Five members of the project took part in the two panels of the 2016 Conference of the Association for Asian Studies in Asia (AAS-in-Asia), which took place in Doshisha University, Kyoto, June 24-27.
The first panel “Conflicting Identities: Negotiating Ethnicity and Religion in Mongol China and Beyond”, organized by Dr. Francesca Fiaschetti from our project, explored challenges posed by the formation and combination of multiple identities under Mongol rule in China, the ideas and policies proposed to resolve these challenges, and the consequent reshaping of social dynamics and political elites.
The names of the speakers (among them four members of our project - current and alumni) and the titles of the presentations of this panel were as following:
- Francesca Fiaschetti (The Hebrew University), “Ethnography and Geography in China under Mongol Rule: Comparative Views”
- Ishayahu Landa (The Hebrew University), “Serving two Khans: Oyirads between Qubilai Khan and Arigh Böke”
- Geoffrey Humble (University of Birmingham), “Rhetoric and Resolution: Chinese Historians’ Evolving Assessments of Ethnic Conflict and Resolution across the Mongol Era”
- Vered Shurany (The Hebrew University), “Muslims, Islam and the Local Mongol Elite in Northwest China during the Early Yuan Period”
- Masaki Mukai (Doshisha University), “Western and Central Asians in Fukien Region under the Yuan: Solid and complex Religious Traditions”
The panel was chaired by Professor Kim Hodong of Seoul National University who was also the discussant of the panel. The presentations revealed the many facets of negotiation over ethnicity and identity in Yuan China, and the following discussion showed a big interest of the participants in the multi-faceted nature of the Yuan.
The second panel, "Statecraft and Cultural Diversity in Premodern China: Empire, Ethnic Identity and Religious Ideology", organized and chaired by Dr. Pei-Ying Lin, discussed "how cultural diversity in imperial China gave rise to interwoven religious and ethnic identities" and aimed to show, "how the large Sinific world became a space for diverse cultures and how statecraft responded to the complexity of ethnic identity". Our fourth member, Dr. Florence Hodous, presented on this panel a presentation titled "Ethnicity and the Law in Yuan China".