The full paper submission tutorial is online here and also available as a download
The theme of the conference explores the borders of Southeast Asia as both a philosophical, social, cultural, geographical, political, institutional and psychological divisions. It explores the various aspects pertaining to borders and divisions; how it is maintained, regulated and normalized; how it is changed, refurbished and reimagined; how it is transgressed, reconstituted and recreated in new forms of contact and relationship. Borders are thus not only means to close off, otherize or manage things and people in dual relationships of legal versus illegal, normal versus abnormal, civilized versus savages, higher versus lower, truth versus lies, us versus them, and so forth, it also brings forth new meanings through the act of moving across, transgression, establishing ties and so forth. Thus borders not only function to limit and divide, but is also imminent in emergent forms of identities, institutions, ways of thinking and so forth that is not defined by the division but actually arise in unified themes of transborder phenomenon. These emergent definitions are something that is often seen across different forms of borders and it is this similarity that allow for a fruitful comparison to occur. Borders are imaginary discourses that is powerful but also subject to subversion.
These aspects of borders that both delineate but also potentially generate new meanings and forms is something that is prevalent in Southeast Asian societies because of its complex and fractured nature. Southeast Asia contain some of the largest Islamic, Christian, Buddhist and atheist societies in Asia; contain a plethora of political-economic model; from Communism to Shariah Monarchy; and the regions themselves are defined both by people living in the region and specialists as having complex and interesting dual forms; the villages and cities, the pesisir and pedalaman, the lowlands and zomias, among others. The fractured nature of Southeast Asian societies lies, among other, in the alacrity of the people to accept and adopt foreign influences, cultures and technologies. This active search for change from the outside allow for the creation of a dynamic society that is open to the challenges of each periods. Situating Southeast Asia in a long time-frame of gradual globalization, the biggest change that the society is facing currently is the shift from worlds delineated by borders toward new forms of borderless existence. These include, the rise of the internet and collapse of space-time, allowing for instant communication between people across the globe and its social, cultural, psychological and political effects. For instance, how instant messaging is changing civil society and the ensuing political discourse; and how direct contact with information result in the collapse of institutions meant to chose valid versus invalid sources; how forms of authority and institutions like authorship are being revamped as a result of these new technologically supported borderless phenomenon. Thus discussion on borders and borderless forms in society represent different aspects of the same phenomenon. Humanity’s propensity to create borders as a heritage of its territorial and sexual instincts, are challenged to create new forms of enforcements, new otherings and new divisions in a borderless world. These imminent potentials of new divisions and new borders represents the potential future paths of Southeast Asian societies, phenomenon that should appear in a comparative manner between different societies throughout the region. This ability to at least generate possible future pathways for Southeast Asian societies in its various forms, within a rich philosophical context, is something that a themed conference can potentially offer. These interpretations conducted in an open forum allow for transdisciplinary and transnational comparisons and generalizations, which would hopefully produce new ideas to approach the divisions and its changes above.
It is the intention of the 2nd UGM International Conference of Southeast Asian Studies (ICSEAS 2017) held by Universitas Gadjah Mada in 2017 to provide an open forum for the discussions and comparisons of these phenomenon that happened and is happening in various societies throughout the region. The exploration of these themes is something that is felt to be imminent to the problems facing the region with the potential for understanding long term and path-dependent phenomenon affecting the region. The goal for the conference is thus not only developing Southeast Asian studies concurrent with the contemporary conditions of Southeast Asian societies, but perhaps also provide some initial answers to current and future problems facing the region.
- Location
- Eastparc Hotel, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
- Conference
- 27 Sep 2017 - 28 Sep 2017
- Paper Submission
- 22 May 2017 - 15 Sep 2017
Contact
Badan Penerbit dan Publikasi, Universitas Gadjah Mada
UGM Main Office Building, 3rd Floor, Room B3-05
Bulaksumur, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Phone (+62) 274 6491963
Whatsapp (+62) 8112661400
Email icseas@ugm.ac.id
Website http://icseas.ugm.ac.id