Event — Macau Winter School

Urban Hybridity in the Post-Colonial Age

Five days of interactive “Winter School” training.

Welcome to the webpage of the Macau Winter School, a programme set up by IIAS in collaboration with the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (FSH), University of Macau, and hosted in Macau.

Dates: 16 – 20 December 2013

Deadline for applications: Closed

Five days of interactive “Winter School” training

Academic Directors:
Prof. Engseng Ho (Duke University, USA)
Prof. Akhil Gupta (University of California, USA)
Prof. Michael Herzfeld (Harvard University, USA)

The Winter School is co-hosted by the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) and the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (FSH), University of Macau.

The Macau Winter School is the third such programme in Asian Studies run by IIAS. It will be co-organized this time with the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Macau, and will take place in the historic Chinese port-city Macau from 16-20 December 2013. The Macau Winter School is meant to elicit and interrogate new theoretical paradigms of postcolonial urban hybridity that are informed by experiences emanating from various contexts in Asia and beyond. Participants will be required to assess critically their individual work through discussions led by co-conveners. They will also test their knowledge against the background of the urban setting of Macau where they will reside for the duration of the programme.

The programme will be run by three world-renowned scholars in the fields of Asian postcolonial hybridity: Prof. Engseng Ho (Duke University), Prof. Akhil Gupta (UCLA) and Prof. Michael Herzfeld (Harvard University). Research specialists from various academic backgrounds (history, Asian studies, social anthropology, art history, media studies, etc.) will combine their expertise to provide participants with an intensive and interactive experience. Students will have the opportunity to present their research and receive productive critical feedback from top scholars and from their student peers. The session will close with a one-day conference where selected participants will present their revised papers. The event will also feature outside scholars in the fields of postcolonial hybridity and Macau studies.

The key themes related to postcolonial urban hybridity include but are not limited to:

  • Rethinking notions of hybridity, métissage, creolization, etc., in urban contexts
  • The colonial / postcolonial city – cities before, during, and after Empire
  • Postcolonial and cryptocolonial nation-states and cities
  • Port-cities and maritime connections
  • Contests over land use and ownership (gentrification, eviction, “disneyfication,” ethnic and spatial “cleansing”)

Information:       
Please visit www.masterclasses.asia for more information on the Macau Winter School, the requirements and the application form.