Visualizing Int’l Relations–cfp

CfP for AAS 2020: Visualizing International Relations in Asia
Call for participants in a roundtable at the 2020 Association of Asian Studies Conference (March 19-22, Boston):

This roundtable will discuss the topic of Visualizing International Relations in Asia through a consideration of Callahan’s new book Sensible Politics: Visualizing International Relations (Oxford UP, January 2020). Participants will be provided with a copy of Sensible Politics.

Possible approaches include, but are not limited to:

  • how do visual images and artifacts from Asia challenge the way we think about visual politics and international relations?
  • How can comparative work (Asia, Middle East, Euro-America) help us better understand East and Southeast Asian culture and politics?
  • Should we treat visuals as texts to be deconstructed to reveal their meaning, or as experiences that need to be appreciated for affect?
  • How do maps, clothing, walls, gardens, and cyberspace work as sites of visual politics?

If you wish to be considered for participation, please send a description of what issues you’d like to address (100 words or less) and a short bio by July 29 to William A. Callahan (W.Callahan@LSE.ac.uk).

Participants will be provided with a copy of Sensible Politics.

FYI: Sensible Politics: Visualizing International Relations uses examples from China, Japan, Korea, and Thailand, and from the Middle East, Russia, and Euro-America.

The book abstract:

Visual images are everywhere in international politics. But how are we to understand them? Callahan uses his expertise in theory and filmmaking to explore not only what visuals mean, but also how visuals can viscerally move and connect us in “affective communities of sense.” The book’s rich analysis visual images (photographs, film, art, maps) and visual artifacts (veils, walls, gardens, cyberspace) shows how critical scholarship needs to push beyond issues of identity and security to appreciate how visuals creatively engage in social-ordering and world-ordering practices. Here “sensible politics” isn’t just sensory, but looks beyond icons and ideology to the affective politics of everyday life. It challenges our Eurocentric understanding of international politics by exploring the meaning and impact of visuals from Asia and the Middle East. The book provokes us to not only think visually, but also feel visually—and creatively act visually for a multisensory appreciation of politics.

William A. Callahan
London School of Economics

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