Modernism has often been critiqued for being homogenising and Eurocentric. Yet, modernity was experienced differently by different societies and cultures, each pursuing their own specific historical trajectory. Across the world in societies as different as China, Australia, the US and Europe, modernist literature and art were, in very different ways, crucial mediators of modernity. This conference will survey diverse experiences of modernity and the place of modernist art and aesthetics in those experiences. Implicit in this discussion is the question of what survives of modernist practices and modernity as a project beyond the known debates around modernism and postmodernism towards a new relevance in the era of globalisation and climate change.
Papers can discuss the experience of modernity in particular societies, literatures and cultures, or comparatively. Themes may include, but are not limited to:
Aesthetic strategies across different media (from the avant-garde to digital experimentation)
Intercultural encounters, transnational identities
Travel, migration, cosmopolitanism
Self and other, subjectivities
Gender and sexuality
Race, ethnicity, plurality
Class and social justice
Imperialism, decolonisation and postcolonialism
Metropolis, urban and suburban spaces
Shanghai as a site of cultural encounters
Nature, ecology, sustainability, ecopoetics
Scientific discourse, technology
Ethics, religion and spirituality

The conference language will be English. Please send abstracts of 250 words for 20-minute presentations to: modernisms@uni-hamburg.de by 1 October 2016
For more information, please contact: jiansuns@aliyun.com or cliang@fudan.edu.cn