Call for Papers International Conference on the Past, Present and Future of African-Asian Relations University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland April 25-27, 2019

Issues that may be addressed by papers include (but are not limited to):

• Institutionalized Asian-African relationships, such as China’s “One Belt, One Road Initiative” or the FOCAC, the India Africa Forum Summit, or Japan’s TICAD.
• Consequences of the Asian-African relationships such as changing inequalities, unequal exchanges, indebtedness, changes in poverty, (dis)continuities in labor movements.
• Other social consequences including changes of gender and generational relations.
• Changes in the economy triggered by foreign direct investment, the diffusion of agricultural and other technologies, labour migration and changing trade patterns.
• Political issues such as the shift of military power, new conflict lines or human rights issues.
• Ideational aspects of the Asian-African relationships such as Asian (developmental) states as blue print for development strategies in African countries, Gulf States as models for non-Western modernity, or mutual (racist) stereotypes.
• Transnational aspects such as the role of networks and diasporas or forms of migration for business, recreation, health care or education.
• Ecological issues such as the consumption of resources and its impact on the environment or the potential for green technologies

Highest priority will be given to papers that combine a general theoretical discussion with new empirical findings. These papers may be based on new comparative research as well as single-case studies, and on qualitative as well as quantitative research methods. Papers can take a long durée perspective or focus on limited time periods, including contemporary ones.

Submission procedure: Please submit a 500 word paper abstract in English before September 30, 2018 (CET) to africa-asia.conference@clutterunine.ch. The abstract should include the title of the paper, all author(s) names and affiliation as well as contact information. It should contain clear information on the research methods, data sources and analytical tools to be used. Please note that the organizers are seeking original contributions. Papers that have already been published or submitted for publication will not be accepted. Authors will be notified before the end of October 2018 of paper proposal acceptance. Successful applicants are invited to elaborate their proposals into full papers and to participate in the World Society Foundation Award of Excellence Program for Research Papers.

Further information:http://www.worldsociety.ch/doku.php