5th International Crossroads Asia Conference: Area Studies' Futures & Jahrestagung CrossArea e.V.

/ Events

5th International Crossroads Asia Conference: Area Studies' Futures & Jahrestagung CrossArea e.V.

Organizer
Research Network 'Crossroads Asia' / CrossArea e.V.
Venue
Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn
Location
Bonn
Country
Germany
From - Until
21.09.2016 - 23.09.2016
Website
http://crossroads-asia.de/crossroads-asia/crossroads-asia-conference-2016.html
By
Claus Erik Bech Hansen

The field of area studies (AS) as traditionally conceptualised, organised and taught at universities has long been subject to worldwide debates, especially since the end of the Cold War. Conventional approaches to AS have been criticised for ethnocentrism and methodological obsoletism, creating fixed geographical ‘areas’, and solidifying regimes of (Western) power and hegemony. Consequently, AS have been described as unsuitable for the study of the modern world, as they fail to capture processes related to globalisation, and the increasing (im-)mobility of people, goods and ideas.

In 2011, the interdisciplinary research network Crossroads Asia was launched to tackle the question of how to conduct and position AS in the 21st century. In an effort to rethink AS ─overturn misconceptions of ‘the Other’ and challenge epistemic regimes─ the network has scrutinised traditional concepts and methods of AS and has explored novel research approaches related to multiple spatial realities, (im-)mobilities and (im-)mobilisation, borders and boundary-making/-weakening, and positionality.

The 5th International Crossroads Asia conference will provide a platform for sharing and discussing conceptual and methodological innovations in AS research that transcend traditional disciplinary approaches. Among the questions to be addressed are:
- How do globalisation, digitalisation, urbanisation and migration challenge concepts of ‘areas’?
- How does space intersect with a sense of belonging, and how do spatial constellations shift through time?
- How can Area Studies account for the Anthropocene?
- What can contribute to overcoming epistemic hegemonies, ethnocentrism and "othering"?

How to Register:
Please send an e-mail by 15 September 2016 to crossroads(at)uni-bonn.de with your full name, affiliation and e-mail address, with the subject line “Registration for Crossroads Asia Conference 2016.” All conference events are free. Let us know in your e-mail if you would like to join the city of Bonn tour.

Programm

Jahrestagung CrossArea
Mittwoch, 21.9.2016 14-18 Uhr
Eröffnung Matthias Middell (Leipzig)

Vorträge von
Andreas Mehler (Freiburg), Area Studies, Comparative Area Studies und Global Studies an der Universität Freiburg
Markus Koller (Bochum), Area Studies, Mediterranistik und Global History
Ute Wardenga (Leipzig), Geographie und Area Studies
André Bank / Patrick Köllner (GIGA Hamburg), Comparative Area Studies: Jüngere Entwicklungen am GIGA und darüber hinaus
Steffi Marung (Leipzig), Transregional Studies – A Handbook Project

Donnerstag, 22.9.2016
9:00 – 10:00 Uhr Mitgliederversammlung, u.a. Wahl des neuen Vorstands

10:10 – 10:30 Uhr
Ulf Engel (Leipzig) „Erfahrungen mit einem DFG-Schwerpunktprogramm
und Perspektiven der Transregional Studies“

10:30 – 12:00 Uhr
Podiumsdiskussion zur Situation der Area Studies in Deutschland
mit Corinne Flacke (DFG); Rolf Geserick (DLR); Matthias Middell (CrossArea e.V.); Stefanie Rentsch (Forum Transregionale Studien); Conrad Schetter (BICC/ Crossroads Asia);

5th International Crossroads Asia Conference: Area Studies' Futures
Thursday, September 22
14:30-15:00 — Welcome Address by Crossroads Asia Coordinator Claus Bech Hansen

15:00-16:15 — Public Keynote Lecture by Shelley Feldman (Cornell University), Decommodifying knowledge: Recuperating the Interdisciplinarity of Area Studies

16:15-16:30 — Break

16:30-18:00 — Presentation of the book Area Studies at the Crossroads. Knowledge Production after the Mobility Turn, edited by Katja Mielke (Bonn International Center for Conversion) and Anna-Katharina Hornidge (Leibniz-Zentrum für Marine Tropenökologie (ZMT) and University of Bremen)

