• orature
• stories of migration / creation myths
• cosmology / knowledge systems
• life histories
• storytelling / folk tales
• poetry
• drama and performance
• aesthetics / interculturality
• threatened languages / language death
• subaltern history
• cultural and human rights
• publishing in aboriginal / nomadic languages
• translation from aboriginal / nomadic languages
• marginalization of aboriginal / nomadic cultural expression

Through this conference, philosophical insights from local culture will be gathered and formulated, particularly in the analysis of living tradition in relation to contributions to human values and creativity. The conference will also be a venue for representatives of local culture to share their view on local heritages.

Self and Personal Identity · Artificial Intelligence · Reductionist Theory · Empirical Self and Transcendental Self · Cultural Self · Self, Culture and Globalization · Tradition and Modernity · Dualism · Parallelism · Materialism · Split Personality · Individualism and Collectivism · Society, Culture and Religion · Personal Immortality · Cybernic Immortality · Immortality and Freedom · Yoga and Self Realization · Atman and Brahman · Self-Consciousness and Identity · Consciousness and Unconsciousness · Cultural Relativism · Deconstructionism · Culture and Meaning

• Heritage in Cosmopolitan Urban Spaces
• Heritage, Reconstruction and Reconciliation
• Economies of Heritage
• Heritage and Diversity
• Heritage and Modernity

• Reconceptualising Religion in India
• Colonialism and Religion in India
• Evolutionary Explanations of Religion
• Indian Religion and the Aryan Immigration
• Inter-religious Dialogue
• Religious Conversion in India
• Secularism and Tolerance in India
• Western Representations of India
• The Caste System and Indian Religion
• Religious Pluralism and Rivalry in India

The workshop seeks to examine how Malayness is inextricably tied with the grand and modern notions of race and nation as well as through its ancient and familiar ideology of family and everyday economy. What are the ways in which Malayness has been articulated by influential and politically-engaged personalities, collectives and texts as well as ordinary persons in history as well as the present? Are there disjunctures between Malayness as couched in race and nation contexts as opposed to Malayness at the individual and personal level? Of what value or benefit does Malayness as an identity code, symbol or reality hold out to its bearer? Is ›race‹ a technical device for state-making or is it an ideological basis for family and community sustenance?

• The Turkish Experience of the Alliance of Civilizations
• The Media and Citizen Journalism
• Migration
• Youth
• Education
• Gender Issues

• Reflexivity, praxis communicative action and the creative act
• Locating personal creative research in a social field
• Narcissism, lifestyle, self identity and creativity
• Traditional practices as a site for personal resistance
• Subjectivity, creativity and the institution
• The subjective self, cosmopolitanism and intercultural practice

• Education and centers of learning (such as, but not limited to, Taxila, Nalanda, Vallabhi, Mathura, Bairam-Ali, Srivijaya, Dunhuang, Chang'an, Hangzhou, etc.)
• The transmission and translation of ideas and texts
• Buddhism and local cultures: assimilation, conflict, absorption: Buddhism and local cultures
• Buddhism, statecraft, and material culture
• Excavating Buddhism: the role of archeology in understanding the history of Buddhism
• Buddhist rituals and ceremonies across cultures
• Cross-currents in Buddhist art and architecture
• Anthropologies of Buddhism in Asia
• Contemporary Buddhism and Buddhist Institutions in Asia

• Possibility of Linguistic Community
• Language and Inducement
• Phenomenology of Language beyond Deconstructive Philosophy of Language
• Phenomenology of Love
• Phenomenology of Love and Hatred by Max Scheler

• Immigration
• Theories of territory and group rights
• Resource rights
• Justice and territory

• Civil society
• Conflict, peace and terrorism
• Democracy, good governance, human rights
• Economic cooperation
• Food security
• Gender equality
• Media
• Regional organizations
• Science and technology
• Strategic cooperation
• Trade and investment; extractive and non extractive sector

The conference welcomes academic or creative submissions addressing the philosophical, legal, political, literary, sociological, or technological questions of human rights. The organizers seek presentations that speak simultaneously to the issues of specific disciplines and to the general interests of the citizen, so that a common conversation can develop during the course of the conference.

