Call for Papers: Association of Chinese and Comparative Literature (ACCL) Biennial Conference: “Text, Media, and Transcultural Negotiation” (June 21-23, 2017)

Call for Papers:

Association of Chinese and Comparative Literature (ACCL) Biennial Conference:

“Text, Media, and Transcultural Negotiation”

June 21-23, 2017

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

(請向下拉參看中文版本)

 

Submission deadline: December 1, 2016.

 

Three types of submission will be accepted: 1) Applicants may submit abstracts for potential inclusion in one of 6 multi-day panels (details appear below); 2) Groups of contributors may submit complete panel proposals; 3) Applicants may submit individual abstracts, which (if accepted) would be arranged into two-hour panels by the conference organizers.

 

We expect to have approximately 150 participants in the conference, of which roughly half will be in one of the 6 multi-day panels and the other half will be in one of the individual two-hour panels.

 

Submissions and presentations may be in English or Chinese, and all abstracts should be under 300 English words or 500 Chinese characters. Panel proposals (option 2, above) should include abstracts for each individual paper, as well as a separate abstract for the panel as a whole. Also, each panel proposal should identify the panel organizer and a panel chair; the organizer and chair may be the same person, and each may also serve as a presenter or discussant for the panel. All contributors should provide their name, institutional affiliation, position, and email, and all submissions should be e-mailed to accl2017@cuhk.edu.hk by December 1, 2016. Acceptance letters will be sent out in early January, 2017. No individual may submit more than one abstract, or be part of more than one panel.

 

Queries may be addressed to carlos rojas (c.rojas@duke.edu )

www.cuhk.edu.hk/crs/accl2017

 

Conference Details:

“Text, Media, and Transcultural Negotiation”

June 21-23, 2017

 

ACCL President (2015-2017): Carlos Rojas (Duke University)

 

2017 Conference Keynote Speakers:

CHANG Hsiao-hung (National Taiwan University),

“The Im/proper Eileen Chang: Texts, Relics and Ownership”

Michel Hockx (University of Notre Dame),

“The True, the Good, and the Beautiful: State Policies towards Literature under Xi Jinping”

Leo Ou-fan Lee (The Chinese University of Hong Kong),

“Metaphors of Hong Kong”

 

Hosted and organized by the Centre for Cultural Studies, the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK).

Co-organized by the Hong Kong Literature Research Centre, CUHK, and the

Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy, Academia Sinica, Taiwan.

Co-hosted by the Department of Chinese Language and Literature and the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies, CUHK; and by the Office of the Provost, Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, and the Critical Asian Humanities Program, Duke University.

 

Three types of submissions will be accepted:

 

• Individuals may submit abstracts for possible inclusion in one of the 6 different multi-day panels listed below. Each of these 6 panels will meet for three days in a row, for two hours each day.
• Groups of contributors may submit complete panel proposals. Each panel will last two hours. A typical panel would include 3-4 presenters and a discussant, but alternate formats are encouraged. Each panel proposal should identify the panel organizer and a panel chair; the organizer and chair may be the same person, and each may also serve as a presenter or discussant for the panel.
• Individuals may submit individual abstracts, which (if accepted) would be arranged into panels by the conference organizers.

 

Details on Multi-Day Panels:

 

Each multi-day panel will have two co-chairs, and will include up to 12 papers in all. Each multi-day panel will meet for two hours each of the three days of the conference, and all panelists are expected to attend all three of the sessions.  The first four panels will be bilingual, in English and Chinese, while the final two will be conducted primarily in Mandarin Chinese.  Applicants wishing to be considered for one of the 6 multi-day sessions should indicate this on their application.

