Call for Abstracts: Localizing Global Culture in China and Beyond

• Conference: Localizing Global Culture in China and Beyond
• Conference dates: 7-8 December 2024
• Location: Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, China
• Keynote speaker: Dr. Marta Hanson, Affiliate at Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Retired from Department of the History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University
• Conference conveners:
  Dr. Jing Zhu, Assistant Professor, Department of China Studies, XJTLU
  Dr. Kan Li, Assistant Professor, Department of China Studies, XJTLU

This conference aims to explore innovative approaches to understanding China’s historical and contemporary encounters with global culture. As ideas, knowledge, objects, and cultural elements move across borders, they often gain new meanings in different environments. The conference emphasizes the localization of global culture both within China and beyond.

Over the past two decades, new perspectives in cultural exchange research have significantly expanded our understanding of the global transmission of ideas, technology, materials, and arts. These perspectives have provided profound insights into how global culture is received and reproduced locally. This conference invites compelling narratives about the localization of global culture in China and the reception of Chinese culture abroad. By examining these cultural interactions, the conference seeks to rethink how China’s cultural landscape is shaped by the influx of global culture and how localization processes unfold through various pathways.

The goal of this conference is to unite a diverse group of scholars from around the world and across various disciplines. Through the study of multi-dimensional global exchanges encompassing all aspects of culture, it seeks to illuminate the complexities involved in various localization approaches. This contributes to enrich our understanding of the ambiguous space between the authentic and the hybrid, the traditional and the modern. Additionally, the conference will reflect on the theoretical implications behind the localization of global culture.

The conference will take place from 7th to 8th December 2024 in Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, China. Dr. Marta Hanson will deliver the keynote speech and present her recent research on the cross-cultural transmission of knowledge between China and Europe through medicinal formulas.

We are excited to invite abstract submissions from China and abroad and from multiple disciplines including but not limited to history, cultural studies, anthropology, archeology, gender studies, museum studies and art history. Papers addressing the theme “localizing global culture” from the following perspectives are especially encouraged:
Animals, nature, and environment
Sciences, disciplinary and folk knowledge
Medicine, pharmacy, and healing
Visual and material culture
Dance, theatre, and film
Body and gender

The conference will be bilingual. An abstract either in Chinese or English between 200 and 250 words and a short biography should be submitted to global.culture@xjtlu.edu.cn by 15th September 2024. Authors of selected abstracts will be notified by the end of September.

The organizers will provide lodging and food in Suzhou. Limited support to cover travel costs may be available pending final financial arrangements.

Should you have any queries regarding the conference, please do not hesitate to reach out to Jing Zhu (jing.zhu@xjtlu.edu.cn) or Kan Li (kan.li@xjtlu.edu.cn).