East Asia is a region of highly developed cultures and strong national identities, with a complex history of colonialism and imperialism. While contestations over cultural heritage are also prevalent in other world regions, the distinct history of East Asia has left a legacy of power dynamics that manifest in not only more general rivaling discourses over cultural origins but also contestations over patenting certain cultural products (e.g. Kimchi) or competing practices of China’s, Japan’s and Korea’s international cultural centers.
During this conference, we aim to bring together leading scholars in the fields of cultural diplomacy and heritage preservation in and beyond East Asia to discuss the origins of the above-mentioned contestations, their specific manifestations of them, their consequences for socio, economic and political interactions in East Asia as well as their reception by international target audiences. More specifically, we aim to discuss these dynamics in the context of hegemony and power relations. We argue that tradition cannot be equated with the past and needs to be negotiated: How do cultural and heritage diplomacy relate to each other and diverge in the context of diversity in unity? If we consider heritage as hybrid and relational in power relations, who defines culture and hegemonic discourses in Asia? And finally, how are such rivaling discourses and practices received by international target audiences?

For more information, please click the link below to go to the Conference website: http://www.geasconference23.de