 

1.  “Transcultural Negotiation, Translingual Practice and Left-Wing Cosmopolitanism” (in Chinese and English)

Chaired by Lik-kwan Cheung (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) and Hsiang-yin Sasha Chen (Academia Sinica)

Cosmopolitanism is a broad notion: It illuminates the “world-ness” in late Qing culture, and vice versa. These concepts of cosmopolitanism and world-ness, however, are not identical, in that the latter concept stems from national awareness and self-reflection, redefining China as a modern nation-state. Under this sort of conception, China has to be connected to the world, and concepts such as nation and community must therefore be considered from this perspective. However, this model began to be challenged by political reality during the Republican period, when May Fourth elites, facing political disillusionment, introduced a differing version of cosmopolitanism from a cultural dimension. In the late 1920s, this trend of thought grew more radical and formed a revolutionary left-wing mindset, directly relating and connecting to that of the Soviet Union and various European nations. Some Chinese modernist and neo-sensationalist writers tried to express the relations between this revolutionary trend of thought and avant-garde arts, and this is a cosmopolitan cultural politics related to urban culture, media culture, Bohemian culture, sexual liberation and free-love discourses. In the 1930s, this cultural, intellectual, artistic and literary trend become fashionable, and has come to be known as left-wing cosmopolitanism. This panel invites papers examining the cosmopolitan culture from the late Qing to the contemporary era, including China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

 

2. “Human/Inhuman/Posthuman Conditions” (in Chinese and English)

Chaired by Mingwei Song (Wellesley College) and Kenny Ng (City University of Hong Kong)

What is a human? A question like this must have perplexed the protagonist of Mo Yan’s 2006 novel Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out, a landlord who was killed by the communists in 1949 and subsequently reincarnated as various (nonhuman) farm animals over fifty years of China’s revolution and reform, until ultimately being reborn again as a human, offering him a perspective from which he proceeds to relate a fundamentally posthuman narrative. More generally, countless Chinese writers have used animals, ghosts, robots, cyborgs, alien intelligence, and even common people to question the scientific, cultural, and ideological constructs of humanity. Deeply entangled with the politics of a changing China, the changing notions of the human are deeply imbricated with issues of progress, development, history, science, and technology, as well as reactions to enlightenment ideas and revolutionary practice. This panel invites scholars to explore the cultural, ethical, and epistemological connotations of human, inhuman, and posthuman conditions. We welcome studies on the modern or premodern period, and particularly encourage interdisciplinary approaches.

 

3. The Epistemology of (Hong Kong) Literature (in Chinese and English)

Chaired by Nimyan Wong (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) and Kwok-Kou Leonard Chan (The Education University of Hong Kong)

While reading literature is both a perceptual and emotional activity, it is also fundamentally cognitive. As such, literary engagement is correlated with a number of epistemological concerns, such as what can we know about literature and what can it teach us. Inspired by the recent Umbrella Movement and the forthcoming twentieth anniversary of Hong Kong Handover, this panel will address questions of how literature becomes knowledge and how knowledge becomes literature; and more specifically it will attempt to rethink the meaning and status of Hong Kong in terms of its literature and literary histories, anthologies and archives, and processes of canonization and conservation. This panel invites papers focusing specifically on Hong Kong and Hong Kong literature, as well as papers that address broader questions of the epistemological considerations raised by literature itself.

 

4. New Media and Mediality (in Chinese and English)

Chaired by Yomi Braester (University of Washington) and Fan Yang (University of Maryland)

Mediality, a term that orients toward the materiality of various aesthetic forms and the social process of mediation, has often prompted us to rethink “Chineseness” in a transnational context. Using mediality as a framework, this panel invites papers that examine the interplay between new media and cultural expressions in premodern, modern, and contemporary periods. Collectively, we will explore the role of wide-ranging media technologies, devices, platforms, and environments in shaping textual practices, political imaginations, and the making of a transnational Chinese-language sphere.

