University of Heidelberg

New Issue of Cluster's E-Journal "Transcultural Studies"

May 12, 2011

The first article in the new issue of the Cluster's E-Journal "Transcultural Studies" is now online: Sinologist Prof. Rudolf G. Wagner writes about metaphors such as “China asleep/China awakened”.

In his article titled "China 'Asleep' and 'Awakening'. A Study in Conceptualizing Asymmetry and Coping with It.", Prof. Wagner investigates the migration of such metaphors and their visualized forms across languages and cultures. The metaphor “China asleep/China awakened” became common parlance during the 19th century and has remained in the global metaphorical canon to this day. Thus, the article addresses the dynamics of this highly asymmetrical translingual and transcultural migration, the cultural brokers involved, and the contact zones where the exchanges take place.

Prof. Wagner makes full use of the options offered by the e-journal format. Many of the images discussed in the study are included and links are provided to relevant moving images - such as a scene from the Puccini Opera Turandot - and documents. Initiated in 2010, "Transcultural Studies" is published by the Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context: Shifting Asymmetries and Cultural Flows" at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg and hosted by the University Library of the same institution. The journal's editor is Prof. Wagner and managing editor is Dr. Andrea Hacker.

Prof. Dr. Rudolf G. Wagner, Acting Director of the Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe in a Global Context" at Heidelberg University, is a scholar of international renown with a wide range of scholarly interests and a strong publication record (Profile at the Institute of Chinese Studies). He is the recipient of the highest German scholarly award, the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize.

"Transcultural Studies" and the article by Prof. Wagner can be found at www.transculturalstudies.org.