Nürnberg, Germany
14-16th Nov 2025
Extended Deadline: 27th Jul 2025
The history of the Sinograph (zi 字) goes well beyond the confines of China proper. Its geographic and technological movements exceed the limits of the Sinosphere and have been directed towards other linguistic and medial spheres—in some cases, even the entire world. In modern times, such efforts have become entangled with political agendas of national unification. In premodern East Asia, however, Chinese, as a scripta franca, transcended linguistic boundaries both within a diverse empire and across the region. Its dominance was continually challenged by other languages (i.e., Sanskrit, Sogdian, Manchu) and by advocates and critics of multilingualism. Debates over whether to use Literary Chinese in language contact situations, to numerically “unicode” Chinese characters, to devise mechanical systems for typesetting, to apply Chinese as a common scholarly written language, or, conversely, to replace it with an international language (and/or to abandon it altogether), suggest that the past and present of the Sinograph remained strikingly relevant to the search for standards and universalisms. Today, this search is not only complicated by national language policies but also increasingly by linguistic, technological, or logical factors.
The European Association for Chinese Studies (EACS) Autumn School places emphasis on interactive learning approaches. In addition to plenary lectures, scholars will provide interactive workshops and poster sessions in order to discuss and reflect on central subjects with the participants. Finally, the EACS Autumn School also offers time and space for participants to enter into discussions of their own projects based on a sample chapter as well as network with others.
Application modalities
Within the described framework, we invite applications from advanced Master students, early-stage PhD candidates as well as junior researchers working on the long history of the Chinese script and the “sinographic sphere” — without confining the sphere to a specific era. Drawing inspiration from a growing literature on the Sinograph’s relationship to languages other than Chinese and technologies, this Autumn School explores the global history of universalisms surrounding the Sinograph.
In order to apply for participation, please send the following information to project-eacs2025@fau.de:
• Letter of motivation specifying your interest for taking part in the EACS Autumn School. You are welcome to briefly describe the projects you are currently working on.
• Up-to-date CV
• EACS membership. Although not strictly required, priority will be given to members during the selection process.
Successful applicants will be notified on August 1st, sample chapters are due one month ahead of the Autumn School.
The organizers will provide hotel accommodation, coffee breaks, and lunches. Participants are responsible for their own travel expenses.
Confirmed Speakers
• Professor Joshua Fogel (York University)
• Professor Zev Handel (University of Washington)
• Professor Uluğ Kuzuoğlu (Washington University)
• Professor Yurou Zhong (Toronto University)
Organizers
• Professor Andrea Bréard (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg)
• Professor Michael Höckelmann (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg)
Visit this event’s website: https://www.sin-aps.fau.de/2025/07/06/call-for-applications-eacs-autumn-school-%e5%ad%97-and-the-search-for-universalism/
Download this announcement’s official PDF: