Cultural Studies Annual Conference – Culture Among Us
In the ideal world, culture should always remain open, critical, energetic and enthusiastic where it flourished in the diverse human expressions and societal landscape. But the reality today is, in the past decades in Taiwan, the role and approach by the state capitalistic system has turned culture into mere production of cultural commodities for mass consumption. This industrialization of culture which serves the sheer interest in cultural tourism is the main topic of discussion in this conference which was attended by many grassroots cultural organisations.
The conference entitled Cultures Among Us was scheduled for two days from 10-11 March 2018 held over six venues where over 120 papers were presented. In addition, there were seven roundtable sessions where the keynote speech was delivered by the author of “Daily Lives and Cultural Theory” by Professor Ben Highmore from Sussex University who presented the topic “Feelings, Moods and Atmospheres: The Work of Cultural Studies”.
Two international forums were also held by Japanese Professor Naoko Mori from the Department of Sociology in Kansai University and Professor Azuma Sonoko from the Humanities Department of Kyoto Sangyo University where they delved into deep discussion on Japanese BL (Boys Love) contemporary pop culture and its social significance to the Japanese society.
The second international forum was presented by Professor Benny Lim of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sampson Wong cultural activist based in Hong Kong and Yeoh Lian Heng from Lostgens’ focusing on the topic of the meaning of culture as a form of resistance.
