中研院民族所

「（全球）中國民族誌與世界秩序的理論化」國際學術研討會 論文徵集

2023年6月8日至 10日

中央研究院民族學研究所

 

人類學家曾以多種方式概念化了世界秩序；作為「帝國」、「世界體系」、「全球」，以及最近的「行星」等等。這些理論範疇及其批判性的政治／倫理在歐美中心的「全球理論」中為最容易被理解，但它們在關於「全球中國」的各種討論變得越來越複雜並且具有爭議性。中國的崛起引發了不同理論與政治上的爭議，特別是針對既有的用來研究及批判歐美霸權的理論工具，是否可以擴展到中國作為「霸權」的討論？這些理論工具在中國脈絡裡又是否必須被重新思考甚至顛覆？這些爭議所涉及的，不僅是政治、經濟和文化等制度的「不可同量性」問題，在日益分裂的地緣政治世界中，也包含研究者、民族誌的對話者與學術機構的背景、政治立場與倫理原則等，所帶來的複雜性。

 

本次會議彙集了（全球）中國及其邊緣地帶的相關研究學者，從新疆、西藏、香港、臺灣和沖繩畫到尚比亞、坦尚尼亞、南非和北美。目的是討論研究者們如何使用具批判性的地緣政治觀點去探討人如何體驗並認識世界。人類學家尤其體現了一種具矛盾性的狀態，一方面繼承並複製知識生產的殖民性，另一方面又認同各種形式的反帝國倫理／政治。更矛盾的是，從某個立場上所呈現的「反帝國」批判，仍是會與其他立場的「帝國」計劃與知識生產結構糾結在一起。在這難以被「擁帝／反帝」二元分化簡化的背景之下，對帝國採取批判立場意味著什麼？地緣、階級、種族和性別的不平等以及針對這些議題的政治實踐，如何影響研究者的分析以及理論化的方向？

 

本次會議回應凱薩琳·盧茨（Catherine Lutz）對人類學家必須研究「帝國的細節」的呼籲，將聚焦在「帝國」的範疇是如何從細節中被理論化，尤其常人（包括學者）如何理論化地緣政治並想像世界秩序。這場會議也將探討「全球中國」、「中國帝國」和「美國／西方帝國」如何在不同的民族誌位置中被概念化，以及對學者如何概念化世界秩序和駕馭地緣政治複雜性的影響。

 

我們歡迎研究主題涉及世界秩序、帝國理論、帝國邊界、地緣政治和資本主義、（新）冷戰、跨國行動主義、原住民對國家和帝國的看法、帝國和殖民遺產的記憶以及知識生產的政治。我們特別歡迎人類學家或任何使用民族誌方法的研究者投稿參與這次的研討會。

 

請在 2023年 2 月 28 日之前向 dsheridan@gate.sinica.edu.tw 投摘（約300-500字的摘要及約150字的自介）。會議的主要將使用英語進行，但我們也歡迎以中文進行演講，並鼓勵會議期間進行雙語討論。若對此會議有任何具體的疑問，請寄電子郵件至上方地址。

 

「Ethnographies of (Global) China and the Geopolitics of Theorizing World Order」Call for Papers June 8th to 10th, 2023 Institute of Ethnology Academia Sinica, Taiwan Anthropologists have conceptualized world order in multiple ways; as “empire,” “world system,” the “global,” and more recently, the “planetary.” While these categories and their commitments have been most intelligible in the Euro-American centers of “global” theory, they become increasingly troubled and fraught in varied discussions about “global China”. The rise of China in the world has provoked controversies over whether the tools developed to study and critique Euro-American hegemony can be extended to China, or whether these tools must be rethought completely. Underlying these controversies is not only the non-isomorphism of political, economic, and cultural hierarchies at different scales, but also complicated matters of the personal, political, and ethical commitments of researchers, interlocutors, and institutions in an increasingly divided geopolitical world. The goal of this conference, bringing together scholars working in and around (global) China, from Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Okinawa, to Zambia, Tanzania, South Africa, and North America, is to take controversies over the use of critical geopolitical categories as a lens for understanding experiences and epistemologies of world. If anthropologists embody a liminal or contradictory state of both inheriting and reproducing the coloniality of knowledge production while also identifying with or even embracing forms of anti-imperial ethics/politics, what does it mean today to take a critical stance vis-à-vis empire in difficult-to-simplify contexts where “anti-imperial” critiques from some positions are entangled with varied “imperial” forms of knowledge from other positions? What is the relationship between theorizing political, economic, racialized, and gendered inequalities and the practice and affects of global affinities and antagonisms? While Catherine Lutz has called on anthropologists to study “empire in the details,” this conference asks how empire is theorized from the details. How do ordinary people, including academics, theorize geopolitics and imagine world order? The presentations and discussions will examine how “Global China,” “Chinese Empire,” and “US/Western empire” are conceptualized in diverse ethnographic sites, and the implications for how scholars conceptualize world order and navigate geopolitical complexities. We especially welcome submissions engaging the topic of world order, theories of empire, the borders of empire(s), geopolitics and capitalism, (New) Cold Wars, transnational activism, indigenous perspectives on state and empire, the memory of imperial and colonial heritage, and the (geo)politics of knowledge production. We are particularly interested in submissions from anthropologists or any scholar using ethnographic methods to study these questions. Please submit an abstract (300-500 words) and a short bio (150 words) by February 28, 2023 to dsheridan@gate.sinica.edu.tw. Although the primary language of the conference will be English, we also welcome presentations delivered in Mandarin, and encourage bilingual discussion during the conference. Please email the same address for any specific questions.