CFP: Asian American Theatre Group

Asian American Theatre Group
American Society for Theatre Research
2008 Conference

Co-conveners:
Esther Kim Lee, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (kim32@uiuc.edu)
Ron West, Metropolitan Community College, Omaha, NE (rwest33449@aol.com)

Asian American theatre, as an investigatory category, offers a particularly appropriate opportunity to explore the implications of migration across and within geopolitical borders and cultural boundaries. Though "migration" generally implies a willing movement of people among geographic areas, it also provides a convenient euphemism for the manipulative consequences of globalization. Thus, "migrant" populations may be compelled or encouraged to move among geographic regions but remain excluded from full membership in "settled" social and political territories such as the Americas. The borders are economically fluid, but culturally unyielding. In particular, Asian populations historically have been excluded by convention and statute from full membership in the "American" imagination, even while the! y have been exploited as economic necessities and defined as the Other. Asian American theatre likewise struggles with the relegation to contingency status, signaled by its persistent depiction as a component of the mid-twentieth century's countercultural movement, a sidebar to the main event. Still, Asian American theatre broadly defined remains one of the most promising sites for challenging the false dichotomy of "Asian" and "American" that continues to define the constructed representation of the Asian diaspora in the Americas.

Our group invites participants to address the ways in which the migration, map, and memory of Asian American theatre unsettles "American" theatre by re-settling the territory between the illusory poles of Asia and the Americas. As the first ASTR session to focus on Asian American theatre, the meeting will allow participants to explore the potential o! f Asian American theatre as a web of links rather than a series of discrete "ethnic" discourses and thereby to examine a range of interstitial relationships that avoid isolating Asian American, yet retain a productive distinction. In part because of our hope to draw upon a broad community of perspectives, we especially encourage submissions that extend Asian American beyond the American subdivision of the United States.


Session format:

The process and implementation of the session will resemble the ASTR seminar's 2-hour structure. Participants must commit to submitting preliminary drafts of their papers by August 1st and actively participate in an online pre-conference discussion by means of a fully secure website. The final conference drafts (8-10 pages) are due by October 15th.

By June 6, 2008 please submit an abstract (max 500 words) and brief biography (150 words) via email to:

Esther Kim Lee, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (kim32@uiuc.edu)
AND
Ron West, Metropolitan Community College, Omaha, NE (rwest33449@aol.com)

JOB POST: U of W-Madison, Visiting Prof in Hmong Studies

The Asian American Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin, Madison is hiring a visiting assistant/associate professor for 2008-2009. We are interested in applicants with PhD or ABD from any discipline and able to teach the following courses:

Hmong Experiences in the U.S., Special Topics
Hmong American Studies

If you are interested in being considered for this position, please send your curriculum vita and a letter describing what your course content might be to:

Lynet Uttal
Director, Asian American Studies Program
304 Ingraham Hall
1155 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53706

Video: Kao Kalia Yang Interview

One of our artists from the "Southeast Asians in the Diaspora" conference, Kao Kalia Yang, is on her book tour for The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir (published on Coffee House Press). Check out an extended interview with her here!