We invite book chapter proposals for an interdisciplinary edited volume that investigates how writers, musicians, and visual artists established connections across the Pacific, and worked within and against the political exigencies of the long twentieth century.

Compared to its transatlantic counterpart, the transpacific has been relatively little studied as a space of cultural and political exchange, and it is this emerging field to which the edited volume seeks to contribute. Most generally, Transpacific Studies investigates the various interdependent relations of Asia and the Americas through time. As Viet Thanh Nguyen and Janet Hoskins write in their introduction to Transpacific Studies: Framing an Emerging Field (2014), it seeks to “illuminate the traffic in peoples, cultures, capital, and ideas” between these regions, helping us see how such movements have informed histories and identities on either side of the ocean. In this way it serves as a critique of and compliment to disciplines defined by national boundaries. Yunte Huang, a scholar of American literature whose Transpacific Displacement (2002) was among the field’s pioneering works, wrote that he sought “an articulation of an American literature that transcends cultural and linguistic boundaries, a national literature rooted in transnationalism and committed to translingual practices.” More recently, this commitment to exploring the interconnectedness of the Pacific Rim has drawn scholars from a wide range of humanistic disciplines, and Transpacific Studies is emerging as a fertile area for interdisciplinary dialogue. In our current moment of resurgent nationalisms and anti-Asian xenophobia in the U.S., such conversations are needed more than ever.

This edited volume intends to foster interdisciplinary scholarship on the subject of transpacific cultural exchange and collaboration. We are especially interested in academic analyses that contribute to the volume’s cross-disciplinary approach to the emergent field of Transpacific Studies, particularly in the fields of literature, music, visual arts, film, and new media studies. We welcome proposals for chapters of approximately 5,000 to 6,000 words. Prospective contributors should send their 500-word abstracts by August 1 to co-editor Amanda Wangwright at transpacific.cultural.exchanges@gmail.com .

Timeline:

Chapter proposals (in the form of a 500-word abstract) are due by August 1, 2024.
Proposal decision notifications will be sent in early September 2024.
Full chapter submissions are due by January 1, 2025.

For further details and submission guidelines, please contact co-editor Kunio Hara at transpacific.cultural.exchanges@gmail.com.