CFP: “CHALLENGING RELATIONS WITH(IN) EAST ASIA”

“Challenging relations with(in) East Asia”,

Academic Conference

The Vytautas Magnus University Centre for Asian Studies invites scholars of various academic fields of humanities and social science to submit proposals to an academic conference “Challenging relations with(in) East Asia” which will be held at Vytautas Magnus University (VMU, Kaunas, Lithuania) on November 3–4, 2023.

East Asia is one of the most dynamic regions in the world that is attracting global attention. As home to 1.6 billion people and almost a third of the world’s GDP, East Asia is often associated with growth, ambition, and innovation. As a result, East Asian countries have been establishing numerous bilateral and multilateral ties which created a complex network of governance of various spheres, ranging from economy to environmental protection. On the other hand, the region is not only a place of emerging opportunities, but also a hotspot of numerous risks and challenges. Tensions between North and South Korea, animosities among the neighboring countries due to historical legacies, display of military power in the Taiwan Strait – all this makes the international community very worried about the possible escalation and the negative impact it could cause to the whole world. It reveals that international relations both with and within East Asia can be challenging in numerous ways.

With all this in mind, the organizers of the conference invite participants from various academic fields to present their original research that is focused on intra- and inter- regional affairs that involve East Asia. Considering the recent developments, special attention will be given to presentations that deal with Taiwan related issues. The conference is not limited to one particular approach and encourages submission of proposals that can be classified under different fields of humanities and social sciences: anthropology, ethnology, history, sociology, economics, political science, etc. The working language of the conference is English.

Panel and individual paper proposals can be submitted by filling a form and sending it by email to conference.asc@vdu.lt by June 11, 2023.

The conference is organized by VMU Centre for Asian Studies and supported by Spotlight Taiwan.