Call for Papers: The 6th CUHK Anthropology Postgraduate Student Forum

The 6th Annual CUHK Anthropology Postgraduate Student Forum

Asia in the World: New Horizons in Asian Anthropology

 

Time: 17-18 January 2014 
Abstract Submission: Due 30 October 2013
Website: http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/ant/pgsf6/
Email: anthforum@cuhk.edu.hk


The Department of Anthropology and The Chinese University of Hong Kong, invites graduate students in Asia and elsewhere to present their current research at the Postgraduate Student Forum. As Asia continues to become a major actor on the world stage, we hope to explore the vast range of diversity in cultures and languages that are represented by over 4.3 billion people in a land mass that covers almost 1/3 of the earth’s land surface.

Hong Kong is a global city, a major node for trade, investment, and the exchange of ideas. This year, the Postgraduate Student Forum seeks to expand our invitation to graduate students all over the globe, so we are providing a limited amount of scholarships worth up to $2,000 HKD for a select number of abstracts chosen. We hope to encourage communication among local and global young anthropologists and other social scientists to help improve their research and to promote Asian Anthropology internationally.

Conference: Foodways and Heritage

Prof. Eugene Anderson gives keynote speech

On 3rd-5th January 2013, the department co-organized the International Conference on Foodways and Heritage: A Perspective of Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage with Hong Kong Heritage Museum and the University of Tours, France. Scholars from different regions and various disciplines, such as anthropology, sociology, history, and gender studies, discussed the politics of foodways and heritage, in particular, how different kinds of food are produced, sustained and inherited while at the same time how they are preserved as intangible heritage for various reasons. Eugene N. Anderson, Professor Emeritus at University of California, Riverside, U.S.A, gave the keynote speech "Learning is Like Chicken Feet: Assembling the Chinese food system." A roundtable was particularly devoted to French cuisine, as a response to the UNESCO's decision of adding "gastronomic meal of the French" to the "intangible cultural heritage of humanity."

Group photo in a preserved meat shop in Sheung Wan

The conference included field trips that showed two distinct scenes of foodways in Hong Kong. The field trip in the morning walked the participants through the Nam Pak Hong in Sheung Wan, where dried food from all over the world has been traded since the mid-19th century. It is this neighborhood that made Hong Kong a successful and important trading hub over the last century. The traditional features of trading can still be seen today. 

In the afternoon, the group visited a Freshwater Fish farm in Tai San Wai, Yuen Long. In Hong Kong, over 90% of the freshwater fish farms are engaged in polyculture. The traditional operation of fishponds make important contributions to the local community and wildlife, in particular waterbirds, which demonstrates  the ‘wise use’ principle of wetland conservation, a way for both wildlife and humans to mutually benefit from the productivity of a wetland without compromising its vital ecological functions. 

Good food that conveys social and cultural messages of the local communities added more flavor to the conference. Over the three days, participants tasted authentic French food made by Cantonese chefs, cantonese Dim-sum lunch and country-style dinner in Yuen Long. In his concluding remarks, Prof. Eugene Anderson recalled the gastronomic landscape of Hong Kong in the 1960s, as well as the wonton he had in Yuen Long back then. The best wonton he had ever had so far, said Prof. Anderson.

＊Proceedings of this conference will be published later this year. You can find more information of the conference on the conference website.

Upcoming Conference: Foodways and Heritage

"International Conference on Foodways and Heritage: A Perspective of Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage"

Organizer: Hong Kong Heritage Museum, Leisure and Cultural Services Department and Department of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong with a delegation from the UNESCO Chair Project on Safeguarding and Promoting Cultural Food Heritage of the University of Tours, France

Time: 3rd-5th January, 2013

Venue: 1/F Theatre, Hong Kong Heritage Museum, 1 Man Lam Road, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR

