Around the Changbai mountains. A seminar on the narratives of the ethnic groups in Northeast Asia

Seminar dates: 26 - 27 September 2016

Organised by: The Far Eastern Federal University (Vladivostok), The International Institute for Asian Studies (Leiden), The International Unit for Central and Inner Asian Studies, National Institute for the Humanities (Japan).

Northeast Asia can roughly be described as the lands east of Lake Baikal and west of the Pacific Ocean, and reaching south to include parts of modern North and Northeast China. This large part of the Asian continent is inhabited by a plethora of ethnic groups, who are now politically incorporated into the modern states of China, North and South Korea, Mongolia and Russia. Some of these groups have been living there for centuries or longer. Others are relative newcomers, either following forced migrations, immigrants in the wake of modern settlement schemes, or refugees who fled the various upheavals that mark the history of these lands in recent decades. Compounding the problem is the situation that group boundaries are often unclear, and even the identity of ethnic groups can be ambiguous, depending on the context.

That ethnic borders are fluid and ethnic identity changeable and unstable is a truism. In mainland Northeast Asia, however, this is all the more the case, not only on account of the dynamic and continuing long – term interaction between different groups, but also because historically formed identities were consciously played with, subverted, reconstituted. The Jurchen and Manchus are just one historical case in point.  The malleability of identities, the transfer of identities from group to group or on the other hand the explicit exclusion of particular identities by certain groups makes for a historically and conceptually very rich field of enquiry in mainland Northeast Asia.

The seminar aims at bringing together a group of specialists who will discuss the ethnic constellation in this part of the world, and in particular focus on the various narratives, either internal or external, that are attached to these groups, whether they are large and dominant (Han Chinese; Russian, Korean), or small. How do they regard themselves, how do they portray their background; how do they position themselves vis-à-vis the other ethnic groups and the dominant state; what is their relationship to neighbouring states, and especially to people of the same ethnic group living in the adjoining country; and how are they being described by the dominant political powers. The discussions will focus on the historical background and/or modern (economic, political) developments.

The seminar brings together some 15 to 20 invited scholars. The seminar will last for two days, followed by a guided excursion, to what is left of multi-ethnic, pre-revolutionary Vladivostok. The language of communication is English. Participants are asked to contribute with a paper of some 1500 words maximum (deadline 15 August), to be circulated in advance of the seminar. During the seminar the papers are briefly introduced by the author, and discussed by the group.  It is the intention to publish the papers that may result out of the seminar into a separate publication. The National Institute for the Humanities (Japan) has already expressed its interest in publishing at least some of the papers.

Convenor: Dr Willem Vogelsang, International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden. w.j.vogelsang@iias.nl