Upcoming Events

Location: Pane Room, Alexander Library

Abstract: This lecture seeks to review the pros and cons of Sinophone Studies as it is received in academia, and propose Sinophone/Xenophone discourse as a new alternative. The extant Sinophone paradigm is largely based on postcolonialism and empire critique. By contrast, Sinophone/Xenophone Studies derives its thrust from rethinking the time-honored concept of “Sino-Xeno differentiation” (hua-yi zhibian). In theory, it highlights ethnic, cultural, and cognitive alterity and changeability within and without China. In practice, it argues that Sinophone imaginary cannot be (de)constructed without invoking the “strange”—as evinced by not only the alien but also the nonhuman and even the posthuman.

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