Collaborate Research Training in Old Chinese (by Dirk Meyer)
1) Aims, objectives and targets:
Old Chinese, Chinese philosophy and classical Chinese literature are under serious threat in the United Kingdom. Traditional Sinology in the UK has become marginalised, and its international visibility is minimal. Individual institutions in the UK tend to be rather small. No UK institution, if operating in isolation, can host the critical mass of experts in the different fields of traditional Sinology, or is equipped with the relevant research tools needed to provide substantial training in Old Chinese. This programme aims to correct this state of affairs. Our idea is to connect the various UK centres for the study of Old Chinese into a nationwide network to facilitate specialised research-training in Old Chinese phonology, palaeography, grammar, literature, philosophy, and religion, and strengthen the international visibility of traditional Sinology in the UK at large.
2) Brief description of our programme:
An essential element of this programme is to open up new research areas in traditional Sinology that until recently were either unknown or little studied in the UK. Five research clusters that constitute the basis for a comprehensive study of Old Chinese will be covered in a series of five workshops over the period of two years (October 2008 through September 2010). These are (1) ‘Philosophy and ‘Religion’; (2) ‘Old Chinese Phonology and Palaeography’; (3) ‘History and Historiography’; (4) ‘Text and Textuality’; (5) ‘Art and Archaeology’.
These workshops of three to ten days will be held at different institutions across the UK. Each of these meetings will focus on one the above-mentioned research cluster. Recognised specialists will each cover one of the different aspects that constitute such a research cluster. Depending on the complexity, each specialist will be given up to half a day to introduce the relevant research tools, read a selection of texts with the participants, and discuss the texts’ theoretical implications. Each meeting will close with a round-table discussion involving all the specialists and participants. This will fuse the various research fields to create an integrated picture describing the different aspects and problems of the field. We will invite both UK-based and international specialists to introduce their field of research. It will thus be possible to inform participants regarding the latest issues and research strategies in the study of Old Chinese, and train them to be competent researchers in a way that could never happen in one individual institution in the UK.
Each specialist will provide a selection of seminal articles about a month before the workshop starts which will then be distributed to the participating students. This will enable the participating students to prepare the topic in question and so take full advantage of being trained intensively by some of the leading specialists in the field.
Meetings will be held in Oxford, Edinburgh, Bristol, and another UK institution. In Bristol the workshop outputs will be digitised. These will be embedded in the online learning and research tools of the British Inter-University China Centre (BICC), for which £90,000 of funding is assured independently from this programme and which will come online in 2008. This archive will make the workshop materials accessible to students at all UK Higher Education Institutions.
3) Target group of this programme:
This programme is especially geared towards masters’ and doctoral students of Old Chinese in the UK, but it should also appeal to post-doctoral researchers. To facilitate student participation, this programme covers travel expenses, accommodation and board. Students from abroad are also welcome to participate, as this programme should be a platform that enables UK graduate students to build up international connections, which can be vital for carrying out further research. Overseas students will be expected to meet their own costs, or have their institutions do so.
Each meeting will invite up to 20 participants. Participant groups will be fluid over the duration of the programme, matching different students to their specific training needs. It is the particular strength of this programme not only to inform its participants about the latest trends in scholarship, but also to introduce them to and train them in the use of the relevant research tools, to which most students would otherwise have no access since only few institutions can host the critical mass of specialists necessary to allow such multi-facetted research training.
4) Scheduling and time-frame:
The first meeting of this graduate research-training programme will be held in January/February 2009. The final meeting will be held in September 2010. The research clusters are organised as follows. The Edinburgh meeting presently calls for applications.
a) Philosophy and Religion in Premodern China (to be held in Edinburgh); 29 January-02 February 2009
see under http://www.bicc.ac.uk/BICCResearchProjects/ResearchTraininginOldChinese/EdinburghPhilosophyandReligioninEarlyChina/tabid/565/Default.aspx
b) Old Chinese Phonology and Palaeography (to be held in Oxford); 25 August-03 September 2009
see under
http://www.bicc.ac.uk/BICCResearchProjects/ResearchTraininginOldChinese/OxfordOldChinesePhonologyandPalaeography/tabid/576/Default.aspx
c) History and Historiography (to be held in Cambridge); 24-28 March 2010
d) Text and Textuality (to be held in Oxford); 24-28 June 2010
d) Art and Archaeology (tba); September 2010
5) Further information:
Convenor of this programme is Dr Dirk Meyer, BICC CDF University Lecturer in Chinese Philosophy, University of Oxford.
Co-ordinators of this programme are Dr Dirk Meyer, Oxford, and Professor Joachim Gentz, Edinburgh, Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Chinese Studies. Please contact them with enquiries about the series of workshops.
Dr Dirk Meyer
The Queen’s College
High Street
Oxford, OX1 4AW
dirk.meyer@orinst.ox.ac.uk
http://www.orinst.ox.ac.uk/
http://www.queens.ox.ac.uk/
Professor Joachim Gentz
Asian Studies
8 Buccleuch Place
Edinburgh EH8 9LW
jgentz@staffmail.ed.ac.uk
http://www.asianstudies.ed.ac.uk/staff/jgentzstaff.htm
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