Sergey Tyulenev, Professor in Translation Studies, Durham University
On 19th November, CCM held its Spring Term speaker series, featuring a talk by Professor Sergey Tyulenev on the Europeanisation of eighteenth-century Russia. The session examined how the ambitious modernisation project initiated by Peter the Great—and later expanded by Catherine the Great—sought to transform Russia from a perceived isolated, backward realm into a competitive European power. The speaker highlighted how translation played a central role in this process. Far from being a purely linguistic exercise, translation functioned as a state-driven instrument of modernisation, enabling Russia to import Western European knowledge, technologies, administrative practices and cultural achievements.
During the Q&A session, the audience engaged in a lively discussion on the implications of translation as a tool for imperial reform, exploring how these practices not only facilitated Russia’s entry into European modernity but also redefined its cultural and political self-understanding.
Ida Danewid, Senior Lecturer in Gender and Global Political Economy, University of Sussex
On February 6th, 2025, CCM held its second Spring Term speaker series. Hosted by Professor Axel Pérez Trujillo, this talk invited Professor Ida Danewid from the University of Sussex to share her research on the American writer and activist, James Baldwin, and his contribution to anti-colonialism in the post-war period. Incorporating Baldwin’s works in different periods with his life experiences, Professor Danewid introduced how Baldwin, as a descendant of slave and as a queer, escaped America to seek survival and freedom in a young age, and as he observed and reflected on the experiences he gained during the years travelling around the world, his view and focus transformed from “escaping home” to “embracing home” which had later motivated him to dedicate efforts for seeking inclusion in America.
In the Q&A session, the audience and Professor Danewid had a vibrant discussion on Baldwin’s inner perception and reflection on his journeys, and on how the experiences shifted his mind from escaping America to devoting his work for building an inclusive “home” in his home country.
Stephen Chan (SOAS University of London)
2:00-3:00pm UK Time Monday 12 February 2024
Room ER231, Elvet Riverside, School of Modern Languages and Cultures, Durham University
Abstract
The performance of modernity can be strong in Africa. The South African initiative in taking Israel to the International Court of Justice is one example; the complex debt negotiations undertaken by Zambia throughout 2023 is another. Africa is enmeshed in a modern world where, e.g. relations with China must be conducted in terms of high finance. But, as with almost all modernities, backdrops of cultural traditionalism can be detected and sometimes cynically used in African politics. This in itself is a sophisticated blend, even with sometimes brutal application. The least that can be said is that there is nothing 'primitive' about Africa.
Speaker biography
Stephen Chan is Professor of World Politics at SOAS University of London, where he has also been Foundation Dean. He has worked, and also from time to time lived, in Africa since 1979, helped formulate and pioneer election observation in the 1980 Zimbabwe independence elections, and has been a member of African delegations negotiating in Beijing. He has received state honours from both the UK and Zambia, as well as many academic honours, including the 2010 International studies Association title, Eminent Scholar in Global Development. He has published 37 academic books and continues to advise governments, opposition parties and international agencies.
Professor Jun Qian (Newcastle University)
11-12am Tuesday 7 November 2023
Room ER140
Elvet Riverside, New Elvet
Abstract: Chinese modernity is much more closely linked with Victorian thought as one might assume. Key liberal ideas, including utilitarianism and evolutionism, as represented by J.S. Mill, Herbert Spencer, and Thomas Huxley, were translated and introduced to China by Yan Fu (1854-1921), who was sent by the government to study at Royal Naval College at Greenwich for two years (1877-1879). Yan Fu’s translations became dominant paradigms of Chinese modernity with huge impact on the younger generation, including key figures, such as Hu Shi and Lu Xun, of the New Culture Movement. On the other hand, Victorian conservative minds, such as Carlyle, Ruskin, Newman and Matthew Arnold, were the sources of inspiration for Gu Hongming (1857-1928), who, educated in University of Edinburgh and armed with Victorian conservative thought, went to discover “Chinese Civilization” as worthy of the Arnoldian “Culture” and became the most “anti-revolutionary” conservative figure in modern China. This talk will first give an overview of Victorian thought in its two strands: liberalism and conservatism, and then discuss how they were appropriated by Yan Fu and Gu Hongming in the modern Chinese context.
Speaker Biography: Jun Qian (Suoqiao) is Professor of Chinese Studies at Newcastle University, UK. He received his PhD in comparative literature from University of California, Berkeley and had taught in a number of universities in the US, China, and Hong Kong. He has published widely in Chinese studies in both English and Chinese, particularly on Chinese modernity studies and cross-cultural studies between China and the world. His most recent work Lin Yutang and China’s Search for Modern Rebirth has had two Chinese versions with the same title 《林语堂传：中国文化重生之道》in mainland China and Taiwan, respectively, with much critical acclaim.
Professor Daniel A. Bell (University of Hong Kong), The Revival of Confucianism and Communism in Contemporary China.
Professor Dilip P Gaonkar (North-western University, USA) , Slow Burn of Modernity.
Professor Zhenzhao Nie (Emeritus Professor of Comparative Literature, and former Director of the Institute of Interdisciplinary Study of World Literature at Zhejiang University), Interdisciplinary Reflection on Ethical Literary Criticism: A Comparative Perspective (inaugural lecture series).
Professor Dominic Sachsenmaier (University of Göttingen, Germany), Alternative Modernities – Visions During the 1920s and Today (inaugural lecture series).
Professor Ning Wang (Shanghai Jiao Tong University), Modernity and the Formation of Modern Chinese Literary Tradition (inaugural lecture series).
