Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference 14-17th December 2016 Program Index

form of Hong Kong hybridity that sustains its own cultural imaginations on and off the historical and geopolitical
borders. With Hong Kong marching towards 2047, or a year indicative of the “second future of Hong Kong” under
One Country, Two Systems, it is now time to reexamine Hong Kong cultural configuration before this future gradually
takes shape in the labyrinth of transition and contestation.
Stephen Yiu Wai Chu
Hong Kong Studies as Method
“Hong Kong as Method,” proposed by Hong Kong cultural critic Koon-chung Chan, highlights hybridity as the
soul of Hong Kong culture. Unlike Kuan-hsing Chen’s “Asia as Method” that uses Inter-Asia historical
experiences and practices to develop an alternative subjectivity of Asia, “Hong Kong as Method” focuses on
Hong Kong’s genuinely hybridized local cultures generated over the past fifty years or so. Based on these
theoretical reflections, this paper proposes “Hong Kong Studies as Method” as a way to track the
momentum of Hong Kong culture. Hong Kong’s once vigorous culture is generally agreed to be disappearing
owing to the (forced) integration with China. In light of the dystopian take on Hong Kong’s future in the
award-winning independent film Ten Years, this paper argues that what made Hong Kong unique was its
experience of typical cultural translations, in which the disposition, propensity, and momentum can be
articulated but not easily censored.
John D. Wong
Hongkong-Mainland Relations at a Crossroad from the Historical Perspective of Language
Despite the contemporary perception of Mainland/Hongkong as an opposing binary, historical relations
between the two tell a more nuanced story. This paper begins with the perception of regional
connectedness until the geopolitical upheavals of 1949. The Communist takeover did not precipitate an
immediate antagonizing attitude despite the Cold War divide. Linguistically, non-Cantonese Chinese
remained popular in everyday life in Hong Kong, and variants included not merely Putonghua but also
“dialects” of various communities in Guangdong. As a distinct Hong Kong identity crystalized in the 1970s, a
condescending attitude of Putonghua developed and Cantonese gained currency in popular culture. With
the handover, Putonghua encroached on Cantonese territory and obscured non-Cantonese “dialects” in the
Pearl River Delta. Spanning different historical periods, this paper will accentuate the multi-layered
perception of linguistic hierarchy, and highlight the underlying sociocultural meanings of Hongkongers’
ostensible views of Putonghua.
Danny Weng Kit Chan
Compensation for the Nationless: Spectralizing South East Asia in Hong Kong Cinema
Contrary to its Asian neighbors, Hong Kong embarks on a passage of decolonization that will never reach the
ultimate destination of political or territorial nationalization. Throughout the colonial and postcolonial eras,
Hong Kong has long been situated historically in between British colonialism predominated by an empty,
market time frame and the current Mainland Chinese re-nationalization via the rhetoric of decolonization.
From the Hong Kong horrors of the 70s and the 80s, ghosts, black magic and other forms of uncanniness are
imagined and appropriated for its cartography of South East Asia. Such eerie transnationality is in this paper
conceptualized as a compensation for Hong Kong national absence, amid its affluence and modernity that
have long been rationalizing its presence on a global scale. Transnational ghosts and hauntings hence
illustrate Hong Kong’s crossroad of nationality and attempt to fill the national vacuum with temporal alterity.
3H
Data production and data practices (Chair, Brett Neilson)
Sal Humphreys Data Retention, surveillance and the media
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