The Association for Studies of Culture and Representation (ASCR) will hold its 17th Annual Convention at the University of Tokyo on July 8-9, 2023. We invite members to submit proposals for panel sessions that will take place either in the afternoon on 8 or on 9. If you plan to organize a panel session, please follow the guideline below and send your proposal to the Program Committee.

At this point, we plan to hold all the panels, the symposium, and the performance in person. Since the annual meeting this fall will take place online, please apply for the annual convention if you hope to present a paper in person.

The Association, founded in 2006, is an organization dedicated to promoting interdisciplinary studies of the humanities. Centering on the concept of representation, we cover a wide variety of fields that have largely been neglected by conventional academia. We also encourage communication between creators and academics.

GUIDELINE

1. Panel Sessions
Each panel session will be allotted 120 minutes and should include three speakers and a commentator, plus the chairperson, who may or may not be one of the speakers/commentator. Each speaker will be given 20 minutes, with the remainder of the time for comments, questions, and answers. The main organizer of the panel can be a speaker, the commentator, or the chairperson.

2. Proposal Types
A. If you already have a panel theme and participants, please use Form A.
Proposal documents should be sent in attachment form via e-mail to kikaku@repre.org by May 6. Please title the e-mail “Panel Proposal for the 17th Convention” and rename the file as “your surname.doc” (e.g. suzuki.doc).
Form A requires the following information:
- Organizer’s name, affiliation, position, and e-mail address
- Panel title
- Preferred Date, when the panel includes a member or members who need childcare (up to sixth-graders in elementary school); members can apply for childcare grants on both dates (please see section 12)
- Panel abstract (200 words or less)
- Each speaker’s name, affiliation, and position
- Each paper’s title with abstract of 200 words or less
- Information on the AV equipment to be used (please see section 8)
- Commentator’s name, affiliation, and position
- Chairperson’s name, affiliation, and position

B. If you have a theme but do not yet have all of the panel participants, please use Form B.
Proposal documents should be sent in attachment form via e-mail to kikaku@repre.org by April 26. Please title the e-mail “Panel Proposal for the 17th Convention” and rename the file as “your surname.doc” (e.g. suzuki.doc).
Please fill in all the boxes with the information that you already have, and leave the rest blank. The Program Committee will announce the accepted proposals on the Association’s web site by early May to call for participants in the open seat(s).
Applicants for the open seats must submit papers in attachment form via e-mail to kikaku@repre.org by the middle of May. The Program Committee will promptly go through the selection process on the panel organizer’s advice and announce the result.
The session(s) with insufficient responses will be called off.

3. Proposal Deadline
May 6, 2023 (Form A)
April 26, 2023 (Form B)

4. Qualifications
The panel organizer must be an ASCR member. Non-member speakers and chairpersons are required to join the Association before the Convention begins. The panel organizer is responsible for confirming their agreement. Commentators do not have to be ASCR members.

5. Restrictions
Papers already presented or published elsewhere are not accepted. The panel proposal is limited to one session per person. Participants are allowed to join only one panel session of the same convention as speaker, commentator, or chairperson. As a general rule, participants are required to be available throughout the two days, although this rule does not apply to those members who need childcare.

If your presentation contains privately recorded audiovisual content, please treat it with due caution, so that your talk would not cause any harm to the people involved, including but not limited to its owner(s) and main subject(s) in it.

6. Selection
The Program Committee will review proposals. Sessions with diversity in subject matter, methodology, or participants’ background will be merited. Results will be sent by e-mail to every proposer by the middle of May.

7. Language
Both Japanese and English are acceptable for the proposal form and panel sessions. If you present a paper in Japanese Sign Language, please contact the Program Committee in advance.

8. Equipment
A projector and screen are available. Please bring your own computer for the presentation (Mac users need to bring the proper connector).

9. Contact
kikaku@repre.org

10. Membership Fees
The Association enrollment fee is 1,000 yen. The annual membership fee is 10,000 yen for members and 5,000 yen for student members or category B members (members over 75 years old, part-time lecturers, and unemployed researchers). For details, please visit http://www.repre.org/association/admission/

11. Travel Grants
Travel grants will be available for student members and category B members. Please contact the Program Committee at kikaku@repre.org

12. Childcare Grants
Childcare grants will be available for members who need childcare services during the conference, whether they are speakers or attendees. For more details, please contact the Program Committee kikaku@repre.org. You can apply for one when you submit a proposal.
Also, we set up a special space for those who attend the conference with their child(ren), and no reservation is required to use it.

13. Accessibility
If you present a paper in Japanese Sign Language and need a sign language interpreter, please contact the Program Committee at kikaku@repre.org.