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Foodways is considered an important cultural marker of identity in societies, and it has provided a medium for the understanding of social relations, family and kinship, class and consumption, gender ideology, cultural symbolism, etc. Nowadays, much scholarly attention has been on the socio-political construction of foodways; in particular, there is a growing interest in considering foodways an intangible heritage reflecting the significance of being part of people’s life in the era of globalization. With the understanding that some ingredients and culinary skills became more difficult to be inherited and sustained, the possibility of losing them should not be overlooked. Traditional cuisine has been mostly changed or even disappeared, and some culinary skills are known among a handful of people. So, are we going to witness the dying of traditional foodways? Or, are we going to keep it documented in the last minute because this is part of our general support of cultural diversity? This conference looks at the politics of foodways and heritage, and investigates how different kinds of food are produced, sustained and inherited while at the same time how they are preserved as intangible heritage for various reasons. We seek papers that examine what foodways is considered a kind of local/national heritage, why people think foodways can be heritage for preservation, and how it has been culturally invented, conceptualized, and marketed in various societies. We have presenters researching foodways in the context of heritage politics on local/regional levels, looking into issues such as transnational relations, globalization and localization, ecology and natural resources management, transformation of traditions and technical interventions etc. Lastly, this conference is interdisciplinary and we have scholars from different disciplines, such as anthropology, sociology, history, and gender studies.

Upcoming Conference: Gastronomy, Communication, and Heritage in the Diaspora

Department of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and The Global Food Cultures program of New York University jointly present a special symposium on

Gastronomy, Communication, and Heritage in the Diaspora: The Hong Kong Experience

Time : 9:30-12:00 p.m., Tuesday, 8th January, 2013
Venue: LT5, Cheng Yu Tung Building, CUHK(next to the University Station and Hyatt Shatin Hotel)

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This symposium explores the foodways in the lives of people in the global context of diaspora. Speakers include Casey Lum, Professor of Communication at William Paterson University (USA ) and Board of Directors of the Urban Communication Foundation, who has been researching in media ecology and urban food cultures as forms of communication; Sidney Cheung, Professor and anthropologist, who has recently finished a food-related knowledge transfer project on developing touristic resources from within (and for) the local neighborhood in Sheung Wan; Peter Cuong Franklin, a consultant chef and the chef-owner of the Vietnamese restaurant ChomChom and a graduate from Le Cordon Bleu with a Grand Diplôme de Cuisine and Patisserie, who has trained and worked at the like of the Michelin-starred Caprice in Hong Kong, Alinea in Chicago, and La Verticale in Hanoi; and Annabel Jackson, a food and wine expert and consultant, who is head of the Hong Kong Slow Food convivium and the author of Macau on a Plate (1994), Street Café Vietnam (1999), World Food China (2003), Taste of Macau: Portuguese Cuisine on the China Coast (2004) and Modern Indian Cooking (2004).

ALL INTERESTED ARE WELCOME

Enjoying Academic Exchange at Postgraduate Student Forum

Every year since 2008-09, the Department of Anthropology has invited postgraduate students from Asia and elsewhere to present their current research at the Postgraduate Student Forum.

The Forum is intended to showcase the best of students’ contemporary research. For the past few years, there were participants coming from Harvard, Columbia University, LSE, SOAS, and many other renowned anthropology programmes.

PhD candidate from LSE is presenting her research.

The forum offers an international
 platfrom for intellectual communication.

Prof. Wang Mingming

Hong Kong is a global city, a major node for trade, investment, and the exchange of ideas. The Postgraduate Student Forum seeks to encourage the communication among young anthropologists in and of the East and Southeast Asian region, to help improve their research and to make the excellent research being conducted in Asia to be better known internationally. The forum covers a wide range of topics and invites famous scholars from different anthropological subfields as discussants.

At the same time we have tried to keep the forum not only educational but also fun! The forum includes various activities such as field trips introducing local culture, dinners featuring a variety of local delicacies", and even music performence by our faculty and students!

The Forum 2011 also includes a field trip to introduce heritages in Hong kong and the local food culture.

Music performance by Professor Gordon Mathews and MPhil student Leah at the opeining ceremony.

Now we are expecting the 5th Annual Postgraduate Student Forum in a few months. We look forward to learning about your research in January! To join us, submit an abstract by 15th Oct 2012. (For more details, please visit the Forum's website.)

