| Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, April 8, 2016 | 1:00PM - 3:00PM | Seminar Room 208N, Munk School of Global Affairs 1 Devonshire Place M5S 3K7 |
East Asia Seminar Series
Cosmopolitanism based on the Cold War rhetoric of development denies the third world nations their rights to self-determination. In contrast, internationalism expresses a shared democratic aspiration for national autonomy, self-directed ways of life, and solidarity among working people of the world. This talk will illustrate the political distance between capitalist cosmopolitanism and third world internationalism by reading the Peking Opera On the Dock (海港Haigang 1972). The opera focuses on the Shanghai dock as a locus of an unfinished drama extending from memories of colonial oppression to the scenes of empowered workers as the masters of the Shanghai dock. It offers an image of international assistance and trade, with cargos bound for the vast continents in the global South. The motifs of internationalism, socialism, and industrial self-management converge in a tightly woven narrative.
Ban Wang is William Haas Professor in Chinese Studies in East Asian Languages and Cultures and Comparative Literature at Stanford University. He is the author of The Sublime Figure of History, Illuminations from the Past, and History and Memory. He has edited 6 books on Chinese cinema, revolution, socialism, the New Left, and Chinese visions of the world.
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