Conference | Call for papers
Call for papers: Who is Asian? Definitions, Representations, and Marginalizations
- Date
- Thursday 26 March 2026
- Time
- Series
- Asian Studies events
- Location
- Leiden (TBD)
Asia is the most populous as well as linguistically, ethnically, and culturally diverse region of the world. It is also a region of wide-ranging socio-economic development and political systems: high-income countries like Japan, South Korea, and Singapore exist alongside low-income countries like Pakistan, Myanmar, and Cambodia, and democracies like Sri Lanka, Maldives and South Korea exist side by side authoritarian regimes like China, Vietnam, and Tajikistan. The diversity of Asia has made it challenging, and at times controversial, to define the region. Attempts include outdated terminology like “Asia Minor” and Western monikers such as "third world,” "developing world,” and "sleeping giant” that capture pejorative Eurocentric views of the region. These attempts at defining Asia betray biased perspectives that arise from unequal power relations within the region and between the region and the rest of the world. Long and rich civilizational histories, centuries of colonization and semi-colonization, followed by anti-colonial struggles and endeavors to forge independent, postcolonial and decolonial futures shape the power dynamics of defining and representing Asia. But representations of Asia and Asians are not abstract topics for academic research. Incidents of anti-Asian racism in various European countries during the Covid 19 pandemic are reminders of the complex intersection of Asian migrations, Asian representations (or lack thereof), and the marginalization of Asian diasporas.
This conference invites critical reflections on the complexities, diversities and contradictions that define the region and its representations, including both discussions on the empowering narratives from the region as well as marginalizations of Asians and Asian diasporas in the world.
The theme of this conference unspools along three threads:
- Power dynamics of definition and nomenclature. Who gets to define or name who? How does the definition or name perpetuate unequal power relations?
- Contestations of representations. Who has contested these representations? How did they challenge these representations?
- Drivers of marginalizations. What are the forces, processes, and institutions driving the cultural, political, and economic marginalization of Asia, Asians, and Asian diasporas?
We welcome papers and poster presentations from all disciplinary and methodological perspectives exploring any of these thematic threads. Topics for papers and presentations include but are not limited to the following:
- Nomenclature and geographical-conceptual definitions of the region
- Diasporic communities and their identities
- Comparative perceptions about Asians in Europe and rest of the world
- Anti-Asian racism and hatred
- Memories and histories of migration
- Upward mobility and barriers
- ‘Model minority’ myth
- Questions of home and belonging
- Representations in media, literature, and popular culture
- Digital identity, digital economy and work
- Technological innovation and industrial policies
- Barriers and access in trade
Abstract submission
Submit your proposal for a paper or poster by 26 January 2026 via the button below: