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Envisioning Hong Kong: Archive, Image and Comparative Perspectives

Envisioning Hong Kong: Archive, Image and Comparative Perspectives In-Person

From the late 1940s to the early 1980s, hundreds of thousands of people from mainland China crossed the Hong Kong-Shenzhen border into Hong Kong. Since the 1980s, the political and economic development of Hong Kong and Shenzhen has continued to be shaped by how residents in both regions are both connected and separated by the border. Focusing on Hong Kong and this border, this panel discussion will examine topics of diaspora, border and borderlands from archival, comparative and interdisciplinary perspectives.

We will be joined by four panelists for this discussion who will cover the following:

Locating the Archive of Hong Kong’s Border, by Denise Ho, Yale University
How do historians research the history of a border, a borderland and a frontier? This presentation about the history of the border between Hong Kong and China traces the various sources we can use to know the border, from anthropological works to government documents, from material culture to oral histories. Linking these variegated materials, this talk underscores the importance of understanding a border from both sides, and the relationship between borders as they existed and as they were imagined.

Denise Y. Ho is an associate professor of twentieth-century Chinese history at Yale University.  She is the author of Curating Revolution: Politics on Display in Mao’s China (2018) and the co-editor of Material Contradictions in Mao’s China (2022). She is currently working on a book entitled Cross-Border Relations: A Grassroots History of Hong Kong and China. A California native, she is currently a visiting researcher at the University of California, Irvine. 

Response to Denise Ho’s Talk, by Rosalia Romero, Pomona College
Rosalía Romero will deliver a response to Denise Ho’s talk. Drawing comparisons and connections about archives and visual culture of the U.S.-Mexico border, her response will provide an opportunity for crossover conversation about transnational history and comparative border studies.

Rosalía Romero is an assistant professor in the department of art history at Pomona College. A specialist in the modern and contemporary art of Mexico and the U.S-Mexico borderlands, she is curating the 2022/23 MexiCali Biennial and writing a book titled Anarchism and Revolutionary Art in Greater Mexico.

Teaching and Researching with the Yao Family Papers, Angelina Chin, Pomona College
Angelina Chin is an associate professor and chair of history at Pomona College. She will talk about the stories and insights she discovered through her use of photos and papers from the Norman and Anne Yao Papers. These materials are currently featured in the Asian Library's current exhibit and will also be featured in Chin’s upcoming book.

In Search of a New Home, Peter Yao, Long-term Resident of Claremont
Peter Yao, son of Norman Yao and Anne Lee Yao and Claremont resident for over 60 years, will talk about his parents career and life in Canton and Hong Kong, and the journey the family took in search of a new home in the United States. You can learn more about this journey through exploration of the Asian Library’s current exhibit.

Our many thanks to the following for partnering with the Asian Library of The Claremont Colleges Library to make this panel discussion possible:

  • Co-organizer: History Department, Pomona College
  • Co-sponsors: Pomona College Asian Studies Program, Pomona College History Department (Ena H. Thompson Lectureship funds) and the Asian Library Innovation Fund

Questions?
Contact Xiuying Zou, Head of the Asian Library, by emailing xiuying.zou@claremont.edu or calling 909 607-4094.

Date:
Thursday, March 23, 2023
Time:
4:15pm - 5:45pm
Time Zone:
Pacific Time - US & Canada (change)
Location:
Founders Room, Honnold 2
Campus:
The Claremont Colleges Library
Audience:
Categories:
  Event     Featured     Special Collections Event