Conceptualizing Cyber-Urban Connections in Asia and the Middle East Date:23 Jan 2014 - 24 Jan 2014 Venue:Asia Research Institute Seminar Room 469A Tower Block, Level 10, Bukit Timah Road National University of Singapore @ BTC Organisers:Dr RATHINA-PANDI Asha Dr MAROLT Peter Dr LIM, Merlyna CALL FOR PAPERS (DEADLINE: 1 SEPTEMBER 2013) In the 2010s, we witness a surge of protests and mass movements across the globe. All of these insurgencies have two elements in common. One is that they are intricately connected and facilitated by the Internet. The other is that occupying politically potent spaces in the city is crucial in gaining political leverage for pursuing reform. Connecting these two elements remains inadequately studied, however. The many conferences aimed at understanding the role of new and social media as tools of protest tend to remain in networks of cyberspace, and urban studies have also lagged in linking urban space with cyberspace. As individuals continue to live in a networked society, with one foot in the virtual and the other in the material world, the more coherent understanding of the changes and transformations in society should include an interrogation of the interdependencies between online and offline domains.How does cyber-activism translate into the production of urban spaces, and, conversely, how does access or lack of access to urban spaces reflect back to online mobilizations? This multidisciplinary conference aims to bring together young scholars and leading experts and theorists to better understand and re-theorize the ‘cyber-urban’ connections in urban Asia and the Middle East that affect people, networks, and social and built environments. We invite submission of papers that address the reflexivity of cyber and urban spaces, both empirically and theoretically, in different national contexts, pertaining to social change in Asia and the Middle East. Central questions include, but are not limited to: How do cyber-urban connections materialize in the city? How can we better understand the interplay between online mobilizations and the production or occupation of urban spaces? How do emerging alternative or subaltern cyber-urban spaces inform urban theory? How do spaces (online and offline) contribute to insurgent activities? To what extent does insurgency need both cyberspace and physical space to be successful? How do socially marginalized people engage in online-offline forms of mobilization to gain political leverage or pursue their own projects? How do comparative contexts in Asia and the Middle East differ in any substantial ways in their cyber-urban insurgency experiences? PROPOSAL SUBMISSION Paper proposals should include title, an abstract (max 300 words) and a brief biographical sketch (max 150 words). Please submit your proposal by 1 September 2013 to Dr Asha Rathina Pandi at ariarp@nus.edu.sg. Click here for proposal submission form. Successful applicants will be notified by 1 October 2013 and will be required to send in a draft paper of 5,000 - 8,000 words based on unpublished material by 15 December 2013. Participants are encouraged to seek funding for travel from their home institutions. Based on the quality of proposals and the availability of funds, partial or full funding is available for successful applicants. Full funding would cover air travel to Singapore by the most economical means plus accommodation for the duration of the conference. CONTACT DETAILS Conference Convenors Dr Asha RATHINA PANDI (ariarp@nus.edu.sg) Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore Dr Peter MAROLT (marolt@nus.edu.sg) Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore Dr Merlyna LIM (Merlyna.lim@asu.edu) Arizona State University & Princeton University, USA Secretariat Ms Valerie YEO Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore #10-01 Tower Block, 469A Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 259770 Email: valerie.yeo@nus.edu.sg Tel: (65) 6516 5279 Fax: (65) 6779 1428 Contact Person: Mdm YEO Ee Lin Valerie Email: ariyeov@nus.edu.sg, marolt@nus.edu.sg, ariarp@nus.edu.sg