New Mandala readers may be interested in next week’s annual conference of the Research School of Asia and the Pacific (RSAP) at ANU. From 28-30 November, scholars and thinkers from around the world will come together to talk about “Re-experiencing Asia and the Pacific: New Visions of Region Across Disciplinary Boundaries.”

Through a series of panels of papers, roundtable discussions, and films, the conference aims to consider the relationship between space and society framed by the questions “what is ‘our region’?” and “in what ways are the Asia and the Pacific as region(s)–or sub-regions within and across Asia and the Pacific–being visualized, studied and experienced?”

Registration for the conference is free, and can be done here.

The full schedule, which can be found below, includes a number of papers focused on mainland Southeast Asia, particularly those by May Adadol Ingawanij (University of Westminster), examining the circulation of Indian films in Siam during the Cold War, Pasuk Phongpaichit (Chulalongkorn University), focused on inequality and responses to it, Doracie Zoleta-Nantes (ANU), analyzing gender and disaster management in Laos and Vietnam, and Tyrell Haberkorn (ANU), reflecting on Sisters in Sedition, a recently-completed play about the lives and struggles of Ethel Rosenberg, Ruth First, and Daranee Charnchoengsilpakul.

If you are not in Canberra and are interested in the conference presentations, they will be audio and video-recorded. Stay tuned for details.

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RSAP Symposium 2012:тАи Re-experiencing Asia and the Pacific:тАиNew Visions of Region Across Disciplinary Boundaries

28-30 November 2012
Weston Lecture Theatre, Crawford Building ANU

Wednesday, 28 November

1-2 pm: REGISTRATION

2.00-3.45 pm: SESSION 1 –тАиREDRAWING THE MAP: Visions and Narratives of Region from East and West

Prof. K├дren Wigen, Stanford University, ‘Seaspace on Japanese Maps, 1600-1900’

Prof. Matt Matsuda, Rutgers, ‘The World Ocean: Writing Pacific Histories as Translocal Assemblages’

Prof. William Maley, Australian National University, ‘Afghanistan as a Cultural Crossroads: Lessons from the Writings of Ella Maillart, Annemarie Schwarzenbach and Nancy Hatch Dupree’

Chair and Discussant: Dr. Bronwen Douglas, Australian National University

3.45-4.15 pm: Tea and coffee break

FILM SHOWING

4.15-5.45 pm: FILM SHOWINGтАи– “Drua: The Wave of Fire”, introduced by Prof. Vilsoni Hereniko

Thursday, 29 NovemberтАи

9.00-10.45 am: SESSION 2 –тАиMEMORY AND VIOLENCE IN THE MAKING OF REGION

Dr. Greg Dvorak, Hitotsubashi University, ‘Who Closed the Sea? Archipelagoes of Amnesia Between the United States and Japan’

Prof. Heonik Kwon, Cambridge University, ‘The Cold War in the Asia Pacific’

Dr. Tyrell Haberkorn, Australian National University, ‘Writing Sisters in Sedition: Drama and the Practice of Comparison’

Chair and Discussant: Prof. Margaret Jolly, ANU

10.45-11.15 am: Tea and coffee break

11.15am – 1 pm: SESSION 3 –тАиMOVING PICTURES – Visual Re-creations of Asia and the Pacific

Dr. May Adadol Ingawanij, University of Westminster, ‘Weeping with the Versionists: Indian Movies and Siam’s Plebeian Modernity’

Prof. Vilsoni Hereniko, University of Hawaii, tba

Prof. Ariel Heryanto, Australian National University, ‘The Cinematic Contest of Popular Post-Islamism’

Chair and Discussant, Prof. Hyaeweol Choi, Australian National University

1-2.10 pm: Lunch

2.10-3.25 pm: SESSION 4 — SPECIAL PAN-ASIA INSTITUTE FORUM – What Can We Learn From Central Eurasian Studies?

A/Prof. Elliot Sperling, Indiana University

Prof. Nazif Shahrani, Indiana University

A/ Prof. Jonathon Schlesinger, Indiana University

Prof. William Maley, Australian National University

Dr. Kirill Nourzhanov, Australian National University

Chair and Discussant: Mr. Kyle Wilson, Australian National University

3.25-3.45 pm: Tea and Coffee Break

3.45-5.00 pm: SESSION 4 (continued) — SPECIAL PAN-ASIA INSTITUTE FORUM – What Can We Learn From Central Eurasian Studies? Continued

5.10-6.20 pm: FILM SHOWING – Short program from the Bangkok Experimental Film Festival, introduced by Dr. May Adadol Ingawanij

Friday, 30 November

9.15-10.30 am: SESSION 5 – ASIA IN TIME AND SPACE

Dr. Thomas duBois, Australian National University, ‘Asian century? That’s so 1895’

Prof. Chen Kuan-Hsing, National Tsing Hua University, ‘From “West Heavens” to “Modern Asian Thought”’

Chair and Discussant: Prof. Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Australian National University

10.30-10.50 am: Tea and coffee break

10.50-11.10 am: INTERLUDE – Music at the Intersection of Regions – Masaya Shishikura, Australian National University

11.10-12.45 pm: SESSION 6 –тАиTHE GLOBAL AND THE REGIONAL – Material Flows and Social Divides

Prof. Pasuk Phongpaichit, Chulalongkorn University, ‘Globalization and Inequality: Learning from Responses across the World’

Dr. Ranabir Samaddar, Calcutta Research Group, discussion by Skype

Dr. Shoko Yoneyama, University of Adelaide, ‘Re-imagining Social Sciences for a New Modernity in Post-3/11 Japan’

Chair and Discussant: tba

12.45-1.45pm: Lunch

1.45-3.00 pm: SESSION 7 –тАиLIQUID AREAS – Gender and Mobility in an Age of Disasters

Dr. Bernadette P. Resurreccion, Asian Institute of Technology. ‘Gender and Mobile Subjects: A Post- disaster View’

Dr. Doracie Zoleta-Nantes, Australian National University, ‘Mainstreaming gender in community-based disaster risk reduction and management: field notes from Laos and Vietnam’

Chair and Discussant: tba

3.00-3.30 pm: Tea and coffee break

3.30-4.45 pm: SESSION 8 – Roundtable (4-5 speakers)

Dr. Morris Low, University of QueenslandтАиProf. Hyaeweol Choi, Australian National University, and others tba

4.50-7.00 pm: FILM SHOWING – Experimental Korean Film, introduced by Dr. May Adadol Ingawanij