The Qinghua-Harvard Forum on Postcolonialism was held Tuesday in
Beijing with about 100 academics from Asia, Europe, Australia and
North America attending.
The forum is the first cooperation and scholarly exchange between
Qinghua and Harvard in humanities, said sources with Qinghua
University.
Homi K. Bhahba, the Anne F. Rothenberg professor of English
andAmerican literature and language at Harvard University,
delivered a speech entitled "The Black Savant and the Dark
Princess". Bhahba's lecture concentrated on the construction of
critical discourse in the Third World and minorities, which aroused
great interest among those attending.
Postcolonialism is a strong theoretical thought following
postmodernism, said Wang Ning, director of the academic committee
of the English department in Qinghua. According to Wang,
postcolonialism challenges and is critical of cultural hegemonism
and is closely related to the anti-colonialist struggles in the
Third World.
Academics from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan also made
presentations at the forum. Their discussions with the Harvard
professor will encourage the study on postcolonial culturein China
onto an advanced international level, said experts.
Qinghua University, established in 1911, is famous for its science
and engineering courses. Known as China's Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, the world famous university is making more efforts
to increase its involvement in the study of humanities, sources
said.
(
Xinhua News
Agency June 26, 2002 )