AAAS Conference + CFP

Crosstown Connections: Asian American Urbanism and Interracial Encounters
2007 Association for Asian American Studies Conference
April 4-8, 2007
New York City, New York, Grand Hyatt

Submissions due by October 31, 2006
Send to: Stephanie Hsu at ssh13@cornell.edu

The theme of the 2007 AAAS Conference is “Crosstown Connections: Asian American Urbanism and Interracial Encounters”. Taking off from the conference’s location in New York City--the largest city in the United States and a historic international crossroads for immigrants, visitors, and commerce--this meeting explores cosmopolitanism in Asian American life, and the multiple and shifting identities, attachments, and worldviews of Asian Americans and those with whom they interact. The metropolitan area is home to approximately 1.5 million people of Asian ancestry, the nation’s second-largest concentration, and Asian American laborers, students, artists, businessmen, and intellectuals form a durable and central core group in the city’s fabric. As the world’s financial center and the hub of the nation’s publishing and fashion industries and artistic scene, New York has drawn both exceptional individuals of Asian ancestry, including writers, scholars, painters, musicians and dancers, and masses of workers. The port of New York serves as a continuing place of welcome for Asian entrants and a point of transnational contact, transit and supply. We seek panels, papers, workshops, roundtables and teaching sessions that explore the presence of Asian Americans in New York City and other urban environments--downtown, boroughs and suburbs alike—and their experience within the various places and institutions that characterize city life: theaters, prisons, offices, museums, factories, streets, mass transit, schools and universities, restaurants, and tourist sites. In keeping with the theme of interracial connections, we especially encourage papers that explore the correlations and interactions between the experiences of Asian Americans and those of other groups and communities that make up the urban landscape, notably African Americans (including Caribbean Blacks); Latinos; Jews; Arab/Muslim Americans; Irish, Slavic, and Italian Americans; Gays/Lesbians; and evangelical Christians. In using New York as a springboard, we also encourage papers that discuss generally the experience of Asian Americans in the Northeast (Mid Atlantic states and New England). In addition to paper proposals, we invite panel proposals as well as workshops, roundtables, and teaching sessions that explore ways of historicizing, contextualizing, and critiquing the impact of urban life and interactions on the Asian American experience.

Suggestions

In order to further dialogue and promote new visions, we are suspending this year our usual emphasis on submission of entire panel sessions. Although we continue to invite proposals for full panel sessions that meet the goals of the conference, we likewise encourage the submission of individual paper proposals, which the Program Committee will then match together to form group sessions. Furthermore, we warmly invite applications from specialists in Immigration, Ethnic Studies or Religion to present papers on the history or experience of non-Asian American groups, thus contributing to larger comparative discussions across both ethnic and disciplinary boundaries.
Submissions that explicitly include interdisciplinary perspectives and/or connections with community organizations are particularly encouraged, as are submissions related to K-12 education. Submissions focusing on teaching issues are also encouraged. The Association for Asian American Studies is committed to presenting an annual meeting in which sessions and participants reflect the pluralism of our campuses and communities.

All proposals must be submitted to the Secretariat no later than October 31, 2006. Electronic submissions are strongly encouraged; please visit the link below to complete the on-line submission form and upload abstracts and CVs.

General Guidelines for Submissions

Membership in AAAS
It is Association policy that all conference participants must be members of AAAS. If you are not yet a member, you must join the Association by April 4, 2007 in order to present at the conference.

Limited Submissions and Panel Preference
In order to be able to present a diverse program with multiple voices and topics, it is the policy of the Association that participants are limited to presenting only one paper per meeting. If you plan to submit more than one paper and/or panel proposal, please indicate your preference and priority. It is allowable to present one paper and participate in one other session in a different capacity (Roundtable facilitator or Chair or Discussant of a second panel session).

Completed panels are strongly preferred over individual paper submissions. Although individual paper submissions will be considered, acceptance will depend on the ability of the program committee to create a cohesive panel from independent paper submissions and to identify an appropriate discussant. If you are submitting a single paper, please indicate whether you would be willing to chair the session in addition to presenting your paper.

Session length, submission guidelines and enclosures: All sessions
Each session is limited to one and a half hours. All submissions should be typed and double-spaced. All submissions should be accompanied by the submissions form (“Form for All Conference Submissions” downloadable from the AAAS website: www.aaastudies.org, or via on-line submissions process) and a brief, two-page vitae for each participant. All notifications and announcements will be made by e-mail. Please make sure each presenter’s contact information is included with your submission.

