This year, the Inter-Asia Cultural Studies conference is hosting a two day graduate conference before the main session starts on the 3rd of July. Our objective in doing so is to provide graduate students with an opportunity to present their ongoing work and to have interactive sessions with peers and faculties in a favorable learning environment.

Date: July 1st and 2nd July 2013 Venue: National University of Singapore, Kent Ridge Campus Organizers: Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society, Asia Research Institute, and Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, NUS Submission deadline: Dec 1st 2012 – online submission of abstracts Announcement of accepted papers: Jan 1st 2013 Email: iacs.gradconference@gmail.com

Cultural Studies in Asia is a relatively new field of teaching and research which aims to question the traditional disciplinary classifications as well as re-examines some of the pertinent issues and concerns that are brought on by the emergence of global capitalism. Where the West has traditionally been seen as an effective benchmark for comparison, Cultural Studies in Asia aims to create a more self-sufficient field of research by shifting the viewing lens to within the region. This year’s main theme, therefore, sits perfectly in line with this new approach and hopes to bring to the table some fresh perspectives. Adopting a multidisciplinary foundation, we invite papers that offer altered conceptualizations of the flows and exchanges of popular cultural practices in contemporary Asia, across fluid and porous national and cultural boundaries.

We welcome papers that focus on any of the following issues, but are not necessarily limited to:

Transforming societies Diasporic relationships and migration Re-defining ‘home’ Issues of gender, race, sexuality Changing identities (national, cultural, political or social) Popular culture: tradition vs. modernity East meets west Cosmopolitan spaces