Hong Kong Studies Association Inaugural Conference 2021

Date: 28-29 May 2021   

Location: Virtual  

Theme: Taking Stock of a Rapidly Changing Hong Kong  

Programme

[Day 1] 28 May 

8:30-8:45 | Welcome Addresses   

• Malte Kaeding (HKSA cofounder, University of Surrey) 

• Amelia Hadfield (University of Surrey) 

8:45-9:45 | Panel I: Teaching Hong Kong Roundtable 

This panel examines opportunities to address the rising interest in Hong Kong ‘s development by students and scholars overseas. The speakers will discuss prospects for cooperation with Hong Kong colleagues to integrate expertise and student knowledge exchange in the times of virtual teaching and the national security law.  

• Isabelle CHENG (Portsmouth University) Projecting an identity: Researching and Teaching Taiwan 

• Robert BICKERS (Bristol University) The Hong Kong History Project 

• Kenneth Ka Lok CHAN (Hong Kong Baptist University) Teaching Hong Kong: without fear or favour 

• Sonny LO Shiu Hing (University of Hong Kong SPACE) Teaching Hong Kong in the HKSA under the National Security Law 

• Moderator: Gray Sergeant (HKSA) 

9:45-10:00 | Break   

10:00-11:00 | Panel II: Researching Hong Kong Roundtable   

This panel explores the dramatically changing climate for research in Hong Kong. Speakers will look at long-terms trends in academic freedom and the prospect of social-science and legal research following the national security law and increasing societal polarisation. 

• Dixon SING Ming (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) One Country One System and Complete Control over Freedom of Thought 

• Petula Sik Ying HO (University of Hong Kong) Post-colonial reflections on researching Hong Kong Epistemological, methodological, and ethical issues 

• Kevin CARRICO (Monash University) Optimistic and pessimistic perspectives on academic freedom in Hong Kong 

• Eva PILS (King’s College London) The impact of Hong Kong's constitutional collapse on academic freedom 

• Moderator: Tim PRINGLE (SOAS) 

11:00-11:15 | Break  

11:15-12:00  | HKSA Keynote Address: Hong Kong in the Global Context  

• Speaker: Professor Ching Kwan LEE (University of California Los Angeles) 

• Moderator: Heidi Wang-Kaeding (Keele University)  

[Day 2]  29 May

9:00-9:30 | Panel III: Recording History Through Documentary 

This section will include two pre-recorded interviews with award-winning filmmakers who produced films on the recent movement in Hong Kong. Reflecting on both local and international perspectives, we explore the power of documentary films in times of crisis.  

• Anders HAMMER on his Academy-award nominated short-film ‘Do Not Split’  

• Kanas LIU on her award-winning short-film ‘Comrades’  

9:30-10:30 | Panel IV: Making Hong Kong visible 

This panel will discuss recent trends in Hong Kong documentary filmmaking, as well as the relationship between social developments and artistic expressions. It explores the visibility of Hong Kong in film festivals, in terms of audience perceptions and choices of subjects. 

• Victor FAN (King’s College London) From Extraterritoriality to Extratemporality: Contemporary Media and Politics in Hong Kong 

• Kate TAYLOR-JONES (Sheffield University) Visualizing Hong Kong and the UK cinema circuit 

• with filmmakers Kanas LIU and Anders HAMMER 

• Moderator: Malte KAEDING (Surrey/HKSA) 

10:30-10:45 | Break  

10:45-11:45 | Panel V: Making Hong Kong global  

This panel presents novel research finding on the post-movement period, collective identities, and political consumerism in Hong Kong. It reviews the overlooked element of agency in the analysis of Hong Kong’s role on the global stage. 

• Francis LEE (Chinese University of Hong Kong) On the International Front in the Anti-ELAB Movement 

• Debby Sze Wan CHAN (University of Hong Kong) The Yellow Economy in Hong Kong 

• Liza Wing Man KAM (Goettingen University) Claiming Agency and articulate my (hi)story through colonial architecture in the post-colonial Hong Kong 

• Ho Fung HUNG (John Hopkins University) Why Hong Kong still matters? 

• Moderator: Sebastian VEG (EHESS, Paris)  

11:45-12:00 | Closing Remarks