CALL FOR PAPERS

      Humanities and Social Sciences Congress, May 26 - June 2,
      2007, Saskatoon, Canada.

      Session title: Orientalism and Terrorism

      Organizer: Pavan Kumar Malreddy, Department of Sociology, University of
      Saskatchewan

      Discussant: Dr. Ron Wheeler, Department of Political Studies, University
      of Saskatchewan.

                (for Canadian Association of Geographers)

Session Description:

Following the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001 (9/11), the US government
compiled a long list of suspect terrorist countries. Although this list was
initially restricted to the counties in the Middle East, it has been gradually
expanded to other regions in South and Southeast Asia. Subsequently, anyone
bearing the features of Asian or Muslim identity ("brown-colour") became prime
suspects of terrorism in the Western world. While these developments entail a
process of reducing diverse cultural identities into singularity; the notion of
the Orient as a collective geo-cultural entity and a cultivating ground of
terrorists has become a latent discursive theme in the contemporary academic
writing. Correspondingly, a complex interaction of state sponsored research
programs, think tanks, academics, and "area studies" specialists have unpacked
a "new terrorism" discourse that informs much of the post-9/11 geopolitics. To
this end, a wide variety of local and ethnic struggles, and other political
unrest throughout Asia have been drawn into the "new terrorism" discourse as
well as the global "war on terror." Recent trends in the discourse on new
terrorism purport that the Islamist political struggles in Asia are part and
parcel of the Al Qaeda terrorist network. These include organizations such as
Pattani el- Jihadi in Thailand, Abu Sayyaf Group in Philippines, Jamaat
ul-Fuqra in Pakistan, Jaish-e-Mohammad in India, Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia
and Jemaah Islamiyah in Indonesia.
In light of such complex developments conflating "terrorism" with a host of
Asian identities, this panel invites papers that reflect upon, but not
restricted to: a) essentialization of Asian identities since 9/11; b)
'ethno-terrorism' and international terrorism; c) Area studies and terrorism;
d) security studies and terrorism; e) discourses of terrorism; f) terrorism and
ethnic violence; g) eco-racism and eco-terrorism; h) anthropometric geography;
i) resurgence of Orientalist discourse.

Keywords: Orientalism; ethno-terrorism; geography; space; territorial mapping;
Asia; area studies.

Send your proposals (200-300 words) directly to Pavan Kumar Malreddy before
March 10, 2007: <pavan.kumar_at_usask.ca>

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Received on Fri Feb 16 2007 - 19:27:28 EST