Amerasia Journal has announced a call for abstracts for its Fall/Winter 2011 publication, "Asian Pacific American Folklore: Pluralisms, Passages, and Practices." 2-page abstracts are due January 10, 2010.
Amerasia Journal: Call for Abstracts
Consulting Guest Editors: Jonathan H. X. Lee, Assistant Professor, San Francisco State University, and editor of the Asian American Folklore Encyclopedia and Kathleen Nadeau, Professor, California State University, San Bernardino, and co-editor of the Asian American Folklore Encyclopedia and author of the History of the Philippines (2008) and Liberation Theology in the Philippines (2004).
Amerasia Journal Editor: Adjunct Professor Russell C. Leong, English and Asian American Studies, project Director http://www.uschinamediabrief.com
Due date, March 1, 2010: 2-page abstracts
Author Notification on abstracts, May 30, 2010
Due date of final papers: January 10, 2011
Publication date of issue: Fall/Winter 2011
Send copies of abstracts to: Dr. Jonathan H. X. Lee jlee@sfus.edu; Dr. Kathleen Nadeau knadeau@csusb.edu; Professor Russell Leong rleong@ucla.edu. Inquiries and abstracts will be reviewed by the editors, and authors notified. Final papers will undergo peer review.
Amerasia Journal now invites contributions for a new special issue on "Asian Pacific American Folklore: Pluralisms, Passages, and Practices." (For past issues or reference, see 50,000 pages of 40 years of Amerasia Journal , the core journal in Asian American Studies, are also now online through your institution or individual subscription: through MetaPress.)
Back in 1996 Amerasia Journal published the first special issue on Asian American Religions. Thirteen years later, the legacy of that first special issue is incontestable as the field of Asian American religious studies has grown as indicated by the permanent status of the Asian North American Religion and Society Group at the American Academy of Religion, and the Asian Pacific American Religions Research Initiative (APARRI). Not to mention the growing single authored and edited volumes dealing with Asian American religiosity. We think Amerasia Journal can have as great an impact on the study of Asian American folklore. We therefore are bringing together a collective volume of original readings that offer a contextual approach for the study of the diverse landscapes and dimensions of Asian Pacific American folklore. This special issue will be guided by four themes - prospects, patterns, practices, and problems - which will serve to organize the various essays into thematic areas. These four themes will provide the volume thematic cohesion from the very beginning.
The first section of the special issue will explore some of the prospects for positive contributions and negative consequences that folklore can exert on the various and diverse Asian/and Pacific Islander cultural communities in the United States. Relevant questions in this section are (1) how can the re/generation of (new) Asian/Pacific American performance rituals and practices increase the range of choices for individuals in determining ethnic, cultural, national, and civic identities? (2) How can Asian/Pacific American folkloric and performative expressions aid in the promotion of pluralism and tolerance, and (3) how does the use of folklore in dance and musical performance "rites of passage?" by the college youth contribute to stabilizing ethnic communities and, thus, improve inter-racial relations, generational conflicts, and economic production and consumption?
The second section will examine patterns in the sense that the pieces will look specifically at the interplay between folklore and history. Some of the questions that this section will investigate are (1) what is the relationship between folklore, historical experiences, and history. (2) How is folklore 'localized' and used to uncover and recover, at the individual and inter-generational and familial/community levels, from being displaced by war or, to take another scenario, circumstantially, dislocated between two homelands, and (3) what are some of the historical patterns (told and untold histories) that Asian/Pacific American folklore 'unveils' in the context of local cultural productions and community formations?
The third section will look at practices, and practitioners, by identifying some select situations, scenarios, and agents who employ Asian/Pacific American folklore as a potent resource integral to holistic approaches to health, healing, and recovery. Some of the issues that will be considered are (1) in what ways do those who suffer, and their healers, rely on folklore to fight against, come to terms with, and/or overcome major illnesses and life threatening situations? (2) How have young adults (i.e., cross-cultural adoptees) relied on folklore to aid in discerning their own individual destinies and cultural moorings, and (3) what is the meaning of 'Asia' in its dialectical relationship to Asian/Pacific American folklore?
The fourth section - problems - will narrow its focus onto the heated and contested terrain of gender, sexuality, and love in Asian/and Pacific Islander America. Some of the relevant questions to be interpolated and explored are (1) how does Asian/Pacific American Folklore (e.g., Asian mystic) hinder larger efforts at inter-ethnic and community relations? (2) What are some of issues coming out of the "insider-outsider" versus "insider as scholar" debate over the study of Asian/Pacific American folklore, and (3) what are the limits and parameters of "Asian/Pacific American folklore" as a category for scholarly investigation?
"Asian Pacific American Folklore: Pluralisms, Passages, and Practices" also welcomes international scholars and U.S. scholars who do work on the transnational linkages and connections pertaining to Asian/and Pacific Islander American folklore as a way of life.
We hope that the papers will encourage us not only to contribute to the field of Folklore and Asian American Studies but also open up the conversation across the various disciplines in the social sciences and humanities to new and creatively innovative approaches to the study of culture and social life.
If you have other topics not included in the above please direct your inquiries to the editors.
