Looking after Europe: Rethinking theory, culture and politics in the 'Asian century'

Dates: 27-28 May 2011

Convenors: Jeroen de Kloet, Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, Yiu Fai Chow, Humanities Programme, Hong Kong Baptist University

In the wake of poststructuralist theory, the past two decades have seen disciplines such as postcolonial theory and cultural studies strongly committing themselves to the project of questioning the production of academic knowledge. Part of that questioning has been directed towards the Euro- and Anglocentrism of the university. Today, such a questioning remains as urgent as ever, given that in the global production of knowledge, the hegemony of the West, in particular the U.S., remains by and large uncontested. And yet, this production is taking place in a world that is very much in flux.

In recent years there has been much talk, both in popular as well as academic discourse, about the alleged rise of Asia. Whereas the 19th century is claimed to be the European century, and the 20th century as belonging to the U.S., the 21st century is often billed as the Asian century. Notwithstanding the dangers of such totalizing narratives, the alleged shifting geopolitical power balances do require critical theorizations that dare to walk the tightrope of building on “Western” theory while trying to avoid Eurocentrism. We hence take the title of the seminar as double edged. We aim to look after Europe, in the sense of being concerned with what Europe, and more in general, “Western theory,” has to offer in this conjuncture. We want to take care of Europe as, so we think, Europe is not well. We also aim to look after Europe, in the concomitant sense of looking at a world after Europe, and seek what trajectories outside of Europe are possible, desirable and feasible. How to look after Europe?

This seminar aspires to think through possible tactics to look after Europe on three different levels, namely, in terms of theory, of cultural production and, finally, in terms of politics. We aim for papers that probe into connecting these three levels of inquiry, taking “Asia” as its point of reference.

First, the theoretical: What are the possible tactics to question the hegemony of the West in the production of knowledge? Does a move towards “local knowledge” or “indigenous theory” always run the danger of cultural essentialism that is complicit with today’s rise of different nationalisms? What are the possibilities of comparative research, what constitutes the notion of “the comparative,” based on what parameters do we select our criteria to compare?

The second level engages with the cultural: how do popular culture and art – such as cinema, literature, television, music, contemporary art – engage with a world in flux, what aesthetic strategies are employed, or can be employed, to look after Europe? 

Thirdly, politics and activism: How can we translate research back to society, how can we reach a public, and what are the possibilities of aligning the production of knowledge to political activism? Who constitutes our public, or do we only write for other academics? How to counter the increased parochialism in academia, a parochialism that is so often disguised by a rhetoric of alleged multidisciplinarity?

 Presenters

1. Rey Chow (Duke University, USA)
2. Ien Ang (University of Western Sydney, Australia)
3. Ariel Heryanto (Australian National University, Australia)
4. Koichi Iwabuchi (Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan)
5. Giselinde Kuipers (University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands)
6. Chris Goto-Jones (Leiden University, the Netherlands)
7. Jae Ho Kang (New School New York, US)
8. Kwai Cheung Lo (Baptist University, Hong Kong )
9. Andrea Riemenschnitter (The University of Zurich, Switzerland)
10. Xu Zhiyuan (cultural critic, Beijing, various media, China)
11. Jeroen de Kloet (University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands)

Programme

Please click here for the preliminary programme including the abstracts.

Information and Registration:  Ms. Martina van den Haak at m.c.van.den.haak@iias.nl