Hong Kong, like its oldest Faculty of Arts, has long been a place of convergence. As a site of cosmopolitan overlap and diversity, produced by the impulses of trade, consumption and colonialism, Hong Kong provides a unique vantage point from which to push forward explorations of knowledge production and human experience engaging a variety of social and cultural contexts. The Faculty of Arts invites scholars working in the Humanities to an international and interdisciplinary conference which aims to open points and zones of connection, to conceptualize and critique borders and boundaries through a variety of disciplinary lenses, and also to advance transnational, comparative ‘China-West’ and ‘Asia-World’ research across multiple fields of study.

The conference will be hosted at the University of Hong Kong from 7-8 June 2024. This will be the first in a series of conferences bringing together scholars working at the intersections of humanities disciplines.

Proposals are invited for the following themes:
1. Sites of convergence (convergence of peoples, cultures, and ideas)
2. Boundaries and borders
3. Transnational movements (of people, objects and ideas etc.)
4. Communication and contact
5. Conflicts and negotiation
6. The intersection of literature, history and philosophy (wen, shi, zhe 文史哲)
7. Chinese/Western interpretations of Sinology/China Studies

For NON-HKU External Applications
The official language of the conference is English, but panel proposals in other languages are welcomed, and can be supported. The organizing committee particularly welcomes and encourages applications from postgraduate research students and early career scholars.

Please submit (1) an abstract of 250-300 words; (2) a short cv (no longer than 1 A4-size page) including current institutional affiliation and recent publications to converge@hku.hk before 16 February 2024.

Notifications of the results of applications will be sent out in late February 2024.

For enquiries please contact the Faculty of Arts (converge@hku.hk).