CFP—Dissertator Workshop: “The Lure of Information in China Studies”
Date: Ongoing from November 1st, 2024 to May 1st, 2025
Venue: Online via Zoom
Contact Person: Yuzhe Li (yli2232@wisc.edu)
Deadline for Proposal Submission: October 20th, 2024
AIM AND FORMAT
This program is a part of the Borghesi-Mellon Interdisciplinary Workshops in the Humanities, sponsored by the Center for the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with support from Nancy and David Borghesi and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
In recent years, the concept of “information” has garnered substantial scholarly attention within the field of China studies, appearing as an analytical framework in disciplines such as history, literature, and cultural studies. For literature scholars, information forms a vital dimension of literary practice by shaping the form, meaning, and even the aesthetics of creative works (Chen et al. 2021; Liu 2019). Meanwhile, historians have begun to explore dynamic transformations in the “information order” of various eras (Kuzuoğlu 2023; Harrison 2021; De Weerdt 2016).We believe the time is ripe to reflect upon and reassess this analytical framework and its leverage within China studies. To this end, we are convening a workshop for a group of dissertation-stage PhD students to collectively investigate the following questions in the context of participants’ individual research:
- Why has the adoption of “information” as an analytical lens lured the interest of so many scholars in recent years?
- What new insights and approaches has this lens contributed to China studies, so far?
- And what risks does the lure of information potentially pose, perhaps in the form of methodological blindspots or the reading of source materials?
This workshop will consist of four to six sessions over Zoom (on Fridays at 19:00 CST, approximately once a month), with each meeting focusing on two draft dissertation chapters by participants. Chapters will be precirculated in advance of the meeting and available only to registered participants. We invite dissertators working at the intersection between information studies (broadly conceived) and Chinese history, literature, art history, or related discipline with a focus on any period. Participants are kindly asked to attend as many of the workshop sessions as they can. Additionally, the workshop will feature three hybrid-format keynote lectures by leading scholars of this emergent subfield: Hilde De Weerdt (KU Leuven), Paize Keulemans (Princeton University), and Uluğ Kuzuoğlu (Washington University in St. Louis).
APPLICATION & ELIGIBILITY
To apply, please submit your working dissertation title, along with an abstract of the chapter which you would like to present on (300 words maximum), and a short bio (including present institution and stage) to Yuzhe Li at yli2232@wisc.edu by October 20th, 2024. We will reach out to participants by the end of the same month.
All others who are interested in joining the workshop series are welcome to join. If you’d like to register or have any questions, please contact Yuzhe.
CONVENORS
Xinyi Fu (ALC), Yuzhe Li (ALC), Ye Lin (History), Yirui Ma (History)
Posted by: Yuzhe Li <yli2232@wisc.edu>