Lingnan University First in Asia to Host International Cultural Studies Conference -- Crossroads

21 Jun 2010

 

Lingnan University (the University) Department of Cultural Studies and Kwan Fong Cultural Research and Development Programme organised the 8th Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference from 17 – 21 June 2010. This is the first Crossroads held in Asia Pacific, with over 700 scholars and experts from more than 50 countries gathered in Hong Kong for academic and cultural exchanges during the five-day conference.

The first of the biannual conference was held in Finland in 1996 by Association for Cultural Studies (ACS), since then it has continued to attract scholars and experts all over the world to become an international event. At the opening ceremony, ACS Chairman Dr Ferda Keskin said that Hong Kong was an ideal location for the conference with its well-known cultural diversity as well as its active production in the field of Cultural Studies.

President Chan Yuk-Shee remarked that the University was honoured to host this world-class academic conference. He said that Hong Kong was the cultural crossroads of the east and the west, and that it was within this cultural landscape that the Department of Cultural Studies had been established. The first cultural studies degree programme in Hong Kong was introduced 10 years ago with the aim of encouraging critical thinking and a world vision, in line with the University’s liberal arts education.

At the conference, 10 keynote speakers from Australia, Mainland China, Ecuador, India, Italy, Taiwan, the UK and the US delivered their latest research in cultural studies which are also issues of concern in the field. Topics included politics, economics, globalization, post-colonialism, urban sustainable development, Mainland’s peasant-workers and designing culture. A Chinese opera demonstrative talk was held on 18 June, sponsored by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (ADC).

Professor Chan Ching-kiu, Stephen, Head of Department of Cultural Studies said the 2010 Hong Kong Conference was tracing the footsteps of the seven Crossroads before, which aimed to foster international exchange on contemporary cultural trends and to promote a real sense of the diversity and historicity of cultures. Crossroads community was expected to achieve new research insights and approaches of cultural studies within the five-day conference through sessions and panels on a wide range of pressing topics.

The conference was one of the activities organised in celebration of 10th Anniversary of Department of Cultural Studies of Lingnan University. Lingnan University is the only local institution with a Department of Cultural Studies, currently the department offers undergraduate, postgraduate diploma and master’s degree programmes.