IAFOR > The Asian Conference on Asian Studies (ACAS) > ACAS2022 > Programme

Programme

The Asian Conference on Asian Studies (ACAS) is an interdisciplinary conference held alongside The Asian Conference on Cultural Studies (ACCS). Keynote, Featured and Spotlight Speakers will provide a variety of perspectives from different academic and professional backgrounds. Registration for either conference will allow delegates to attend sessions in the other.

This page provides details of featured presentations, the conference schedule and other programming. For more information about presenters, please visit the Speakers page.

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Conference Outline

Thursday, May 18, 2023Friday, May 19, 2023Saturday, May 20, 2023Sunday, May 21, 2023Monday, May 22, 2023
17:00-19:00 Conference Meet & Greet & Pre-Conference Registration | GARB Central

09:30-10:30: Conference Registration & Coffee | Room 701 (7F)

10:30-10:35: Announcements & Welcome | Room 701 (7F)

10:35-10:45: Welcome Address & Recognition of IAFOR Scholarship Winners | Room 701 (7F)

10:45-11:15: Keynote Presentation | Room 701 (7F)
There is No New Normal
Donald E. Hall, Binghamton University, United States

11:15-12:00: Keynote Presentation | Room 701 (7F)
Democratising Displacement: Paths to Political Inclusion for Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Internally Displaced Persons
Max Pensky, Binghamton University, United States

12:00-12:15: Conference Photograph

12:15-13:30: Lunch Break

13:30-14:15: Keynote Presentation | Room 701 (7F)
Environmental Communication and Public Engagement Through Creative Uses of Satellite Data
Grayson Cooke, Southern Cross University, Australia

14:15-15:00: Keynote Presentation | Room 701 (7F)
Creating New Marine Protected Areas During Indonesia’s New Normal
Alex del Olmo, Underwater Filmmaker, Spain

15:00-16:00: Conference Poster Session & Networking Coffee | Room 704 (7F)

16:00-16:10: Short Break

16:10-16:40: Cultural Presentation | Room 701 (7F)
Fusuma: The Art of Japanese Sliding Doors
Fusuma Club, University of Tokyo, Japan

09:00-09:30: Registration & Coffee

09:30-11:10: On-site Parallel Presentation Session 1
Room 703: Interdisciplinary Gender & Sexuality
Room 704: Comparative Studies of Asian and East Asian Studies
Room 705: Cultural Studies
Room 707: Linguistics, Language and Cultural Studies

11:10-11:25: Coffee Break

11:25-13:05: On-site Parallel Presentation Session 2
Room 703: Korean Studies
Room 704: Japanese Studies
Room 705: Cultural Studies
Room 707: Architecture and Urban Studies

13:05-14:05: Lunch Break

14:05-15:20: On-site Parallel Presentation Session 3
Room 703: South-East Asian Studies
Room 704: Chinese Studies
Room 705: Cultural Studies & History
Room 707: Literary Studies / All Genres / Theory

15:20-15:45: Short Break

15:45-16:15: Cultural Presentation | Room 703 (7F)
Grace and Tradition: Discovering the Beauty of Nihonbuyo
Nihonbuyo Club, Keisen University, Japan

19:00-21:00: Conference Dinner | Gonpachi Nishi Azabu
This is a ticketed event

09:00-09:30: Registration & Coffee

09:30-11:10: On-site Parallel Presentation Session 1
Room 703: South-East Asian Studies
Room 704: Comparative Studies of Asian and East Asian Studies
Room 705: Cultural Studies
Room 707: Media & Journalism

11:10-11:25: Coffee Break

11:25-12:40: On-site Parallel Presentation Session 2
Room 703: South-East Asian Studies
Room 704: Chinese Studies
Room 705: Cultural Studies & Sociology
Room 707: No presentations

12:40-13:40: Lunch Break

13:40-15:20: On-site Parallel Presentation Session 3
Room 703: Indian and South Asian Studies
Room 704: Korean Studies
Room 705: Cultural Studies
Room 707: Education/Pedagogy

15:20-15:45: Short Break

15:45-16:15: Cultural Presentation | Room 703 (7F)
Okinawa Eisa: The Dance Tradition of the Ryukyu Islands
Okinawa Eisa Club, J.F. Oberlin University, Japan

