Ralph Weber Speaks at Conference in Zurich
Prof. Dr. Ralph Weber has held a presentation on Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo at a conference at the University of Zurich. The conference titled ”Residual Futures: Rethinking Utopianism in Modern China” was held on October 3-6, 2018.
Ralph Weber's presentation explored Liu Xiaobo's attitudes regarding the future under the title ”Stray Dogs or Guard Dogs? Liu Xiaobo between Utopianism and Political Realism”. Liu Xiaobo (1955-2017) was a Chinese writer and activist for human rights and political reform in China. He received a Nobel Peace Prize in 2010.
The conference titled ”Residual Futures: Rethinking Utopianism in Modern China” took place on October 3-6, 2018, at the University of Zurich. The event explored the concept of residual futures, studying past and present cultural representations. The aim was to discuss how they circulate, and whether they support, supplement, or challenge the current official futurology as propagated in the Belt and Road and China Dream narratives.
Ralph Weber is Assistant Professor of European Global Studies at the Institute for European Global Studies in Basel. His research interests include comparative philosophy, Chinese political philosophy, Confucianism, Chinese politics, as well as methodological and conceptual aspects of translinguistic and transcultural research.