Conferences
6–8 April 2018, Sonesta Hotel, Philadelphia, PA
Mindful Connectivity: Asian Perspectives and Influences
The 2018 ASIANetwork Conference theme focuses on mindfulness and connectivity in relation to contemporary social change, recurrent values and practices, and holistic understandings of self, society, and environment. Mindfulness has a long association with contemplative traditions and teachings, but it also has re-framed material culture studies—of food, apparel, architecture, etc.—by directing attention toward community spirit, aesthetic experience, and embedded values.
Presenters are encouraged to focus on questions like the following:
- How can studies in commerce, technology, health, natural science, the arts, social and political enterprises, and the environment intersect with emphases on mindfulness and connectivity?
- Does an emphasis on mindfulness and connectivity contribute to social and environmental justice?
- How do interests in mindfulness and connectivity intersect with studies of cultural appropriation, hybridization, and authenticity?
- How is mindfulness part of sociocultural change in the wake of globalization, including cases of post-material cultural incongruity?
- How do recent breakthroughs in neurobiology intersect with traditional Asian views of the “relational” nature of mind—the interconnecting of one’s mind to all others including non-sentient beings and energies?
- How do Asian views of mind and interconnectedness enhance or challenge post-modern views of reality, truth, values, history and meaning as “constructed”?
- How do contemplative pedagogy and mindful forms of connectivity inform undergraduate Asian Studies curricula and pedagogy?
