

Tel: (852) 2339 5335              Fax: (852) 2339 5128
Email: wendy at hkbu.edu.hk
Website: http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~lewi