 

5. The Nativist Tradition in Contemporary Chinese Literature, and its Creative Transformation (in Chinese)

Chaired by:  CHEN Xiaoming (Peking University) and ZHANG Qinghua (Beijing Normal University)

Virtually all scholars studying contemporary Chinese literature view it as a revolutionary product shaped in response to Western literature and global modernism. This is all true, and without the modernist reform of the 1980s, the literary achievements of the past three decades would not have been possible. But if we examine this history more carefully, we notice that beginning in the 1990s, contemporary Chinese literature began to turn more to nativism for its sources. This nativist tradition includes the use of history, popular culture, folk culture, local knowledge, and traditional Chinese narrative structures. Of course, this sort of “return” is not simply an act of recovery or submission, but rather it constitutes a form of local intuition shaped in response to a global perspective. In sum, it can be seen as a new and more effective transformation of a nativist tradition. This panel invites papers examining the reasons behind this nativist turn, its cultural manifestations, together with its internal mechanism and generating impulse. Papers on China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are welcome.

 

6. Writing China: Reality and Absurdity (in Chinese)

Chaired by: YAN Lianke (Renmin University) and LIANG Hong (Renmin University)

Reality and absurdity in literature are not mutually opposed concepts, but rather they mutually support one another. Absurdity can be used to manifest reality, just as reality contains within itself an element of absurdity. They are twins, and like a lamp and mirror, they mutually illuminate one another. Beginning with Lu Xun, absurdity and madness have become an important means of representing reality in modern Chinese fiction, and in the 1980s, authors such as Yu Hua, Yan Lianke, and so forth continued this tradition. Works such as The Seventh Day, Lenin’s Kisses, and The Explosion Chronicles all use a strange and bizarre and imagination to present us with a picture of contemporary Chinese reality. In a sense, the picture of life and existence that is presented through this absurdity comes even closer to reflecting an underlying reality itself. In a contemporary China, which is in a continual process of fragmentation, where the gulf between rich and poor is continually increasing, and where concepts are increasingly getting jumbled, “absurdity” may become the most important aesthetic mode by which literature reflect reality. This panel invites papers examining the relationship between absurdity and reality in the narrative process, focusing on China, Taiwan, or Hong Kong from any period.

 

論文徵集

華文與比較文學協會（ACCL）雙年會

「文本、媒介與跨文化協商」

2017年6月21-23日

香港中文大學

 

截止日期：2016年12月1日

 

我們接受以下三種提交方式：一）參加三天大型研討小組：申請人可以申請加入其中一個三天大型研討小組，並提交與該小組研討主題相關的論文摘要（大會設立了六個三天大型研討小組，詳見下述介紹）；二）自組兩小時研討小組：投搞人亦可自行組織小組，提交完整的小組計劃；三）個別提交單篇論文：申請人可以提交單篇論文摘要，論文如獲大會接納，大會組織者會負責安排將相關的單篇論文組成一系列兩小時的研討小組。

 

大會預期是次會議約有150名與會者，約半數與會者會加入六個三天大型研討小組，另外半數與會者則會加入獨立的兩小時研討小組。

 

大會接受英文或華文的論文和報告，論文摘要限於英文三百字內或華文五百字內。小組計劃（上述第二種提交方式）須一併提交小組內所有單篇論文的摘要，並須另撰小組摘要，介紹小組的整體構思。此外，每個小組計劃均須填報小組組織者和小組主持人；組織者和主持人可由同一人擔任，他們亦可同時擔任小組內的論文報告人或講評人。所有投搞人均須提供姓名、所屬機構、職稱和電郵等資料，並請於2016年12月1日或以前，將摘要或所有相關資料寄到下述電郵地址：accl2017@cuhk.edu.hk。接納通知書會於2017年1月初寄出。申請人只能提交一份摘要，只能參加一個小組。

 

如有垂詢，歡迎致函與羅鵬 (carlos rojas) 聯絡。(c.rojas@duke.edu )

www.cuhk.edu.hk/crs/accl2017

 

會議詳情：

 

「文本、媒介與跨文化協商」

2017年6月21-23日

 

華文與比較文學協會會長（2015-2017）：羅鵬（杜克大學）

 

