[NOTICE] Civilizations in World Politics: Beyond East and West
2012.12.03 11408
Peter J. Katzenstein, Walter
Carpenter Professor of International Studies, Cornell University, will give a
talk on “Civilizations in World Politics: Beyond East and West” on December 4
in a colloquium organized jointly by the Asiatic Research Institute, the BK21 Globalizing
Korean Political Science Corps and the Peace & Democracy Institute.
1. Speaker : Peter J. Katzenstein, Walter
Carpenter Professor of International Studies, Cornell University
2. Title: Civilizations in World Politics: Beyond East and West 3. Summary: Conventional thinking and public debate in
all parts of the world are invoking, paradoxically, the simple categories of
East and West as unquestioned reference points in a complex, globalizing world.
This neat division of the world draws on a long-standing style of analysis
dating back to the 19th century with its politically charged distinction
between civilized and uncivilized peoples, the cultural underpinning of the
worldwide imperialist expansion of European states. In this lecture I criticize
this theoretically flawed and politically dangerous way of thinking about world
politics, inquire into Sinicization as an example of civilizational processes
that span East and West, and locate Sinic and other civilizations in a global
civilization containing multiple modernities. The three parts of this lecture
draw selectively on some of my chapters in a trilogy of books I have edited and
that are now published under the titles Civilizations in World Politics: Plural
and Pluralist Perspectives (New York: Routledge2010), Sinicization and the Rise
of China: Civilizational Processes beyond East and West (New York: Routledge,
2012a), and Anglo-America and Its Discontents: Civilizational Identities beyond
West and East (New York: Routledge, 2012b). 4. Date: December 4, 2012, 5-6:30 p.m. 5.
Venue: Grand Conference Room, the Asiatic Research Institute,
Korea University
6. Organizers: the
Asiatic Research Institute, the BK21 Globalizing Korean Political Science Corps
and the Peace & Democracy Institute. 7. Sponsor: Democracy and Inequality Research
Society, Korea University