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SAMKUL-Samfunnsutviklingens kulturell

Moral Imaginaries. Comparing Indian, Chinese and Western Normative Regimes.

Tildelt: kr 0,20 mill.

We want to arrange an international conference in August 2012 which thematizes moral imaginaries. The conference will be a continuation of the course "Emerging Normative Regimes", which was part of the Bergen Summer Research School in June 2011. The econo mic, political and cultural relations of domination on a world scale are in the process of radical transformation. In the last two decades we have witnessed the rise of a new economic middle class comprised of hundreds of millions of Chinese and Indians, the creation of new technological strongholds, new economic power relations, new international divisions of labor and consumption, and a growing political assertiveness and influence, especially on behalf of China and India. With this background, it is ti mely to ask whether the global context of normativity is changing and what kind of historical experiences and events define the normative questions and problematics within these emerging regimes. The peace of Westphalia, the French and American Revolution , the labor movement, the women's movement, the Second World War, the Holocaust, etc. represent historical examples, being able to highlight, place focus on or uncover fundamental normative dimensions of society and culture, thereby possessing a power of contemporary interpretation. The project wants to investigate which historical events, phenomena or processes function as moral lessons, constituting the contemporary Chinese and Indian moral imaginaries. What are they telling and teaching the Chinese or Indian political system, public sphere or populace about central, contemporary, normative dilemmas? How is it possible to translate the constituting lessons and their implications from one regime to another? This is an old debate, which is both repeated a nd renewed, continued and transformed. However, the balance between the transcendental and specific in the Western imaginary is challenged by the new global realities.

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SAMKUL-Samfunnsutviklingens kulturell