Conference Statement
The East Asian landscape is dominated by barriers that separate culture from culture and state from state, from the Korean Demilitarized Zone to the Great Wall to the Taiwan Strait. But borders are permeable and mutable, constantly shifting in position and meaning; frontiers connect the same spaces that they partition. The 2009 Harvard East Asian Society (HEAS) Conference addresses this theme of borders, border-crossings and the bridging of divides - between people, spaces, eras, ideas, cultures or disciplines. The first bridges to be built are often the first to be burned. Walls are enduring symbols of stasis; they are nonetheless sites of exchange. We look forward to exploring these paradoxes of social, cultural, physical and intellectual space.
Keynote Speaker
Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis (Silk Road Project; Professor Emerita, Boston University)
"Blue and White Ceramics: A Silk Road Story"
February 27, 2009 (Friday) 6:00PM
Conference Venue
Center for Government and International Studies - South Building
1730 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02138 U.S.A.
December 8 Update: The conference committee has selected panelists for the 2009 HEAS Conference, and all applicants should have received notification of the committee's decision. If you submitted an abstract but have not received an email from us, please contact heasconference@gmail.com.
