CfP: Connections, Disruptions, and Reconnections in China Studies and Beyond

The 17 biennial Conference of the Nordic Association of China Studies + PhD workshop

Date and location: June 12-13 2025, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

The 2-day conference will be followed by a 1-day PhD workshop (on June 14) where experienced scholars will provide feedback to PhD draft chapters or extended research proposals.

Theme

China’s modern history has been marked by periods of dramatic flux, with the COVID-19 pandemic representing a recent, powerful disruption against a background of broader uncertainties. The NACS Conference 2025 will seek to explore the complex layers of China’s past and present, focusing on themes of connection, disruption, and reconnection. We invite scholars from across disciplines to reflect on what these patterns of connection and disconnection mean for our understanding of China’s history, culture, society, and global role.

• Fieldwork and Physical Reconnection: As scholars return to field sites, archives, and research institutions in China, how have recent shifts altered these physical engagements? What new challenges and insights arise as we reconnect on the ground?
• Methodological Innovations and Digital Reconnection: In the wake of disruptions, how have recent challenges transformed our methodological approaches? We invite reflections on digitally-aided research, remote access, and the changing utility of digital connectivity in China Studies. Do we study China differently now, and what does this entail?
• Historical and Cultural Dynamics of (Re)connection: How have people, products, and ideas historically traveled across and within regions, organizations, and communities? We welcome papers that analyze the cultural and social transformations produced by the movement of people and ideas and examine how these patterns of disruption and reconnection reshape our collective imaginations of China.

We invite proposals on, but not limited to, the following themes:
– Domestic, regional, and international (re)connections
– How media serve to connect and disconnect
– (Dis)connecting with the past through history and memory
– Managing Dissent in the Digital Age
– Literature, cinema, and popular culture
– Religion and philosophy
– The state of scientific and academic cooperation
– Chinese language teaching

Application and deadlines:
Submit your panel, individual abstract, or extended abstract for

PhD workshop contribution to nacs2025[at]hum.ku.dk at the latest 10 March 2025. For more details see here: https://ccrs.ku.dk/calendar/2025/connections-disruptions-and-reconnections/