Beyond the Southern Barbarians: Repositioning Japan in the First Global Age

An international online symposium “Beyond the Southern Barbarians: Repositioning Japan in the First Global Age” took place over five days on February 6 (Sat), 9 (Tue), 11 (Thu), 16 (Tue), and 18 (Thu), 2021.

After an opening address by Professor Shimizu Kazuhiro, the dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Professor Anton Schweizer (Kyushu U) and Mimi Yiengpruksawan (Yale) delivered introductory remarks, followed by a keynote speech by Professor Yukio Lippit (Harvard University). Subsequently, five vigorous panels were held, assembling specialists of various fields, including history, art history, literature, religion, intellectual history, astronomy, map-making, and military technology.

The symposium was originally planned as a real live event, but had to be conducted online because of prevention from spread of COVID-19. In this new configuration it turned out to be outstandingly successful with a cumulative total of about 800 participants from all over the world.

This symposium was hosted by Kyushu U’s Faculty of Humanities and the International MA Program in the Humanities (IMAP) and Yale University’s Council on East Asian Studies, co-hosted by Kyushu U’s Institute for Asian and Oceanian Studies, additionally funded by Progress 100 (Research Hub for the Interdisciplinary Humanities), supported by the Japan Art History Society and Kyushu U’s Commons Program at Collaborative Platform in Research and Education on Humanities and Social Sciences.