Sinicizing the Early Modern World: Histories and Interpretations Beyond Euro-Diffusionism

Sinicizing the Early Modern World: Histories and Interpretations Beyond Euro-Diffusionism

Organizer
Dr. Adrian Masters, Prof. Dr. Renate Dürr, Prof. Dr. Philip Hahn (Universität Tübingen)
Host
Universität Tübingen
Venue
Fürstenzimmer, Schloss Hohentübingen
Funded by
DFG
ZIP
72076
Location
Tübingen
Country
Germany
Takes place
Hybrid
From - Until
15.06.2023 - 17.06.2023
Deadline
31.01.2023
By
Adrian Masters, SFB-923, Universität Tübingen

This conference invites scholarship which explores how regions near and far from China transformed, adapted to, and struggled against Sinicization in the so-called early modern period, very roughly defined here as 1400–1800. It also invites reflections on how to confront ‘Sinicization’ as a concept - including its methodological, sociological, and even ethical questions.

Sinicizing the Early Modern World: Histories and Interpretations Beyond Euro-Diffusionism

Scholars have deeply researched Europe’s historical impacts upon China. A distinguished and decades-old - but still rather limited - field has undertaken research in the other direction, noting that China has also influenced its neighbors, Europe, and the wider world in turn. Nonetheless, this perspective remains dispersed, eclectic, and little-theorized. This gathering’s questions will extend in two directions: the historicization and theorization of what one might call ‘early modern Sinicization.’

Unearthing the many types of ‘reverse diffusionism’ in which Chinese practices spread to the world has rich explanatory promise, and may even be essential in achieving a more balanced understanding of causation in global history. On the one hand, this conference invites scholarship which explores how regions close and far from China transformed, adapted to, and struggled against Sinicization in the so-called early modern period, very roughly defined here as 1400–1800.

On the other hand, this conference also invites reflections on how to confront ‘Sinicization’ itself. We also invite scholarship which poses major methodological, sociological, and even ethical questions about Sinicization, including:

- Which sociological categories should we use to describe these many tendencies and processes (‘creolization,’ ‘interculturation,’ ‘hybridization,’ ‘entanglement,’ ‘impact- response,’ ‘hegemony,’ ‘co-colonization,’ the ‘China-centered approach,’ etc.)?

- How to navigate the pratfalls of accidental Eurocentrism, uncritical Sinophilia, and
essentialization of European and East Asian societies?

- How to include the stories of smaller polities, indigenous peoples, dynamic and creative
individuals, and others caught between Europeanization, Sinicization, and other powerful
social currents?

DATES: 15-17 June, 2023
INSTITUTION: University of Tübingen
LOCATION: Tübingen, Germany
LANGUAGE of presentations: English
APPLICATION DEADLINE: January 31, 2023
FORMAT: Hybrid; in-person and online

Contact (announcement)

adrianmmasters@gmail.com

Editors Information
Published on
15.12.2022
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