A Conference Sponsored by the Department of Asian Studies and the Institute for Comparative Modernities, Cornell University, Ithaca

Friday, September 22 | Saturday, September 23, 2023

DAY 1 –– Friday, September 22, 2023 | Goldwin Smith Hall 64, Kaufmann Auditorium

3:00 – 3:15 p.m. Welcome Introduction – Brett de Bary and Naoki Sakai

3:30 – 5:30 p.m. PANEL ONE – Colonialism and the Invention of the National Language

Moderator: Esra Akcan (Cornell University, Ithaca)

Panelists:
Cécile Canut (Université Paris Cité and Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris): L’ordre-de-la-langue: The Myth of French as a Universal Language
Chul Kim (Yonsei University, Seoul): Construction of Colonial Internationality: Centered on the Production of National Language in Korea
Mukoma wa Ngugi (Cornell University, Ithaca): African Literary Criticism in Crisis: Politics of Language, Periodization, and Citizenship

Discussant: Peter Osborne (Kingston University, London)

Saturday, September 23 conference schedule (PSB 401 10:00-17:00)

The conference proposes that what is taken for granted today as national or ethnic language, in the sense of “la langue,” came into existence in the world in modernity, that is, the world as it was gradually organized according to the basic schema of internationality instituted in Europe from the 16th to 19th centuries. Initially this understanding of an “international world” was limited to a special region called Europe, but as the territorial states in Europe moved into non-European regions and conquered their lands, the Eurocentric structure of the international world gained global dominance. Gradually, all the land surface of the earth came to be organized by the bipolarity of Europe (also called “the West” since the end of the 19th century) and the Rest. Thanks to the pioneering work of Cécile Canut (Provincialiser la langue, Edition Amsterdam, 2021), Jon Solomon (Spectral Translation), and Naoki Sakai (Voices of the Past) we now understand that the notion of la langue is closely associated with the colonial internationality of the modern world. Our attempts to seek national languages everywhere as the sign of indigenous cultural and political autonomy is, in fact, a continuation of the colonial imposition of the Eurocentric norm on colonial populations. Hence, Canut’s appeal for ‘provincializing Europe’ challenges the established modality of knowledge production about the Rest, particularly in area studies.

The conference will therefore consider the formation of national language to be closely affiliated with knowledge production in the modern human and social sciences, on the one hand, and with the creation of the new “imagined community” called “the nation,” on the other. We seek to discuss how broader problems of knowledge production are implicated in the international structure of Eurocentric modernity with a particular emphasis on the intimate connections between the formation of the area and the constitution of la langue.

Participants:

Brett de Bary (Cornell University)
Naoki Sakai (Cornell University)
Jon Solomon (Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3, Lyon)
Cécile Canut (Université Paris Cité and Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris)
Peter Osborne (Kingston University, London)
Hideto Tsuboi (Waseda University, Tokyo)
Chul Kim (Yonsei University, Seoul)
Peter Button (Independent Scholar, New York)
Setsu Shigematsu (University of California, Riverside)
Lisa Yoneyama (University of Toronto)
Takashi Fujitani (University of Toronto)
Natalie Melas (Cornell University)
Arnika Fuhrmann (Cornell University)
Naminata Diabate (Cornell University)
Gavin Walker (Cornell University)
Mukoma wa Ngugi (Cornell University)
Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò (Cornell University)
Grant Farred (Cornell University)

In a live, hybrid (in-person and livestreamed) Chats in the Stacks book talk Jeremy Wallace, professor of government, will discuss his latest book Seeking Truth and Hiding Facts: Information, Ideology, and Authoritarianism in China (Oxford University Press, 2023). Synthesizing and interpreting the past 40 years of China’s political economy, Seeking Truth and Hiding Facts reveals the consequences of relying on quantifiable indicators such as GDP and fiscal revenue for dictatorships, arguing that while quantification can help convince a populace of a leader’s right to rule, it also comes with its own perils.

