MCLC: shifting paradigms

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Li Guo <li.guo at usu.edu>
Subject: shifting paradigms
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These are only some general reflective thoughts, inspired by recent
discussions on the list, especially Dr. Lu's insightful posts on Hong Kong
classical poetry in recent decades, and Dr. Denton's post on the
significant scholarly works on the May Fourth paradigm by Dr. Milena
Doleželová. Indeed, what is at stake in these topics is the issue of
shifting historical and literary paradigms, their ideological implications
and constraints, as well as their polemical relationship with individual
and collective power. In Ming and Qing women's writings, researchers have
found abundant examples of women's works which may question or renegotiate
prevailing literary and cultural paradigms in various contexts. (as
studied in The Inner Quarters and Beyond, Fong and Widmer, Brill, 2011)
Likewise women's writings in the republican period demonstrated such
variety and richness that could not be readily categorized by any
paradigmatic interpretations. A similar critical stance can be found in a
recent cfp (10/18 mclc list) for an acla seminar on how eighteenth and
nineteenth travel writings provide insights into the shaping and
construction of modern identity. In retrospection, perhaps aside from
critically studying historical and literary paradigms, what is also urgent
from a personal viewpoint, is to identify the specific research paradigms
that have been shaping or conditioning one's individual practices and
trajectories of thinking.

Li Guo