SEAA-SNU Anthropology 2025 Conference

About the SEAA-in-Asia regional conference: details and Call-for-Panels [current October 4, 2024].

SHAPING FUTURES: EAST ASIA AS PRACTICE, July 2025 Conference in Seoul, South Korea
Organizers: Society for East Asian Anthropology (American Anthropological Association) and
Seoul National University Department of Anthropology
Timing and venue: July 14–16, 2025 at Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
Submission deadline for proposals: January 15, 2025 with decisions by March 1, 2025
All sessions will take place in person
Registration fee: USD $100 regular and reduced student rate USD $25
Contact us at: snuseaa2025@ g mail dotcom

The Society for East Asian Anthropology (American Anthropological Association) and Seoul National University Department of Anthropology are pleased to announce a joint conference, “Shaping Futures: East Asia as Practice,” to be held in-person at Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea, on July 14-16, 2025.

This inter-regional collaboration takes the task of shaping futures as a crucial responsibility for anthropologists. In placing that responsibility under the rubric of “East Asia as Practice,” we assume the ongoing intergenerational dynamism that actively creates futures. We place mentoring–both vertical and lateral–as central to the processes and structure of this future-focused conference. We not only have a pre-conference specifically designed by and for graduate students, but also structure the whole conference in a way that encourages intergenerational, interregional conversations. In short, we take “shaping futures” as an assertion, a responsibility, a platform for community, and a call to action. Those futures include overlapping issues of:

● Mentoring relationships
● Transnational ties that bind
● Diasporas and their possibilities
● Interlingual responsibilities
● Political activism and scholarship
● Raceandracism in 21st century East Asian lives
● EastAsian colonialisms, Indigeneities, and (co)ethnic politics
● Migration and the geopolitical dynamics of border-crossing
● Culinary futures: localism, regionalism, globalism
● Pasts and their consumption: cultural heritage, urban renewal, tourism
● Religious transformations and spiritual practices
● Affects, trauma, and healing
● Sexualities, violence, interventions
● Queerfutures
● Declining birth rates, societal aging, and shifting care regimes
● Digital worlds (social media, virtual reality, metaverses, etc.)
● Automation, robots, and AI
● Inter-species futures, human-animal relations, and their ethics
● Environmental sustainability and climate action
● Well-being amidst an era of anxieties

Our list is long as we commit to creating interactive, dialogic spaces of inclusion and collaboration that not only reflect upon scholarship, but place it within critical modes of engagement. Please join us in conversation and community that together constitute “Shaping Futures.”

Submission formats and instructions

Submission types
● Individual papers (15-minute presentations)
● Panels (4 papers plus discussant and chair, double panels allowed)
● Roundtables (4–6 presenters plus chair)
● Posters

Word limits
● Panel abstracts: 250 words, not including titles (plus 4 paper abstracts, 250 words each)
● Paper, roundtable, and poster abstracts: 250 words, not including titles Note on multiple roles: You may assume multiple roles (e.g., chair + presenter, discussant on one panel + presenter on another) but only one paper presentation is allowed per person

Note on language
You may propose to present in languages other than English, but please submit your abstract(s) in English. Panel/roundtable organizers: To facilitate broad engagement, please ensure that one or more of your papers/presentations is in English and that non-English presentations are accompanied by an English-language summary or outline for distribution during the session.

Please submit your proposal to the linked google form.