第十二屆香港中文大學人類學研究生論壇
不穩定的亞洲：適應、抗爭與和解
主題發言人：馮珠娣 Judith Farquhar（芝加哥大學人類學系）
時間 ：2020年2月15至16日
地點：香港中文大學鄭裕彤樓鄭家純國際會議中心
自二十一世紀以來，學術界越來越關注「不穩定」、「不穩定性」（Precarity，又譯作「險境」、「脆弱不安」）方面的議題。9·11事件之後，全球安全受到種種威脅，脆弱處境不斷凸顯，Judith Butler就此提出「不穩定性」的概念，認為應將其理解為一種人類相互依存的本體論狀態（Butler 2004）。在這個世界上，一切有形的存在都依賴於彼此，這也是一切有形存在的脆弱性的根源（Butler 2004）。誠然，自冷戰後，世界政治經濟格局劇變，所有的生命形式、生活形態都在面臨諸多不確定性。近年來，民粹主義與保護主義在全球範圍內興起，反對「自由世界」的威權中心不斷崛起，勞動者的組織形式越發靈活多元（Standing 2011, Parry & Hann 2018, Han 2018）。此外，藉助社交媒體，各種社會運動也愈演愈烈（Mundt et al. 2018）。可以說，「不穩定性」高度概括了當今變化莫測的文化經濟圖景和生活狀態（Kasmir 2018）。
「不穩定性」的說法是否具有地域性特徵？我們尚不得而知。但毫無疑問的是，近幾十年來，亞洲社會的發展伴隨著與日俱增的脆弱性和「不穩定性「。亞洲的經驗告訴我們，「不穩定性」是一個有效的人類學分析範疇，值得在更廣泛的背景下得到認識和研究。那麼，具體地說，亞洲的經驗將在何種層面上豐富「不穩定性」的意涵呢？又或者，在亞洲語境下，人們如何努力適應與抵抗當下生活中的種種脆弱與「不穩定性」，並從中尋求和解之道呢？
本次研究生論壇歡迎來自各個學科、關於各項議題的討論。我們誠摯邀請大家共同思考關於「不穩定性「的亞洲經驗，探討在亞洲語境下如何重新定義」不穩定性「這一概念。
相關的分議題及關鍵詞包括但不限於：
論文提交指引：
參會補助：
本次論壇將參考申請者的經濟需求與論文質量，為一定數量的參與者提供補助。補助僅覆蓋會議期間的住宿費用（住宿地點將由組委會統一安排）。以往論壇通常提供10人左右獎學金名額。
The 12th Annual CUHK Anthropology
Postgraduate Student Forum
Precarious Asia:
Resilience, Resistance and Reconciliation
Keynote Speaker: Judith Farquhar
Department of Anthropology, The University of Chicago
Time: February 15-16, 2020
Venue: Henry Cheng International Conference Centre, CUHK, HK
Language: English only
Abstract Submission: Click read more (閱讀原文) to submit the abstract no later than October 25 (Friday), 2019 by 11:59 pm, GMT+8
Website: http://www.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/~ant/pgforum/
Precarity, as well as its companion, precariousness, has become a central concern in scholarly literature since the opening decade of the twenty-first century. In response to 「the conditions of heightened vulnerability and aggression」 emerged after the 9/11 attack, Judith Butler regards precariousness as an ontological condition of human interdependency (Butler 2004). We are living in a world of beings who are physically dependent on one another, thus physically vulnerable to one another (Butler 2004). Indeed, various changes of world political-economic conditions in the post-Cold War era bring uncertainty to the lives and livings all around the globe. The past several years has seen the global rise of populism and protectionism, the upsurging authoritarianism against the free world, the reorganization of labor into flexible regimes (Standing 2011, Parry & Hann 2018, Han 2018), the scale-up of social movements in coalition with social media (Mundt et al. 2018) and etc. Precarity depicts and conceptualizes this unpredictable cultural and economic landscapes and states of life (Kasmir 2018).
Despite the unsettled question on whether the parlance of precarity is regionally contingent, the economic and social development in the past several decades undeniably paralleled the rise of vulnerability and fragility in Asia. China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative has expressed its hegemony in Asia that bears on control over the trans-nationalized natural and energy resources (Rosario & Rigg 2019). The Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on March 2011 not only precipitated calamitous ecological crisis of the country but also provoked memories of Japan's victimization and vulnerability at the end of the Pacific War (Allison 2013). What recently happened across Hong Kong demonstrates locals』 anger against the deteriorating living conditions. Asian experiences indicate that precarity, as a useful category of anthropological analysis, can be appreciated in a more general context beyond work and labor. How do Asian experiences enrich the meaning of precarity? Or more specifically, what forms of resilience and resistance do Asian people develop to deal with their precarious life?
We invite paper contributions from across disciplines to discuss Asian experiences of precarity in the age of uncertainty. We propose to rethink precarity with regard to its expressions and perceptions in the Asian contexts and to ask to what extent precarity is an effective way to conceptualize the condition of Asia today.
Encouraged topics and themes include but are not limited to:
Labor, (Un)employment, and the Precariat
Identity, Citizenship & Social Movements
Mobility, Migration & Globalization
Ecological Sustainability and Resilience
Gender and Sexual Politics
Archaeology (Metallurgy and the Untamed Frontier; Interdisciplinary Perspective on Ancient Bronze)
Judith Farquhar does research on traditional medicine, popular culture, and everyday life in contemporary China. Anthropological areas of interest include medical anthropology; the anthropology of knowledge and of embodiment; science and technology studies; critical theory and cultural studies; and theories and practices of reading, writing, and translation. She is the author of Knowing Practice: The Clinical Encounter of Chinese Medicine (1994), Appetites: Food and Sex in Post-Socialist China (2002), and Ten Thousand Things: Nurturing Life in Contemporary Beijing (2012).
November 15, 2019: Abstract Submission Deadline (extended!)
December 2, 2019: Notification of Acceptance
January 1, 2020: Full Paper Submission Deadline
Full hotel expenses (hostel arranged by the forum committee) will be offered to selected participants based on merit and financial needs. For past forums, about 10 participants received the scholarship each year.
Faculty of Arts, CUHK
New Asia College, CUHK
Department of Anthropology, CUHK
Contact Us:
NAH 407, Humanities Building, New Asia College,
The Chinese University of Hong Kong,
Shatin, N.T. Hong Kong
Email: anthforum@cuhk.edu.hk
Website: http://www.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/~ant/pgforum/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pgsf12/