Monday, September 19 / 4pm
HBL – Class of 1947 Room
“Comparative Classic Chinese Subjectivities”
Sponsored by the Asian and Asian American Studies Institute
QUAN WANG, Associate Research Professor at Beihang University (China) and recently a Fulbright Visiting Research Scholar (The Study of American Sea Fiction) at Yale University, will give a talk primarily about the concept of subjectivity in classic, ancient Chinese texts. His research interests include Critical theories, Chinese literature and intellectual history, and American literature.
In his talk, Professor Wang will cover Confucius’ discussion of the different levels of observation and their final purpose; Han Feizi’s synthesis of gaze and politics that advocates “seeing and not being seen” as the Way of the Ruler; and Zhuangzi’s great contribution to the relationship between gaze and subjectivity. The story of “cicada, mantis and magpie” advances the third position of gaze, and Cook Ting questions the agency of one’s activity, and “the equality of things” has an elaborate analysis of subjectivity in its symbiotic relationships with myriad things. This lecture also covers some comparative analyses of the corresponding theories in Michel Foucault and Jacques Lacan, especially Zhuangzi's influence on Lacan.
For more information, contact: Ms Fe Delos-Santos at fe.delos-santos@uconn.edu