人文艺术研究院Institute of Arts and Humanities
“反思城市与身份认同”中美双边研讨会
The City, Identity, and Political Thinking: An Interdisciplinary Workshop
主办方：上海交通大学人文艺术研究院
Institute of Arts and Humanities, ShanghaiJiaoTongUniversity
组织者：刘 康 教授 上海交通大学人文艺术院院长，讲席教授
Liu Kang, Chair Professor,InstituteofArtsand Humanities, SJTU
贝淡宁 教授 上海交通大学人文艺术研究院讲席教授
Daniel Bell, Chair Professor,InstituteofArtsand Humanities, SJTU
会议时间: 2012年5月16日（周三）——2012年5月18日（周五）
16th May, 2012-18th May,2012
会议地点:上海交通大学徐汇校区（华山路1954号）老图书馆一楼
会议介绍
城市，在当今世界代表着不同的政治价值。正如在古代，雅典几乎是民主的同义词，斯巴达代表着军事纪律，耶路撒冷以其宗教意义著称，现代社会的城市也表达着各个不同的价值。而且，这些各自不同的城市以不同的方式影响着生活于斯的众多城市居民的感知和思维方式，比如人们往往由于对其城市的认同和身份感而自豪，这种认同在很大程度上塑造着他们思考社会和政治争议的方式。
可是，当代政治思考却几乎忽视了对城市生活进行应有理论研究。在政治理论方面，讨论往往是关于整个世界、或者某些特定国家是否应当作为规范性理论的场域。关于认同的理论也往往聚焦于种族或性别。但是，政治实践却提示我们，城市常常是集体自决的场域。我们有理由认为这种忽视是政治理论上的一种缺失。
本次会议旨在填补这种缺失。来自世界不同国家和地区、有着不同文化及学科背景的专家、学者将具体地探讨一些独特城市的精神。他们探讨的城市包括中国的上海、南京、成都、哈尔滨、澳门；土耳其的伊斯坦布尔；也门的萨纳；印度的孟买；马来西亚的槟城；日本的东京；以色列的特拉维夫；加拿大的蒙特利尔；英国的伦敦；荷兰的阿姆斯特丹；澳大利亚的墨尔本。对这些城市，他们或做历史性的介绍和说明、或以社会科学的方法进行阐述，不仅如此，他们对所写的城市有着独特的个人经验。
In the ancient world,Athenswas synonymous with democracy andSpartarepresented military discipline.Jerusalemexpressed religious values, and the twin cities that made up the Zhou dynasty’s capital at Louyang flourished as a commercial metropolis. Does it make sense to think of cities as representing different political values in the modern world? In comparison with ancient cities, today’s urban areas are huge, diverse, and pluralistic, and it may seem peculiar to say that one city represents this or that. But just think ofBeijing,Jerusalem, andNew York: can cities get any more different than that? Even cities within countries – say,BeijingandShanghai,Jerusalemand Tel Aviv – seem to express strikingly different values. Moreover, residents of those cities often take pride in the identity of their cities, and it shapes the way they think about social and political controversies. In short, different cities influence the lives and outlooks of billions of people in different ways.
Yet contemporary political thought has all but neglected theorizing about city life. In political theory, debates tend to be about whether the whole world or particular nations should be the site of normative theorizing. Debates about identity tend to focus on ethnicity or gender. But why shouldn’t people living in cities struggle to nourish and promote their particular ways of life in the political process? In political practice, cities are often the sites of collective self-determination, but contemporary thinkers fail to theorize in ways designed to promote informed judgments about what’s good and what’s bad about urban pride.
It’s worth asking why it matters if residents of cities take pride in their city’s identity and strive to nourish a particular way of urban life. There are at least five reasons. First, cities invest thought, time, and money in protecting their unique ethos and thus can resist the homogenizing tendencies of globalization. There are reasons to worry when states affirm cultural particularity in the name of affirming a timeless and organic nation, but affirming a city’s particularity is not problematic so long as basic human rights are not violated. Second, pride in a city’s ethos can curb the excesses of nationalism. Cities do not have armies (with the exception of city-states likeSingapore), and hence civic pride is less likely to take dangerous forms. Third, cities can accomplish desirable political goals like dealing with global warming that are harder to achieve at the level of the state. Cities such asPortland(in theU.S.) andHangzhou(inChina) take pride in their environmental ethos and go far beyond what the state does in terms of environmental protection. Fourth, a city’s particular ethos can inspire political theorizing. It is not a coincidence that several of the great theorists of multiculturalism and language rights come fromMontreal, where residents often debate such issues. Fifth, the promotion of a city’s ethos can make a city a more attractive tourist destination and hence can promote economic development. For example, “cultural tourists” are attracted to Qufu (inChina) because of its renown as a center of Confucian culture.
This conference will consist of thinkers from various disciplines who draw upon historical and social scientific research, recollections drawn from personal experience, and open-ended strolling in order to discuss the particularities of different cities. The authors will focus on cities that are familiar to them and that seem to have a distinctive ethos.
