Call for Proposals - The (Infra)Structure of Cold War in Southeast Asia
Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference 2026 (AAS2026 @ Vancouver)
Submission deadline: July 10, 2025
Call for Panelists for AAS 2026: The (Infra)Structure of Cold War in Southeast Asia
We are seeking additional panelists for a proposed session at the Association for Asian Studies 2026 Annual Conference, to be held March 12–15, 2026 in Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
Set against the backdrop of competing colonialisms, overlapping imperialisms, and intensifying local ethno-political tensions, the Cold War in Southeast Asia unfolded through complex entanglements involving militarization, authoritarianism, democratization, and developmentalism. Our panel conceptualizes the Cold War not only as a geopolitical formation but also as a material and affective infrastructure in Southeast Asia. Infrastructure here encompasses more than physical facilities — it functions as a mediator of power, a channel for the circulation of ideas, an outlet for emotions, and ultimately a framework for organizing everyday life. Therefore, our central concern is how the Cold War was operationalized and contested through the built environment, logistical networks, and politics of representation.
We welcome contributions that examine how these creatively conceptualized infrastructures—such as transportation networks, military installations, housing schemes, bureaucratic institutions, information technologies (including print, broadcast, and telecommunications media), as well as other spheres of constructions and expressions—shaped national imaginaries, reconfigured territorial relations, and structured everyday life under Cold War conditions. We are also interested in how these infrastructures enabled or constrained forms of resistance, political alignment, and survival for a range of actors in the region.
We are currently looking for 1-2 additional paper presenters. Confirmed panelists and papers include:
Bo YAN (Assistant Professor, Beijing Normal–Hong Kong Baptist University) examines how Maoist-inspired leftists in early postcolonial Singapore challenged the PAP-led nation-building projects during the Cold War. Yan’s paper traces how Singapore’s public housing scheme emerged as a state strategy to combat radical leftist influence in a bloodless way and conceptualizes public housing as a miniature of the struggles between Malayan nationalism/communism on one side and conservatism/anti-communism on the other in the context of the global Cold War.
Nelson Jiajie MENG (PhD student, University of Kentucky) examines the construction and reception of Bugis Street’s drag communities in Singapore and Hong Kong during the Cold War. The study argues that drag queens in Singapore were simultaneously commodified as entertainment exclusively reserved for Western/White naval personnel and tourists yet stigmatized by the state as symbols of unproductive labor and Western counterculture.
To join our panel submission, please complete the following Google Form with your affiliation, a paper abstract (up to 250 words), and a short bio (up to 100 words). Submissions are due by July 10, and all applicants will be notified of the results within a week.
Please note that AAS typically does NOT accommodate virtual presentations, so we kindly ask that you confirm your availability to attend the conference in person before submitting. Additionally, AAS allows each participant to present only one paper per annual conference. For detailed submission rules and eligibility, please refer to the following link.
For proposal submissions or any questions, feel free to reach out to Nelson (NelsonJiajieMeng@uky.edu) or Bo (BYAN002@e.ntu.edu.sg).
Warm regards,
Nelson Jiajie Meng and Bo Yan
