Speaker:

Paul A. Cohen

Moderator:

Professor Douglas Kerr, HKU Dean of Arts

Date:

13 November 2014 (Thursday)

Time:

6:30 - 8:00 pm

Venue:

Special Collections, 1/F, Main Library, The University of Hong Kong

Language:

English

Paul A. Cohen is Wasserman Professor of Asian Studies and History Emeritus at Wellesley College and a long-time associate of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University. His books include Discovering History in China: American Historical Writing on the Recent Chinese Past and the award-winning History in Three Keys: The Boxers as Event, Experience, and Myth. He is currently a Visiting Scholar at the University's Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences.

When people experience a traumatic event, such as war or the threat of annihilation, they often turn to history for stories that promise a positive outcome to their suffering. In his new book, influential historian and award-winning author Paul A. Cohen identifies this interplay between story and history as a worldwide phenomenon, found in countries of radically different cultural, religious, and social character.