Participants: Kuan-Hsing Chen
Grass Stage Culture Station Social Theatre Forum Lecture Series No. 11
Lecture: India as Method
Speaker: Kuan-Hsing Chen
Co-curated: Grass Stage Cultural Outpost, Art World Magazine, Rockbund Art Museum
Language: Chinese
Throughout the twentieth century, scholars throughout Asia have looked toward Europe and the United States, taking Euro-American experience as the primary frame of reference, and studying Europe and America, including their value systems, in setting a target for catching up or overtaking. In 2010 Kuan-Hsing Chen participated in West Heaven, a dialogue on social thought between India and China (http://westheavens.net/en/) . He uses that experience to reconsider and analyze knowledge in the present conjuncture. The core argument involves taking India as a reference point, as offering a completely different understanding and imagination of world history. But in order to do this, it is important to dispel the delusions of “catching up” or “overtaking.”
