In the received version of the Analects, it’s quite apparent that all of Confucius’s disciples were men. So one might wonder: is this an ethics built just for men? Today we are happy to be joined by Professor Erin Cline, Tagliabue Professor at Georgetown University, to discuss this timely issue, focusing on a controversial passage that features the only woman cited by name in the Analects, Nanzi 南子. Professor Cline argues that the conventional reading of this passage is wrong and that a more plausible understanding of it is important for addressing common criticisms of patriarchy and sexism in the Analects. We also explore various pedagogical themes and strategies for teaching the Analects to students. Continue reading →
Category Archives: Gender
Lecture: Women’s Affective Labor in the Red Army’s Propaganda by Ping Zhu, October 21
This coming Monday, October 21st, at 9:00am Beijing time the 四海为学 “Collaborative Learning” Project will host a lecture by Professor Ping Zhu. For details, including the Zoom link please see the event page. No pre-registration or passcode will be required.
For a list of more upcoming events see the calendar of 四海为学 “Collaborative Learning”.
ToC: Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture 10:1
The Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture is happy to announce that they have published a new volume 10:1. This volume is titled “Special Issue — Rethinking Authorship and Agency: Women and Gender in Late Imperial China” with guest editors Grace S, Fong and Guojun Wang. This new volume has 11 different entries, please read below for a table of contents.
CFP: The 4th Biennial Conference World Consortium for Research in Confucian Cultures
The Organizing Committee of the 4th biennial conference of the World Consortium for Research in Confucian Cultures gladly announces a call for papers.
Conference theme: “Gender, Family, and Global Confucianism”
Conference and Organizing and Program Committee:
Heisook Kim (Ewha Woman’s University), Roger T. Ames (PKU), Jeong Keun Shin (Sungkyunkwan University) (co-chairs)
Journal Special Issue on Confucianism and Gay Marriage
The International Journal of Chinese & Comparative Philosophy of Medicine, issue 16:2 (2018), is devoted to a discussion of the ethics and legality of gay marriage, especially as it pertains to Chinese societies and as it relates to Confucianism. All the articles of this on-line, Chinese-language (though with English abstracts) journal are freely available here, and many of them are also posted on the Confucian Web (儒家网) here (an article by Zhang Xianglong and responses thereto) and here (an article by Fang Xudong and responses thereto). I also paste the table of contents below.
Workshop: Textual Sources on Women in Confucianism
Sungkyun Institute for Confucian Studies and East Asian Philosophy at the Sungkyunkwan University will host a two-day workshop “Textual sources on women in Confucianism” on 3-4 April 2020. Herewith the confirmed list of speakers:
Successful Conference on Women in the Ru Tradition
The first conference on Confucianism that I have attended in which men were in the minority: last weekend’s “Women as Exemplary Persons in The Ru (Confucian) Tradition”; program here.
Article of Interest: “Instructions to Women” by Olivia Milburn
Milburn, Olivia. “Instructions to Women: Admonitions Texts for a Female Readership in Early China”, NAN NÜ 20, 2: 169-197, doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/15685268-00202P01
Conference Schedule: Women as Exemplary Persons “女君⼦” in the Ru (Confucian) Tradition
Date: March 8-9, 2019.
Location: Confucius Institute U.S. Center, 1776 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington D.C.
Please see here for the detailed conference schedule.
CFP: Women as Exemplary Persons 女君子 in the Ru (Confucian) Tradition
Call For Papers: “Women as Exemplary Persons 女君子 in the Ru (Confucian) Tradition”
Washington, D.C. March 8-10th, 2019
Keynotes:
- Ann A. Pang-White (University of Scranton)
- Anna Sun (Kenyon College)
- Robert C. Neville (Boston University)
Confucianism is often criticized for being misogynistic and patriarchal in ways that go beyond similar critiques of other intellectual traditions by implying that Confucianism is inconceivable apart from these elements. Two more recent works begin to challenge this way of thinking by drawing on nuances and elaborating the contexts of traditional Confucian teachings on women: Ann A. Pang-White’s translation of The Confucian Four Books for Women (2018) and Robert C. Neville’s “Confucianism and the Feminist Revolution: Ritual Definition and the Social Construction of Gender Roles” in The Good is One, Its Manifestations Many (2016). Also, Anna Sun’s sociological work in progress on women in the global revival of Confucianism is quite promising in indicating a very positive trajectory for women in the tradition.
