Multimodal Approaches to Decentering Eurocentrism
Entangled Colonialisms of Europe and Asia
Introduced and chaired by Margherita Tess, this session of the Critical Europeanisation Studies Lab aims to reflect on the scope of European Ethnology by drawing on research into the entangled colonialisms of Asia and Europe. As doctoral fellows investigating the intertwined histories and narratives of Asia and Europe within an Institute of European Ethnology, we felt compelled to ask not only what constitutes "Europe" in the discipline of European Ethnology (Löfgren & Bendix, 2008) but also what "Asia" represents in this context. Specifically, we are interested in highlighting the often-overlooked connections between European colonialism of Asia and colonialism within Asia, such as Japanese imperialism. This approach underscores the necessity of critically examining colonial modernity, which encompasses diverse perspectives and complex colonial configurations beyond Eurocentric discourses. To address these questions, PhD candidates Jeehye Kim and Xiaoxuan (Chén Sī) Chen, along with guest artist Han Gil Jang, explore neglected narratives and representations of colonial pasts in and of Asia through different forms and media: photography, music, and museum curation. Furthermore, we consider how these stories not only emerge from media forms that go beyond written texts but also require diverse modalities for research outputs challenging the traditional primacy of the written article in academic discourse. Program (including break)
13:00 Regina Römhild, Jeehye Kim, Margherita Tess: Welcome and Introduction (Margherita Tess) 13:15 Jeehye Kim: Photography for Jinshugaku 14:15 Han Gil Jang: Changga and the Formation of Global “Musical Modernity” 15:15 Xiaoxuan (Chén Sī) Chen: The Representations of WWII Asia Theater at Royal Museum of the Armed Force and Military History