CALL FOR PAPERS “Looking Eastward: Demystifying Central Asian relations with Asia”
Nazarbayev University
Department of Political Science and International Relations
CALL FOR PAPERS
“Looking Eastward: Demystifying Central Asian relations with Asia”
April 27-28, 2023
Abstract submission deadline: March 10, 2023.
Current public and academic discourse on Central Asia continues to be dominated by the Anglo-Western centric studies both in its focus and conception. By contrast, the study of Asian understanding of Central Asia is currently at a low ebb. Such critical underrepresentation of Asian discourses in the current literature on Central Asia presents significant disadvantages to the development of local and global science.
Existing studies coming from Asia have made rich and significant contributions to the development of the field, however, Asian scholarship on Central Asia remains underrepresented in the region leaving many unanswered questions. Given the growing influence of Asian actors within Central Asia and abroad, addressing these gaps in existing narratives is of vital importance.
How do Asian powers conceptualize ‘Central Asia’? What questions and interests do Asian elites, experts, and the general public have in Central Asia and how do those compare to their Western counterparts? What are the short- and long-term foreign policy objectives of Asian countries in Central Asia? Do they have a clear strategy to achieve them, or do they lack any such strategy? What are the main obstacles that might prevent them from pursuing their interests in the region? How is their presence and activities in the region perceived by Central Asian elites, experts, and the general public?
These are the general questions to be dealt with in the sessions of this conference. The answers to such questions are crucial for understanding mutual perceptions, images, and interactions between Central Asian countries and their Asian partners. The final aim of the conference is to prepare a special issue/edited volume based on the papers presented at the conference.
General guidelines:
Authors are invited to submit their abstracts, which will then be reviewed by the Editorial Committee. If accepted, authors will be invited to deliver a presentation at the conference in April, 2023.
Additionally, we pursue to prepare a special issue/edited volume based on the selection of papers presented at the conference. Authors, whose papers are selected for a book chapter, will be invited to submit their full papers by June 30, 2023. Accepted manuscripts will be assigned to the Guest Editors, who will work with the authors towards revising their articles.
Abstract submission requirements:
- Abstracts should be submitted in MS Word (preferred) or PDF format (in English).
- Submissions should include the following items:
- Name, affiliation, and email address
- Short biography (~150 words)
- Abstract (350~500 words)
Important Dates:
- Deadline for abstract submission: March 10, 2023.
- Selection notifications will be shared with authors within two weeks from the submission deadline.
- The Conference will be held in hybrid format on April 27-28th, 2023.
- Authors, whose papers are selected for a book chapter, will be asked to submit their full papers by June 30, 2023.
Submissions should be addressed to the editors at demystifyingCA@gmail.com.
Queries before the abstract submission can be directed to sabina.insebayeva@nu.edu.kz.
