I am delighted to pass along the Call for Paper for the 2025 Telos-Paul Piccone Institute Annual Conference. The conference theme this year, China Keywords / 中国关键词, is part of the Telos-Paul Piccone Institute’s China Initiative.
Our 2025 conference will cap the first year of this initiative, during which we launched our webinar series "China Keywords." Taking broad inspiration from Raymond Williams's Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society (1976), each webinar critically explores a single concept essential for understanding contemporary Chinese social and political theory, illuminating these concepts with an eye toward non-specialists in the West, while also addressing deep contestations of interest to experts in the field. Our conference takes the name of this webinar series and seeks to build on its themes. We expect the conference to result in a special issue of Telos.
We seek proposals for individual papers and full panels focused on, or that take as their starting point, a single keyword important for critically understanding the political-theoretical dynamics of contemporary China, which include its ideologies of global order and Chinese mission. These keywords may change meaning based on where one is standing—and they are, therefore, key points of contention. Some examples include: tianxia (天下); wangdao (王道); Wealth and power (富强); The party-state; Socialism with Chinese characteristics (中国特色社会主义); Cultural Self-Confidence (文化自信); New Confucianism (新儒家); Mr. Democracy (德先生); Reform and Opening-Up (改革开放); River Elegy (河殤); Sinocentrism (中国中心主义); Neo-imperialism (新帝國主義); The China Model (中国模式); Community of Common Destiny (人类命运共同体); The New Era (新时代).
More information follows below or may be accessed from the CfP HERE. For a PDF version of this call for papers, click here. Also below more information on the Telos-Paul Piccone Institute China Initiative.
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| Pix credit here; Oracle bone from the Bīn 賓 group of diviners from period I, corresponding to the reign of King Wu Ding (late Shang dynasty) |
CALL FOR PAPERS
The 2025 Telos-Paul Piccone Institute Annual Conference
March 21–22, 2025
New York, NY
China Keywords / 中国关键词
Reminder: The deadline for proposals is September 1, 2024
A one-page version of this call for papers, in PDF form, is available here. We encourage you to print and post this page in your home institution.
About the Conference
The 2025 annual conference of the Telos-Paul Piccone Institute will culminate the first year of a five-year program—the Telos China Initiative—that has aimed to set Telos on a distinct intellectual course.
The
Telos circle falls outside many conventional intellectual categories.
During the Cold War, this quality enabled us to form a bridge between
Eastern Europe and the Anglosphere. We fostered work by Soviet-bloc
intellectuals, helping Western readers understand the ideological
dynamics at play behind the Iron Curtain; we supported a wide variety of
dissidents in their opposition to bureaucratic centralization, as we
have likewise for opponents of bureaucratic governance in the West; and
we brokered an encounter between Marxism and phenomenology that was
vital for critical thinkers in the Soviet and the liberal democratic
world.
We believe that the future of the TPPI now lies in a parallel reciprocal engagement with China, to which we have given steadily increasing focus for the past ten years in our annual conferences. These meetings have laid the basis for seven special issues of the journal Telos, as well as numerous individual articles in the field. With the Telos China Initiative, we seek to become a key bridge for a mutually regarding, critical discussion of social and political theory between China and the West, well beyond the circles of East Asia specialists.
Keywords
Our 2025 conference will cap the first year of this initiative, during which we launched our webinar series "China Keywords." Taking broad inspiration from Raymond Williams's Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society (1976), each webinar critically explores a single concept essential for understanding contemporary Chinese social and political theory, illuminating these concepts with an eye toward non-specialists in the West, while also addressing deep contestations of interest to experts in the field. Our conference takes the name of this webinar series and seeks to build on its themes. We expect the conference to result in a special issue of Telos.
We seek proposals for individual papers and full panels focused on, or that take as their starting point, a single keyword important for critically understanding the political-theoretical dynamics of contemporary China, which include its ideologies of global order and Chinese mission. These keywords may change meaning based on where one is standing—and they are, therefore, key points of contention. Some examples include:
- tianxia (天下)
- wangdao (王道)
- Wealth and power (富强)
- The party-state
- Socialism with Chinese characteristics (中国特色社会主义)
- Cultural Self-Confidence (文化自信)
- New Confucianism (新儒家)
- Mr. Democracy (德先生)
- Reform and Opening-Up (改革开放)
- River Elegy (河殤)
- Sinocentrism (中国中心主义)
- Neo-imperialism (新帝國主義)
- The China Model (中国模式)
- Community of Common Destiny (人类命运共同体)
- The New Era (新时代).
