TPSN Hybrid Conference
February 9-10, 2024 at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany and Online
The Transpacific Studies Network (TPSN) was established in the fall of 2022 with the goal of exploring Pacific cultures, ecologies, histories, literatures, politics, and societies in an interdisciplinary, multi-lingual, and, importantly, transregional manner. While the network was started in the context of (US-)American Studies, it is open to anyone with Transpacific interests.
To this purpose, the network gladly invites all scholars of the Pacific to the first TPSN hybrid conference “Transcending Boundaries” set to be hosted on February 9-10, 2024 in Mainz, Germany. We seek contributions that explore connections across national and regional borders in and along the Pacific. The presentations (no format restrictions) should not exceed 20 minutes. The event will serve as a space to discuss early stage-research and on-going projects in this field. We welcome papers deploying new and innovative practices in Transpacific Studies and encourage in particular emerging scholars (current PhD candidates and recent graduates) to apply. This call, however, is not limited solely to scholars, we also welcome artists and practitioners who engage with the region in their work.
Possible topics may include:
- Film and television that culturally crosses the pacific ocean
- Literary works (novels, memoirs, poems, etc.) from and about (Trans)pacific regions
- Representations and/or performances of gender in (Trans)pacific regions
- (Trans)pacific mobilities and migration, including policy
- The Pacific and the blue humanities
- Climate change and the environment in (Trans)pacific regions
- (Trans-)Pacific issues of collective memory
- Understandings of geography/space/territory in relation to (Trans)pacific regions
- Negotiating cultural hybridity
- Revitalizations of (Trans)pacific traditional ecological epistemologies
- Reflections on practices and imaginations of borders/bordering in the Pacific
Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be submitted along with a 100-word biography to transpacificstudiesnetwork@gmail.com by 1 September 2023. Selected participants can expect to be notified by early October 2023.
For more information, please see the CfP.