Call for Papers für eine Konferenz zu Phänomenen und Diskursen des Kontaktabbruchs (zetsuen) in der japanischen Literatur und Kultur, die am 23.-24. Oktober 2026 an der Freien Universität stattfindet:

Severing Ties in Japan – Zetsuen (disconnection) in Japanese Culture and Literature

The concept of “disconnection” in contemporary cultural sociology (Zurstiege 2019; Stäheli 2021; Beyes 2022) generally describes practices and dynamics of, at least, situational or partial withdrawal from the socio-economic network logic of post-industrial societies. Disconnection thus operates in the shadows of, and stands in opposition to, the endless and ubiquitous networking and connectivity processes which, in their technological manifestations, have been characterised all too uncritically as the “new spirit of capitalism” (Boltanski/Chiapello 2003). Network logic has also been celebrated in numerous academic disciplines – as a novel paradigm in economics (Beck 2006), sociology (Castells 1996; Latour 1998), and post-structuralist philosophy (Deleuze/Guattari 1993) – whose supposedly boundless flexibility and capacity for creative self-generation have been praised as a productive break from rigid subject–object relations. “Tactics” (Zurstiege 2019) of disconnection, on the contrary – such as digital detox, unplugging, and slow media (ibid.) – are ambivalent strategies of resistance to these network logics: in part acting as a genuine relief from the burden of over-connectivity, yet in part constituting a form of regression.

The conference aims to highlight the fact that alongside, or amid, the globally led academic debate on the economic, communicative, and social implications of connection and disconnection, there exists a specifically Japanese discourse that likewise – though from very different premises and with different consequences – focuses on active and passive strategies of severing ties in post-industrial societies (cf. Saitō 2014; Saitō/Satō 2022; Asada 1983, 1986). Approaches to the topic of “disconnection” originating in Japan provide both a productive impulse for the further theoretical development of disconnection theory and the identification of new phenomena of disconnection. For these Japanese phenomena of disconnection, the term zetsuen 絶縁 (literally “severing ties”) is used as an umbrella concept.

A central concern of the conference is to think through and discuss, in a contrastive manner, the formative concepts in the Japanese debate alongside the dominant positions on “disconnection” in Europe and the United States. Against this background, the semantic and phenomenological field of the concept of disconnection in Japan needs to be further specified. On the one hand, zetsuen covers relatively conventional forms of disconnection such as ribetsu 離別 (separation from close relations due to external circumstances), enkiri 縁切り (cutting ties), rikon 離婚 (divorce), kandō 勘当 (disowning biological children or disciples), rien 離縁 (dissolution of adoption), zekkō 絶交 (terminating a friendship), yosutebito/inja 世捨て人/隠者 (hermit), or gizetsu 義絶 (severing kinship ties or lord-vassal relations). On the other hand, it also encompasses diverse and specifically indigenous forms of disconnection of genuinely Japanese provenance. Premodern examples include shimanagashi 島流し (exile), rōnin 浪人 (masterless samurai), shukke 出家 (becoming a monk or nun), murahachibu 村八分 (ostracism from the village community), obasuteyama 姨捨山 (abandonment of the elderly in the mountains), or kamikakushi 神隠し (sudden, unexplained disappearance). Contemporary and acute phenomena of severing ties with institutions or people include, for example, futōkō 不登校 (school refusal), taijin kyōfushō 対人恐怖症 (anthropophobia/social anxiety), ningen kankei risetto shōkōgun 人間関係リセット症候群 (relationship reset syndrome), or the now globally known phenomenon of hikikomori 引きこもり (social withdrawal) (cf. Saitō 2014).

Moreover, attention should be drawn to contemporary active practices of disconnection such as hitori kūkan 一人空間 (“a space of one’s own”) or botchi no jikan ぼっちの時間 (“me time”), which play a role in the context of mental health, resilience, as well as concepts of well-being and mindfulness such as ikigai 生きがい (purpose in life). These terms – some of which have also been taken up as motifs in Japanese literature – are grounded in different functions of disconnection. They unfold according to diverse, sometimes strictly regulated protocols that must be systematically explored. Like Western sociology, however, Japanese sociology also tends to view disconnection primarily as a social problem (cf. Saitō 2020), an approach that is too narrow. Instead, a methodologically interdisciplinary perspective between sociology, literary and cultural studies, and philosophy is needed to grasp the whole spectrum and variety of disconnection. Accordingly, the conference seeks to bring together the systematic expertise of scholars conducting research on literary, cultural, and philosophical perspectives on phenomena of zetsuen in Japan.

The conference is scheduled for 23–24 October 2026 at Freie Universität Berlin. Although the conference will be conducted face-to-face in principle, online presentation is possible. Presentations (30 mins.) are to be given in English.

The organizer plans to publish an edited volume as a result of this conference.

 If the requested funding for the conference is approved, the participants will receive a travel cost subsidy.

 Please submit abstracts together with a short biography, with a total maximum length of 500 words, as a PDF to elena.giannoulis@fu-berlin.de by 12 February 2026. Notifications regarding the abstracts will be sent by early March 2026.

For any further questions, please contact Prof. Elena Giannoulis.