In their call for papers, the organizers sought contributions from the humanities and the social sciences for this jointly organized PhD and post-doc workshop. They invited abstracts of ongoing or recently concluded works in Eurasian Studies that include transnational perspectives and approaches.
The applications for the workshop were supposed to explore transcultural issues such as, the symbolic exploitation of the ancient Silk Road for the new belt and road initiative, the impact of the initiative on collective identities, transcultural contacts and communication. Also possible were topics like political cooperation or confrontation, cultural work and attitudes, social engagement, narratives, changing senses of aesthetics, novel ways of cultural crossings and flows, and how these activities and attitudes challenge, unset or alter existing institutions, attitudes and practices.
The two day workshop consists of six panels – “Art and Religion,” chaired by Prof. Michael Radich, “Concepts and Culture, “ chaired by Prof. Barbara Mittler, “History and Politics,” chaired by Prof. Hans Martin Krämer, “Interpreting Texts in Eurasian Studies,” chaired by Prof. Hiroshi Yokomizo, and “Society and Economy, chaired by Prof. Harald Fuess.
On Friday, May 25, Prof. Daniele Brombal from Ca' Foscari University of Venice will give a keynote address on “The Belt and Road Initiative,” which will be introduced and chaired by Prof. Anja Senz. On Saturday, May 26, the workshop will be concluded by a roundtable with Prof. Rudolf Wagner (Heidelberg University), Prof. Paolo Biagi (Ca' Foscari University of Venice), Prof. Hiroyuki Eto (Tohoku University), and Prof. Patrick Heinrich (Ca' Foscari University of Venice).
The workshop’s participants are graduate students from the strategic partner universities of the Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies: the Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Yale University, the University of Cambridge, KU Leuven, Kyoto University and Tohoku University.
You will find more details on the programme here.