Announcement

organised by
Social Science Baha, Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies, Britain-Nepal Academic Council, Centre for Himalayan Studies-CNRS & Nepal Academic Network (Japan)

CALL FOR PAPERS
The Tenth Annual Kathmandu Conference on Nepal and the Himalaya
28–30 July 2021

Proposals are invited for stand-alone papers or three-paper panels. The papers can deal with any aspect of life in Nepal and the Himalaya from the social sciences and arts and humanities perspectives. Papers can also be comparative so long as Nepal or the Himalaya, broadly defined, is also included. The language of the conference is English.

The conference is being planned to be held in-person. However, if the prohibitory measures/health risks due to the COVID-19 pandemic persists, it will be held online. A decision on this will be taken depending on how the situation unfolds in the months preceding the conference.

Papers
Interested individuals are asked to submit an abstract not exceeding 500 words (excluding the bibliography) along with a one-page CV in the template provided.

Time: Each paper will be allocated 40 minutes, which will include comments from the discussant, general floor discussion, and remarks from the chair. 

Panels
Individuals or institutions can propose three-paper panels to provide a variety of perspectives on a particular theme.

Proposals for panels should consist of the name of the convener of the panel; the topic and brief description of the panel; the three papers to be presented with titles and abstracts not exceeding 500 words for each paper (excluding the bibliography), along with a one-page CV for everyone in the panel in the template provided. The proposed chair and discussant(s) should also be listed along with the submission and their prior permission sought.

Note on panel proposals: The organisers would like to request panels that are part of research projects, with funds allocated for activities such as dissemination, to contribute extra funds beyond the registration fees to the conference. Such contributions would help reduce the loss that Social Science Baha has been incurring every year in organising the conference.

Time: Two hours per panel, which will include comments from the discussant, general floor discussion, and remarks from the chair.

Poster Presentations
The conference is also inviting submissions for poster presentations. Interested individuals/institutions are asked to submit an abstract not exceeding 500 words (excluding the bibliography) along with the one-page CV for everyone involved in the presentation in the template provided. The responsibility of putting up the presentation, including all logistics, shall lie with the individual/institution submitting the proposal. If the conference is held online, suitable adjustments will have to be made by the presenter.

Submissions have to be emailed to the Conference Secretariat at conference@soscbaha.org by 15 January 2021. Participants will be notified by 15 February 2021.

The submissions will be evaluated by the Conference Organising Committee according to the following three criteria: i) research question/hypothesis, ii) methodology, and iii) outline/structure. 

The length of the final paper is expected to be around 5000 words and the papers are due on 3 July 2021 for advance distribution to all registered participants via a designated Google Drive Folder.

All participants, including panel chairs and discussants, will be required to register to attend the conference. Participants are expected to make their own arrangements for travel and accommodation and those requiring a letter of support to seek travel grants to attend the conference can write to the Conference Secretariat.

The structure of registration fees is as follow, and will vary depending on the format of the conference:

* In case the conference is held in-person, an early-bird discount of 20 per cent will be provided to those who register by 24 June 2021.

Participants whose papers are selected will be required to register for the conference by 30 April 2021 to ensure inclusion of their paper in the conference. Details on modes of payment will be provided at a later date.

The Conference Organising Committee consists of two representatives each from the five co-organising bodies as follows:

Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies
– Steve Folmar, Wake Forest University
– Barbara Grossman-Thompson, California State University

Britain-Nepal Academic Council
– Krishna Adhikari, University of Oxford
– Punam Yadav, University College London

Centre for Himalayan Studies-CNRS
– Tristan Bruslé
– Philippe Ramirez

Nepal Academic Network (Japan)
– Tatsuro Fujikura, Kyoto University
– Katsuo Nawa, University of Tokyo

Social Science Baha
– Sambriddhi Kharel
– Rajendra Pradhan

The Annual Kathmandu Conference on Nepal and the Himalaya
Conference Secretariat
Social Science Baha
345 Ramchandra Marg, Battisputali, Kathmandu – 9, Nepal
Phone: 977-1-4572807
conference@soscbaha.org 

Dates to remember
Submission deadline for abstracts and panels: 15 January 2021
Notification of paper and panel acceptance: 15 February 2021
Deadline for registration by paper presenters: 30 April 2021
Final papers due: 3 July 2021
Conference dates: 28-30 July 2021

Please also note future conference dates
2022: 27-29 July
2023: 26-28 July
2024: 24-26 July