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CALL FOR PAPERS

Multilingual Archives, New Perspectives: 

China and the Sinophone World at the End of the Cold War 

Organizer: ALTER research group

Location: Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), Barcelona

Date: Mid-May 2027

Abstract Submission Deadline: 30 June 2026

The end of the Cold War in the Sinophone world has largely been interpreted through the lens of China’s Reform and Opening Up, relying predominantly on Mandarin-language primary sources and English-language scholarship. This linguistic and archival concentration has shaped prevailing narratives and limited the range of perspectives brought to bear on this historical moment.

This symposium seeks to challenge these limitations by foregrounding multilingual archival research and methodological innovation to revisit the transitions that took place in China and the Sinophone world between 1968 and 1992. How does our understanding of this period shift when approached through a broader range of linguistic and archival lenses? What insights emerge from primary and secondary sources produced in languages other than Mandarin and English? How do less central or underexamined contexts engage with—or disrupt—dominant historiographical discourses? What methodological approaches can foster new epistemologies about these historical transitions?

To stimulate a rigorous historiographical and methodological rethinking of the end of the Cold War in the Sinophone world, the ALTER research group will host a symposium at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya in Barcelona in May 2027.

Scope of Contributions

We invite contributions from any discipline in the humanities or the social sciences that engage with sources in a diversity of languages, including archival documents, cultural productions, and scholarly works. By bringing such materials into conversation, the symposium aims to reassess established interpretations of this period and expand the range of perspectives through which it is studied.

We also aim to advance towards more multilingual scholarly practices through a strategic combination of human collaboration and machine translation in reading, writing, presenting, and discussion. The symposium will include an experimental dimension, exploring both the possibilities and the limitations of this approach. 

Selected contributions will be invited to a multilingual open access digital archive including the original sources, their translations, and a brief summary of their interpretation. 

Submission Guidelines

Interested participants should submit a 500-word abstract by 30 June 2026.

Abstract Requirements:

• Clearly identify the specific sources to be analyzed.

• Explain the interpretive perspectives these sources open on China’s Reform and Opening Up and/or, more broadly, the end of the Cold War in the Sinophone world. 

• Anonymity: To facilitate a double-anonymous review process, please ensure that abstracts do not contain identifying information.

Timeline

• 30 June 2026: Deadline for short abstracts (500 words), to be sent via this submission form.  

• Mid-July 2026: Notification of acceptance.

• 15 March 2027: Deadline for selected participants to submit: a copy of the sources to be discussed; and an extended abstract (approx. 1,500 words).

The symposium will be held in mid-May 2027 (exact dates to be announced). Limited travel subsidies may be available depending on final funding outcomes. Preference will be given to early career participants with limited access to funds. Participants are generally expected to secure their own funding for travel and accommodation.

Short abstracts should be sent via the submission form.

If you have any queries, please contact the symposium organizers: Carles Brasó-Broggi (cbrasob@uoc.edu) and Carles Prado-Fonts (cprado@uoc.edu).