2017年會議主題演講學人：

張小虹（國立臺灣大學）,“不／當張愛玲：文本、遺物與所有權”

賀麥曉（聖母大學）, “真善美：習近平政府的文藝政策”

李歐梵（香港中文大學）, “香港的寓言 ”

 

主辦單位：香港中文大學文化及宗教研究系文化研究中心

合辦單位：香港中文大學香港文學研究中心、中央研究院中國文哲研究所

聯合主辦：香港中文大學中國語言及文學系、香港中文大學文化及宗教研究系、杜克大學教務長辦公室、杜克大學三一文理學院、杜克大學批判亞洲人文研究課程

 

大會接受以下三種提交方式：

 

一）參加三天大型研討小組：申請人可以申請加入其中一個三天大型研討小組（詳見下述六個三天大型研討小組的簡介），並提交與該小組研討主題相關的論文摘要。每個大型研討小組都會安排連續三天的聚會，每天研討兩小時。

 

二）自組兩小時研討小組：投搞人亦可自行組織小組，提交完整的小組計劃。每個小組會有兩小時的研討時間。這類小組一般邀請三至四名論文報告人和一名講評人，但大會亦鼓勵其他不同的組織形式。每個小組計劃均須填報小組組織者和小組主持人；組織者和主持人可由同一人擔任，他們亦可同時擔任小組內的論文報告人或講評人。

 

三）個別提交單篇論文：申請人可以提交單篇論文摘要，論文如獲大會接納，大會組織者會負責安排將相關的單篇論文組成一系列兩小時的研討小組。

 

三天大型研討小組詳情：

 

每個三天大型研討小組都有兩名聯合主持人，並可接受最多十二篇論文。每個三天大型研討小組都會安排三天連續的討論會，每天討論兩小時。所有小組參與者均須參與該小組的三場討論。以下首四個小組會以中、英雙語進行討論，而後兩個小組則主要以普通話進行討論。申請人如欲參加三天大型研討小組，須在六個小組中選取其中一個，並在申請計劃裡填報有意參加哪個小組。

 

一、「跨文化協商、跨語際實踐與左翼世界主義」（中、英文不限）

主持人：張歷君（香港中文大學）、陳相因（中央研究院）

「世界主義」是一個大題目：它可與晚清文化中的「世界性」相互映照，但兩者意義又不盡相同。後者的出發點是民族自覺和自省，重新把中國定位為一個「現代民族國家」。在上述的構想中，中國必須與世界接軌，而「國家」和「社群」等觀念則須放在更廣闊的「世界」範疇中來審視。然而，這個模式在民國建立後受到現實政治的挑戰，與此同時，五四精英在面對現實政治失望之餘，又從文化層面引進了一種不盡相同的「世界主義」新思潮。到了1920年代末，這種思潮逐漸激進，形成一種革命性的左翼心態，而且直接與蘇聯及歐陸國家串連、接軌。部份中國現代派和新感覺派作家嘗試將這種革命思潮與前衛藝術的關係表現出來。這種思潮與都市文化、媒體文化、波希米亞文化、性解放運動和自由戀愛論述串連起來，形成了一種世界主義的文化政治。1930年代，這股文化、知識、藝術和文學潮流蔚然成風，最終形成了一種「左翼世界主義」的趨向。本研討小組誠徵任何探討晚清至當代時期中、港、台的世界主義文化的論文。

 

二、人的／非人的／後人類狀況（中、英文不限）

主持人：宋明煒（衞斯理學院）、吳國坤 （香港城市大學）

何為人？這個問題或許困擾著莫言《生死疲勞》（2006）的主人公，他是一名在1949年以後被共產黨槍斃的地主，此後轉世成為各種（非人的）牲畜，歷經中國五十年間的革命與改革，直到最終重生為人，使他獲得獨特的視角來進行一場後人類的敘事。在更廣泛的意義上，無數的中國作家已經使用動物、鬼怪、機器人、生化人、外星智慧，以及普通人的形象來質疑在科學、文化與意識形態上對何謂人類的建構。人的內涵的變化，與中國變革的政治性深切相關，既勾連著諸如對進步、發展、歷史、科學、技術等問題的反思，也是對啟蒙思想與革命實踐的反應。本研討小組誠邀學者參與探詢何為人的、非人的、後人類狀況在文化、倫理與知識學上的含義。我們歡迎無論現代還是古典的研究，也尤其鼓勵跨學科的方法。

