Contours of Inequality

Conference Overview

The Institute for Advanced Research (IFAR) at Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia (UIII) is pleased to host the inaugural IFAR Consortium Annual Conference, taking place from August 12 to 14, 2026, at our green campus in Depok, West Java. This conference invites a critical examination of the complex relationships between state-building, economic development, and inequality in Southeast Asia.

Since the last decade, inequality has re-emerged as a critical public issue, shaping policy debates across many parts of the world, including Southeast Asia. While the region is often characterized as having a moderate level of income inequality lower than in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, the two regions with the highest levels it still recorded higher inequality than Europe and Central Asia in 2020. Moreover, inequality levels vary significantly across Southeast Asian countries. According to Credit Suisse’s Global Wealth Report 2016, Thailand and Indonesia ranked as the third- and fourth-most unequal countries in the world, respectively, following Russia and India. This diversity makes Southeast Asia a compelling site for inquiry among political scientists, economists, political economists, sociologists, anthropologists, and other scholars interested in examining the complexity and dynamics of inequality under late-capitalist development.

Themes of the Conference

The IFAR conference aims to provide an open and critical platform for scholars to debate the causes, consequences, and complexities of inequality in Southeast Asia. The region’s diverse economic and political development trajectories offer a rich context for rethinking and refining theoretical approaches to inequality. We welcome contributions that critically engage with how inequality is conceptualized, measured, and scrutinized. We are particularly interested in analyses that explore the political, economic, and social factors (re)shaping the diverse forms and evolving dynamics of inequality in Southeast Asia.

The conference also encourages investigations into how the state through its actors and policies shapes the role of social identities such as class, religion, ethnicity, sexuality, and other categories in the production and reproduction of inequality. We also encourage contributions that assess the entanglement of state power with symbolic orders, public discourses, and knowledge regimes, and how these intersections influence patterns of inequality. Emphasizing the persistence of inequality within the longue durée of imperial and nationalist projects, we invite historical and comparative analyses that trace how colonial legacies, postcolonial development regimes, and authoritarian forms of governance have structured access to land, labor, and capital—and, in doing so, have influenced the evolution of inequality in Southeast Asia over time.

The conference also welcomes contributions that address emerging challenges stemming from recent developments in technology, the environment, and international politics. The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) has already begun to disrupt the economy and labor markets and is poised to continue doing so raising concerns about job displacement, especially for workers whose roles are easily automated. At the same time, climate-induced crises present urgent threats. In addition to hydrometeorological disasters such as floods, landslides, and tropical storms, the transition to renewable energy is expected to bring major changes to labor markets and economic structures. Equally important are the shifts in global economic and political dynamics, particularly the intensifying competition between global powers like the United States and China. These intersecting challenges are likely to complicate efforts by governments and communities in Southeast Asia to sustain economic growth and effectively address inequality.

Submission Guidelines

Submissions to the conference are accepted in two formats: panel and individual paper proposals. The submission portal will openSeptember 25, 2025 and closes on December 31, 2025.

• Panel proposals should include a 500-word abstract outlining the panel’s theme, along with the titles of 3–4 individual papers and the name of a discussant, if possible. Panel should be organized by convenor(s) around a unifying theme, with no more than 2 (two) people coming from the same institution.
• Individual paper proposals should include a 300-word abstract with 3-5 key relevant words.

All submissions will be carefully reviewed, and decisions will be sent out by February 1, 2026. Authors of accepted abstracts are required to submit their full conference paper by July 11, 2026.

Important Dates

• Submission of panel and paper proposals : September 25 – December 31, 2025
• Notification of accepted panel and paper proposals: February 1, 2026
• Submission of conference papers: July 11, 2026
• Conference Dates: August 12–14, 2026 (Depok, West Java)

Conference Fees and Financial Assistance

Registration and attendance at the conference are completely free of charge. To further support participants who require financial assistance to present their work at the 2026 IFAR Conference, a financial aid program is available. Requests for financial assistance can be submitted online through the conference website. Please be aware that, depending on circumstances, not all requests can be approved.

Organizing Committee

The 2026 IFAR Consortium Annual Conference is organized by the Institute for Advanced Research (IFAR) at Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia (UIII) in collaboration with IFAR Atma Jaya University, IFAR Monash University Indonesia, IFAR Universitas Indonesia, and the Faculty of Social Sciences of UIII. The organizing committee includes Sirojuddin Arif, Gde Dwitya Arief Metera, Sofyan Ansori, and Febi R. Ramadhan

Contact

For any questions, please email ifar@uiii.ac.id.

More information about the conference is available here.