Dr Robert Yeates is Associate Professor of American Literature at Okayama University, Japan. He is the author of American Cities in Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction (UCL Press, 2021) and has published articles in journals including Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, Science Fiction Studies, and European Journal of Cultural Studies. More information can be found at robertyeates.wordpress.com.
Debadrita Saha is a PhD candidate in English Literature at Ashoka University, India, specialising in Gothic literature, film criticism, South Asian studies, and gender studies. Her work bridges Gothic studies with postcolonial and feminist literary criticism, offering fresh perspectives on Gothic traditions in Asian literature, particularly Bengali literary narratives. Debadrita has contributed significantly to Gothic scholarship through her analysis of female Gothic in the Sinister House of Secret Love series and Gothic elements in nineteenth-century Orientalist fiction. Her conference presentations include “Mapping the reimagination of the ‘travelling Heroine’ of Female Gothic” at the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference and “The Gothic Castle as a Restraining Space for Unbridled Female Sexuality” at MAPACA, demonstrating her expertise in Gothic literary criticism. Currently serving on the Editorial Board of The Journal of the Motherhood Initiative (Demeter Press), Debadrita was formerly an Assistant Professor of English at Brainware University. Debadrita’s essays have been published in peer-reviewed journals like Rejoinder (Rutgers University), Genre en séries (OpenEditions), and The Journal of Intercultural Studies (Taylor & Francis). Her essay on consent and coercion in medieval Bengali literature was published in an edited volume titled Reconsidering Consent and Coercion in Medieval Literature by Brepols in June 2025.
The special issue of Manusya, Journal of Humanities on The Politics of Folklore in Asian Gothic, edited by Katarzyna Ancuta has been published. The issue contains five papers on topics related to Japanese, Taiwanese, Philippine, Malaysian and Thai literature and film, authored by our members Samantha Landau, Min-tser Lin, Jan Marvin A. Goh, Soumyarup Bhattacharjee, and Arthit Jiamrattanyoo as well as my introductory note. All the articles can be downloaded from the journal website below.
A special issue of MAI – an intersectional feminist journal on
including many video essays on Asian films and filmmakers
edited by Rebecca Rouse, Alison Peirce, and Erica Sheen
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Call for PapersInterdisciplinary Humanities announces a special double issue dedicated to exploring Gothic literature’s rich and diverse world. This special issue will feature creative works, scholarly research, and pedagogy with a particular focus on the New England Gothic context, although submissions on alternate Gothic traditions are encouraged for specific areas of focus outlined below. We invite papers that investigate the New England Gothic genre’s literary, cultural, and historical dimensions as well as creative works that engage with, draw inspiration from, and/or reinterpret Gothic traditions for contemporary audiences.
We welcome submissions that engage with topics such as the following:
We also invite creative submissions inspired by Gothic traditions. These may include but are not limited to:
We are happy to announce that the 3rd PBIC Thai Studies conference shall be on “Ghosts”. The conference shall take place on June 15th 2025 at PBIC Thammasat, Tha Prachan campus. We accept abstracts until May 1st 2025 sent to thstudies@pbic.tu.ac.th. Please see the poster for more information.
MonsterTalk has been promoting science and critical thinking since 2009. We use monsters as a springboard to talk about a variety of monster topics. We’re skeptical of the existence of monsters, but we want to understand the mysterious experiences people report.
Blake Smith is the host & producer of MonsterTalk.
Karen Stollznow is an author, researcher and the co-host of the show.
The hosts of MonsterTalk are pretty easy to find but here’s some pointers if you need to get in touch with them.
Blake – Blake@monstertalk.org
Karen – Karen@monstertalk.org
Dr Chawarote Valyamedhi is a full-time Assistant Professor at National Chengchi University, Taiwan. He holds PhD in Thai Dance, MA in Sanskrit, BFA in Music from Chulalongkorn University, Certificate in Japanese Culture and Language from Ryukoku University and Senshu University, Japan, and Certificate in Chinese Language and Culture from National Taiwan University. His research interests include connection between performing arts and literature, performing arts and beliefs, world performing arts, cultural history and intellectual history of dance. From July 2018 Chawarote is a visiting fellow at Taipei National University of the Arts. He has experience as lecturer at Thammasat University, Assumption University of Thailand, and as an adjunct faculty at Chulalongkorn University, Webster University Thailand, and Taipei National University of the Arts. He has served as a full-time faculty at National Chengchi University since 2021.
Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Conference 2025Geo-Social Connection: The Continuing Journey of Critical Inquiry
Walailak University,
Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand
23–25 July 2025
Inter-Asia Cultural Studies’s vocation to reconnect political and cultural societies in Asia must be understood as an active resistance to the powers that sever the ties between them. Such powers may take forms of colonial expropriation, capitalist dispossession, or Cold War partitioning. This year’s IACS Conference theme, \”Geo-Social Connection: The Continuing Journey of Critical Inquiry,\” reiterates interconnectedness as an Inter-Asian key concept while highlighting the importance of geography and society as material sites of knowledge production at a continental level. We intentionally experiment with a neologism “geo-social” in this CfP as a conceptual heuristic that may encapsulate Inter-Asian connections defined by, yet being forged beyond, the “geopolitical.” Since 2025 marks two anniversaries meaningful to the IACS: the 15th Anniversary of Chen Kuan-Hsing’s Asia as Method and the 70th Anniversary of the Afro-Asian Bandung Conference, we propose to take these occasions to reflect on Inter-Asia’s past accomplishments, present challenges, and future aspirations. One tactical way to foster existing and emerging geo-social connections is through “inter-referencing,” which assists in illuminating shared problematics, political processes, and societal dynamics that have otherwise been concealed. Our theme reinforces the idea of Inter-Asia as an intellectual movement that continues to ask and grapple with critical questions relevant to Asian publics. We conceive of the IACS Conference 2025 as a space where scholars, cultural workers, and activists come together to collaborate on the following spotlight subthemes:
World/Global South
Challenges
Production
Transformation
Extractivism in Inter-Asian Contexts
We promote these subthemes because they reflect the interests of the organizers and IACS Society members. The Program Committee indeed welcomes every critical inquiry related to Asia from all (inter)disciplines, especially sessions that creatively and innovatively advance knowledge production from/about Asia. We particularly encourage proposals that engage with Inter-Asian and cultural studies frameworks.
We are pleased to invite colleagues to submit proposals for Organized Clusters (3-hour workshop session of 6-10 participants), Organized Panels (90-minute session of 3-4 panelists), Roundtables (90-minute session of 3-6 contributors), and Individual Papers. We strongly encourage organized sessions rather than individual submissions.
Proposals for the first three formats must designate the roles of Organizer (can be the same person as Chair or Presenter), Chair (can be the same person as Organizer or Presenter), and Presenter. Including a Discussant is optional. For Organized Clusters, we do not yet require a complete list of presenters. Once your Cluster is accepted, we will have another 1.5-month window for you to organize your own Call for Panelists. Double sessions can be requested for Clusters (6-hour session of more than 8 participants) and Panels (3-hour session of more than 6 participants). Please briefly explain in the description how you will utilize the double sessions. We will approve the request on a case-by-case basis.
An individual may not present more than one paper (special sessions such as Plenary or Keynote do not count as a paper) but may serve more than one role in the Conference. The Conference is in-person only as we do not have the capacity to afford online participation.
We support innovative proposals that will stimulate lively discussions beyond conventional paper presentations. Here are some examples: a focus on a single major paper, film, or book as the subject of attention, a performance or reading of a creative work followed by a discussion, a workshop of works-in-progress with commentators, a debate on interpretations or methodologies, an exploration of Inter-Asian teaching materials, or a discussion with activists, curators, exhibitors, or filmmakers.
We are committed to diversity and equity. We expect our panel submissions to demonstrate diversity in gender, institution, nationality, and professional role (i.e., graduate students, junior and senior scholars, and other professionals). We strongly urge Asia-based young scholars from diverse backgrounds to reach out, get organized, and apply.
While we ask the proposal to be submitted in English, our language of operation, we accommodate a presentation in an Asian language with the following conditions: 1) the scholar has difficulty presenting in English, 2) the scholar’s research significantly enriches the conversation, 3) a summary of the presentation will be made available in English, and 4) the Organizer or Chair is prepared to facilitate the exchange of ideas through translation and interpretation. This option is *not applicable to Individual Papers.
The deadline for application is November 1, 2024. Please submit the following through this portal, and expect to spare 10-15 minutes to complete the form.
1) proposal title
2) preferred format (i.e. Organized Cluster/Panel/Roundtable or Individual Paper)
3) session abstract/description (250 words maximum)
4) paper title & abstract (200 words maximum) *Not required for Roundtables and Innovative Panels without paper presentations
5) personal information (first and last name, email address, affiliation, position, gender, nationality, and current location *Not full address).
Please direct any questions to the IACS Secretariat at iacs2025wu@gmail.com.
We will notify the Organizer of the results by February 15, 2025. Cluster Organizers will receive an additional set of instructions about the confirmation of participants required by April 30, 2025.