The third Baltic Alliance for Asian Studies (BAAS) conference on Asian studies will be taking place on the 13-15th of April, 2018. The conference is titled “Dynamic Asia: Shaping the Future.”

The conference is organized by the Baltic Alliance for Asian studies, Latvian Society for the Study of Religion and Centre for Korean Studies of the University of Latvia. The conference will take place at the University of Latvia, Riga.

The aim is to bring together researchers from the Baltics and elsewhere to present their research fields and to discuss about different topics related to Asian and Middle-Eastern cultures and societies.

NB! Proposals submission deadline has been extended until Monday, January 22, 2018.

Conference homepage found HERE.

Information from the organizers:

On behalf of the Baltic Alliance for Asian studies (BAAS), the Latvian Society for the Study of Religions and the Centre for Korean Studies of University of Latvia we are pleased to welcome both junior and senior scholars from a wide range of academic disciplines and professional fields dealing with all regions of Asia and Middle East under the theme: “Dynamic Asia: Shaping the Future”. Dynamic changing Asia confronts us with a number of issues: power rivalry and rising military tensions, territorial disputes, environmental degradation, economic inequality within and between nations, migration, marginalization, war memory, urban and rural challenges, cross-border cultural encounters, identity in the globalized world, changing models for marriage, work and family, the status of women, shaping lifestyles and modes of leisure. By placing “Dynamic Asia: Shaping the Future” at the centre of attention, this conference intends to put a range of important issues on the agenda, for instance:

• Theoretical and methodological issues relating to Asian studies.
• Role of Asia in shaping the global political arena.
• Social dynamics of contemporary Asia.
• Contemporary philosophical issues from Asian perspective.
• Relationship between tradition and Asian modernity.
• Quest for anthropological perspective in Asian studies.
• Representations of Asia in the Baltic states: mass media, literature, arts.
• Asian literature in the West: interpretations and re-interpretations.
• Variety of Asian arts and visual cultures in historical and contemporary perspective.
• Dynamics of religious radicalization/universalization of Asia.
• Asia in searching for new models of religion.
• Impact of Asia on the Western esotericism.

Korean religions forum will be organized by Centre for Korean Studies during the conference dates. Panels will be participated by a number of scholars distinguished in the field of Korean religion studies and anyone who are interested may freely take part in the discussion and Q&A sessions. The main topics will be: new aspects on Korean aboriginal religions, the history of Korean religiosity, the identity of Korean national religions and the perspective on religion studies in Korea etc.

All presentations should last 20 minutes with 10 minutes for discussion.

Papers are invited in English.

Important dates:

• Submission of session/panel, round-table proposals – December 15, 2017
• Submission of proposals for individual presentations – December 15, 2017
• Notification of acceptance – January 10, 2018
• Early payment of the conference fee – March 13, 2018.
• Late payment of the conference fee – after March 13, 2018.

Please send panel, round-table and individual presentation proposals to: Marika Laudere dynamicasia@lu.lv