Contesting British Chinese Culture | conference

Contesting British Chinese Culture - a conference at the University of Reading, UK on 24-25 September Contesting 'British Chinese' Culture: Forms, Histories, Identities The aim of this conference is to examine diverse contestations and constructions of 'British Chinese' culture/'Chinese culture in Britain' by facilitating dialogue among academics and practitioners across disciplines and art forms. How can the perceived homogeneity of 'British Chinese' culture be challenged to reflect the diversity of identities and experiences in the UK diaspora? Who plays a part in constructing these strands of culture and for whom are they constructed? What is the relationship between communal forms of identity and the individual identities of artists? To what extent do ethno-national discourses impact upon the making of work? Such contestations over culture are well known in other contexts (e.g. 'black British', 'BrAsian', Asian-American), but the debates over 'British Chinese' culture has yet to make significant impact in the public debate with no published books on this subject to date. This conference seeks to bring together academics and practitioners for the first time, from any discipline, to move debates forward on the contested nature of British Chinese culture. Image: the conference includes a screening of 1986 film 'Ping Pong'