The Critical Island Studies Consortium announces a conference that aims to fundamentally challenge and reconceptualize our understanding of “Asia” by privileging an archipelagic perspective over the dominant continental narrative. In an era where global power dynamics increasingly revolve around Asia, we propose a radical reframing of how we understand this region. and its place. The persistent continental bias in interdisciplinary scholarship, particularly endemic in certain disciplines like Asian Studies, has created a fundamental misrepresentation of regional identity and relations. This conference proposes a radical epistemological shift: understanding Asia primarily through its archipelagic character rather than its continental mass. While traditional scholarship has positioned Northeast Asian continental powers as the center of “Asia,” this framework has obscured the rich, complex networks of maritime connections, island cultures, and archipelagic relations that have historically defined and continued to shape the region.

  Our theoretical foundation draws from multiple critical thinkers who have challenged continental-centric epistemologies. As Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak says, “we cannot turn planetarity into the production of an adjective for ourselves.”  There is an ever-present risk that a global, all-encompassing representation or worldview might create its distorted reality, detached from the physical world. In constructing such overarching narratives, we may overlook the Earth itself, echoing the concerns and anxieties expressed by modernist thinkers. The imperative of our planet demands that we rethink its essence. Édouard Glissant’s assertion that “the archipelagos of the Mediterranean must encounter the archipelagos of Asia” suggests that archipelagic thinking offers an alternative perspective but an on the ontological condition of our contemporary world. This vision challenge resonates with Gilles Deleuze’s ontology of islands, which understands archipelagic spaces as existing in the productive tension between separation and connection, between continent and ocean. This ambiguous position—simultaneously yearning for separation from the mainland while maintaining complex networks of connection—offers rich theoretical ground for reconceptualizing the basic concepts and categories in interdisciplinary scholarship particularly in relation to Asia, viewed in a historical context. of Asian Studies.

  The name “Asia” itself reveals the problematic nature of continental-centric thinking. Originally denoting regions outside the Roman Empire before being transformed into a signifier for Greater China, it represents an arbitrary geopolitical categorization that reflects Western imperial interests rather than regional realities. The post-war Cold War system further entrenched this continental bias, dividing what was once an interconnected maritime world according to Western strategic interests. This historical context demands a fundamental rethinking of how we approach conceptualize Asian Studies. We recognize that islands are not peripheral to Asia but constitute its essential character—a reality that continental-centric narratives have systematically marginalized. This marginalization has not only distorted our understanding of the past but continues to shape contemporary geopolitical and economic frameworks in ways that privilege continental perspectives.

  The conference seeks to develop several critical theoretical interventions through archipelagic ontology, maritime epistemologies, and island agency. First, we aim to explore the nature of archipelagic existence beyond continental frameworks, understanding the relationship between isolation and connection, and developing new conceptual tools for archipelagic thinking. Second, we seek to center maritime networks as primary rather than secondary phenomena, developing knowledge systems that emerge from archipelagic experiences and challenging land-based assumptions in knowledge production. Third, we propose reconceptualizing islands as active agents rather than passive spaces, understanding island-mainland relations beyond dependency frameworks, and exploring island-based forms of resistance and creativity.

  Through these interventions, we address crucial questions: How might we understand Asia differently if we prioritize archipelagic perspectives over continental ones? What alternative histories emerge when we center maritime networks and island experiences? How does an archipelagic framework challenge current geopolitical and economic paradigms? What new methodologies are required for archipelagic thinking? These questions demand innovative methodological approaches that privilege island perspectives and incorporate indigenous knowledge systems into archipelagic methodologies.

  The conference aims to establish archipelagic thinking as a fundamental approach in the field to Asian Studies, that could help develop new methodological tools for island-centered research, create networks of scholars committed to archipelagic perspectives, and produce publications shaping future research agendas. We seek to foster dialogue between island-based and continental scholars, working toward a more sophisticated incisive and inclusive understanding of Asian histories, cultures, and futures.

  We particularly welcome papers that explicitly challenge continental-centric approaches through archipelagic frameworks, by engaging with but not limiting to any of these topics:

    1. Theoretical Interventions
   - Critiques of continental-centric Asian Studies
   - Archipelagic methodologies and epistemologies
   - Maritime networks as alternative organizing principles
   - Island ontologies and their implications for regional understanding

    2. Historical Reconfigurations
   - Pre-colonial maritime networks and their disruption
   - Alternative histories centered on island experiences
   - Maritime trade networks as primary rather than secondary phenomena
   - Island-based resistance to continental hegemony

    3. Contemporary Implications
   - Rethinking geopolitics through archipelagic frameworks
   - Island economies as alternatives to continental capitalism
   - Maritime sovereignty and territorial reconceptualization
   - Environmental challenges from archipelagic perspectives

    4. Cultural Dynamics
   - Island-based cultural formations and their resistance to continental narratives
   - Maritime cultural networks and their contemporary relevance
   - Indigenous knowledge systems and their challenge to continental epistemologies
   - Archipelagic arts and literature

    Submission Requirements

    Abstracts should explicitly address how their research challenges continental-centric approaches and contributes to archipelagic understanding of Asia. We particularly encourage submissions from scholars based in or focusing on island territories.

    - Abstract: 300-500 words
    - Must include theoretical framework
    - Must explicitly address continental/archipelagic dynamics
    - Include five keywords
    - Brief biographical note (150 words)

    Important Dates

    March 31, 2025
    The deadline for the submission of an abstract and a short bio 

    April 15, 2025
    Authors will be notified via email

ㅤㅤSelected papers will be considered for a volume on archipelagic perspectives and approaches, aiming to establish this framework as a significant intervention in the field.

    Organizers: 

    Critical Island Studies Consortium, https://criticalislandstudies.com
    Research Institute for the Tamla Culture (Jeju National Univ.), https://tamla.jejunu.ac.kr
    Center for Cross-Cultural Studies (Kyung Hee Univ.), https://ccs.khu.ac.kr/?language=eng
    SNU American Studies Institute (Seoul National Univ.) https://amstin.snu.ac.kr/en/

    Contact

    Alex Taek-Gwang Lee alextglee@gmail.com
    Lulu Reyes lu2reyes3x@gmail.com

    References

    Deleuze, Gilles. Desert Islands: and Other Texts, 1953–1974. Tran. Mike Taormina. New York: Semiotext(e), 2004.
    Glissant, Édouard. The Baton Rouge Interviews. Trans. Kate M. Cooper. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2020.
    Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty and Susanne M. Winterling. “The imperative to make the imagination flexible.” Planetary Sensing https://planetarysensing.com/the-imperative-to-make-the-imagination-flexible/