Postgraduate and Early Career Workshop Series
Autumn Term 2025
Session 1: Literary Translation of Modernity [28 October 2025]
Between the Shiren and the Playwright: Misrepresenting Shakespeare in the Formation of Modern Chinese Drama
Anthony Zhang, Durham University
Observing Modernity: Sir Syed Ahmed’s Urdu Travel Writing as Method
Abdul Sabur Kidwai, King’s College London
Session 2: Modernity, Post-Coloniality, and Mythical Narratives [4 November 2025]
Global Modernity Through the Smokey Mirror: Survivals and Metamorphosis of A Trickster God
Alonzo Loza Baltazar, IIEstéticas/UNAM, Mexico
When Ulysses Meets Nedjma: A Dialogue Across Modernities
Omar Harem, Maghnia University Centre, Algeria
Session 3: Rediscovering Identity in the Modern World [18 November 2025]
‘Her Long Blanks and Darknesses of Abstraction Were Polish’, or: Where Are the Poles in Modernism?
Juliette Bretan, University of Cambridge
Reenchanting modernity: Love, Sufism, and Secularity
Çiğdem Buğdaycı, Boğaziçi University, Turkey
***
All sessions will be at 1:00pm UK time online. For access to the Zoom link please email ccm@durham.ac.uk.
Session 1: Philosophical Modernities 13 February 2024
Modernity as Secularized Gnosticism: Eric Voegelin’s Diagnosis of the Spiritual Decline of the West and Its Contemporary Reception
Fryderyk Kwiatkowski, University of Groningen
The Solitary Turn: Pathologies of Enlightened Modernity
Ingrid Schreiber, University of Oxford
Session 2: Media & Modernities 27 February 2024
Capturing the 'Grand Old Man of China': Revisiting Li Hung Chang’s Image through Photography and Early Films
Yixuan Li, New York University
Transformative Dramas and the Emergence of Secular Spaces in Kerala’s Cultural Sphere
Gowri Devi, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal
Session 3: Nations & Modernities 26 March 2024
The Draft History of Qing (清史稿 Qingshigao) - A Hybrid of Dynastic and ‘Modern’ History Writings
Yu Jiarui, Durham University
Analysing the Ancient Indian Nation-State: Parallels with the Modern Westphalian Model in the 21st Century
Aditi Basu, Independent Researcher
Modernization in the Southern Cone: National Identity Myths and Developmentalism in Argentina 1958-1962
Fernando Alejandro Remache-Vinueza, University of Bremen
Session 4: Transformational Modernities 9 April 2024
The Sexuality of Modernity: A Case Study from Colonial Punjab
Nikita Arora, University of Oxford
Children of Modernity: Pre-modern and Modern Childhoods in Late Twentieth Century Kerala
Glincy Piyus, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal
Please note all sessions will be online on Zoom at 13:00.
Session 1: Morality & Modernities 7 November 2023 (online)
The State of Contemporary Chinese Moral Education: The Search for a Pre-modern National Identity
Edwin Hao Chen Jiang, PhD Cambridge University
Abstract: Taking heed of anthropologist Bjorn Thomassen’s warning that the canonical conception of modernity that originated in post-Enlightenment Europe was never about the delineation of a singular historical trajectory, I defend in this paper a Weberian conception of modernity by demonstrating its utility in conceptualising contemporary moral and political education initiatives within the People’s Republic of China. Drawing on ethnographic observations of such educational initiatives in a Chinese high school, I argue that the Chinese Communist Party is actively promoting a Chinese identity amongst the youth that is characteristically pre-modern, in the sense that it is “found” and not “made.” While other primordialist or essentialist conceptions of identity in different ethnographic context —ones based on “blood,” “soil,” or even “cultural logics”—might seem to share this pre-modern direction of normative fit, I argue what is unique in the Chinese case today is its complete lack of a singular defining characteristic of Chineseness. By focussing on the “why” and “how” instead of the “what,” of “being Chinese,” I argue that although my informants did not identify and could not agree on any single putative trait that made someone Chinese, their pre-modern conception of their own natural identity was not weakened by this epistemic shortcoming in the slightest.
East Asian Interpretations of Universal Morality in Modernity
Jiannan Luo, Durham University
Abstract: Contemporary Chinese IR literature highlights the Chinese worldview that prioritises universal morality, transcending interests, rules, and cultures. This perspective draws extensively from ancient concepts, notably Tianxia. Similar commitments to universal morality is observable in other East Asian nations, exemplified by Korea's "Juchejeok IR" and Japan's Kyoto School. These arguments typically stress consensus and peaceful coexistence today, but the interpretations of universal morality exhibit variations across historical contexts. Japan's early 20th-century term "Hakkō ichiu", for instance, stirred controversy by perceiving universalism as a mandatory imposition of the state, which consequently intensified conflicts. This essay's objective is to present and compare how East Asian states interpret universal morality as an "Asian way" differently in response to encounters with the West. It contends that with the progressions of modernisation, East Asian states have shown diminishing interest in defining the uniqueness of ancient East Asian thoughts or its implications in realpolitik. Instead, they tend to regard East Asian perspectives through a lens of nostalgia, seeking philosophical narratives adapted to contemporary contexts. Meanwhile, the challenge of integrating universal morality with multilateralism remains a pressing concern.
Session 2: Post-War Modernities 14 November 2023 (online)
Incomparable? Regionalist Post-War Modernism in Poland and Switzerland
Kaja Schelker, Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe & the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
“Su Zhong You Hao”: The Circulation of Soviet Modernity in Chinese Print Media
Huiyu Cara Zhao, Durham University
Session 3: Comparative Modernities 21 November 2023 (online)
Ritual and the Modern Art of Mourning - A Look at the Value of Mourning Rites in England and South Korea from 1830 to the Present
Dilara Scholz, Royal Holloway University of London
‘The cry is all for Prince Alfred’: The Vacant Hellenic Throne and the Election to it of Queen Victoria’s Second Son
Aidan Jones, King’s College London
To sign up to the Centre’s mailing list to receive news of our future events and opportunities follow the link or contact ccm@durham.ac.uk directly: https://forms.gle/mhaQ7d7VQU7giu4E8