16:20:16:30: Onsite Closing Session

11:30-11:35: Message from IAFOR

11:35-13:15: Online Parallel Presentation Session 1
Room A: Japanese Studies
Room B: Cultural Studies
Room C: Asian Studies/Cultural Studies

13:15-13:30: Break

13:30-14:45: Online Parallel Presentation Session 2
Room A: Chinese Studies
Room B: Multilingualism, Multiculturalism, & Cultural Studies
Room C: Cultural Studies/Chinese Studies

14:45-15:00: Break

15:00-16:40: Online Parallel Presentation Session 3
Room A: Japanese Studies
Room B: Interdisciplinary Asian Studies
Room C: Interdisciplinary Gender Studies

16:40-16:55: Break

16:55-17:40: Online Keynote Presentation | Room A
From "Normal" to the "New Normal" Through to the "Abnormal": Where Do We Place the Elderly on this Scale?
Sue Ballyn, University of Barcelona, Spain

17:40-17:50: Online Closing Session | Room A

The above schedule may be subject to change.

Featured Presentations

  • Grace and Tradition: Discovering the Beauty of Nihonbuyo
    Grace and Tradition: Discovering the Beauty of Nihonbuyo
    Cultural Presentation: Keisen University Nihonbuyo Club, Keisen University
  • Okinawa Eisa: The Dance Tradition of the Ryukyu Islands
    Okinawa Eisa: The Dance Tradition of the Ryukyu Islands
    Cultural Presentation: Okinawa Eisa Club, J.F. Oberlin University
  • Fusuma: The Art of Japanese Sliding Doors
    Fusuma: The Art of Japanese Sliding Doors
    Cultural Presentation: Todai Fusuma Club, University of Tokyo
  • There is No New Normal
    There is No New Normal
    Keynote Presentation: Donald E. Hall
  • Democratising Displacement: Paths to Political Inclusion for Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Internally Displaced Persons
    Democratising Displacement: Paths to Political Inclusion for Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Internally Displaced Persons
    Keynote Presentation: Max Pensky
  • Creating New Marine Protected Areas During Indonesia’s New Normal
    Creating New Marine Protected Areas During Indonesia’s New Normal
    Keynote Presentation: Alex Del Olmo
  • From “Normal” to the “New Normal” through to the “Abnormal”: Where Do We Place the Elderly on This Scale?
    From “Normal” to the “New Normal” through to the “Abnormal”: Where Do We Place the Elderly on This Scale?
    Keynote Presentation: Sue Ballyn
  • Environmental Communication and Public Engagement Through Creative Uses of Satellite Data
    Environmental Communication and Public Engagement Through Creative Uses of Satellite Data
    Keynote Presentation: Grayson Cooke

Conference Programme

The online version of the Conference Programme is now available to view below via the Issuu viewing platform. Alternatively, download a PDF version. The Conference Programme can also be viewed on the Issuu website (requires a web browser). An Issuu app is available for Android users.

Click to download as a PDF

The Conference Programme contains access information, session information and a detailed day-to-day presentation schedule.

Important Information Emails

All registered attendees will receive an Important Information email and updates in the run-up to the conference. Please check your email inbox for something from "iafor.org". If you can not find these emails in your normal inbox, it is worth checking in your spam or junk mail folders as many programs filter out emails this way. If these did end up in one of these folders, please add the address to your acceptable senders' folder by whatever method your email program can do this.

Pre-Recorded Virtual Presentations & Virtual Poster Presentations

A number of presenters have submitted pre-recorded virtual video presentations or virtual poster presentations. We encourage you to view these presentations and provide feedback through the comments.

Virtual Video Presentations

Previous Programming

View details of programming for past ACAS conferences via the links below.

ACAS2022 ACAS2021 ACAS2020
ACAS2019 ACAS2018 ACAS2017
ACAS2016 ACAS2015 ACAS2014
ACAS2013 ACAS2012 ACAS2011
Grace and Tradition: Discovering the Beauty of Nihonbuyo
Cultural Presentation: Keisen University Nihonbuyo Club, Keisen University

The Nihonbuyo club at Keisen University is a student organisation dedicated to the study and practice of Nihonbuyo, a traditional Japanese dance style. This is the ninth year the group has been in existence. Almost all members of the club have no experience, but are learning from Hanayagi Sukeyuuna, a professional Japanese dancer and graduate of Keisen. Today in Japan, the culture of wearing a kimono is disappearing and there are many Japanese who have never worn a yukata or kimono. For this reason, the students in the club have started learning how to put on a yukata by themselves. They also learn about the history and cultural significance of Japanese dance, as well as the costumes and music used in performances. The Nihonbuyo Club at Keisen provides a space for students to deepen their understanding and appreciation of Japanese culture through the art of dance. Members have the opportunity to perform at various events both on and off campus, further showcasing their passion and dedication to preserving and sharing this important cultural tradition.

