[csaa-forum] Flying University of Transnational Humanities - Seoul, Korea, 11-16 June 2010

[Brett Neilson]

The Flying University of Transnational Humanities (FUTH)

- Summer School for Graduate Students and Young Scholars -

Introduction

The Flying University of Transnational Humanities (FUTH) is an annual summer school and year round online forum for researchers and graduate students from all over the world interested in the transnational paradigm of humanistic inquiry.

The Flying University takes its name and immediate inspiration from Poland's Flying University, a roaming educational enterprise which offered post-secondary education outside the remit of state control and government censorship. FUTH is particularly concerned with developing critical understandings that are resistant to the ideological and ideational hegemony of the nation-state and the epistemological and hermeneutic conventions that support it. This does not mean that FUTH seeks to dispense with the "national" and construct a reified "transnational" to replace it or to foster "transnationalism" as an ideological alternative to "nationalism." FUTH aims to free our imaginations from the regime of the nation-state and to offer new ways of thinking about the political, social and cultural order of the world, both past and present.

The Flying University of Transnational Humanities is accordingly,

- Trans-cultural: FUTH will not only critically examine the production and dissemination of (trans-) national knowledge and culture, but also problematize imagined geographies of "the East" and "the West." In so doing, we will explore times, places, and subjects as fluid and hybrid, rather than as confined and constrained by geopolitical or cultural boundaries.

- Trans-disciplinary: FUTH seeks to comprehend the complex nature of various trans-cultural issues and employ trans-disciplinary approaches. To that end, FUTH is open to scholars, educators, researchers and students from all academic specializations.

- Trans-institutional: FUTH is an intellectual network, founded and run by a global consortium of scholars, departments, and institutions. With the support of this network, we hope to facilitate trans-cultural and trans-disciplinary collaborations.

Program

The Flying University of Transnational Humanities is "in session" once per year for one week, and will normally be held during summer vacation. The host site changes on an annual or bi-annual basis and rotates between partner institutions. FUTH online runs year-round: through its dedicated website, a permanent online space will be provided for interactive discussions. All institutions, departments, and scholars are welcome to participate both offline and online.

Each year, FUTH will have a different cross-disciplinary theme around which the sessions will be organized. It will consist of conferences, lectures, and seminars where renowned scholars from partner and other institutions will be invited to share their ideas. The FUTH steering and advisory committees, in conjunction with faculty members of partner institutions and other specialists, will prepare lecture syllabi and reading lists. Student participants are expected to study the readings in advance of each lecture and seminar discussion. A selected number of participants will also have an opportunity to present their ongoing research. All lectures, seminars and presentations will be held in English, in principle, while the possibility of translingual practices will be explored.

For the initial three years (2010-2012), the overarching theme of FUTH will be "borders." There have been numerous studies on how borders are constructed, negotiated, and policed and how they are simultaneously transgressed, challenged, and renegotiated. Borders are no longer seen simply as physical divisions but also as discursive practices and cultural institutions. However, the multiplicity and hybridity of borders (e.g., national, ethnic, cultural, geographical, gender, political, economic, etc), as well as their transnational scalability (e.g., local, national, supranational, global, etc), has yet to be intensively investigated. To address this gap, the first FUTH-which takes place from June 11-16, 2010, at the Research Institute of Comparative History and Culture, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea-will focus on "regions" in their multiple forms and examine them as sites of bordering practices and processes. Under the subheading of "Regions and Regionalization," a combination of lectures, seminars, and presentation/feedback sessions-followed by a two-day conference-will encourage students to problematize the often naturalized categories of "Asia," "Europe," "Africa" or "Americas," and to cultivate a deeper, more contextual understanding of the making and unmaking of regions.

Eligibility / How to Apply

Applicants must be enrolled in postgraduate degree programs or have recently completed their master's or doctoral degrees, and major in the humanities and social sciences-including history,literature, anthropology, cultural studies and other related fields. Students of all nationalities are welcome to apply. As enrolment numbers are limited, admission is based on merit.

The application form will soon be available online at http://rich.ac/eng/fly/apply.php. Please send the completed form and other required materials in English by April 1, 2010, to:

Research Institute of Comparative History and Culture
College of Humanities, Hanyang University
Seoul 133-791, Korea
E-mail: hk.transnational at gmail.com
Fax: +82-2-2298-0542

Costs / Accommodation

There is no registration fee, and accommodation will be provided for all accepted participants. However, participants are expected to arrange their own funding for travel and daily living expenses. Travel grants may be made available to a limited number of applicants who are not able to raise the necessary funds. Those who need this grant must include a request with his or her application, explaining why it is necessary.

Steering Committee

Lim Jie-Hyun, Hanyang University, Korea (Chair)
Charles Armstrong, Columbia University, USA
Stefan Berger, University of Manchester, UK
Sebastian Conrad, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Dennis Galvan, University of Oregon, USA
Itagaki Ryuta, Doshisha University, Japan
Eun-Shil Kim, Ewha Womans University, Korea
Peter Lambert, Aberystwyth University, UK
Joyce Liu, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
Matthias Middell, Universität Leipzig, Germany
Dominic Sachsenmaier, Duke University, USA
Michael Schoenhals, Lund University, Sweden
Olivier Wieviorka, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan, France
Daqing Yang, George Washington University, USA
Advisory Committee (Last names in bold)
Prasenjit Duara, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Michael Geyer, University of Chicago, USA
Alf Luedtke, Universität Erfurt, Germany
Mitani Hiroshi, University of Tokyo, Japan
Sakai Naoki, Cornell University, USA

For further details, please contact:

Research Institute of Comparative History and Culture
College of Humanities, Hanyang University
Seoul 133-791, Korea
E-mail: hk.transnational at gmail.com
Fax: +82-2-2298-0542


FUTH 2010 - DRAFT PROGRAM

(This program is still tentative and subject to change.)

