CALL FOR PAPERS:

An International Conference of the Chinese Historical Society of America

“This Land Is Our Land”: Chinese Pluralities Through the Americas

Conference Dates: October 6–8, 2017

Location: Hilton San Francisco
750 Kearny Street (Financial District)
San Francisco, CA 94108

Principal organizer: Jonathan H. X. Lee, Asian American Studies, San Francisco State University
Contact: conference2017 at chsa.org

Conference Info

Among scholars of China and Chinese in the Americas, the heterogeneity of Chinese subjectivities and global diasporas is uncontested, but homogeneous classification and representation, specifically in reference to the “Chinese” obfuscates their embedded diversity.

This includes the histories, movements, dialects, foodways, religious beliefs and practices, ethnic communities, political ideologies, transpacific and transnational linkages, and networks.

“This Land Is Our Land”: Chinese Pluralities Through the Americas seeks to unpack, (re)examine, re(focus), (re)calibrate, and (re)imagine the pluralities of “Chinese” experiences within, among, and through the Americas—historically and presently. We enjoin participants to take a global view of the Chinese experience in the Americas. The primary focus of this Conference is research on any and all aspects of Chinese American history, Chinese American studies, and Chinese in Americas.

Call for Papers
We invite submissions by scholars, graduate students, community members, activists, artists, filmmakers, journalists, professionals, and people who work for non-profit organizations that serve Chinese communities in the Americas. We welcome submissions of oral histories, local community histories, and other historically related narratives. Submissions can be individual papers, panel discussions, workshops, and/or roundtables related to the conference theme, as well as the following topics related to pluralities:

Expansions: We wish to expand the boundaries and borders of Chinese American history, and by extension, Chinese in Americas and Chinese American studies. In addition to the primary conference theme, we invite explorations of the experiences of Chinese immigrants (from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other diasporic Chinese communities and subjects) in Canada and South/Latin America (i.e. Cuba, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, and so on); and explorations of the émigrés of the Sinophone diaspora as revealed by the Sino-Southeast Asian American communities and experiences.

Inclusions: We wish to include diverse and plural perspectives of Chinese American history, and Chinese in Americas and Chinese American subjects. In particular, we wish to include critical research that explores issues among Queer or LBTQQI Chinese/Chinese Americans; youth; undocumented Americans; the disenfranchised; the elderly; and colonized “Chinese” subjects.

Currents: We invite research that explores the currents, crossings, and connections of subjects, communities, cultures, and ideas from “China” and the global Chinese diaspora to the Americas. The ebb and flow of currents and movements of plural subjects to the Americas is nested in global networks and linkages, structural forces and policies, and formal and informal connections. Critical new and fresh perspectives and investigations of Chinese American history, and on Chinese in Americas and Chinese American studies, directly or tangentially related to the dynamics of currents, crossings, and connections—tangible and intangible—are welcomed.

Submission Procedure and Process
Selection for participation in the conference will be conducted by peer-review by the Conference Organizing Committee.

Timeline

• May 30, 2016: 150-200 words abstract and 2-page CV is due. Submit to email conference2017 at chsa.org.
• June 1, 2016: Notification of acceptance. Request for visa letter available.
• July 1, 2016: Early registration begins; ends March 30, 2017.
• Participants must register by April 30, 2017 to be included in the printed and online program.
• April 1, 2017 to September 30, 2017: Regular registration.
• On-site registration: October 6–8, 2017

The Conference is hosted by the Chinese Historical Society of America.

Principal organizer: Jonathan H. X. Lee, Asian American Studies, San Francisco State University

About the Chinese Historical Society of America
The Chinese Historical Society of America (CHSA) promotes the contributions and legacy of the Chinese in America through its exhibitions, publications, and educational and public programs in the Museum and Learning Center. The Chinese Historical Society of America is the oldest organization in the country dedicated to the interpretation, promotion, and preservation of the social, cultural, and political history and contributions of the Chinese in America. When founded in 1963, there were fewer than 250,000 people of Chinese descent living in the United States and CHSA was a lone voice for the study and dissemination of the history of this segment of the U.S. population. Today, as the number of Chinese in the U.S. has risen to nearly 4 million, CHSA strives to be a responsible steward of the remarkable narrative of this rapidly growing and increasingly visible community. We are housed in the landmark Julia Morgan-designed Chinatown YWCA building, 965 Clay Street, San Francisco.