Interconnectivity is defined as the state or quality of being connected together: it often involves sets of cause-and-effect interconnections that operate between and within peoples and places. By definition, interconnectivity crosses and challenges physical or abstract boundaries: it emphasises that no object of study can be viewed in isolation as local events can have global outcomes. This holds with any types of research objects, including language contact and migration, cultural crossings and flows, historical events, scientific and technological frontiers, and environmental issues.

While interconnectivity has always taken place in human history, we now live in times of unprecedented, fast-paced networks and connections, with complex and unpredictable feedback loops. How does interconnectivity cut across, challenge, and transform the perception of boundaries, be them national borders, language barriers, local policies, environmental laws? The special focus of the 2020 International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities seeks to explore the transcultural dimension of interconnectivity in all aspects of humanities. The conference invites to look at local issues in a global perspective, and how cause-and-effect relationships cross scale from the local to the global and from the global to the local.

Towards a Test of Cultural Misappropriation

• Kevin Nute, Assistant Professor, Architecture, University of Hawaii, Manoa, Hawaii, United States

Is Principled Nonviolence Possible in the 21st Century?

• Anna Hamling, Associate Professor, Culture and Media Studies, UNB

Lost Voices Now Heard: Women, Literature, and Memoir

• Janet Crosier, Springfield Technical Community College, United States

Historical Minstrelsy, Double Identities, and Social Masks in Transcultural Settings: Insights from the Nathan “Nate” Harrison Historical Archaeology Project in San Diego, California

• Seth Malilos, Professor and University History Curator, Anthropology, San Diego State University, United States

Local Research with Global Consequences: Transcultural Practice-based Research

• Agata Lulkowska, Lecturer in Film Production, Dept. of Screen and Sound, Staffordhire University, United Kingdom

Transculturalism and Queer Culture in Devdutt Pattanaik’s “Shikhandi”

• Bornali Nath Dowerah, Assistant Professor, Manohari Devi Kanoi Girls’ College, Dibrugarh, Assam, India

Appropriation and Conversation in the Art of Music: Synergy and Struggle between Honoring and Claiming Artifacts in Music

• Paul Laprade, Professor, Music Department Chair, Department of Music and Performing Arts, University of St. Francis, Illinois, United States

Sex in the City: Eastern and Western Conceptions of the “Human” in a Classical Work of Modern Vietnamese Reportage

• Richard Quang-Anh Tran, Professor, Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy

Please comment and discuss below.

To return to the Virtual Conference page, click here.