Date: June 11 - 16, 2010

Venue: International Conference Room, Paiknam Library & Academic Information Center, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea

Hosted by: Research Institute of Comparative History and Culture, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea

Sponsored by: National Research Foundation of Korea

Theme: BORDERS (I) - REGIONS AND REGIONALIZATION

DAY 1: JUNE 11 (FRIDAY)

14:00-14:30 Registration

14:30-15:00 Opening Remarks - Jie-Hyun Lim (Hanyang University, Korea)

Welcome Address - TBC / Chong Yang Kim (President, Hanyang University, Korea)

Congratulatory Remarks - TBC / Young Ahn Kang (National Research Foundation of Korea)

15:00-16:15 Keynote Speech - Sakai Naoki (Cornell University, USA)

16:15-16:30 Coffee Break

CONFERENCE

16:30-18:30 Session 1: De-regionalizing Regions

Chair: TBA

1. "Asia" in Chinese Reactions to the Great War - Seen From Transnational Perspectives - Dominic Sachsenmaier (Duke University, USA)

2. Fractured Unity: The Making and Unmaking of Borders and Their Transnational Dynamics in Modern Europe - Bernhard Struck (University of St. Andrews, UK)

3. Economic Crisis and the Urgent, Everyday Experience of Region: Lessons from the Most Marginal Places - Dennis Galvan (University of Oregon, USA)

Discussant: Michael Schoenhals (Lund University, Sweden)

19:30 Welcome Dinner

DAY 2: JUNE 12 (SATURDAY)

10:30-12:30 Session 2: Dynamics of "in-between" Regions

Chair: TBA

1. East Central Europe: Challenge or Eldorado for Doing Transnational History? - Frank Hadler (GWZO, Universität Leipzig, Germany)

2. Sayyid Hussein Story: Hami Muslims and the Frontier Perspective on the East Asian World - Kwangmin Kim (University of Colorado-Boulder, USA)

3. Asian-German Studies: Methodology, Theory, and Practice - Young-Sun Hong (State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA)

Discussant: Seung Mi Han (Yonsei University, Korea)

12:30-13:45 Lunch

13:45-15:45 Session 3: Counter-memories of Regions

Chair: TBA

1. Regions and Regionalism in the Historical Culture of the Third Reich - Peter Lambert (Aberystwyth University, UK)

2. Mass Murder by Mosquito: The Yaeyama Malaria Reparations Campaign, 1989-1977 - Alan Christy (University of California-Santa Cruz, USA)

3. "Asia" as a "relational" concept from the perspective of Japanese Marxist Philosophers: Hiromatsu Wataru, Miki Kiyoshi, and Tosaka Jun - Nakajima Takahiro (University of Tokyo, Japan)

Discussant: Mitani Hiroshi (University of Tokyo, Japan)

15:45-16:00 Coffee Break

16:00-18:00 Session 4: Reimagining Regions

Chair: TBA

1. 1884, Before Asia - Stefan Tanaka (University of California-San Diego, USA)

2. Network, Identity and the State: Explaining the Dynamics of Transnational Asia and a Rising China - Hong Liu (University of Manchester, UK)

3. What is Wrong with the Alternative Modernities Thesis? - Brett Neilson (University of Western Sydney, Australia)

Discussant: Daqing Yang (George Washington University, USA)

DAY 3: JUNE 13 (SUNDAY)

CURRICULUM

I. Problematizing Regions and Regionalization

09:45-11:15 Lecture and Q&A - Alan Christy (University of California-Santa Cruz, USA)

11:15-11:30 Coffee Break

11:30-13:00 Lecture and Q&A - Matthias Middell (Universität Leipzig, Germany)

13:00-14:15 Lunch

14:15-15:45 Student Seminar & Discussion

15:45-16:00 Coffee Break

16:00-17:30 Student Presentation & Feedback

18:00- FUTH Steering Committee Meeting

DAY 4: JUNE 14 (MONDAY)

II. Rethinking Regions and Regionalization: Transnational Perspectives

09:45-11:15 Lecture and Q&A - Jie-Hyun Lim (Hanyang University, Korea)

11:15-11:30 Coffee Break

11:30-13:00 Lecture and Q&A - Stefan Tanaka (University of California-San Diego, USA)

13:00-14:15 Lunch

14:15-15:45 Student Seminar & Discussion

15:45-16:00 Coffee Break

16:00-17:30 Student Presentation & Feedback

DAY 5: JUNE 15 (TUESDAY)

III. Towards Reflexive Regionalization?

09:45-11:15 Lecture and Q&A - Dennis Galvan (University of Oregon, USA)

11:15-11:30 Coffee Break

11:30-13:00 Lecture and Q&A - Brett Neilson (University of Western Sydney, Australia)

13:00-14:15 Lunch

14:15-15:45 Student Seminar & Discussion

15:45-16:00 Coffee Break

16:00-17:30 Student Presentation & Feedback

DAY 6: JUNE 16 (WEDNESDAY)

10:00-11:45 Wrap-Up Roundtable Discussion

11:45-12:00 Closing Remarks - Jie-Hyun Lim (Hanyang University, Korea)

12:00 Adjournment

13:00- Optional Tour ("Borderless Village" in Wongok-dong, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do)