Asia-Global Cultural Studies Forum

Asia-Global-Cultural-Studies-Forum (AGCSF) is a forum of a lively discussion of Asia and Asia Global-related art, design, culture, media, creative strategy, and research. It is initiated by the professors and students at OCAD U who aspire to support and promote creative and critical research as well as art, design, media productions and ideas by Asian and/or Asia-Global students, professors, researchers, and professionals. The artist-designer-creator-researchers whose works are inspired by Asian cultures, values, and epistemology, as well as those who explore the latter’s connectivity to their work, are welcome to the forum.
The forum invites 3 tiers of presenters: the students, the professors, and the professionals.

The participatory organizational model of this forum consists of the presenters, the discussants, and the audience whose participation is to be valued equally to bring about a diverse and multidirectional discussion. The selection criteria of the presenters are based on merit and the contents of their works, not on rank or prestige.

The current focus of AGCSF is East Asia, particularly China, Korea, and Japan. However, the topics can be extended to include the issues related to South East Asia (i.e. the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand), the historical development and cultural formation of which are closely connected to that of the East Asian region through migration, etc. 

Everyone is welcome to participate in this forum or become a presenter in future events.

The AGCSF does not support any form of ethnocentric/regional chauvinism or hegemonic nationalism unfit for our vision of the future. The AGCSF does support the emergence of other cosmopolitan research groups and fora at OCAD U - based on a non-hierarchical and non-exclusionary notion of regional, national, ethnic and cultural identities.

For more information, please visit the website: https://asiaglobalculturalstudiesforum.wordpress.com

 

The Ethos of AGCSF

• A syncretic forum of all levels of researchers (students, professors, and professionals)

• Merit- and contents-based (not rank or prestige).

• No ethnocentric/regional chauvinism or hegemonic nationalism.

• Cosmopolitanism and exploration of difference and alternative epistemologies.

• Non-hierarchical organizational model for the promotion of a culture of open discussion.

• Participatory forum: The participants will consist of the presenters, the discussants, and the audience whose participation is to be equally valued to bring about diverse and multidirectional discussions.

• The Discussants are an important category of this forum. They are the generators of discussion as well as latent presenters. Those who are interested in presenting are recommended to participate as the discussants first. The discussants – along with the audience – who have previously participated in the forum and substantially contributed to the discussions will be considered with priority as the presenters for the following event.

• Embodied participation is implied in its growth model based on merit and contribution (rather than on rank or prestige). AGCSF hopes to make this forum truly an intellectually viable place for lively exchange and discussion of ideas and visions, a lively intellectual fora filled with genuine curiosity and openness to different perspectives.

• Embodied and experiential knowledge: AGCSF values embodied and experiential knowledge, research, and ideas rather than the overly academicized outcomes short of the conductive power to generate grounded and real conversations.

• ESL students are the most welcome. You are the holders of up-to-date global knowledge. If you have any ideas to share but the only thing that makes you hesitate is your English, please bring a translator or discuss the ideas with us.

 

The inaugural AGCSF event

The inaugural AGCSF event occurred on May 17, 2019 between 1:00 and 6:00pm at 205 Richmond St. West, Rm. 115.

Presentations delivered included:

• Dr. Soyang Park (OCAD U), A Cosmopolitan Remapping of East Asia and the Asia-Global: Notes Towards Asia-Global-Cultural Studies Forum(AGCSF)

• Leon Hsu (OCAD U), Reinventing Tradition Beyond Cultural Paradigm: A Brief Discussion of Cai Guo-Qiang’s Pyrotechnic Ephemera Works

• Christie Carriere (OCAD U), Returning the Gaze: Contemporary Asian Female Artists Responding to (Techno) Orientalism

• Richard Luong (OCAD U), Directing Orientalism: The Scent of Green Papaya (1993)

• Jessica Liu (OCAD U), Painting My Own Being in the World, Falling in and out of Past and Contemporary

• Christine Li (OCAD U), Manuel Ocampo and Colonial Legacy: Trauma, Multidirectional Memory, and Redemption

• Ema Dan (OCAD U),  Idol, Not Celebrity: K-Pop, K-Pop Fans, and their Symbiosis

• Yilong Liu (OCAD U), Confronting Ambiguity: The Intersection of Racial and Sexual Repression and Marginalisation in Rex vs Singh and Seeking Single White Male

• Florence Yee (OCAD U), Bad Forgeries Make for Good Originals: A Studio-Research Project into Cantonese-Canadian Issues of Authenticity, Belonging and Diaspora Subjectivities Working with Text-based Art

• Yujia Shi (University of Toronto), From One-Child to Two-Child: Understanding Birth Planning Policies in China’s Population Governance

• Hannia Cheng (TeaBase), Tea Base: Against the Displacement and Gentrification of Chinatowns

 

Additional Information:

What is Culture?

Culture is the shared value system and code of conducts that exist in interconnected and contingent differences across communities, cultures, and nations.

Culture in all its manifestations – conventional, popular, emergent, marginal, and resistant – are constantly shaped by and are (re-)shaping our status quo, ways of thinking, and visions.

Culture is not fixed but constantly shifts through the intersecting influences of politics, economy, populations, migrations, and even environment.

The study of culture is empirical as well as theoretical, and most importantly, it is an interdisciplinary endeavor. The set of questions, analyses, and evaluations it involves itself in interacts with other fields of study such as the study of economy and politics; social studies, ethnic studies; cultural anthropology and media studies; identity, gender, sexuality, class, and ideology studies.

What is a Forum?

A gathering place for exchanges of ideas and views. It is also the agora (Greek), a proto-site of democracy.

 

Event photographs courtesy of Carlina Chen.

Creator: 
Sponsor(s): 
Photograph of Dr. Park and speaker conversing with audience at the AGCSF event.
Friday, July 12, 2019 - 12:15pm