Kansai University EU Workshop at UZH

The purpose of these workshops is to gather established and young scholars from Japan and Switzerland to engage in dialogue on topics within East Asian art history.

The collaboration between Kansai University in Japan and the University of Zurich is a well-established tradition that takes place at regular intervals - in Japan hosted by the Kansai University and in Switzerland at the University of Zurich. These opportunities have given advanced students the opportunity to present their work-in-progress at scholarly events, surrounded by both established professionals in the field and fellow students and future colleagues.  

In Japan, the annual workshop is held on the Kansai University campus and in the mountains of Asuka. In both Japan and Zurich, the sessions are open to the public. Typically, visitors from the museum and academic worlds join us for the discussions.  

The workshop is based on cross-cultural exchange, as it represents collaboration between the academic cultures of Japan and Switzerland. Not only are the languages of the presentations mixed (English and Japanese), but the students and participating faculty members are from both countries. Thus, the young participants gain first-hand experience of presentation styles from both academic cultures, as well as constructive feedback from scholars working in different local and linguistic contexts. For the students the workshops represent a superb way to build connections with their peers across borders. The workshops symbolize the global and cross-cultural aspects of education: by crossing borders we can achieve new forms of communication. 

The workshop members typically consist of three faculty members from the Kansai University and one or two from the University of Zurich. The presenters are advanced students from both universities. The organizers are Professor Ewa Machotka from the University of Zurich and various professors from the Kansai University.