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Opportunity 4

Counter Cultures

The Space and Place of the Chinese Shop

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    Kongshopgif -

    Keith and Yook Moy Kong - Kingston, Jamaica. Circa 1957. Photo courtesy: © Estate of Keith I. Kong

Ryerson University (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is hosting an inter-disciplinary and international conference, "Counter Cultures: The Space and Place of the Chinese Shop”, July 24th – 26th, 2011. The conference examines how the space and place of the Chinese shop (laundries, restaurants, bakeries, general stores, etc.) has been conceived of and experienced for overseas Chinese. In particular, it seeks to explore the transformative socio-cultural, economic and political processes that create the space and place of the Chinese shop both within Chinese diasporic communities and in terms of encounters between the Chinese and their host societies.

Confirmed keynote speakers for this event include Prof. Victor Chang (University of the West Indies), Prof. Lily Cho (University of Western Ontario) and Prof. Jack Tchen (New York University). The conference will also feature a poetry reading by Mr. Easton Lee (From Behind the Counter) and a film screening of an episode of Chinese Restaurants by film maker Mr. Cheuk Kwan.

We are currently accepting online submissions of abstracts for papers and panels (deadline April 29th, 2011). Please find attached the conference announcement. More information, including an online submission link, is available at: http://digitalcommons.ryerson.ca/ccc/. Additional questions can be sent to Dr. Anne-Marie Lee-Loy at: aleeloy@ryerson.ca

CALL FOR PAPERS

The “Chinese shop” in all its manifestations (laundry, bakery, restaurant, general store, etc.) has been integrally connected to Chinese migration as a site of economic and symbolic exchange – a complex locus of power and performative societal tensions and identifications. As such, the consideration of Chinese shop space provides an intriguing staring point from which to investigate many key socio-political issues for Chinese diasporic communities.
This conference aims to bring together an international and interdisciplinary group of scholars to investigate how the space and place of the Chinese shop (broadly defined) has been conceived of and experienced for overseas Chinese. In particular, it seeks to explore the transformative socio-cultural, economic and political processes that create the space and place of the Chinese shop both within Chinese diasporic communities and in terms of encounters between the Chinese and their host societies. Topics might include, but are not limited to the following:
(1) The representation and imagination of shop space;
(2) The political contestations and designations of shop space;
(3) Theoretical deliberations on the spatial dimensions of the Chinese shop;
(4) The shop as gendered space;
(5) The shop as racialized space;
(6) The historical, social and economic implications of the Chinese shop;
(7) The impact of nationalism, globalization, colonialism, and/or imperialism on Chinese shop space.
For the full Call for Papers, online abstract submissions and conference details, see: http://digitalcommons.ryerson.ca/ccc/

Contributions
Anne-Marie Lee-Loy 
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