Proceedings of the Critical Island Studies 2023 Conference (CISC 2023)
Conference: Proceedings of the Critical Island Studies 2023 Conference (CISC 2023)
Date: 2 October 2023
Location: Yogyakarta, Indonesia (Hybrid)
Website: https://cis.fib.ugm.ac.id/ugmcon Discussions about globalization generally focus on the expansion of the “center”— Europe and North America—across the globe, often undertaken at the expense of the “margin”—other regions and the rest of the world. However, this conventional practice is problematic because it ignores the reality of the interconnectedness of the global system. To create a new understanding of the environment and nature that acknowledges such interconnectedness, we must move away from this Eurocentric view and develop a more planetary perspective. This shift is necessary to address the urgent challenges of social and environmental crises requiring the imagination and creation of a new, more sustainable future for our planet. Toward this end, archipelagic thinking might offer an alternative to the dominant Eurocentric cosmology of nature, focusing on the oceans and islands rather than lands and continents. It is this spirit that binds Critical Island Studies, a consortium of universities that are committed to the critical examination of a whole range of phenomena from empires and neo/postcoloniality to biodiversity and linguistic/cultural heterogeneity, and from strategic parochialism to alternative cosmopolitanism, and other phenomena. As a transdisciplinary enterprise, it involves philosophers, literary writers and critics, ecologists, development studies scholars, social and natural scientists, area studies specialists, cultural workers, and geographers working on issues relating to the islandic, the archipelagic, and the oceanic and their signification as concepts as well as their ideological and hegemonic implication. I would also like to extend a warm welcome to all the scholars, practitioners, and academicians in the field of law and society, both local and international, who have gathered here to actively engage in the UUMILC 2023. Your presence, paper presentations, and support are greatly appreciated. Bringing the theme of Islands and commodities, the conference wants to emphasize that archipelagic states have a propensity to commercialize their chains or clusters of islands in a variety of ways. Through state-owned enterprises or commercial hospitality industry operators, they may promote tourism based on the islands’ potential as premier destinations. The natural resources of the islands may also be exploited, with negative consequences for the inhabitants. These residents may then be utilized in exploitative undertakings, becoming part of a continual cycle of exploitation that enriches only a select few, although in the name of progress and the better welfare of society. Papers may deal with literary, sociological, historical, economic, and cultural texts, events, theories, practices, and methodologies in relation to what is broadly called “Island Studies.” Theoretical and Methodological, Historical Significance, Analytical Focus. Universitas Gadjah Mada, the leading university in the consortium today, has joined efforts to host this year’s conference in which internationally renowned scholars, researchers, and academics have come on board to deliver plenary lectures on topics that are as relevant today as they are for the planet’s future. The positive responses to the distinct but related Call for Papers which have been sent out have brought us all together in the UGM CIS 2023 conference and yet another by the organizers of the CIS2023 Special Section, “Deleuze, Guattari, and Archipelagic Thoughts.” Wening Udasmoro
Steering Committee of the 2023 Critical Island Studies Conference
Date: 2 October 2023
Location: Yogyakarta, Indonesia (Hybrid)
Website: https://cis.fib.ugm.ac.id/ugmcon Discussions about globalization generally focus on the expansion of the “center”— Europe and North America—across the globe, often undertaken at the expense of the “margin”—other regions and the rest of the world. However, this conventional practice is problematic because it ignores the reality of the interconnectedness of the global system. To create a new understanding of the environment and nature that acknowledges such interconnectedness, we must move away from this Eurocentric view and develop a more planetary perspective. This shift is necessary to address the urgent challenges of social and environmental crises requiring the imagination and creation of a new, more sustainable future for our planet. Toward this end, archipelagic thinking might offer an alternative to the dominant Eurocentric cosmology of nature, focusing on the oceans and islands rather than lands and continents. It is this spirit that binds Critical Island Studies, a consortium of universities that are committed to the critical examination of a whole range of phenomena from empires and neo/postcoloniality to biodiversity and linguistic/cultural heterogeneity, and from strategic parochialism to alternative cosmopolitanism, and other phenomena. As a transdisciplinary enterprise, it involves philosophers, literary writers and critics, ecologists, development studies scholars, social and natural scientists, area studies specialists, cultural workers, and geographers working on issues relating to the islandic, the archipelagic, and the oceanic and their signification as concepts as well as their ideological and hegemonic implication. I would also like to extend a warm welcome to all the scholars, practitioners, and academicians in the field of law and society, both local and international, who have gathered here to actively engage in the UUMILC 2023. Your presence, paper presentations, and support are greatly appreciated. Bringing the theme of Islands and commodities, the conference wants to emphasize that archipelagic states have a propensity to commercialize their chains or clusters of islands in a variety of ways. Through state-owned enterprises or commercial hospitality industry operators, they may promote tourism based on the islands’ potential as premier destinations. The natural resources of the islands may also be exploited, with negative consequences for the inhabitants. These residents may then be utilized in exploitative undertakings, becoming part of a continual cycle of exploitation that enriches only a select few, although in the name of progress and the better welfare of society. Papers may deal with literary, sociological, historical, economic, and cultural texts, events, theories, practices, and methodologies in relation to what is broadly called “Island Studies.” Theoretical and Methodological, Historical Significance, Analytical Focus. Universitas Gadjah Mada, the leading university in the consortium today, has joined efforts to host this year’s conference in which internationally renowned scholars, researchers, and academics have come on board to deliver plenary lectures on topics that are as relevant today as they are for the planet’s future. The positive responses to the distinct but related Call for Papers which have been sent out have brought us all together in the UGM CIS 2023 conference and yet another by the organizers of the CIS2023 Special Section, “Deleuze, Guattari, and Archipelagic Thoughts.” Wening Udasmoro
Steering Committee of the 2023 Critical Island Studies Conference