Between the Historical and the Ethnographic: Historical Social Sciences Symposium

The University of Chicago Center in Beijing
20th floor, Culture Plaza
No. 59A Zhong Guan Cun Street
Haidian District Beijing 100872

On July 8–9, 2025, the University of Chicago Center in Beijing, in collaboration with Tsinghua Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities and Social Sciences, hosted the Historical Social Sciences Symposium: Between the Historical and the Ethnographic. The event brought together over 150 participants and featured 22 invited speakers from across Mainland China, Hong Kong, North America, and Europe.

This international gathering engaged deeply with a timely and provocative theme: How might archival research and ethnographic fieldwork intersect and inform one another? Can the “presence of the past” and the “historicized present” be understood not as opposites but as mutually constitutive? Participants approached these questions through disciplinary lenses that included history, sociology, anthropology, and literary studies.

The symposium opened with welcoming remarks from the three conveners—Dr. Yueran Zhang, Dr. Nianshen Song, and Dr. Yang Zhang—who set the tone for rigorous yet open-ended discussion. The agenda featured two keynote sessions and six thematic panels, covering topics such as disciplinary methodologies in historical research, the historicization of Chinese civilization, frontier and religious narratives, and the ethnographic dimensions of Ming-Qing studies.

Keynote lectures were delivered by Marco Garrido (University of Chicago), Sarah Chang (Miami University, Ohio), and Isaac Ariail Reed (University of Virginia). Their talks addressed urban sociology, archival challenges in Chinese cities, and theoretical meditations on modernity. Simultaneous interpretation was available during English-language sessions to ensure accessibility for all attendees.

Panel discussions highlighted the growing methodological convergence between fieldwork and archival inquiry. Scholars including Zhang Jing (Peking University), Du Yue (Tsinghua University), Guo Taihui (Yunnan University), and Zhang Fan (Peking University) examined case studies ranging from ancestral identity and historical memory to religious practice and the post-socialist condition. Each session fostered vibrant conversation among presenters and audience members alike.

The symposium fostered a spirit of interdisciplinary experimentation and open exchange. By encouraging engagement across archival and ethnographic methods, the event reflected a broader shift in the humanities and social sciences toward methodological fluidity, critical reflection, and context-driven inquiry. As a platform for global academic dialogue, the Center continues to play a vital role in advancing cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary scholarship.