The Myriad Things Stem From Confusion: Onthology, Nationalism and Resistance in the Philosophy of Zhang Taiyan
Dr. Viren Murthy
Research
I arrived at MEARC on 4 December 2006 and since then I have benefited in numerous ways from the vibrant intellectual atmosphere and by participating in the various conferences and workshops. During my time in Leiden, I have been able not only to think about ways to rework my current book project on Zhang Taiyan, but I have also made progress with respect to conceiving my second project on Lu Xun and Takeuchi Yoshimi.
About one week after I came to Leiden, I presented a summary of my dissertation to members of the MEARC faculty. I received a number of helpful comments not only about the content of my talk, but also about my presentation.
After this there were a number of exciting MEARC lectures in fields that were not always directly related to my research, but they were always interesting. Since there were so many, it will be impossible to summarise them. However, they presented an excellent opportunity to learn about subjects as varied as international relations in North Korea, the representation of Jews in German film, religion in late Qing China, and Japanese avant-garde art.
I co-organised with Axel Schneider a conference, Between Linear Time and the Reproduction of National Consciousness, which focused on historiography in 20th century east Asia and was held from 4-7 June 2007. the conference was exteremely succesful and renowned scholars from around the world participated. the two of us are planning to publish an edited volume based on the papers presented at the conference.
At the end of my time at MEARC, I was delighted to be offered a position as an assistant professor at Ottawa University in Canada.
Products academic year 2006/2007
- Article "Equalisation as Difference: Zhang Taiyan's Buddhist-Daoist Response to Modern Politics ", IIAS Newsletter, June 2007;
- Organisation of and participation in the international MEARC/VICI conference The Writing of History in 20th Century Asia: Between Linear Time and the Reproduction of National Consciousness, Leiden University, June 2007;
- Book Review of Margherita Zanasi's book Saving the Nation, Journal Social History, August 2007;
- The Myriad Things Stem From Confucion: Ontology, Nationalism and Resistance in the Philosophy of Zhang Taiyan, London and New York: Routledge (expected 2008).
