Call for Papers
The South Asia Research Collective at the York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR) invites paper proposals for a one-day workshop on critical issues shaping South Asia and South Asian diasporas. We seek papers that engage with how questions of politics, marginality, mobility, belonging and citizenship have been represented, experienced and contested in South Asia and its diasporas. The workshop will take place on 19 March 2027.
South Asia has long been a particularly productive site to examine the promises, contradictions and challenges of decolonization and democratic politics. The triumphalist narrative of flourishing democracies in some parts of the region along with grim assessments of failures in others obscure the multilayered and complex processes that underpin social and political realities in the region. In recent years, South Asia has witnessed escalating authoritarianism, rising sectarian and communal violence, the suppression of dissent and the erosion of political freedoms alongside grassroots protests, populist uprisings and democratic movements. These developments raise ever more urgent questions on how state and non-state actors have historically shaped and continue to impact South Asia’s political landscape.
The workshop is deliberately broad to encourage contributions that speak to diverse disciplinary perspectives, methodological approaches, historical periods and geographical contexts to foster conversations across multiple sites of inquiry. We particularly invite papers that foreground perspectives from marginalized and subaltern groups that allow us to critically interrogate old and new colonial projects, transforming ideological currents, the workings of the state and the constitution of social power. Submissions from advanced graduate students who are working on their dissertations are especially welcome.
Possible themes include, but are not limited to:
- Work, labour rights and livelihoods across South Asia and its diaspora
- Migration and mobility
- Rise of authoritarianism and sectarian violence
- Climate crises and dystopias
- Health and well-being
- Media, technology and digital cultures
- Social movements, protests and collective action
- Subjectivities and lived experiences of marginalization
- Urbanization and urban dispossession
- Production of knowledge on South Asia
- South Asian faith traditions
- Vernacular archives and texts
- South Asian literary cultures
Deadline extended | Please submit a 250-word abstract along with a short CV to sarc[at]yorku.ca by 01 December 2026.
Acceptances will be notified by 15 January 2027.
Please note that funding is not available for travel or accommodation.
Questions can be directed to: sarc[at]yorku.ca.