Okinawa Eisa: The Dance Tradition of the Ryukyu Islands
Cultural Presentation: Okinawa Eisa Club, J.F. Oberlin University

The Okinawa Eisa Club at J.F. Oberlin University is a vibrant and active student organisation dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Okinawan culture through dance and music. Eisa is a traditional folk dance from the Ryukyu Islands of Japan, characterised by dynamic drumming, chanting, and colourful costumes. The club is open to all students, regardless of their level of experience, and provides a welcoming community for those interested in learning and performing Eisa. Through their performances at various events on and off-campus, the Okinawa Eisa club helps to spread awareness and appreciation of Okinawan culture to a wider audience.

Fusuma: The Art of Japanese Sliding Doors
Cultural Presentation: Todai Fusuma Club, University of Tokyo

The Todai Fusuma Club is a student organisation based at the University of Tokyo, also known as Todai, in Japan. The club is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of traditional Japanese art, specifically the art of fusuma, which are sliding panels used to divide rooms in Japanese architecture. The club members learn how to repair and decorate fusuma using traditional techniques, such as painting with mineral pigments and gold leaf. The Todai Fusuma Club provides a space for students to connect with Japanese culture and history through hands-on practice and artistic expression.

There is No New Normal
Keynote Presentation: Donald E. Hall

As we emerge from COVID and the requirements we all endured for masking, distancing, and curtailed travel, we have heard regularly that we have now entered a post-COVID "new normal." That term begs the question, of course, of what "old normal" is being referred to and how precisely we have deviated from it. It further obscures the fact that the queer theorist Michael Warner, in The Trouble with Normal from a quarter-century ago, rejected the whole notion of "normality," arguing that as a term, it has been used primarily as a means to assert control by dominant powers - normalising their interests - rather than to capture a widely common or desirable way of being.

So, was there in the years immediately pre-COVID a static and definable "normal" that then evolved radically into a "new" state over just 24 months or so? To put it bluntly, "no." The U.S.-based Pew Research Center has joined others in addressing this topic directly, concluding that our supposed "new normal" is really only an intensification of trends already present well before the pandemic: worsening social inequality, deepening mistrust of authority, science, and fact, and a turn toward authoritarianism as populations reject diversity, inclusion, and demands for social justice. Yes, we may have seen an appreciable uptick in remote work and online delivery of education, but even those simply meant more isolation and less immediate interaction with those unlike ourselves, and therefore worsened all of the social threats just mentioned.

To proclaim a "new normal" is at best a form of wishful thinking that a definitive break has occurred with a past that is viewed most often with nostalgia but at other times with distaste or condescension. It absolves us from reckoning with long-standing injustice and our own culpability in entrenched patterns of violence against the disenfranchised. It allows us to see ourselves and our quotidian lives as having endured something cataclysmic, emerging then phoenix-like, changed irrevocably. If we are living in the "new," then we no longer have to reckon with the "old," including long-standing and continuing crimes against others' selfhoods. The concept of a "new normal," in effect, absolves us of responsibility.

Instead of wasting time by celebrating or reviling a "new normal," we should work instead to document the trends that the pandemic magnified and trace down the intensified threats to civil society and economic security that have arisen because of or in response to the pandemic. This does not hinge on the concept of anything radically "new," rather it posits an incrementalist model of deepening fears of difference and desperate reassertions of old ideologies—a toxic, continuing normalisation of intolerance and indifference. As U.S. politicians wage renewed war on transgender youth and what they deride as "critical race theory" and "woke" culture, the old norms seem very much alive and all too present.

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Democratising Displacement: Paths to Political Inclusion for Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Internally Displaced Persons
Keynote Presentation: Max Pensky

The world is experiencing a crisis of forced displacement. The global population of persons displaced from their communities by armed conflict, persecution, atrocity risk, natural disasters, economic desperation, climate change, or some combination of all these factors, has doubled over the last ten years to a record of over 100 million in 2022 – equivalent to the sixth most populous nation on earth.

