International Conference on

Transcultural Studies: Languages, Figures, and Material Culture

Preamble

Sponsors: Department of History, and Institute for Advanced Studies in

              Humanities and Social Sciences, National Taiwan University

In the twenty-first century, humanities and social sciences have been characterized by pluralism and border remapping, as manifested in cross-cultural and interdisciplinary studies. Cross-cultural and transcultural studies also bring forward new perspectives in historiography. With a common interest in this framework, the six members of the Project of History of Cultural Interactions, affiliated to the Department of History, National Taiwan University, agree on organizing a one-day conference on “Transcultural Studies: languages, figures, and material culture” on 20 October 2009.

        As acknowledged by most scholars, three major vehicles of culture remain a productive field of exploration in cultural history: languages, figures, and material culture (or objects). Languages communicate thoughts and information, and describe diverse phenomena. Languages formulate expressions of cultural interactions. Figures (or people) are subjects of acts and languages. Objects and material culture also constitute the content of cultural interactions. Our group members, who are specialized in cross-cultural studies and cultural history, are very much interested in these three factors of transcultural studies, and look forward to closer and fruitful scholarly exchanges in this area.

        The conference is organized in two parts, part one for panels of research papers, and part two for a round table. Five of our group members and two international scholars will present their recent studies. The round table (of two hours or so) will include bureau members of the Commission for History and Theory of Historiography.

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