The Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong, the National University of Singapore, and the Social Science Research Council have announced plans for the third Conference on Inter-Asian Connections, to be held June 6-8, 2012.
This year’s conference will include a workshop directed by Christophe Jaffrelot and Mirjam Künkler on Networks of Religious Learning and the Dissemination of Religious Knowledge in Asia. The organizers have issued the following call for workshop papers:
Networks of religious learning make up an important part of inter-Asian connections. They account for significant flows of educational migration, and play a considerable role in defining and re-defining the relations between countries and their people.
In this workshop, we trace the connections of religious learning across Asia, including West Asia and the Gulf. While well-developed bodies of literatures exist on institutions of religious learning within certain countries, very few studies thus far take account of the role religious education plays in structuring transnational connections between and within Asia. In addition, most extant studies on international education, in particular at the university level, focus on “secular” education, whereas little is known about educational migration between institutions of religious learning. Finally, the fact that networks of religious learning often feature prominently in countries’ cultural foreign policy is yet to be reflected in scholarship – we know very little about the organization and finances states provide to attract foreign students to their institutions of religious learning, and conversely, to facilitate or limit the emigration of students to institutions of religious learning outside their purview.
We invite papers that focus on the transnational travel of people and religious ideas both with a contemporary or historical focus. Principally, proposals on any topic relating to the themes outlined above are welcome.
The deadline for applications is June 24, 2011. Find additional details and application guidelines here.