Boundary Crossings in Culture,

Power, and Experience:

Re-imagining Higher Education

The purpose of the conference was to explore contemporary issues around boundary crossing, as they relate to universities and learning, broadly conceived.

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This conference is dedicated to the memory of our colleague Professor L.H.M. “Lily” Ling, a founding member of the Critical Edge Alliance, who tragically passed away last year. The conference is designed in the spirit of Ling’s Silk Road Research Initiative, a research collective that pursued the re-imagination of world politics.

As part of that work, students and faculty from The New School (New York, NY) organized in 2013 around a shared vision: to transform the foundation that underpins today’s international system by thinking creatively about world politics.

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We encouraged a variety of creative proposals including:

traditional panels and presentations, but also action learning, organizing workshops, plays and poetry slams, design charrettes, culinary events, and site-specific activities in New York City.

 

The organizers seeked submissions of original work, experiences, and activities that are relevant to below, broadly conceived themes:

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• Learning approaches that cross geographies, content, and practices

• Changing power dynamics around student activism and university governance

• Universities as sites of intergroup contestation around social issues, including migration, free speech, inclusion, and more

• Teaching about cultural connections and disconnects using aesthetics

• Ideation about projects or learning networks among CEA partner universities

• Other enactments around the theme of boundary crossings

 

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We thank everyone for submitting their proposals and for participating in or reading up about the conference. Don't forget to check out the conference report!

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