POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH STUDENTS WORK IN PROGRESS
A TWO DAY WORKSHOP AT THE ASIA RESEARCH INSTITUTE ON
GENDER STUDIES IN ASIA: PEOPLES, POLITICS AND POWER
23rd-24th SEPTEMBER 2004, SINGAPORE
This workshop seeks to provide a space where
postgraduates with a
demonstrated interest in gender in Asia may explore
emerging
understandings
of gender in the region, grounding their discussions
within their own
research. We shall look at gender in its many
meanings, including the
growing body of work on sexualities and masculinities.
The last few decades have seen the growth of a rich
and exciting body
of
critical theory and research exploring the
historically-located
diversity
and complexity of gender relations globally. The study
of gender, both
within 'home disciplines' and within dedicated Women's
and Gender
Studies
programs, has emerged as a dynamic, genuinely
interdisciplinary
project.
Building on initial critiques of existing disciplines,
Gender Studies
as a
critical, self-reflective practice has stretched and
reconfigured the
androcentric paradigms of a number of disciplines, and
in turn been
continuously reshaped by that process of interchange.
>From an early
base
mainly centred in the Euro-American academy, the study
of gender has
emerged
globally as one of the most dynamic, theoretically
sophisticated areas
of
work within the social sciences and humanities.
Gender Studies, especially outside the West, has faced
particular
challenges
and contradictions: how does one reconcile, on the one
hand,
understandings
of the gendered continuities shaping histories and, on
the other,
systemic
global inequalities and the need to be attentive to
the specificities
of
histories, regions and localities? There are especial
tensions around a
persistent eurocentrism in knowledge production, in
spite of much
rhetoric
about transnationalism: both supporters and critics of
feminisms have
continuing worries about what they see as the
'western' origins and
orientations of feminisms and Gender and Women's
Studies. Moreover, the
conditions of intellectual production in a number of
Asian countries,
for
example, have often emphasised utilitarian agendas,
reflecting the
role of
the state and NGOs in commissioning and shaping
research, as well as
the
force of concerned activists' agendas; as well. One
set of claims about
the
specificity of Southeast Asia, for example, has been
particularly
influential: the repeated assertions that women in
Southeast Asia have
a
'relatively high status' or have experienced 'relative
autonomy'. But,
as
Mary Steedly has noted, there is still no consensus as
to what this
might
mean in practical terms. This issue calls into
question concepts of
gender
politics, economic participation, 'autonomy', the
relation between
gender
representations and gender experience and the workings
of gendered
imaginaries. We would hope to see discussions of the
workshop
participants'
research engaging in a productive dialogue with some
of these tensions.
_________________________________________________
Day One and Day Two of the workshop will begin with
seminars led by
Assoc.
Prof. Maila Stivens (Visiting Fellow at ARI and
Director of Gender
Studies,
University of Melbourne) and Assoc. Prof. Brenda Yeoh
(Dept. of
Geography
and Asian MetaCentre at ARI, National University of
Singapore).
Each seminar will be followed by 20-25 minute
presentations by selected
students.
Papers are welcome from graduate students from
Singapore or those
registered
with overseas universities on a programme of
post-graduate research.
Students may be located directly within Gender and
Women's Studies
programs
or in other disciplines, but the workshop will
emphasise the
interdisciplinary nature of Gender Studies, welcoming
papers from a
number
of different disciplines.
If you would like to present your research at the
workshop, please
submit a
(max.) 250 word abstract of your proposed paper to the
address below,
electronically (MS Word) or by post before 30 June
2004. Please also
arrange
for one confidential letter of recommendation from a
supervisor to be
sent
to this address by the same date. The abstract should
clarify the
substantive issues which your paper will address and
be firmly grounded
in
the results of your research project. It should also
include your name,
affiliation, e-mail address and other contact
information.
The deadline for participants' papers is 20 August,
2004. Papers will
reflect work in progress and be between 5,000 and
8.000 words in
length. The
papers submitted are not expected to be final drafts
but will be
circulated
to participants beforehand by e-mail to enable
roundtable discussions.
Lunches, refreshments and a workshop dinner will be
provided for all
participants who are presenting papers during the
duration of the
event. The
full price of accommodation on campus at the Visitor's
Lodge, NUS for
the
nights of the 22nd, 23rd and 24th September will be
provided for
students
presenting who are coming from overseas. Some
intra-Asian travel
subsidies
will also be available for overseas participants who
are not Singapore
residents. Enquiries regarding accommodation and
subsidies should be
made
after abstracts have been submitted and the organizers
have
subsequently
been in contact.
VENUE:
National University of Singapore,
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
AS7, Shaw Foundation Building, Level 1,
Faculty Lounge
All enquiries and abstracts should be directed to:
Graduate Students' Workshop Secretariat
Asia Research Institute, National University of
Singapore
5 Arts Link, Blk AS7, Level 4
Singapore 117570
Fax: (65) 6779 1428
Email: arigrad@???
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Search - Find what youre looking for faster
http://search.yahoo.com