We are also open to considering papers that examine keywords or concepts from the West as they may apply to China and its place in the world, such as: authoritarianism, New Cold War, liberal world order, Leninism, and illiberal globalization.
Papers or panels that illuminate the possibilities for critical theoretical dialogue between China and the West are most welcome, as are those from specialists that focus on intellectual debates within China. Likewise, contributions are welcome from specialists in Western theoretical traditions who seek to make a bridge to Chinese discursive communities—for instance, through the work of Carl Schmitt or the tradition of Critical Theory, with which the Telos circle has long been interested—as are papers that, fitting with the traditions of our circle, oppose any authority, East or West, that limits the possibility of individual emancipation within the telos of politics and of humankind.
Submissions Guidelines
Presentations at the conference should be no more than 15 minutes long, between 1500–2000 words. Our conference has a two-stage process for acceptance: first, submission of a presentation proposal and, second, submission of a presentation draft. Both stages must be completed for final acceptance to the conference.
Presentation proposals should describe the topic of a talk or of a full panel in 100–250 words. They should be made by September 1, 2024. Proposals for full panels, which can include up to four presenters, should include proposals for all presentations as well as for the panel as a whole.
With each proposal, please include the name and institutional affiliation of each presenter, as well as a curriculum vita or resume. In addition to established university faculty, independent scholars, students, and individuals working fully outside university circles are warmly invited to submit proposals.
Review of proposals will be conducted on a rolling basis until the September 1 deadline, with final notification by September 15. Successful proposals will be invited to submit a presentation draft.
Presentation drafts are due by November 15, 2024. A presentation draft need be only 1000 words long and need not be polished, though submission of full presentations is strongly encouraged. Final notification of acceptance will take place by December 1. Feedback on drafts will be provided by the organizers to ensure an excellent conference event based with a fruitful exchange of competing and complementary ideas.
Please note that TPPI is not able to provide travel or accommodation funds, that there will be no option to present via Zoom, and that there will be a conference registration fee. Past registration fees for non-student members of TPPI have been about $300. These fees provide not only for conference attendance but also for a celebratory conference dinner, lunches, and refreshments.
Submit proposals or inquiries to chinaconference2025@telosinstitute.net.
For information about the Telos-Paul Piccone Institute’s China initiative, click here.
* * *
The Telos-Paul Piccone Institute’s China Initiative
The
Telos circle falls outside many conventional intellectual categories.
During the Cold War, this quality enabled us to form a bridge between
Eastern Europe and the Anglosphere. We fostered work by Soviet-bloc
intellectuals, helping Western readers understand the ideological
dynamics at play behind the Iron Curtain; we supported a wide variety of
dissidents in their opposition to bureaucratic centralization, as we
have likewise for opponents of bureaucratic centralization and fascist
tendencies in the West; and we brokered an encounter between Marxism and
phenomenology that was central to opposing the Soviet state—while also
influencing critical thinkers in the liberal democratic world. Much of
that bridge was built through translation work, which laid the basis for
our esteemed translation fund.
We believe that the future of TPPI now lies in a parallel engagement with China, to which we have given steadily increasing focus for the past ten years in our annual conferences. These meetings have laid the basis for seven special issues of the journal Telos entirely or significantly engaged with China, as well as numerous individual articles in the field. We now seek to become a key bridge for a mutually regarding, critical discussion of social and political theory between China and the West, well beyond the circles of East Asia specialists. The Telos China Initiative will include a wide variety of programs to be developed over a five-year period beginning in 2024.
Conference
The 2025 annual Telos-Paul Piccone Institute conference in New York will be organized around the theme of "China Keywords," which we have already begun exploring in our monthly webinar series. Click here for more details about the conference, the call for papers, and the submissions guidelines. The conference will be held on March 21–22, 2025.
Webinars
China Keywords: A TPPI Webinar Series
Each webinar in the “China Keywords” webinar series will introduce and explore a single concept essential for understanding contemporary Chinese social and political theory. The series will illuminate these concepts with an eye toward non-specialists in the West, while also addressing deep contestations of interest to experts in the field. The webinars will take place monthly, on the third Thursday of every month. Sign up for our newsletter to receive updates on upcoming webinars and other TPPI events.
Webinar 1: Tianxia
With Ban Wang and Ian Buruma
Moderated by Eric Hendriks
March 21, 2024
With Yan Xuetong
Moderated by Eric Hendriks and Logan West
April 18, 2024 Webinar 3: The Greeks
With Shadi Bartsch
Moderated by Eric Hendriks
May 16, 2024 Webinar 4: River Elegy, 河殇
With David Moser
Moderated by Eric Hendriks
July 18, 2024
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