• Theorizing translation in Asian contexts (moving beyond the descriptive)
• The interplay between vernacular and cosmopolitan languages in translation (for example Javanese and Arabic; Tamil and Sanskrit; Malay and English)
• Practices and techniques
• Translation movements and their histories
• Training translators: translation academies, translation manuals
• Translation prefaces (justifications, goals, ideologies as expressed by translators)
• Translators' patronage systems
• Ideology and translation
• Poetics of translation
• Translations and the development of languages and education
• Cultures and cannons: what gets translated?
• Explicit and implicit in translation traditions
• Translation in Asia in a comparative perspective
• New directions: what, if anything, can exploring translation in Asian contexts contribute to wider debates about translation?

• The interdependence between education and development
• Casual factors of educational development
• Politics and education
• Equal access to education
• Gender in education
• The importance of educating women
• The importance of permanent education in achieving the high performances of an organization
• Cross cultural aspects of education
• Resource allocation to provide educational services
• Educational systems around the world
• Educational leadership
• Education and peace
• Education for sustainable development

The conference is intentionally broad and invites multiple interpretations of complex issues such as national and transnational identities, migration, globalization, media and visual culture, urban studies, material culture, memory, violence and trauma.

• Derechos Humanos, Democracia y Paz
• Comunicación, Educación y Cultura de Paz
• Ciudadanía, Violencia y Desarrollo
• Genero, Migración y Grupos Vulnerables

• Poverty Growth and Inequality
• Poverty Reduction Strategies
• Poverty Monitoring
• Poverty and Social Impacts
• Poverty and Culture
• Poverty and Health
• Poverty and Education
• Poverty Measurement and Analysis
• Empowerment Strategies
• Social Capital
• Social Risk Management
• Labor Market Policies
• Pension Reforms
• Children and Youth
• People with Disabilities
• Disadvantaged Groups and Protection
• Social Policies

The dynamics of globalization – such as communication technologies, immigration and migration, capital flows, transnationalism, and identity politics – have contributed to social conditions in which religious belief and practice not only survive but prosper and proliferate. A growing body of scholarship and reportage has documented this phenomenon in the Western hemisphere, but are these patterns applicable to the populations of South and East Asia – densely concentrated, increasingly well-informed and technologically-sophisticated – as well? How can we better understand the dialectical tension of codependence and codeterminism between religion and globalization in Asia?

• The EU and Other Configurations
• Nations and Security
• Imagined Communities
• Nation, Utopia, and Dystopia
• Nations, Borders, Frontiers
• Transnational Contexts
• Gendered Constructions of Nation
• Queering Nation
• Nations and Othering
• National Cinema(s)
• National Mythologies
• Migration and Nation
• Nations and Modernities
• Imperial/Colonial Imaginations
• Violence in the Name of Nation

Prospects

• How can religious pluralism and tolerance be promoted and practiced?
• What social, economic, and political scenarios contribute to peaceful religious proliferation in Asia?
• Can global trends and dynamics increase the range of choices for individuals to determine their own religious and cultural identities?

Patterns

• Are there identifiable characteristics for situations where religion is (or could become) a strategic political resource in Asian nations?
• How can we better understanding the codependent and codeterminative dynamics and patterns of religion and globalization?
• Does religious conservatism always compromise the more positive characteristics of globalization that are egalitarian, diverse, hybrid, and cosmopolitan?

Problems

• Are there substantial differences in how we regard religious fundamentalism in Asia and in western nations, especially concerning the belligerent kind that resorts to violence?
• Does the globalizing character of religion impede human rights in Asia?
• Are there regional conflicts that, aided by globalizing forces and religious ideologies, might grow into large-scale wars?

• The Impact of the Cultural Turn
• The Ethical Turn in Contemporary Political Ideas and Action
• The New Politics
• Aesthetics and Performance
• The Information Age and Politics
• Culture/Politics/Ethics: Historical Perspectives
• Theories, Ideas and Culture/Politics/Ethics

The organizers encourage submissions on any branch of philosophy applied to issues of race, sexuality, gender, and related topics or capable of informing discussion within these areas. Radical philosophy is welcome.

