[KS] Strange Korean Parallels 2020: a new call for bold papers!

[Andrew Logie]

Strange Korean Parallels 2020: an international conference
for comparative approaches to the history, languages and culture
of Korea and northern East Asia with other global regions

9–10 January 2020
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Organized by the University of Helsinki in collaboration
with Siem Reap University of South-East Asia

In January 2019, the first Strange Korean Parallels conference was successfully held in the depths of winter at the University of Helsinki, Finland. The papers presented there covered topics from early history through to the 20th century, and included critical comparisons of Korea with various other regions and countries of Asia, Europe and America. Participants similarly came from around the globe, and represented both a diversity of topical expertise and a range of career stages.

For January 2020 the University of Helsinki will again organize Strange Korean Parallels but with the venue in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and in collaboration with the Siem Reap University of South-East Asia. The primary aims of the conference remain the same: to develop the foundations for comparative approaches to Korean history and culture in global contexts, to demonstrate the potential of such research, and to cultivate a shared research identity among participants.

Today, Siem Reap is principally known as a booming tourist town serving the nearby Angkor Wat monuments. The Angkorian period (c.802-1481) of Cambodian history broadly overlaps with that of the Koryŏ period (918-1392). Both regions had comparable trajectories of early state formation characterized by syncretic processes between their indigenous cultures and the adoption of religious systems and writing from the neighboring civilizations of India and China respectively. In the modern era both states have been subject to colonization and civil wars, leaving issues of cultural heritage and territorial disputes with neighbours highly charged. Today Cambodia might be characterized as a developmentalist state with the clothes factories around Phnom Penh analogous to the 1970s’ Peace Market of Seoul. From an academic perspective, both countries have been placed within areal contexts of Southeast and Northeast Asia respectively; both these fields have postcolonial and Cold War baggage but have also benefited from evidentialist approaches, and have since evolved more empathetically towards concern for local agency and meanings.

This year we broaden the scope of Strange Korean Parallels to encourage those who may not consider themselves historians in the strictest sense to nevertheless consider applying. We thus invite scholars of history, archaeology and cultural topics of all periods of Korea to experiment with possible comparisons and contrasts they have perhaps thought of in the course of research but rarely felt license to explore. We further invite comparative historians and specialists of other regions with an interest in treating Korea and pursuing collaborative research.

The conference is principally open to doctoral students and above. Both individual and panel proposals are welcome. During the conference we will discuss publication strategies and we welcome early expressions of interest from journals or publishers. Financially, we aim to provide selected participants with 3 nights accommodation at the conference venue in Siem Reap (8-10 January), including breakfasts, 2 lunches and at least one dinner across the conference days. Participants are responsible for their own travel arrangements to Siem Reap, including flights and travel insurance.

Instructions
Please send abstracts (500-600 words) as Word files to: andrew.logie at helsinki.fi with the subject “SKP2020 abstract [SURNAME Name]”.
Abstracts should include your name, position and affiliation.
You should receive confirmation of receipt within five working days.
Please note the close deadline for submissions: 30 September 2019.
The working language of the conference is English. Bilingual Korean and English language abstracts will also be accepted.

For further updates, look for the Strange Korean Parallels page (#StrangeKoreanParallels) on Facebook.

Important dates:
2019.9.30	Deadline for paper proposals (500-600 words).
2019.10.10	Notification of acceptance/rejection.
2019.10.20	Deadline for confirmation of participation.
2019.12.20	Submission of working drafts papers.

2019.1.9		Conference Day 1
2019.1.10	Conference Day 2

Strange Korean Parallels is organized and funded by Andrew Logie, assistant professor in Korean Studies at University of Helsinki, Department of Culture.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://koreanstudies.com/pipermail/koreanstudies_koreanstudies.com/attachments/20190829/3745edc6/attachment.html>