Call for Papers: Empire Competition: Southeast Asia as Site of Imperial Contestation

Southeast Asia has long been in the shadow of China.  Different countries in the region have different historical relations with the Middle Kingdom.  New York Southeast Asia Network and Pace University’s Global Asia Institute are sponsoring a conference that asks how has Southeast Asia been subject to power projection from great powers and/empires from the past to the present?  In what ways has a combination of state-sponsored and voluntary migration to Southeast Asia been a soft power tool for China or Western countries?  How have ethnic Chinese communities in the region been tied to, and shaped by, larger political, social, and economic trends within China? How did these similarities and differences of interactions between Chinese diaspora and various Chinese regimes vary across different periods of rule (CCP, KMT, and Qing)? How did these historic relations change under European colonial rule, Japanese military occupation, and post-independent movements?  And how is Southeast Asia today addressing great power rivalries between the US and China over the control of maritime space—especially groups of resource-rich islands—and the exercise of maritime jurisdiction related to disputes taking place in international waters? 

This conference aims to balance a historical perspective with more current questions about relations between strong and weak powers, and the role of immigration and migrant communities within these relations. The conference will take place April 8-9, 2021 at Pace University in New York, NY. We are hopeful that we can hold the conference in person, but should conditions prohibit that, we will conduct the conference virtually.

We are seeking papers that are empirically rich and cut across traditional academic disciplines.  Proposals are welcome from all fields in the social sciences and humanities.  Contributors to the conference may choose to submit their papers to an edited volume after the conference.

There is some funding available for travel costs, those seeking financial assistance must indicate this in their submitted proposal. 

Please submit abstracts of no more than 300 words to empirecompetition@Pace.edu by September 21, 2020.  Please include your name, affiliation, and rank with your proposal. 

Download the call for proposals as a Word document here.