FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 2023
All plenary events take place in the Innovation Building Auditorium.
0900–0915 Opening Ceremony & Welcome Speeches
James Miller, Co-Director, Humanities Research Center
Carlos Rojas, Co-Director, Humanities Research Center
Kolleen Guy, Chair, Division of Arts and Humanities
0915-1045 KEYNOTE LECTURE
Chair: James Miller
Daniel Vukovich 胡德
Taking “China and the World” Seriously: Towards Comprehension and Critique
This talk will query two things in the title: what does it mean to take some thing seriously, and what does “China and the World” really refer to? These refer to an intellectual or scholarly attitude on the one hand, and on the other a certain conceptual, historical, and actual geography. How are we to comprehend the relations between China in/and the world, and how and why should we think critically about this?
1045-1100 COFFEE BREAK
1100-1230 Seminar with Daniel Vukovich
1100-1230 Student Panels
1100-1230 1A VISUAL MEDIA AND SOCIETY, IB AUDITORIUM
1100-1230 1B CONTEMPORARY CHINA, IB1046
1100-1230 1C: IDENTITY, PSYCHOLOGY AND SOCIETY, IB1047
1230-1400 LUNCH BREAK
1400-1530 KEYNOTE LECTURE
Chair: Carlos Rojas
Lawrence Zhang 張樂翔
Examination, Office Purchase, and Meritocracy in Early Modern China
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the civil service examination (keju) system has always been a cornerstone in the narrative that imperial China was a meritocracy. There was also the rise of the office purchase (juanna) system that was expanded to increase both state capacity and personnel recruitment. This talk explores how these two systems coexisted in a conscious strategy that suited both the state and the elites. It also highlights the early modern nature of the Ming/Qing state.
1530-1600 COFFEE BREAK
1600-1730 Seminar with Lawrence Zhang
1600-1730 STUDENT PANELS
1600-1730 2A: GENDER, MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY, IB1046
1600-1730 2B: LITERATURE, BORDERS AND BOUNDARIES, IB1047
1800-2000 DINNER
All student presenters are invited to a buffet dinner in the executive dining room.
SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 2023
0915-1045 KEYNOTE LECTURE
Chair: Carlos Rojas
Wang Hui 汪晖
A Supraethnic Perspective in Ethnology: The Transsystemic Society and the Question of Sinicization
The classical nationalist discourse often sees the unity of political and cultural boundaries as characteristic of the nation-state. However, this classical discourse forgets that the vast majority of countries in the contemporary world are transsystemic societies. If we speak of the unification of political and cultural boundaries, the premise must be that transsystemic societies and their definitions of culture are what lead to the unification of political and cultural boundaries—in transsystemic societies, culture is necessarily political. This article concerns the notion of Sinicization and outlines the associated academic debate. It reimagines the concept of a pluralistic whole and incorporates it into the notion of a transsystemic society and its movements to thereby redefine the “one” and the “many” in Chinese society and other societies. The author notes that, as a transsystemic society, China is a flourishing transcivilizational civilization that internalizes the traces of the other as essential elements of itself while maintaining its own unique vitality. It can therefore be seen that transsystemic societies and suprasocietal systems are correlated and mutually defining.
1045-1100 COFFEE BREAK
1100-1230 SEMINAR WITH WANG HUI, IB2025
1100-1230 STUDENT PANELS
1100-1230 3A: GENDER AND SOCIETY, IB1046
1100-1230 3B: HISTORIES, CONTEXTS AND ENVIRONMENTS IB1047
1230-1400 LUNCH BREAK
1400-1530 KEYNOTE LECTURE
1530-1600 COFFEE BREAK
1600-1730 Seminar with LORETTA KIM, IB2025
1600-1730 Student PANELS
1600-1730 4A: CHINESE AND JAPANESE LITERATURE, IB1046
1600-1730 4B: PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION AND ETHICS, IB1047
1800-2000 CLOSING CEREMONY AND DINNER
All conference participants are invited to a closing ceremony and dinner in the executive dining room.
