With the deadline for ACLA abstract submissions fast approaching (11:59 PM EST on Saturday), we’d like to invite colleagues to submit proposals to our seminar, “Re-thinking the Chinese Enlightenment.” Here’s the link and description:
https://acla.secure-platform.com/a/solicitations/2/sessiongallery/263
“The Enlightenment discourse of rational humanism has fundamentally shaped modern Chinese culture since the May 4th era. Two major intellectual movements of 20th century China—the New Culture Movement in the 1910s–20s and the “cultural fever” of 1980s—are often referred to as the Chinese Enlightenment. More generally, for most who advocate for the modern transformation of Chinese culture, to be modern means to uphold basic values of Enlightenment humanism.
On the other hand, the Chinese Enlightenment has also faced significant challenges. From within, the liberalist notion of individual freedom is contested by the Marxist conception of the collective. Contrary to Li Zehou’s formula of “the dual variation of Enlightenment and nationalism,” the tension between the individual and the collective is an inherent dimension of the Chinese Enlightenment. From without, while turning their backs against tradition, many modern Chinese intellectuals also cast into doubt the Enlightenment vision of reason and teleological progress. Finally, as a thought system originating from Europe, Enlightenment discourse has to undergo various modifications to take root in Chinese culture. For the Chinese Enlightenment, a paramount challenge is how to negotiate between the two different cultural traditions.
This seminar invites papers to re-think various dimensions of the Chinese Enlightenment. We especially welcome papers that focus on literature, film, art, and intellectual history.”
Wenjin Cui (Univ. of New Hampshire) & Todd Foley (NYU)