Location
Royal Holloway, Moore Auditorium
Organised in association with the National Museum of Taiwan History. The partition of South Asia has been compared to several others globally – most notably to Ireland, Palestine, and Greece and Turkey. In its turn, the re-structuring of political geography in China, Taiwan and Japan not only affected communities in those three places, but also had a wider and longer impact in East Asia and beyond. However, these Asian partitions have never previously been compared to one another, which is a striking gap that this conference will address.
Partition was a popular solution to political impasses of all varieties in the twentieth century. Yet, even as it foregrounded, and was justified by difference and division; and sought to be a ‘neat’ and ‘final’ solution, the aftermath and the reality have proven messy, and partitioned regions have (to the frustration of some) remained connected. In creating new identities for themselves, the people and nations involved had to draw upon whatever cultural heritage was available within their new borders, rather than the shared past that predated them.
It is these messy – and productive – realities that this conference explores. In particular, it investigates trans-national and regional dynamics and nation-state formation following separations in those countries in Asia, by using the mechanics and processes of exhibitions as the channel of investigation.
Please do join us. Claim your free ticket through Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/exhibit-asia-conference-tickets-673724938427
Image: Wiki Commons – Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.