The discipline that was once called "Oriental Studies" has been
divided up in various ways in today's university. Post-colonial
literature has a foothold in the English department, history
departments have by and large stopped confusing "European history"
with "world history," and of course the area studies departments with
venerable names like Near Eastern Studies or South Asian Languages and
Civilizations have taken up an array of new methodologies from other
departments. Several universities have begun expanding their African
and South Asian studies offerings under the umbrella of "Global
Studies." This conference is concerned not with "the death of the
discipline" as so many others have been, but rather with the diversity
of the disciplines. We will survey this through student presentations,
two faculty discussion panels, and a keynote address by an influential
scholar.
What sorts of research does this multi-disciplinary institutional
framework help scholars of the non-West pursue, and what kinds of
research does it hinder? Is there a difference, for example, between
studying the history of the Middle East from within a history
department or from within an area studies department? In this
conference, we hope to explore some of the broad themes that can be
fruitfully researched through a variety of disciplines:
Exhange - Where can exchange take place? Are ideas, practices
and texts like commodities? Is a relationship of exchange necessarily
symbiotic or can one side really take without giving or give without
taking?
Circulation - How do ideas and cultural practices move? How do
repetitive movements of groups, for example, religious pilgrims, shape
consciousness? How have the Indian Ocean and overland caravan routes
linked Africa, the Middle East and South Asia?
Borders and Frontiers - What forms can a border take besides the
modern political boundary? Is there a frontier mindset on every border?
We invite graduate students to present 25 minute papers dealing with
South Asia, the Middle East and/or Africa. While any topic and
disciplinary focus will be considered, preference will be given to
papers that address one of the themes outlined above. We will help you
find (inexpensive or free) lodging in New York during the conference
but at this time we do not have funds to provide travel grants.
Please submit a proposal of no more than 300 words to CUgradconf@gmail.com by January 5, 2010. All submissions will be
read by graduate students representing each of the three regions with
a variety of disciplinary interests. Names and affiliations will be
removed from the submissions during the evaluation process.
--
Arthur Dudney
Columbia University
MPhil-PhD candidate in Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures
& the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society
mailing address:
401 Knox Hall MC9628
606 West 122nd Street
New
York, NY 10027
