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• 23 déc 2019

  Paris

  Call for papers - Ethnology, anthropology

  Desired Identities

  New technology-based metamorphosis in Japan

  In Japan, the kyara-ka phenomenon, ‘transforming into a character’ (Aihara Hiroyuki, 2007) is now giving birth to what Nozawa Shunsuke (2013) calls ‘an emerging art of self–fashioning.’ Based on elaborate disguise techniques, the kyara-ka phenomenon covers a variety of communication strategies and practices: cosplay, kigurumi, Vtubing, utaloid voice banks, use of voice-image filters to upload videos where humans look like characters… Exploring all the aspects of this ‘thingification of humans’, the conference will reflect on how and why a growing number of people market themselves as characters. The conference goal is to address the complexity of issues raised by these voluntary and, perhaps, ironical acts of obliteration. What is the profile of men and women who transform themselves into computer-graphic creatures? How do they deal with being loved only through their digital alter-ego? What little or grand narratives are being produced alongside? Can we still deal with the phenomenon in terms of authenticity (original) versus artificiality (copy)? What negotiations or refusals underly the use of characters as social masks?

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• 25 oct 2019

  26 oct 2019

  Berlin

  Conference, symposium - Ethnology, anthropology

  Emotional attachment to machines

  New ways of relationship-building in Japan

  Currently, technologies that foster emotional connections between humans and digital beings are perceived as a threat by many. Because emotional devices are considered to be make-believe systems based on ‘simulation’ (which is often confused with lying, deceit or fraud), emotional technologies could potentially be suspected of affecting human sexual identity or disrupting social bonds. This Symposium will examine the ways in which humans form intimate relationships with ‘emotionally-intelligent entities’ (robots, digital characters, downloadable boyfriend…) and what purposes these relationships to machines serve for them. 

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• 15 déc 2019

  Leipzig

  Call for papers - Asia

  Locating negative affects in post-reform China

  This panel takes the prevalence of positivity in post-reform China as an invitation to investigate its opposites: the variety of negative ordinary affects that can be viewed as ensuing from state-induced “situations of restricted agency”. What can we learn from the various forms of negativity that morph out of the socio-political circumstances of post-reform China, and how to tread a fine line between the risk of romanticization and analytical dismissal? Under what conditions do the expression and performance of negative affects constitute “a manifestation of autonomy from state directives” in the context of pervasive “happiness” campaigns? Or is their work ambivalent, if not problematic, especially when they come to be associated with specific marginalized groups?

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• 31 aoû 2019

  Taipei

  Call for papers - Asia

  Sinophone Studies in Europe and the Americas

  Research Center for Chinese Cultural Subjectivity in Taiwan (CCS) will be holding 2019 “Sinophone Studies in Europe and the Americas”(SEA) International Young Scholars Conference at National Chengchi University, Taiwan, November 19-21, 2019. The conference invites both critical scholarship and creative writing in various fields of Sinophone studies.

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• 29 mar 2019

  Paris

  Scholarship, prize and job offer - Asia

  Association française d'études chinoises thesis prize

  Un double prix récompense chaque année lors de l’assemblée générale de l'Association française d'études chinoises deux thèses de doctorat soutenues en France durant l’année précédente.

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• 07 mar 2019

  08 mar 2019

  Paris

  Conference, symposium - Political studies

  Global Ethics of Compromise

  This international conference in political studies and political philosophy wishes to explore the notion of compromise in its transnational dimension, in order to test the relevance of a cultural and global approach to compromise. The topics addressed by the conference are the following: Can we develop morally right and wrong compromise typologies? Can we propose a universal ethics of compromise or does compromise vary depending on the socio-cultural history of a country? To what extent is culture relevant in shaping types and norms of compromise?

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