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CP428


Inter-Asian techno-capitalisms: models, networks, and futures 
Convenors:
Canay Ozden-Schilling (National University of Singapore)
Emily Chua (National University of Singapore)
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Discussants:
Emily Chua (National University of Singapore)
Canay Ozden-Schilling (National University of Singapore)
Format:
Closed Panel
Location:
NU-2B17
Sessions:
Wednesday 17 July, -
Time zone: Europe/Amsterdam

Short Abstract:

This panel explores the remaking of capitalist relations in and across Asia through a focus on the entwined questions of economic opportunity creation and governance, and the techniques and technologies that make both kinds of endeavor possible.

Long Abstract:

From peer-to-peer lending platforms and on-demand cloud-work, to algorithmically optimized supply chains and robo-invested pension funds, Asia’s economies are being transformed by a dense succession of technological innovations. Outpacing established cultural, political and legal frameworks, the novel arrangements and practices that are emerging in these contexts bring individuals and institutions into new kinds of relational terrains. This panel explores the remaking of capitalist relations in and across Asia through a focus on the entwined questions of economic opportunity creation and governance, and the techniques that make both kinds of endeavor possible. Today’s inter-Asian techno-capitalisms involve novel, understudied modes of economic activity that center on locally and regionally constructed conceptions of value, exchange and opportunity. In contrast to earlier images of development and growth, these approaches do not stake themselves in idealized notions of freedom, fairness, and plenty, but rather, hone in on conditions of constraint and competition, and focus on negotiating and harnessing these conditions through concepts such as “efficiency” and “disruptiveness,” “leanness” and “optimality.” Through ethnographically informed engagements with the conceptual, material and virtual infrastructures that enable and shape these economic endeavors, this panel addresses a series of interrelated questions: How are innovations in digital technology contributing to the construction of new concepts and standards of value, and new problems valuation? What practices of governance are being formulated in response to these developments? How are new models of enterprise being transferred across jurisdictional boundaries? And what relations among markets, monies, persons and things are being fostered and forged in and through these networks? In examining the intersections of technology, economics and governance that are forming around these issues as they play out across Asia’s diverse and dynamically interconnected contexts, this panel offers insights into a zone of transformation where the futures of contemporary capitalism are being reimagined.

Accepted papers:

Session 1 Wednesday 17 July, 2024, -