Globalization is one of the most distinguishing features of our age. What globalization means for average people, however, is hotly debated. Some suggest that globalization is ushering in cosmopolitan forms of consciousness that will help humanity transcend its tendency toward parochialism and myopism. Some also believe globalization will foster economic growth and create employment. Others are less optimistic, arguing that globalization is worsening inequality, causing environmental degradation, giving rise to conflicts and wars, and benefiting corporations at the expense of the global poor, among other problems. The conference will gather together scholars and others interested in the impact of globalization on human rights.

While Humanistic and Engaged Buddhism share historical and structural features – particularly their emphasis on relieving suffering here and now – their similarities and differences and their unique contributions to the evolution of the Buddhist Dharma have not been studied to date. The conference features panels on the history and theory of Humanistic and Engaged Buddhism, its relation to movements for social and sangha reform, the political challenges and economics of the new movements, the role of information and management technology in the new Buddhism, and the future prospects of these movements.

• Are there, or were there ever, distinctly ›South-east Asian‹ notions of power that could still exist as alternatives or complements to Western folk and political models?
• Are scholars' analytic imaginaries of power in relation to nationhood and governance congruent with the imaginaries of South-east Asians witnessing or involved in such projects and processes?
• What are the shapes that ›power‹ takes?
• How have recent theoretical developments within various disciplines reshaped our understanding of the nature and location of power?
• How useful is the concept of ›South-east Asia‹ as a geographical, political and analytical entity in dealing with these issues?

• The study of values per se
• The intersections of welfare and religion in late modern societies
• Methodological issues for work in these fields
• The gender dimensions to the study of welfare, minorities and values
• The role of religious and other minorities in the welfare debate (as both providers and recipients)
• Policy implications at local, national and European levels
• A global perspective on welfare and religion in Europe (including migration)
• Pan-European comparisons and Nordic perspectives
• The challenges of comparative and interdisciplinary research

• Representation of political or legal interests by proxies such as legislators, political parties, interest groups, or lawyers
• Representation of citizens in novels, plays, or print, broadcast, or digital media and the cultural consequences of this »embodiment«
• Circulation of depictions and descriptions of citizenship in school texts, government films, or other media meant to model or critique civic behavior

From the early spreading of languages such as Greek, Chinese, Latin, and Arabic across broad regions to the present age of globalization, local literary cultures have long had to interact with hegemonic languages and literatures of foreign origin. World literature first arose in antiquity long before the rise of the individual national literatures. The theme of »Global languages, local cultures« can offer avenues into many lines of inquiry: explorations of »minor literatures«; regionalism and transregional relations; empires and postcolonial situations; interactions of literature with religious and philosophical traditions; classical literatures and modern offshoots or responses; »standard« languages, creoles, and vernaculars; movements of genres into new cultural spaces; translation theory and practice; relations of literature, music, film, and other arts.

The purpose of the conference is to promote debate on topics relating to human security, including both theoretical research and policy-oriented research. Papers may address specific human security issues (e.g. environmental security, small arms, etc.) or the concept and practice of human security itself. In particular, the conference wishes to: address questions surrounding the terminological ambiguity of human security, examine the contexts in which the human security agenda has been debated and pursued; identify challenges facing the revitalizing of the human security agenda; and discuss the future viability of human security. Drawing on national and international examples, participants will attempt to clarify what is understood on this agenda and discuss the link between theory and practice.

The conference intends to examine the state of tolerance in Canada. Scholars from across the disciplines are invited to join community experts and activists to explore the meaning and limits of tolerance in Canada, past and present, and identify and examine the nature and role of domestic and international forces that combine to produce intolerance in a variety of contexts. Special attention will be given to the demonization of religious groups, the war on drugs and groups of people living at the edges of tolerance and indifference.

A growing awareness in many academic fields of the value of comparative methods of inquiry and analysis has led to the development of scholarship that investigates contrasts and commonalities in innumerable contexts. Comparative methods allow for deeper attention, analysis, and interpretation of the processes that underlay our world. The conference seeks to foster new scholarship that explores structural, cultural, and intellectual elements while unveiling common patterns and explaining differences.

• multiculturalism, citizenship, policy, management
• law, human rights, constitution, freedom
• societies, integration/disintegration, inclusion/exclusion
• diversity, ethnicity, tolerance
• cultures and literatures
• representation, identity, self, history, meaning and recognition
• well being, the local and the global
• metropolis, cities, towns and ruralis