MCLC: War, Violence, and the Aftermath conferen

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: letty chen (llchen at wustl.edu)
Subject: War, Violence, and the Aftermath conference
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An International Conference on "War, Violence, and the Aftermath:

Historical Memory, Literary Inspiration, and Cultural Regeneration"
April 6-7, 2012
Washington University in St. Louis
Danforth University Center, Room 276

Organized conflicts and large-scale violence have commanded historical
memory and literary imagination over the course of human history from
the early settlements in antiquity to the current global communities.
This conference aims to bring together studies on how, in the
particular context of East Asia, individuals who were caught in the
midst of war and violence and those who lived in the aftermath rebuilt
their lives and remembered and reflected on the suffering and
devastation. At the state level, the conference will also explore how
governments rebuilt social structures, political order, and the
cultural landscape, and more importantly, how physical ruins and
psychological devastation led to short-term disruption and long-term
displacement.

Issues to be discussed are designed to provide a localized perspective
on experiences of war and violence in their respective local
historical timelines and cultural nexus, such as the destruction and
reconstruction of local order, the disruption and continuity of local
traditions, the transformation and reinvention of cultural models, and
the movements and interactions of people. Inquiries include, but are
not limited to, the following:

**Recreating symbolic orders vis-¨¤-vis national remembrance rituals,
national narratives and symbols to cope with loss and to envision a
new beginning;
**Local memory as counterdiscourse to national history;
**Impacts of war and violence on the production of historical
narratives, literary expressions and art forms; Conversely, how modes
of representation shape the historical event;
**The role of gender in memory (re)construction and social rebuilding;
**Comparative frameworks for the study of war, violence, memory, and
trauma in the global context.

The conference focuses on various moments of significant transition
and turning points in the history of East Asia, such as the Yuan-Ming
and Ming-Qing transitions, the Imjin War, the Taiping rebellion, the
battle of Sekigahara, the Republican revolution, Japan’s colonial rule
of Korea and Taiwan, WWI and WWII in East Asia, the retreat of the
Nationalist regime to Taiwan, the Korean war, and political campaigns
and repressions during the Mao era.

For conference program and paper abstracts, please go to:

http://ealc.wustl.edu/war_conference