China and/in the Global South: Cultures, Aesthetics and Politics Research Symposium

Two of the most prominent geopolitical developments in the twenty-first century are the rises of China and the Global South. Together, they shape the world geopolitical map significantly. What is less clear is the complex and often entangled relationship between China and the Global South: is China part of the Global South; if so, in what sense?

On the one hand, China and some Global South countries are actively enacting transnational and transcultural exchanges to contest the hegemony of the Global North, and this is sometimes seen as part of the continued efforts to create alternative imaginations of the world in the spirit of the historic Bandung conference. On the other, China has been exerting a powerful influence on the Global South through its increasing political and economic power, most notably represented by the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, which resembles some of the imperial ambitions and neo-colonial structures from the Global North. What are the complex relationships between China and the Global South and how are they manifested in the cultural fields? How have these political and economic developments impacted on the production, circulation and consumption of literary and visual cultures? What kinds of dominant, emerging and residual aesthetics and politics can be found in these media and cultural texts? This one-day symposium answers these questions from global and interdisciplinary perspectives. It brings together scholars from different disciplines and academic fields to explore transnational connections, aesthetic innovations and cultural politics between China and the Global South in historical and contemporary contexts.

Funded by the Tübingen-Nottingham Networking Fund, this symposium is co-organised by Dr Hongwei Bao and Prof. Dr. Dr. Russell West-Pavlov (University of Tübingen). 

See the programme here.