Teaching Sessions
Sessions focusing on teaching issues are encouraged and will be identified in the conference program. Please be sure to indicate on your cover page whether your session is directly related to teaching (curriculum, pedagogy, classroom issues, etc.). Any type of session (panels, papers, workshops, or roundtables) may be designated as a Teaching Session.

Panels
The aim of panel submissions is to share knowledge with the audience through the presentation of three to four related papers and a brief consideration of them from a discussant. Panel proposals should include:

1. The Form for All Conference Submissions described above. The chair and discussant of the session should be clearly identified. Panel proposals will not be accepted without an identified chair.
2. A brief abstract/description of each paper in the panel (not to exceed 250 words for each).
3. A brief two-page CV for each presenter. Panels must include a chair, and usually have three paper presentations followed by a discussant. The suggested division of time is five minutes for introductions, fifteen minutes for each paper, ten minutes for commentary from the discussant, and thirty minutes for questions and answers from the audience. The main idea is to give each paper presenter an equal amount of time, while ensuring time for audience participation.

Chairs: Chairs are responsible for introducing panel members, ensuring that presenters keep within the time limits, and facilitating discussion. Paper presenters and discussants may chair a session in which they are presenting.
Discussants: Discussants should offer critical comments on each paper or on the papers as a group with an eye toward stimulating discussion. Discussants may also serve as the session chair. Discussants must send to the chair a brief biography for the purpose of introductions.
Paper Presenters: Paper presenters must send to the chair a brief biography for the purpose of introductions, and must send a copy of their paper to both the chair and discussant at least a month before the conference. Giving the discussant time to read papers in advance of the session is not only courteous, but also will help to guarantee a more substantive and stimulating session.

Individual Papers
The aim of individual paper submissions is to share knowledge with the audience through the presentation of a paper.
Paper proposals should include:

1. The Form for All Conference Submissions described above. If the paper submitter is willing to also chair the session, this should be clearly indicated on the cover page. (See description of Chair in Panels, above).
2. A brief abstract/description of the paper (not to exceed 250 words).
3. A brief two-page CV.

Individual paper presentations are organized by the committee into panels (see description of panels above). After acceptance, paper presenters must send to the identified chair a brief biography for the purpose of introductions, and send a copy of their paper to both the chair and discussant at least a month before the conference. Giving the discussant time to read the paper in advance of the session is not only courteous, but also will help to guarantee a more substantive and stimulating session.

Workshops
The aim of workshops is to actively engage participants in learning new skills and activities.
Workshop proposals should include:

1. The Form for All Conference Submissions described above.
2. A description of the workshop, including brief description of the goals for participants and the ways these goals will be met (not to exceed 700 words total).
3. A brief two-page CV for each presenter.

Roundtables
The aim of roundtables is to facilitate a discussion amongst presenters and audience participants about a particular topic or issue.
Roundtable proposals should include

1. The Form for All Conference Submissions described above. The chair of the roundtable should be clearly identified on the cover page.
2. A description of the roundtable, including a brief description of the topic and its relevance or importance to Asian/Pacific American Studies, and a description of each presenter’s contribution (Not to exceed 700 words total).
3. A brief two-page CV for each presenter.

Presenters usually introduce the topic, briefly contribute their expertise or viewpoints, and frame discussion questions to focus audience participation. As roundtables are meant to encourage conversation and to model speaking across boundaries and experiences, roundtable submissions should include multiple viewpoints and diverse voices. In a roundtable, the majority of the allotted time (~one hour) should be devoted to discussion involving audience members.

Questions?
For specific questions regarding type of sessions, submission guidelines, or other programmatic issues, or to share ideas for plenaries, please contact the Program Committee Co-Chairs, Greg Robinson (robinson.greg@uqam.ca), Sandhya Shukla (srs52@columbia.edu) and Robert Ji-Song Ku (jku@binghamton.edu.

Submission Deadline and Instructions
Abstracts must be received by October 31, 2006. No late proposals will be accepted. We will accept proposals via postal mail and online submission. Faxed submissions will not be considered. Electronic submissions are strongly encouraged.
Please visit http://www.aaastudies.org/call.tpl to complete the on-line submission form and upload abstracts and CVs.

A cover page submitted on-line without attached abstracts or CVs is NOT considered complete. We will not accept or consider submissions that are lacking information. All notifications and announcements will be made by e-mail by the end of December.