Invisibility and Institutions in East Asia
Notions of invisibility are increasingly relevant both in social science research and in public discourse in East Asia. Categories of invisibility as well as visibility have been regarded as important in the context of modern struggles for recognition. Discussions range from how powerful agenda setters decide which interests come to the fore and which fail to gain attention and remain invisible to how people are rendered invisible in society by institutions that govern our lives. Institutions are essential elements of society as they organize social activity and determine what is legitimate and what is not, thus relegating some aspects of social life invisible. Invisibility also has an enabling potential, permitting social groups greater freedom from public attention and societal expectations. These debates are intensifying against the backdrop of rapid social change, the formation of new institutional settings, and increasing socio-political contestation in East Asia and beyond.
The conference will explore interdisciplinary perspectives regarding invisibility and consider its relevance across numerous fields of research. How do the different academic disciplines address the theme of invisibility? What is the value-added of integrating invisibility into theoretical and methodological considerations? What new areas of research can benefit from tackling the concept of invisibility? How do institutions (rules, norms, practices) generate and intensify social invisibility of certain social groups? And what about its counter-category, visibility?
The graduate students of the Graduate School of East Asian Studies (GEAS) at Freie Universität Berlin invite young scholars to present their research at the 2018 Graduate Conference “Invisibility and institutions in East Asia”, to take place 2 November 2018. The conference aims to provide an interdisciplinary forum to investigate the topic of invisibility in relation to institutions and social, political, and economic changes in East Asia.
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8.30 to 9.00 |
Registration |
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9.00 to 9:15 |
Welcome |
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9.15 to 10.15 |
Keynote Donatella della Porta |
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10.15 to 10.45 |
Coffee break |
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10.45 to 12.30 |
Panel 1: Invisiblity in political and social systems Kristian Magnus Hauken: “Conceptual invisibility and political discourse, the case of prestige” (Japan) Anja Ketels: “NGO involvement in China’s global governance: Implications of the global governance discourse” Ningjing Ge: “Systemic corruption and value incongruence in China: Why does corruption appear to be ‘unavoidable’?” Discussant: Elena Meyer-Clement (GEAS) |
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12.30 to 13:30 |
Lunch break |
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13.30 to 15:15 |
Panel 2: Becoming visible: The struggles of gender and LGBTI minorities Grace Jung: “Queer Politics of Korean Variety TV: State, Industry & Genre” Shuaishuai Wang: “Visible Gay Apps, Invisible Same-Sex Desires: Homosexuality as a Measure of Obscenity in China’s Internet Censorship” Yunyun Zhou: “Women’s political participation in post-socialist China” Discussant: Hyun Gyung Kim (GEAS) |
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15:15 to 15:45 |
Coffee break |
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15:45 to 17:30 |
Panel 3: Ethnic minorities’ struggles for visibility Ross Holder: “Lighting a Candle in the Darkness: Assessing how the religious identity of China's Uyghur minority is recognised within the United Nations Human Rights System” Yuko Takahashi: “From invisible to visible: Korean A-bomb survivors' legal and social (in)visibility” Zsófia Hidvégi: “The struggle of the language revitalisation movents on the Ryūkyū Islands” Discussant: Cornelia Reiher (GEAS) |
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17:30 to 18:00 |
Concluding session |
Please submit all uestions to grad-conference[at]geas.fu-berlin.de
More information: https://userblogs.fu-berlin.de/gradconference2018/
Time & Location
Nov 02, 2018 | 09:00 AM - 06:00 PM
L116
Freie Universität Seminarzentrum (Seminar Centre)
Otto-von-Simson-Str. 26
14195 Berlin
Seminar Centre Access Map
Further Information
grad-conference[at]geas.fu-berlin.de