The Pan-Asian Quest for Cultural Authenticity

To be hosted on 3-4 May 2024 at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China Campus.

Steering committee: Dr Mary J. Ainslie, Dr Corey Schultz, Dr Linnie Blake. 

Deadline for submitting proposals: 29 February 2024

Researchers are invited to submit proposals for a conference examining the folkloric’s exploration of identity in the wider Asian context. Over the course of the last decade, the creative economies of the Asia-Pacific have become a key element in the promoted growth of this region. In response to wider global economic changes and the development of technology, the arts sector reorientated to the digital era, gaining an increased level of importance due to its crucial role in forming new Media Capitals, export markets and inter-regional circulation dynamics. Amidst this rapid development, one major discourse that underpins the creative economies in Asia is the promotion of the traditional cultural sphere, realized through behaviors, artifacts, beliefs and discourses that can often be labelled as folklore. This mass cultural deployment of the folkloric often involves the reappropriation of traditional figures, stories and tropes, one most evident in films, television, theatre and various transmedia franchises. Engendered by wider forces of globalisation and the neoliberal capitalism that underpins it, this folkloric search for cultural authenticity in the globalized context can provide relief and retreat from rapid modernisation and urbanization. 

This conference seeks to explore folklore as a form of cultural expression of both the material dislocations of contemporary life and the emergence of transnational viewing practices in the digital age. Such elements have been incarnated and reappropriated in films, theatre productions and OTT platform products, all of which form a key part of creative economies across Asia.  

Suggested Topics (though not limited to):

• Representations and constructions of folklore in film, television, and games
• Folklore-inspired tourism
• The representation of minorities and minority communities
• Heritage and the growth of heritage industries
• The turn towards folklore in cultural studies and the creative industries
• The promotion and business of the heritage industries
• The promotion and circulation of folklore
• Forms of cultural heritage in the media

Please submit proposals of up to 250 words, 5 key words, and a brief biography of up to 100 words to https://forms.office.com/r/mUaXJ9gbzf  by 29 February 2024.  For questions or further information, please contact Dr. Mary Ainslie, at Mary.Ainslie@nottingham.edu.cn and/or Corey.Schultz@nottingham.edu.cn. Participants will be informed about selection by the end of March 2024. 

The event is funded by the Institute for Asia and Pacific Studies and the School of International Communications at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China.