Spring 2023 East Asian Studies Speakers Series: Ching Kwan Lee

Description

Ching Kwan Lee, a professor of sociology at UCLA, will give a talk titled "Was Hong Kong 2019 a 'Revolution of Our Times'?" for the Program in East Asian Studies.

What was "revolutionary" about Hong Kong's anti-extradition movement in 2019? This talk assesses the breakthroughs and limits of the historic uprising, against an entrenched colonial hegemony co-produced by British and Chinese rules. Specifically, we shall review four salient elements of this hegemony that have long defined the boundaries of the "political" in Hong Kong. To what extent, how and why had protesters and citizens shattered these colonial boundaries through collective praxis and deliberations? As a critical moment in the long struggle for decolonization, what were the lessons of 2019?

This event is co-sponsored by the Departments of Sociology and International Studies.