Call for Papers: the 5th Annual Postgraduate Student Forum

The Department of Anthropology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong invites graduate students in Asia and elsewhere to present their current research at the 5th Annual Postgraduate Student Forum. The theme for this year's conference is, Anthropology in Asia: Conceptions, Perspectives and Debates

The forum will take place on 18-19th January, 2013, and seeks to encourage communication among young anthropologists around the world, to help improve their research and to make the excellent research being conducted in Asia better known internationally. Presentations may be in English, Putonghua, and Cantonese, though English is encouraged. When submitting your abstract please inform us in which language you will be presenting.

Deadline for abstract submission is 15th October, 2012. Abstracts should be written in English only and less than 250 words. Applications for a limited number of travel scholarships will be accepted. For more information, please visit our website, www.cuhk.edu.hk/ant/pgforum or contact us at anthforum@cuhk.edu.hk.

Call for Papers: the 5th Annual Postgraduate Student Forum

 

The Department of Anthropology at The Chinese University of Hong Kong invites graduate students in Asia and elsewhere to present their current research at the 5th Annual Postgraduate Student Forum. The theme for this year's conference is:

Anthropology in Asia: Conceptions, Perspectives and Debates

The forum will take place on 18-19th January, 2013, and seeks to encourage communication among young anthropologists around the world, to help improve their research and to make the excellent research being conducted in Asia better known internationally. Presentations may be in English, Putonghua, and Cantonese, though English is encouraged. 

Please submit your abstract (250 words limit) by October 14th to anthforum@cuhk.edu.hk

Applications for a limited number of travel scholarships will be accepted.

Please visit the conference website for more details and updates!

Meeting with Students: Heritage Issues

Dr. Laurajane SMITH

17^th February, 2012

“Meeting all the students was the best part of this trip,” Smith commented after her first Hong Kong visit. In the afternoon on 17^th February, Smith gathered around a table with Professor Tracey Lu and five other postgraduate students to discuss a number of heritage related topics when Smith had a chance to get to know and share her insights about students’ research topics.

The almost two hour long meeting was very enjoyable for everyone. Students were very enthusiastic in raising different questions as well as stimulating some controversial debates concerning many aspects of heritage studies. Some of the discussed issues include the mission of UNESCO in cultural heritage management, the relationship between memory and heritage, the functions of heritage, “authorized heritage discourse,” capitalism and heritage, the question of authenticity, and the role of community participation in heritage preservation.

Even though many topics have been covered during the meeting, the discussion followed mainly two directions: heritage and the past, and uses of heritage. When being questioned about what the past is, Dr. Smith highlights the domination of the West, mainly referring to Europe, in the construction of history. Many ICOMOS experts are Eurocentric. Therefore, many heritage sites of the world outside Europe are unrecognized and de-privileged. The example of the UNESCO world heritage list is further evidence. Some students said that there is no way out of the situation with the domination of Western power, but Smith saw the Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention signed by UNESCO in 2003 as a good signal for the underrepresented countries to show the world their heritage masterpieces. 

The debate over the uses of heritage is mainly a struggle between the state and the community. As Smith declares, “all heritage is dissonant.” All heritage involves different groups of stakeholders and conflicts are inevitable for any sort of heritage. She stresses that in the past, the community was the one that is ignored and marginalized. But there has been a dynamic change that the community gains more power in negotiating with the government and gets legitimized by the nation in many cases. 

The meeting did not only discuss the broad understanding and theories of heritage studies; Smith said that she also enjoyed learning about postgraduates’ research projects. Many of the students who attended the meeting are conducting heritage-related topics, such as the Blue House community museum in Hong Kong, the preservation of a Tang lineage heritage, and the Cantonese Opera music community in Guangzhou. Smith gave many valuable comments on students’ research and the students have learnt a lot from her. The atmosphere of the whole meeting was very relaxed and warm. Two hours seemed very short and the meeting ended with laughter.

Cheung, Ah Li

M.Phil Candidate

ahlileah[AT]yahoo.com.hk