CFP: The State of Rural China

[Saul Thomas <stthomas@uchicago.edu>]

Overseas Young Chinese Forum 7th Annual Meeting
 
The State of Rural China:
Chinese peasants, agriculture and rural society in the reform era
 
May 28-30, 2005
 

Call for Papers

The OYCF invites general-interest or research papers on the theme “The
State of Rural China: Chinese peasants, agriculture and rural society in
the reform era” for its 7th annual meeting to be held on
May 28-30, 2005 in the northeast United States, location to be
determined.  The deadline for submission of a paper or abstract is
February 15, 2005.  
 
The Overseas Young Chinese Forum (OYCF) is a self-governing
non-profit organization established in 1999 to provide a forum for
interested overseas young Chinese to discuss social, economic, political
and cultural issues related to China’s development and explore
solutions.  Now our members and activities reach North America,
Europe and Asia, including China/Hong Kong. OYCF organizes an annual
meeting where interested young Chinese intellectuals from academia,
business, community and government gather to discuss pressing issues
about China and to engage in cross-disciplinary dialogues. Since its
inaugural meeting in 1999, OYCF has held six annual meetings around such
themes as the theory and practice of liberalism, the WTO and China, the
civil society, and women’s issues in China. Attendants to the meetings in
the past included Chinese- and English-speaking scholars, policy experts,
professionals and graduate students from various disciplines. All
presentations at the previous meetings have been published in our online
journal Perspectives in the form of articles or summaries. 
 
The conference theme is constructed around the so-called “san
nong” or “three rural issues” of peasants, agriculture and rural
society in the contemporary period. We welcome papers on this general
topic (in English or Chinese) from academic scholars, advanced graduate
students, policy experts, and others informed in rural or agrarian issues
in China. The paper can be a general survey of one particular rural
“issue” or “problem,” or a theoretical formulation aimed at advancing a
particular argument. It may or may not involve original empirical
research, but each paper should have a clear analytical point to convey
to the audience.  We especially encourage policy-relevant studies of
the rural issues. The paper should preferably be in the length of a
journal article. If selected, authors of the papers will be invited to
present their work at the OYCF annual conference, and to contribute to a
post-conference volume edited by the conference organizers. 
Selected conference papers may also be published in our online journal
Perspectives.  Partial travel reimbursement for paper
presenters is possible depending on the level of funding.  
 
Examples of topics:

• Land reform, occupational choices and mobility of peasants; migration workers
• Village and township governance, political participation, grievances and protests
• Poverty, social welfare, education, religion in rural China
• Law and order in rural China
• Rural economic development, impact of WTO
• Rural domestic life: marriage, family, children and gender issues
• Historical and contemporary representation of peasants, villages and rural China

Please send the following material via email to
callforpapers@oycf.org before February 15, 2005.
(1)      a brief curriculum vitae with
detailed contact information, and 
(2)      a written paper or a 2-page
abstract.
A notification of acceptance will be sent by April 1, 2005.  Please
contact callforpapers@oycf.org for more questions. 
 
Overseas Young Chinese Forum –
http://www.oycf.org –
Contact: callforpapers@oycf.org