Surfing the Disciplines: Experiencing the Seventh International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities 2009, Beijing

Andrew Czink, Simon Fraser University

download this paper: Conference Report

Andrew was invited to attend the 2009 conference to present his paper (Sound Reasons: Auditory Experience and the Environment) after he’d presented it at the GLS conference in Vancouver, October, 2008.

Much like big waves, the rush of surfing big ideas is exhilarating. There was no shortage of big provocative ideas on the agenda of the Seventh International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities held in Beijing China in June of this year. Bill Cope, the director of the conference organizer Common Ground Publishing, states in the conference program the intent of the conference succinctly as “…explor[ing] the future of the humanities in an intellectual and social milieu that all-too-often is dominated by the logics of economy and techno-science.” If anyone thinks that the humanities are ailing, attending this conference will change their minds fairly quickly. The breadth and depth of thought that was brought to bear on the presentations was inspiring.

Beijing Friendship Hotel

The conference is held in a different city and country each year, with the past six being held in: Rhodes, Greece; Prato, Italy; Cambridge, UK; Tunis, Tunisia; Paris, France; and Istanbul, Turkey. This year’s meeting was in Beijing, China from June 2-5, 2009 at the impressive Beijing Friendship Hotel (http://www.bjfriendshiphotel.com/english/Index.html), reputedly the largest garden hotel in Asia. The hotel was not only impressive and comfortable, but was historically interesting as the location of the meetings between Chairman Mao and President Nixon. Also of interest was the hotel’s role in providing safe haven for artists during the Cultural Revolution. All of the art displayed in the hotel’s more than 1700 rooms are original works of art by Chinese artists.

The buzz of such a vibrant event was palpable as the 212 participants hailing from 27 countries on 6 continents all converged on the conference venue. The conference was well organized with a team of dedicated staff who got new arrivals situated with their conference packages, and were ready to jump into action the moment something wasn’t working as expected.

Each morning began with 30 minute plenary sessions by two invited guests, ranging from Harvard University’s Harry Lewis speaking on digital books and the control of ideas, to Wu Qing recounting her experiences in Maoist China, film-maker Marcus Wood from the UK regarding fetishism in West Africa, Brazil, and America, and International Award for Excellence in Humanities winner Judy Lattas from Sydney Australia speaking on education, among other distinguished guests. While the plenary sessions were only 30 minutes in duration, one hour ‘garden conversations’ were arranged later on in the day to allow attendees to sit with the plenary speakers in a more casual conversational atmosphere, providing an opportunity to follow up on ideas presented in the shorter more formal sessions.

The main body of the conference consisted of seven parallel sessions organized around the following 17 ‘streams’ of inquiry:

• Literature, Literary Studies
• Media, Film Studies, Theatre, Communication
• Aesthetics, Design
• Language, Linguistics
• Knowledge
• Philosophy, Ethics, Consciousness
• History, Historiography
• Political Science, Politics
• Teaching and Learning
• Globalisation
• Ethnicity, Difference, Identity
• Immigration, Refugees, Race, Nation
• First Nations and Indigenous Peoples
• Sexuality, Gender, Families
• Religion, Spirituality
• Cyberspace, Technology
• Science, Environment and the Humanities

The sessions consisted mostly of 30 minute paper presentations, as well as 60 minute workshops, and 90 minute colloquia. This made for scheduling challenges for all, as there was much ‘stream hopping’ amongst the attendees. It seemed like there were always at least two sessions one wanted to attend at any one time!

One unusual approach to fostering debate and the exchange of ideas was to include two ‘talking circle ‘ sessions for each conference stream. These were modeled after the talking circles used by Australian and North American indigenous nations to encourage dialogue without the necessity of resolution, but rather to identify areas of common ground, tension, or as the conference program suggests, to identify “…axes of uncertainty that then feed into the themes for the Conference of the following year.” While the idea was laudable, the implementation did leave something to be desired as no facilitator with experience in this form was provided. Regardless, our stream of Science, Environment and the Humanities, paired with the Knowledge stream, did eventually spark into lively dialogue, beginning by questioning why we were scheduled together, to, by the end of the conference and our second talking circle session, identifying areas of common pursuit and mutual interest. I certainly hope that the conference organizers will continue to pursue this idea and make some small changes to better facilitate discussion next time around.

While there were too many excellent presentations to recount here I will mention some highlights to try to give a sense of the subject matter encountered. [Editor's note: search for presentations here by author or title.]

Fellow Canadian Dr. Marie-Christine Leps from York University in Toronto presented a provocative analysis of Don DeLillo’s last two novels exploring how they theorize “…contemporary relations of biopower and knowledge.” The discussion during the question period spilled over into the excellent and expansive Chinese buffet lunch.

US philosopher and cognitive scientist Robin Zebrowski’s paper Neural Plasticity and the Cultural Cyborg: Two Sides of One Coin, proposed an inspiring and closer connection between philosophy and the neurosciences by considering the embodied nature of mind and its implications for thought in the humanities.

Dr. Randall Groves from the USA outlined a somewhat controversial argument for the use of memetics to understand the irrational in culture by elaborating on a genetic model for the propogation and replication of ideas.

A very interesting ‘post-colonial’ colloquium on the subject of “…Eastern perspectives of Western discourses on the praxis of Easternisation…” was presented by Professor Dr. Shanta Nair-Venugopal, Professor Dr. Ahmad Murad Merican, Dr. Kim Hui Lim, Dr. Bromeley Philiip and Dr. Shamala Paramasivam from Malaysia. This was a very eye-opening variation in perspective on cultural difference and notions of the other.

There really were so many other interesting presentations: too many to recount here. The associated International Journal of the Humanities is a peer reviewed journal which accepts submissions from the conference presenters, so there is a good chance of being able to read some of these papers in the near future.

While I fully embrace digital telecommunications technologies, virtual communities and so on, there is something wonderfully ineffable about meeting colleagues in person and talking face to face while eating a meal or over a beverage or two. The spirit of all the attendees was uplifting and motivating. It was a great experience to be able to hash out ideas and debate openly and have fun while doing it in a great venue in a great city. The conference organizers made sure that there were options for experiencing the local food and culture, by providing fantastic and expansive lunch buffets of expertly prepared Chinese cuisine, arranging for a spectacular conference dinner, complete with Peking Duck, and arranging for tours of Beijing and areas further afield. I made several new friends and potential collaborators while at the conference.

The sense of camaraderie amongst everyone was great to experience. The conference proved to be a great opportunity to establish new connections with like-minded colleagues from around the world. Plans for possible future collaborations flew fast and furious. This event is highly recommended for anyone involved in Graduate Liberal Studies programs in any capacity. Next year’s conference is being hosted by UCLA in Los Angeles California from June 29-July 2, 2010. I hope that some of you who haven’t attended in the past (and those who have, too!) can make it in 2010.