"Asia in Motion" Graduate Conference


Asia in Motion: Migration, Movement, and Exchange

The First KU Graduate Student Asian Studies Symposium

University of Kansas, Graduate Scholars in East Asian Studies in affiliation with the University of Kansas, Center for East Asian Studies

Keynote Speaker: TBA Symposium Date: April 6, 2024

Symposium Location: Kansas Memorial Union, Parlors Room (5th floor)

Symposium Time: 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. CST Format: In-person

Call for Papers

The University of Kansas Graduate Scholars in East Asian Studies (GSEAS) cordially invites submissions from University of Kansas graduate students to the inaugural Asian studies symposium, “Asia in Motion: Migration, Movement, and Exchange.” Whether it is the premodern global migrations of peoples, ideas, and materials across the Silk Road or the contemporary global connections across and around the Pacific Ocean brought about by economic, political, cultural, and educational interests, Asia is now as ever “in motion.” This symposium asks: how have contexts of migration, movement, and exchange affected the peoples, histories, and conceptualizations of Asia throughout time and across space? We hope to foster conversations and learning about Asia that move across traditional physical and symbolic boundaries.

We welcome any currently enrolled and recently graduated graduate students at KU to propose a 20-minute in- person presentation. Experimental modes of presentation and pre-constituted panel presentations are also welcome. Submissions should offer original research related to the themes of migration, movement, or exchange in/from Asias – defined openly – throughout any time period and from any discipline.

Presentation topics could include, but are not limited to:

  • Inquiries on the concept of “Asia,” “global Asias,” regionalism, local and transnationalism, or “Asian studies” as it relates to migration or motion.
  • Migrations of human and nonhuman agents within/without Asias.
  • Diasporic communities in/from Asia.
  • Exchanges of ideas, objects, and cultures within/without Asias.
  • Comparative studies of migration or motion in/from Asia.

Abstract Submission: Please send your abstract (250-300 words) along with a short bio (100-200 words) to our email address gseas@ku.edu by the submission date. In your abstract, please briefly describe your research and its connection with our symposium topic. Please include “Graduate Symposium” in your email title.

Abstract Submission Date: January 27, 2024

Email all documents and direct all questions to gseas@ku.edu.