Asian Shakespeare Association Conference

Call for Papers and Proposals

The 2020 ASA Conference organizing committee welcomes proposals for panels, papers, seminars and workshops on the conference theme of ‘Intersections in Shakespeare’.

‘Intersections in Shakespeare’ celebrates the world-wide spread of Shakespeare today and explores how Shakespeare’s works have been read, translated and performed in different languages and cultures. The conference seeks to draw attention to current engagements with and histories of performances, translations, adaptations and studies across the globe, especially in various Asian locations and cultures. Shakespearean productions and scholarship in Asia have gained world recognition for their roles in the emergence of new artistic visions and studies that draw upon indigenous traditions and critical histories in each country. When the two terms – Shakespeare and Asia – combine, the result can be creative, transformative and innovative.

‘Intersection’ is an umbrella term for a range of textual and performance concerns and issues related in particular to social and cultural change. The conference will focus more specifically on various intersections – the rich network of social and geopolitical contexts, intercultural interactions, historical temporalities, race and gender-related negotiations – that inflect and permeate Shakespeare productions and studies. Topics may include the following, but the parameters of this call for papers are flexible and include any related fields and contexts:

Geopolitical relations: Shakespeare in religious, historical, geographical contexts
Cultural interactions: Shakespeare in intercultural, transnational, diasporic settings
Identities: gender and sexuality, racial relations in Shakespeare
Translations: linguistic and cultural transpositions and adaptations
Technologies: Shakespeare in virtual/digital networks
Hybridities: Shakespeare in (post)colonial, post-modern perspectives and theory
Crossings: intersections of body and text, word and image, high and low culture in Shakespearean works and productions

General Guidelines

The ASA Conference Committee invites four types of proposals:
PANELS
Panels include three papers of about 20-minutes’ presentation time each. Proposals should include (1) the name of the session organiser, with affiliation and e-mail address, (2) the title of the proposed session, (3) a description of the objectives of the proposed session (about 250 words), (4) the names of each presenter or participant, with affiliations and e-mail addresses, (5) brief biographical statements for the session organiser and each presenter or participant, and (6) the title and an abstract of each paper.
PAPERS
Proposals should include (1) the name of the author, with affiliation and e-mail address, (2) a short biographical statement, and (3) the title of the proposed paper for a 20-minute presentation. Selected papers will be organised into panels.
SEMINARS
The convener (or co-conveners) of a seminar proposes a research agenda and guides that seminar’s discussion for a group of participants who will present a written paper. Proposals should include (1) the name of the seminar organiser(s), with affiliations and email address(es), (2) the title of the proposed seminar, (3) a description of the objectives of the proposed seminar (about 250 words), (4) short biographical statement(s) for the seminar organiser(s), with any experiences with seminar direction.
WORKSHOPS
Workshops bring together a group of participants to work creatively to explore any issue related to Shakespeare (performance, text, methodology, etc.). Proposals should include (1) the name of workshop organiser(s), with affiliation(s) and email address(es), (2) the title of the proposed workshop, (3) a description of the objectives of the proposed workshop (about 250 words), (4) short biographical statement(s) for the workshop organiser(s), including any previous experiences with workshop direction.

All proposals must be submitted to ‘ascseoul2020@gmail.com’.
The deadline for all proposals is 10 February 2020.