Dialogue & Difference
An International Conference
12-13-14th September 2001
S.O.A.S.
University of London
Thornhaugh Street
Russell Square
LONDON WC1H 0XG
Tel: 020 7637 2388 Fax: 020 7436 3844
Web: www.soas.ac.uk
O R G A N I S E R S:
Cosimo Zene Arvind Mandair Michael Richardson
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What is this Conference About?
Dialogue has been a recurrent theme in the history of European ideas,
from the Socratic dialogue, often said to be the foundation of the
Western philosophical tradition of debate, to high profile political
summits. Inherent within this history is the assumption, as the recent
British Telecom slogan has it, that it is ’good to talk’. In
organising this conference, however, we intend to stress the ambiguity
of ‘dialogue’ and to explore its equivocal character. While religious
and political leaders often invoke ‘dialogue’ as a sign of ’good
will’, representing a disposition to openness and democracy, it may
just as often be but the wrapping upon manipulation or deceit.
Dialogue, importantly, was called upon in precisely such a manner
during the spread of Western colonialism, and, even in the light of
such knowledge, is uttered as part of a Western body of theory and
discourse.
This hegemony of discourse and language immediately raises pressing
issues and questions which will be central to the conference: How best
can this problem of hegemony itself be addressed? Can post-colonial
theorising provide the means by which dialogue may be ‘rethought’?
How might non-Western languages enter into a dialogue conducted
primarily in English? How is dialogue conceptualised in non-Western
cultures? Are ‘indigenous’ forms of dialogue, irreducible to European
models, capable of evading existing power structures and opening a
path to mutual understanding possible or viable; or, must cross-cultural
dialogue necessarily find itself reduced to a Western model of
’movement of the self towards the other’? Can critical theory help us
to ‘un-say’ the ’said’ of a monological dialogue? Can theories from
outside Europe disrupt such dominance? Is European thought able to
deconstruct itself so as to welcome other ways of dialogue without
once more imposing a universal model? Is, in other words, an ethical
dialogue possible?
The conference will focus jointly on specific instances within
socio-cultural settings, and also upon the broader nature and roots of
dialogue. The following sub-themes will constitute the basis for
separate workshops:
a.. The Ethics and Philosophy of Dialogue
a.. Dialogue and Difference
a.. Cross Cultural Dialogues
a.. Is it ‘good to talk’ or, the Refusal of Dialogue
a.. Dialogue and Identity
S P E A K E R S:
Simon Critchley (University of Essex)
Alfonso Lingis (Pennsylvania State University)
Robert Bernasconi (University of Memphis)
Naoki Sakai (Cornell University)
Kazuyasu Ochiai (Hitotsubashi University)
Michael Taussig (Columbia University)
Stephan Feuchtwang (LSE)
Alain Le Pichon (University of Cergy Pontoise)
Zhao TingYang: (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Peking)
Eduardo Viveiros de Castro: (National Museum of Rio de Janeiro)
Gholam Hassein Ibrahimi Dipali (Tehran University)
Mohammed Raza Behesti (Tehran University)
Hans Kögler (University of North Florida)
John McCumber (Northwestern University)
Joanna Overing (St. Andrews)
Akira Okazaki (Kanagawa University)
Keijiro Suga (Nagoya University)
Wang Mingming (Peking University)
Waltraud Meints (Hamburg University)
Ali Paya (Tehran University)
Shigemi Inaga (International Center of Japanese Studies, Kyoto)
Tiziano Tosolini (Nanzan University, Nagoya)
Tamra Wright (London School of Jewish Studies, SOAS)
CONFERENCE REGISTRATION
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Conference Fees: Institutions: £98.00
Students: £58.00 (proof of eligibility is required)
Cheques or postal orders should be made payable to "S.O.A.S." and
returned before June 1st to:
Dialogue and Difference
Room 232
School of Oriental and African Studies
University of London
Thornhaugh St.
London
WC1H 0XG
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Full course details will be available at registration
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