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A conversation with Rebecca E. Karl and Lydia H. Liu on the birth of Chinese feminism and translating He-Yin Zhen

He-Yin Zhen (1886-1920?) was a theorist who figured centrally in the birth of Chinese feminism. Unlike her contemporaries, she was concerned less with China鈥檚 fate as a nation and more with the relationship among patriarchy, imperialism, capitalism, and gender subjugation as global historical聽problems. The聽Birth of Chinese Feminism聽(ed. & transl. Lydia Liu, Dorothy Ko, Rebecca Karl; Columbia UP 2013) is the first translation and study of He-Yin鈥檚 work in English. It critically reconstructs early twentieth-century feminist thought in a transnational context by juxtaposing聽He-Yin Zhen鈥檚聽writing against works by two better-known male interlocutors of her time. He-Yin Zhen complicates conventional accounts of feminism and China鈥檚 history, offering original perspectives on sex, gender, labor and power that remain relevant today. The seminar will take the form of a dialogue with Rebecca Karl and Lydia Liu on He-Yin Zhen鈥檚 theoretical work, its intellectual and historical context, and the challenges of translation.

Rebecca E. Karl teaches History at New York University. Her most recent book is聽China鈥檚 Revolutions in the Modern World: A Brief Interpretive History聽(Verso 2020). She is co-founder of the Critical China Scholars collective and founding co-editor of the website,聽positionspolitics.org.聽聽

Lydia H. Liu is Wun Tsun Tam Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University. She is the author of聽The Freudian Robot聽(2010),聽The聽Clash of Empires聽(2004), and聽Translingual Practice聽(1995). Her new book聽Global Language Justice聽(co-edited) will be published by Columbia University Press in Fall 2023.

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24 Feb 2023	5:30pm - 7:00pm	apple outlook

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