[FoME] CFP Conceptualizing Cyber-Urban Connections in Asia and the Middle East

[Merlyna Lim]

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 at 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 at nus.edu.sg)
Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore

Dr Peter MAROLT (marolt at nus.edu.sg)
Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore

Dr Merlyna LIM (Merlyna.lim at 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 at nus.edu.sg
Tel: (65) 6516 5279
Fax: (65) 6779 1428


Contact Person: Mdm YEO Ee Lin Valerie
Email: ariyeov at nus.edu.sg, marolt at nus.edu.sg, ariarp at nus.edu.sg



--
Dr. Merlyna Lim
Visiting Research Scholar/Professor, Center for Information Technology
Policy, Princeton University
Distinguished Scholar of Technology & Public Engagement, Arizona State
University

Web 2.0: http://www.merlyna.org
Web 1.0: http://www.public.asu.edu/~mlim4