CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

A Cultural History of the Avant-garde in East Asia

Part of: Cultural Histories of the Avant-Garde: A Companion Series (www.brill.com/CHAG)

The companion series is part of an ongoing, large-scale project launched by De Gruyter Brill (a merger of two international publishing houses) that uncovers the cultural history of the avant-garde in major regions of the world. The series on East Asia consists of four volumes, each dealing with specific decades and topics as follows: 

• V. 1, 1880s-1920s: Imperial Modernities and Artistic Dissent  
• V. 2, 1930s-1950s: Revolution, Aesthetics, War and Its Discontent 
• V. 3, 1960s-1980s: Cold War Experiments and Counter-Cultural Movements 
• V. 4: 1990s-present: Global Entanglements and the Futures of the Avant-Garde   

The series foregrounds border-crossing, intermediality, ruptures, and affinities across various cultural forms (e.g., architecture, cinema, fashion, gaming, literature, music, photography, theater, and visual art) by exploring a wide range of topics (e.g., ecocriticism, ethnicity, gender, institution, media, memory, sociopolitical movements, technology, translation). A compilation of case studies and overview chapters, each ranging from 4,000 to 6,000 words, the series will shed new light on the avant-garde in East Asia. 

Scholars at all stages of academic careers are invited to submit proposals, up to 250 words, outlining the case study or overview and its fit to the volume. 

Submission by email: eastasianavantgarde@gmail.com. Please put the volume number you are submitting to in the subject line of your email and include the title of your proposal. One submission per email. 

Due Date: May 31st, 2026 

The editors will contact the authors of selected proposals within three months, by September 1st, 2026. Only accepted abstracts will be notified. 

For inquiries, please contact the editorial board at eastasianavantgarde@gmail.com 

Editorial Board: 

• Kyunghee Pyun, State University of New York  (Vol. 1)
• Liang Luo, George Mason University                (Vol. 1 and 2) 
• Tsuyoshi Namigata, Kyushu University            (Vol. 2 and 4)
• Sooran Choi, University of Vermont                (Vol. 3 and 4)
• Michelle Yeh, University of California, Davis     (Vol. 3 and 4)