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GAS Lecture Series 7

Translation and the Right to Speak: The Global Turn in Contemporary Chinese Humanities

Date and TimeMay 20 (Mon), 2024, 13:00-15:00 PM (JST)
VenueMain Conference Room (3F), Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, The University of Tokyo
TitleTranslation and the Right to Speak: The Global Turn in Contemporary Chinese Humanities
SpeakerProf. Marc Matten, Institute for Languages ​​and Cultures of the Middle East and East Asia, Friedrich Alexander University
https://www.sinologie.phil.fau.de/mitarbeiter/professuren/prof-dr-marc-matten/
ChairShigeto Sonoda, Professor, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, The University of Tokyo
LanguageEnglish

This event is held in-person only. Please register using the form below: https://forms.gle/bRpBbL4jMpricaCs7

Following the economic growth and geopolitical rise of China in the past decades we observe ambitions of the Chinese party-state to influence norms and world views across the globe. In recent years, the humanities have become an important playing field where increasing translations of Chinese authors, spanning from historians to philosophers and political scientists intend to shape the discourse outside of China. However, the opaque nature of translations activities—partly financed by the party-state and published by renowned publishers (Brill, Palgrave Macmillan, Routledge, Springer et al.)—makes it difficult to discern the boundary between propaganda and genuine contribution to academic discourse. This talk discusses what role translations play in questioning Eurocentrism in Western academia and what is necessary to properly understand Chinese contributions to global humanities.

Organizer:GAS Initiative at Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, The University of Tokyo
Contact:gas[at]ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp