REPRESENTATION and CLIMATE CHANGE
A Sino-American Symposium
June 7-11, 2008

The IC3 Sino-American Symposium on Representation and ‘Climate Change’ was scheduled to occur at Ape-King Cave, a retreat in the Sichuan foothills. It was to open the question, across cultural and historical lines, of how critical culture is responding to new 21st century factors that exceed national identities, cultural territory, individual histories. Several weeks before the date the Sichuan earthquake of 2008 struck, its epicenter 90 kilometers away, virtually erasing the resort. Wang Fengzhen proposed resituating the symposium near Beijing, where it was held. Below is a list of scheduled participants and their papers, followed by the Program. Our thanks to our Chinese hosts, and Professor Wang Fengzhen, for partnering on the project.

U.S. PARTICIPANTS:

Professor Thomas Bass
University at Albany
Counterinsurgency and Torture

Kevin Bell
University at Albany
Unheard Writing in the Climate of Spectacular Noise

Eduardo Cadava
Princeton University
Marx Before Literature

Tom Cohen
University at Albany
Aftershock—
Notes on Representation and “Climate Change”

Mike Hill
University at Albany
Whiteness as War by Other Means: Racial Complexity in an Age of Failed States

Carol Jacobs
Yale University
The War over Climate and the Climate of War

Henry Sussman
University of Buffalo
Atmospherics of Mood, #1

Ewa Plonowska Ziarek
University of Buffalo
Bare Life and a Feminist Politics of Race and Gender

Krzysztof Ziarek
University of Buffalo
The Way of World: Cosmo-technology or Nothing

CHINESE PARTICIPANTS:

Han Shaogong
University of Hainan
Democracy: A Lyrical Poem or a Construction Drawing

Ma Hailiang
Beijing Foreign Studies University
The Green Discourse and Chinese Cultural Politics

Shaobo Xie
University of Calgary
Capitalism and Environmental Crisis: Towards an Ecological Modernity

Tian Song
Why Can We Drink a Bottle of Mineral Water on any Street Corner of any City?

Wang Guanglin
Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade
Chinese Modernity and Its Discontents

Chen Yongguo
Tsinghua University
From World Literature to World Bank Literature: A New Perspective to Literary Criticism in the Future

Wang Yuxia
Jimei University
Economic Development and Ecological Ethics

Wang Fengzhen
What Makes the Climate Changes?

Hosting and participating:

Liu Jie
Southwest University of Science & Technology, Mianyang

Zeng Xu
Southwest University of Science & Technology, Mianyang

Chen Cai
Southwest University of Science & Technology,
Mianyang

Liana Theodoratou
New York University

PROGRAM:

Jin Yan Resort
18 Yan Shui Lu
Yan Xi Lake,
Huairou district, Beijing

JUNE 7 SATURDAY

Arrival, dinner c. 18:30 pm (informal pre-conference)

JUNE 8 SUNDAY

8:10 – 9:00 OPENING CEREMONY--Chair: Wang Fengzhen

• Introduction of participants
• Condolence on the deaths of earthquake
• Welcoming and thanks giving Speech: Liu Jie
• Guest’s Speech: Wang Ning (?)
• Opening Remarks: Tom Cohen (and Wang Fengzhen)
• Suggestions for the Symposium (free discussion)

SESSION 1:

Morning -- Chair: Xie Shaobo and Mike Hill
9:10 – 10:30 Han Shaogong
10:30 – 10:40 Break
10:40 – 12:00 Thomas A. Bass

LUNCH

SESSION 2

Afternoon -- Chair: Tom Cohen and Chen Yongguo
14:30 – 15:50 Xie Shaobo
15:50 – 16:00 Break
16:00 – 17:20 Eduardo Cadava

17:30 – 18:10 Free Discussion

JUNE 9 MONDAY

SESSION 3

MORNING –- Chair: Wang Fengzhen and Jason Smith
8:30 – 9:50 Ma Hailiang
9:50 –10:00 Break
10:00 – 11:20 Tom Cohen
11:20 – 12:00 Free Discussion

LUNCH

SESSION 4

AFTERNOON -- Chair: Kevin Bell and Fei Xiaoping
14:30 – 15:50 Chen Yongguo
15:50 – 16:00 Break
16:00 – 17:20 Carol Jacobs
17:30 – 18:10 Free Discussion

18:30 --Dinner and after, Open discussion plus drinks

JUNE 10 TUESDAY

SESSION 5

MORNING -- Chair: Wang Guanglin and Eduardo Cadava
A) 8:30 – 9:50 Mike Hill
9:50 – 10:00 Break
B) 10:00 – 11:20 Wang Fengzhen
11:20 – 12:00 Free Discussion

LUNCH

SESSION 6

AFTERNOON—Kevin Bell and Tian Song
A) 14:00 – 15:20 Ewa Plonowska Ziarek
15:20 – 15:30 Break
B) 15: 30 – 16:50 Wang Yuxia
16:50-17:10 Break
C) 17:10 – 18:30 Henry Sussman

DINNER 19:00

JUNE 11 WEDNESDAY

SESSION 7

MORNING –Chair: Ma Hailiang and Ewa Plonowska Ziarek
A) 8:30 – 9:50
9:50 – 10:00 Break
B) 10:00 – 11:20 Wang Guanglin
11:20 –12:00 Free discussion

SESSION 8

AFTERNOON--Thomas Bass and Dong Hongchuan
A) 14:30 – 15:50 Krzysztof Ziarek
15:50 –16:00 Break
B) 16:00 – 17:20 Tian song
17:30 – 18:20 Open discussion and closing remarks