Public Talk by Prof Rebecca Karl: “In the Realm of Comrades? Scattered Thoughts on Revolution and Hope”

On 20 Feb 2025, the Department of Cultural Studies hosted a captivating public talk titled “In the Realm of Comrades? Scattered Thoughts on Revolution and Hope,” featuring Prof Rebecca Karl from New York University. The event, moderated by Prof Pun Ngai and with Prof Benjamin Kindler as the discussant, drew a full house, showcasing the keen interest of the audience in the thought-provoking topic.

Prof Karl’s engaging talk delved into the history and evolution of the word/concept “comrade,” from its revolutionary origins in the late nineteenth century to its more contemporary LGBTQ+ Chinese interpretations. By exploring the diverse possibilities for hope in our current society, she provided valuable insights into the intersection of Chinese intellectual-cultural history, global change, and conceptual evolutions.

The discussion not only shed light on the historical significance of the term “comrade” but also offered a fresh perspective on revolution and hope in our contemporary world. The event was a resounding success, leaving attendees with much to contemplate regarding the complexities of our present-day society and the potential for hope amidst change and revolution.

Event Details:

Title: In the Realm of Comrades? Scattered Thoughts on Revolution and Hope

Speaker: Prof Rebecca Karl, Professor of History, New York University; Visiting Professor, Lingnan University

Moderator: Prof Pun Ngai 

Discussant: Prof Benjamin Kindler

Date: 20 Feb 2025 (Thu)    

Time: 3:00 – 4:30pm

Venue: MPL13023

ILP: 1.5 units in Intellectual and Entrepreneurship Development

Abstract:

This talk engages with the history of the word/concept “comrade” from its revolutionary origins in the late nineteenth century to its more recent LGBTQ+ Chinese usages to think about the range of possibilities for hope in our present day.

Biography:

Rebecca Karl is Professor of History at New York University, and the author, most recently, of China’s Revolutions in the Modern World: A Brief Interpretive History (Verso, 2020). Her work explores the intersections of Chinese intellectual-cultural history, global change, and conceptual histories so as to understand the ways in which China’s violent integration into the global capitalist world system of economics, culture, and geopolitics transformed China and the world from the late-nineteenth century onwards. She is also the author of Staging the World: Chinese Nationalism at the Turn of the Twentieth Century (Duke 2002); Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World: A Concise History (Duke 2010); The Magic of Concepts: Essays on Philosophy, Economics and Culture in Twentieth Century China(Duke 2017). She is co-editor/co-translator of: The Birth of Chinese Feminism: Essential Texts in Transnational Theory (with L. Liu and D. Ko, Columbia 2013) and co-translated of Cai Xiang, Revolution and its Narratives (with Xueping Zhong, Duke 2016).

Event Highlights