The Philippine Association for Chinese Studies (PACS) and the Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran (Kaisa) have been supporting knowledge production on the broad theme of Chinese in the Philippines. Through the decades, there were numerous conferences and events, journal publications, books, and feature articles. In 2017, in partnership with the Ateneo de Manila University Ricardo Leong Center for Chinese Studies, PACS and Kaisa convened on January 15-16, 2017, the first conference called “Chinese in the Philippines: New Studies, Current Issues, Future Directions.” Since then, PACS and Kaisa have resolved to organize a conference on the subject every three years. In keeping with this plan, they organized “The State of Scholarship of the Chinese in the Philippines: Problems, Perspectives, and Possibilities” on January 11-12, 2020. Co-convenors were Miriam College, the Filipino Chinese Friendship Association Inc., and the History Department of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Due to the difficulties in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, the next conference could not be scheduled in 2023. Instead, the conference will be on January 27-28, 2024, in Cebu hosted by the Cebuano Studies Center, University of San Carlos. While the two previous conferences featured a regional studies component, the upcoming conference underscores regional studies in the study of Chinese in the Philippines more widely. The historical foundation of the regional studies concept draws on previous scholarship such as the volumes Chinese Across the Sea, the Chinese as Filipinos (1992), The Ethnic Chinese as Filipinos Part II (1997), and The Ethnic Chinese as Filipinos Part III (2000), all of which were published in the Chinese Studies Journal by PACS. The first was co-edited by Aileen Baviera and Teresita Ang See while the latter two were edited by Ang See. In 2013, Richard T. Chu and Caroline Hau co-edited a special forum issue for Kritika Kultura focusing on “regional” studies on the Chinese in the Philippines. In particular, the issue included new works that highlighted “regional forms of transnationalism.”
Hence, this conference seeks papers with a regional focus on the study of the Chinese in the Philippines, with a special emphasis on locations outside of Metro Manila. It aims to build on and expand works made by other scholars on the Chinese found in places such as Cebu, Iloilo, Baguio, or Dagupan, to name a few. Additionally, this conference welcomes studies that demonstrate or analyze the interconnections between the Philippines and localities around the world, including new research that focus on Philippines-China relations. Individual papers or panel proposals consisting of three or four papers are welcome. Thematically, papers can be from different fields of studies in the social sciences, humanities, sciences, and area studies.
The conference program will include a visit to the Sugbu Chinese Heritage Center.
Please email a 200-word abstract and CV to tsinoy2020@gmail.com by June 30, 2023.
Accepted abstracts will be announced on September 30, 2023. Scholars whose abstracts are accepted are expected to finish and submit the draft of the full paper on November 30, 2023. Papers must be typed double-spaced using Times New Roman font size 12 with 1”x1” margin on all sides. Ideal word count ranges from 5000 to 7500 words. For purposes of uniformity, papers must use the MLA documentation style (8th edition).
A conference volume of selected essays is also being planned. Presenters are encouraged to submit their papers to the Chinese Studies Journal (CSJ) for consideration in Volume 18 (2024). Papers to be included will be in English, or English translations of papers written in non-English languages. Editors of this volume will contact authors of essays to be included.
For more information, please email tsinoy2020@gmail.com.