Theme

The theme of this conference is as follows: “China and the Chinese Identity in a Globalizing World”. We have chosen this theme in view of recent international developments. To be more precise, the years 2020 and 2021 were marked by an increase in racism targeting the Asian community worldwide. Demonstrations against institutional and systemic racism were also held in the Netherlands and several citizens' initiatives were established. These citizens' initiatives offer a voice to people of Asian descent in the Netherlands. These developments show the important role of the theme of identity in the current context and cannot but influence the European sinological academic field and the discussions within it. Moreover, we believe this theme provides a suitable framework for studying various aspects of “Chineseness”.

The theme can be interpreted very broadly. For this reason, we have divided the topic into sub-themes. On both days there will be panels and presentations linked to different sub-themes. The sub-themes of this conference are as follows: establishing an identity in "Western" cultures; identity of immigrants inside as well as outside of China; identity throughout history, language, racism, and cultural expressions such as art; and finally the influence of (foreign) policy on identity formation.

In short, the focus of this subject is timely and relatively wide to allow for a broad range of interpretations such as from the perspective of history, minorities, and recent globalization trends.