LECTURE ABSTRACT

Precisely when did a conception of human blackness, one that is construable as being roughly akin to our own in an ethnoracial sense, first arise in Chinese consciousness? We are of course naturally compelled to think that no such consciousness of blacks could ever have arisen prior to direct contact by the Chinese with them—with that being an event that could not plausibly have occurred much before the last third of the first millennium of the Common Era, at the earliest. Nevertheless, Chinese philosophical literature produced as early as the fourth and third centuries BCE as well as a succession of writings of disparate genres of intervening and subsequent eras confront us with an unexpected reality. Therein, we find that there are already incipient intimations of a Chinese awareness of a breed of being, sometimes verifiably encountered and sometimes not, that differed uniquely from known other men by bearing a complexion that was just as uncharacteristically alien as it was unalterably black.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Don J. Wyatt is the John M. McCardell, Jr. Distinguished Professor at Middlebury College. A graduate of Beloit College and Harvard University, Professor Wyatt specializes in courses that incorporate the discipline of philosophy as well as history. His most recent scholarship addresses the formation of racial identities in China from ancient to early modern times. He is a past editor of the Journal of Song-Yuan Studies and his own past and present research has profited from residencies spent at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.

CEAS LECTURE SERIES

The CEAS Lecture Series is an initiative that advances the University of Chicago's Center for East Asian Studies' mission in fostering dialogue and interdisciplinary collaboration. This annual public lecture series presents eminent scholars who concentrate on the study of East Asia in a variety of disciplines. For more information on the series, follow the link here: https://ceas.uchicago.edu/content/ceas-lecture-series-1

SPONSORSHIP

This event is co-sponsored with the University of Chicago Library.

MESSAGE REGARDING COVID-19 HEALTH AND SAFETY MEASURES

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CEAS Lecture Series ft. Don J. Wyatt