A routinely overlooked factor unites this enormous and diverse populace – even when fleeing from authoritarian or failed states and arriving at democratic ones, displaced persons experience a comprehensive exclusion from democratic politics. Even in cases where the host country is relatively welcoming, it frequently regards its population of displaced persons as passive, needy recipients that require aid and government services. Translated into refugee policy, this view of displaced persons contributes to the loss of individual and collective political agency that the displaced have already experienced. Often greeted with fear and suspicion, displaced groups' own initiatives for self-organisation and agency frequently fail.

Displaced persons need access to democracy. But what paths are open to more inclusion? What novel political and policy experiments might identify these paths? What could help build host countries' political will to accept more democratic inclusion of their refugee populations?

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Creating New Marine Protected Areas During Indonesia’s New Normal
Keynote Presentation: Alex Del Olmo

During the COVID-19 pandemic, societies all over the world were facing not only a health problem but also an economic crisis, and Indonesia was no exception. The Indonesian government, led by President Joko Widodo, tried to implement self-contained regulations to control the spread of the virus while simultaneously closing Indonesian borders to everyone except nationals and foreign workers returning to the country. As tourism came to a halt, scuba diving activities dropped nearly to zero.

In this context, something truly unique happened. For the first time in over 25 years, there were almost no divers, and only a handful of liveaboards were taking trips where they used to bring thousands of guests to the most remote areas in Indonesia. However, this left some Marine Protected Areas unguarded, and locals were trying to survive with no income as their jobs in the tourism industry vanished.

In November 2020 and later in November 2021, during Indonesia's "New Normal," one of those liveaboards - The Seven Seas - partnered with a conservation team from the Coral Triangle Centre (CTC) and Yayasan Konservasi Alam Nusantara (YKAN) to create a community-based program that could protect some of the most vulnerable coral reefs in the Forgotten Islands and the Banda Sea, as well as document the fish life.

Accessible only during the short seasonal gap of calm winds between the Southeast and Northwest monsoon, the Forgotten Islands (also known as the Southeast Moluccas) comprise an arc of islands stretching 1,000 kilometres from Timor to West Papua. Their relative isolation and the often stormy seas throughout the year mean that they are some of the least visited and explored islands in all of Indonesia, making them the ideal place to create new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

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From “Normal” to the “New Normal” through to the “Abnormal”: Where Do We Place the Elderly on This Scale?
Keynote Presentation: Sue Ballyn

What exactly is the “New Normal”? While it is a post-pandemic term that has come into use across the world, do we really understand it? What is clear is that it means many different things depending on individuals and communities, and possibly no consensus of opinion as to its exact meaning can be reached.

My personal opinion is that the "New Normal" represents a shift away from pre-pandemic norms and towards a future that may look and feel different in many ways. As a term, it is porous and may be assigned a meaning by individuals, institutions etc. or, more dangerously, politicians and governments.

With regard to the elderly, the “new normal” is a term which lies embedded in government policy resulting in a collision between care for the elderly and the limits of budgets assigned to it, thus possibly, or indeed provenly, resulting in discrimination with regards to what kind of treatment may or may not be awarded to an elderly person within the public health system.

As a member of the elderly community, I want to look at some of the “abnormal” things that have been going on before, during and after Covid19. The pandemic has worsened the situation of the elderly and has enabled a much wider generational rift. It is not a case of ageism alone but a much more subtly brutal affair which begins with our governments and trickles down to today’s youth.

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Environmental Communication and Public Engagement Through Creative Uses of Satellite Data
Keynote Presentation: Grayson Cooke

I am an interdisciplinary scholar and media artist, with a focus on how art and science can work together to develop new figurations of environmental change, its causes and its impacts. In particular, I focus on how Earth Observation satellite data can be used towards this end. While satellite imaging is used extensively and primarily within scientific, governmental and private sector contexts, there is enormous potential when it is taken up across disciplinary boundaries and when aesthetic and affective dimensions are added to scientific frameworks. Responding to the “vulnerabilities” sub-theme of this conference, in this talk I will explore what satellite imaging can show us of the fragility, resilience and remarkable formal beauty of human and non-human environments. I will outline some of my projects and methods, demonstrating how critical and creative uses of satellite data can engage the public and bring new insights into environmental phenomena.

Read presenter's biography