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The Intellectual Silk Road: Adaptation as Cultural Exchange6th Annual Association of Adaptation Studies Conference Yeni Yüzyil University, Istanbul, Turkey29-30 September 2011In recent years there have been movements to establish what might be described as ‘the new Silk Road,’ which will help improve trade routesbetween countries in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia.In October 2010 the Turkish and Chinese governments signed a new accord, establishing a framework for this new ‘Silk Road’ to beestablished. The significance of the Silk Road also extends to the cultural sphere: since 2007 the Turkish city of Bursa has hosted theSilk Road film festival, dedicated to showing short films and documentaries as well as feature films from countries once involved intrade on the Silk Road.The topic of this year's Association of Adaptation Studies conference will focus on adaptation as a site for cultural exchange, reflectingthe importance of trading activities along the Silk Road as sites for the transmission not just of goods but of ideas and cultures. Possibleissues to be addressed in this conference might include:•       Cross Cultural Theories of Adaptation: does the term 'adaptation' have different significances in different cultures?•       Filming Shakespeare or other western canonical authors in nonwestern cultures•       Adaptation as Transmission Between Cultures and Forms (e.g. print, radio, theatre, television, films, and video games, as well as cross-cultural stage and film adaptations)•       The Pedagogy of Cultural Exchange: Interdisciplinary or Cross-disciplinary approaches to teaching adaptation•       Occident and Orient: Adaptations across 'east' and 'west'•       Travel Adaptations, both fictional and nonfictional (documentaries, feature films as well as shorts)•       Adaptation as a form of cultural (re-)negotiation•       The Mass Media and Cultural Exchange: globalization vs. localization•       Autobiography and Cross-Cultural AdaptationIt is hoped that this conference might underline the potential of adaptation studies to create new intellectual Silk Roads across cultures as well as across disciplines. However, we also welcome more general papers on the subject of adaptation studies, focusing on any kind of adaptation ­ film, television, video game, as well as other media.VenueYeni Yüzyil University is a new university (opened in February 2009), established on the European side of Istanbul. It currently boasts ten faculties and two vocational schools. Its location seems especially suitable to the subject of the conference; the city of Istanbul has always been and continues to be a site for cultural, commercial and social exchange. In 2010 it was nominated as European City of Culture.ProposalsProposals for presentations (20 minutes max, plus Q &#38; A) are invited to address the issues outlined above, either through individual case-studies or through more general theoretical approaches.Please send proposals BY APRIL 30, 2011 at the latest to both addresses below:Prof. Dr. Günseli Sönmez Isçi,Dean, Faculty of Science and LettersE-Mail gunseli.isci@yeniyuzyil.edu.trLaurence RawBaskent University, AnkaraE-Mail l_rawjalaurence@yahoo.com