 

三、（香港）文學如何成為知識？（中、英文不限）

主持人：黃念欣 （香港中文大學）、陳國球（香港教育大學）

文學閱讀既是情感的活動，也是認知的活動。我們從文學裡知道什麼？文學教曉我們什麼？在雨傘運動以後及香港回歸二十週年之前，本研討小組將會開展一系列有關文學知識論的問題，集中討論「文學如何成為知識」以及「知識如何成為文學」。具體議題包括文學創作、文學史及文學大系編纂、檔案及資料保育、以及從正典化理論和具體文學操作等不同角度入手，反思香港的意義和地位。本研討小組集中討論香港和香港文學的論文，同時歡迎從其他文學經驗探究的文學知識論之論文。

 

四、新媒體與媒介性（中、英文不限）

主持人：柏右銘（華盛頓大學）、楊帆（馬里蘭大學）

媒介性這一術語，著眼於各種美學形式的物質性和傳播媒介化的社會過程，往往敦促我們在跨國語境中重新思考「中國性」。本研討小組以媒介性為基本框架，邀請各類考察前現代、現代和當代時期新媒體和文化表現形式之間相互影響的論文投稿。我們將共同探討各種媒體技術、設備、平台和環境對文本實踐、政治想像和營造跨國性的華文語言場域所起的作用。

 

五、中國當代文學的本土傳統及其創造性轉化（只限華文）

主持人：陳曉明 （北京大學）、張清華（北京師範大學）

研究中國當代文學和文化的人，無不以為中國當代文學是面向西方文學而求變革的產物，是現代主義的世界性潮流進入中國之後的派生物。這當然沒有錯，沒有1980年代的現代主義變革，就不可能有最近三十年中國當代文學的黃金局面。但當我們深入觀察這段歷史的時候，又會發現，自1990年代之後中國當代文學的資源更多的轉向了本土的傳統。這個本土的傳統包括：歷史、民間文化、民俗文化、地方性知識、中國故事原型。當然，這種「回歸」又不是一種簡單的恢復和歸附，而是在世界性視野之中的本土自覺 。簡言之，可以看做是新一輪的、同時也是更有效的本土傳統的創造性轉化。本研討小組誠徵論文探討這一本土轉向背後的成因、其文化表現形式以及其內在的運作機制和生成衝動。我們歡迎任何論及中、港、台文學的論文。

 

六、文學中國：現實與荒誕（只限華文）

主持人：閻連科（人民大學）、梁鴻（人民大學）

文學中的現實與荒誕並不是一組相對立的詞語，相反，它們可能相互依存。以荒誕來彰顯現實，就像現實中存在着荒誕一樣，它們是一對孿生兄弟，是鏡與燈，互為鏡像。自魯迅始，荒誕和狂歡化就成為文學表達現實的重要手段，《故事新編》中的老子、莊子、眉間尺既充滿誇張和變形，又兼具現實諷刺和文化批判，1980年代以來，余華、閻連科等作家的小說接續了這一傳統，《第七天》、《受活》、《炸裂志》等作品以怪誕、奇崛的想像力為我們書寫了當代中國的現實生存圖景。在一定意義上，在荒誕中所揭示的生活和生命圖景更深刻地抵達現實。在日益碎片化的、貧富懸殊的、觀念混雜的中國，「荒誕」或許將成為文學通往現實的最重要的美學方法。本研討小組誠徵論文探討在敘述過程中荒誕與現實之間的關係，論文可集中討論任何時期的中、港、台文學。