This talk is hosted by Olin Library. Light refreshments will be served

Talk by Laura Lee Junker

The history of the Philippines is unique in Southeast Asia's islands in that the country has 14 massive islands, 7000+ smaller islands, and 200+ languages. Strangely, among the historical entities in these thousands of equatorial islands, none of the area's languages were written down. Both historical and archaeological evidence shows us that Chinese, Japanese, Indonesians, Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Indic populations all powered trade well before the 10th century. Area ports sent commerce and numerous missions to the Chinese court. Islamic groups in the Philippines, particularly in what would become Manila, as well as from the southernmost island of Mindanao prior to the influx of Spanish colonizers in the 16th century, also participated in diplomacy and trade. The extensive diversity of various groups on the rugged Filipino landscape, including small bands of Ata and tribal peoples (Bukidnon) living in the mountainous cores of massive islands, supplied equatorial products that connected chains of manufacture sailing from the west and north, down to the tropical belt. In this presentation, Archaeology melds with "material histories" (such as archaeology) and "written histories" (from many viewpoints) in telling this complex story.

Talk by Oludamini Ogunnaike

This talk explores four remarkable works (currently in unpublished manuscript form) by ‘abd al-Qādir ibn Muṣtafā (known as “Dan Tafa”) (1804-1864), a 19th-century West African Sufi scholar of the Sokoto Caliphate, to examine the ways in which dreams were theorized in the unique synthesis of Sufi, occult, philosophical/medical, theological, and exegetical disciplines that characterized discourse about dreams and dream interpretation in Muslim West Africa on the eve of colonial conquest, and what this can tell us about the distinct conceptions and practices of the human self and knowledge current in the region. The talk will conclude with a brief discussion of the importance and onto-epistemological status of dreams in contemporary West African Sufi communities and attempt to consider why dreams have been and remain so important in these traditions, but not in others.

Talk by Hyunhee Park, History, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY

This presentation delves into the historical interactions and perspectives of Muslims concerning East Asia during cross-cultural exchanges in the premodern era. The Islamic civilization, which emerged in the early seventh century, rapidly expanded and evolved into one of the world’s most prosperous and influential societies during the medieval period. Muslim merchants from the Middle East played a dominant role in the Indian Ocean trades, regularly undertaking voyages to reach China, a paramount commercial hub in premodern Afro-Eurasia. Their contributions greatly facilitated the exchange of people, goods, and ideas across Afro-Eurasia, thereby shaping the global nature of the medieval period. The premodern interactions between the Middle East and East Asia serve as exceptional case studies for understanding the Global Middle Ages, as they offer a wealth of literary and cartographic sources left behind by scholars and firsthand observers from both societies. By comparing evidence from these sources, including written records and maps, we aim to identify patterns of continuity and change in geographic understandings, particularly during the Mongol and post-Mongol eras when both worlds experienced significant political transformations. This exploration allows us to comprehend how Muslim societies developed their conceptualization of the wider world, while also being influenced by it. Importantly, it reveals the active participation of Asian civilizations in global interactions well before 1492, challenging the notion that globalization began solely with European expansion.

Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program (LACS) Seminar Series, Co-sponsored by: City and Regional Planning (CRP) and the Cornell Center for Health Equity (CCHEq).

A discussion with three Puerto Rican community leaders from Caño Martín Peña CLT, Taller Salud and La Colmena Cimarrona who will be speaking about strategies of resistance, community solidarities and emancipatory processes to advance collective land ownership and land-based repair mechanisms that improve access to housing, built environment, environment, food security, and climate adaptation; ultimately contributing to achieving health justice. Land is at the root of structural inequities. It is also the basis for community sovereignty, justice and healing. Within a Puerto Rican context, community land claims acquire particular relevance due to the continuous exposure to climate injustices, the lack of adequate investment for basic infrastructure on the island and structural power inequities.

In the past decade, China's grassroots feminist movement, primarily led by young women, has brought about transformative changes to various gender-discriminatory policies in the country. Through activist endeavors, this movement has initiated a ground-up understanding of feminism among the general public. Despite the constrained political environment, the feminist movement persists in various manifestations and continues to evolve.

In this talk, Churan Zheng, Chinese feminist activist and organizer, provides an overview of the strategies employed by young feminist activists in China, while also delving into the current trajectory and objectives of the feminist movement amidst a backdrop of political tightening.

Zheng will be introduced by Eli Friedman (ILR), faculty host and moderator. The event is hosted by the Einaudi Center's East Asia Program and cosponsored by the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at Cornell.

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About the Speaker

Churan Zheng is a Chinese feminist activist and organizer and is one of the China Feminist Five. Since 2012, she has been organizing young Chinese women to engage in policy advocacy and public education and has also worked on advocating for female workers’ rights. She is one of the co-recipients of Ms. Magazine's 10 of the Most Inspiring Feminists of 2015 and one of the BBC's 100 Women in 2016.