Friday, September 23rd
08:00-09:00 — Registration

09:00-10:30 — Session 1 Panels
Session 1: Querying Power Constellations and Destabilizing Epistemic Regimes

Panel 1a. Deconstruction of Western Knowledge and the Category ‘Other’
Chaired by Dietrich Reetz, Crossroads Asia, ZMO Berlin

Anindya Sekhar Purkayastha (Kazi Nazrul University)
Zarifa Mamedova (TU Dortmund)
Andreas Mandler (ZEF, University of Bonn)

Panel 1b. Reshaping Places – Mastering Uncertainty: A Second Take on Area Studies in the Baltic Sea Region and Eastern Europe (Roundtable Event)
Chaired by Claus Bech Hansen, Crossroads Asia, ZEF, University of Bonn

Rebecka Lettevall (Södertörn University)
Jenny Gunnarson Payne (Södertörn University)
Kazimierz Musiał (Södertörn University)

10:30-10:45 — Coffee Break

10:45-12:15 — Session 2 Panels
Session 2: Mapping the Socio-Spatial Complexity of Human and Non-Human Interactions

Panel 2a. Shedding Light on Agency and the Social Construction of Space
Chaired by Anna-Katharina Hornidge, Crossroads Asia, ZMT, University of Bremen

Henryk Alff (Crossroads Asia, Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography) and Andreas Benz (Crossroads Asia, University of Augsburg)
Patrick Köllner (GIGA Hamburg)
Martin Sökefeld (Crossroads Asia, LMU Munich)
Manja Stephan-Emmrich (HU Berlin)

Panel 2b. Space, Place and Time
Chaired by Hermann Kreutzmann, Crossroads Asia, Free University of Berlin

Agnieszka Joniak-Lüthi (Crossroads Asia, LMU Munich)
Thomas White (Cambridge University)
Madlen Kobi (Zurich University)

12:15-13:45 — Lunch Break

13:45-15:15 — Session 3 Panels
Session 3: Critical Conceptual and Methodological Intersections with Area Studies

Panel 3a. Exploring Methodological Limits and Possibilities in Area Studies Research
Chaired by Eva Youkhana, Crossroads Asia, ZEF, University of Bonn

Elena Trubina (Ural Federal University)
Helena Cermeño (ZEF, University of Bonn)
Cornelia Reiher (FU Berlin), Sarah Ruth Sippel (University of Leipzig)

Panel 3b. Intersections of AS, Post-Colonial Studies, Cold War Studies and Future Studies, Taking the Example of Development Discourses (Roundtable Event)
Chaired by Shelley Feldman, Cornell University

Anna-Katharina Hornidge (Crossroads Asia, ZMT & U of Bremen)
Sandra Kurfürst (GSSC, University of Cologne)
Wolfram Schaffar (University of Vienna)
Ines Stolpe (University of Bonn)

15:15-15:45 — Coffee Break

15:45-17:15 — Session 4 Panels
Session 4: Positionality and the Space(s) of Knowledge Production

Panel 4a. Re-constructing Positionalities in Area Studies Research
Chaired by Epifania Amoo-Adare, Crossroads Asia, ZEF, University of Bonn

Elena Smolarz (Crossroads Asia, University of Bonn)
Lenny Martini (ZEF, University of Bonn)
Jelena Gledić (Belgrade University)
Bianca Boteva-Richter (University of Vienna)

Panel 4b. Borders and the Politics of Belonging
Chaired by Conrad Schetter, Crossroads Asia, Bonn International Center for Conversion

Antía Mato-Bouzas (Crossroads Asia, ZMO Berlin)
Just Boedeker (Berlin)
Gennaro Errichiello (Loughborough University, UK)
Seema Kazi (Center for Women's Development Studies, New Delhi)
Eva Youkhana (Crossroads Asia, ZEF, University of Bonn)

17:15-17:30 — Closing remarks

Contact (announcement)

Claus Bech Hansen, Crossroads Asia Coordinator
Catherine Reynolds, Research Assistant
Zentrum für Entwicklungsforschung crossroads@uni-bonn.de

http://crossroads-asia.de/crossroads-asia/crossroads-asia-conference-2016.html
Editors Information
Published on
16.09.2016
Author(s)
Contributor
Citation ⇓
Classification
Temporal Classification
Regional Classification
Subject - Topic
Additional Informations
Type
Type
Country Event
Language(s) of event
English
Language of announcement