2024/25 Academic Year
All sessions will be at 1:00pm UK time online. Please email ccm@durham.ac.uk or fill out this form for the link https://forms.gle/Fa54iZhZL8sJC4io8
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
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2023/24 Academic Year
Please note all sessions will be online on Zoom at 13:00. The Zoom link for all sessions is: https://durhamuniversity.zoom.us/j/94881927692?pwd=Yi84YlhocHJJZWpHVFNVbDFEcG1Ydz09
Meeting ID: 948 8192 7692
Passcode: 571310
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
East Asian Interpretations of Universal Morality in Modernity
Jiannan Luo, Durham University
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
The Centre for Comparative Modernities (CCM) invites proposals for twenty-minute papers for their 2023/24 seminar series. Proposals are welcome from postgraduates (including both Master’s and PhD students) and Early Career Researchers from across all disciplines. The seminar series offers the opportunity to present research (both on-ongoing and completed) and to receive informal feedback from peers.
The CCM seminar provides interdisciplinary opportunities for researchers to explore the historical, international and comparative nature of modernity. It aims to foster an interdisciplinary perspective that moves beyond the western-centric paradigm of modernity and to challenge conventional understandings of how the world has changed over time. Papers focused on international and comparative approaches are particularly welcome. Topics may include but are not limited to:
- How different countries diverge and converge in their approach to modernity
- Critical perspectives on Western models of modernity
- The relationship between modernity and Westernization
- Alternative (non-Western) models of modernity
Please submit a title and abstract of no more than 300 words along with a short biography (max. 100 words) to ccm@durham.ac.uk by 15 October. It is envisioned that all papers will be delivered online, though requests for hybrid papers may also be considered.
