Fifth Biennial Summer Symposium and Professional Development Conference

1 - 8 JUNE 2008

Conference Theme:

Communicology and Cognitive Science in East-West Cultures

Conference Venues:

The Center for Psychology and Cognitive Science, Tsinghua University

and

The Center for Comparative Literature, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Beijing, People’s Republic of China

Communicology is the human science study of Communication with an emphasis on cultural description and analysis. Cognitive Science is the study of human consciousness (mind) as embodied in human behavior, intellection, and language as mental processes of being human in a culture. The conference has two functions: (1) To create an international dialogue between invited Chinese and Western scholars to examine similarities and deference in the cultural context for analyzing communication practice in the arts, sciences, and humanities. (2) To focus the dialogue on the Cognitive Science approaches to research in Communicology, i.e., applied specific qualitative approaches to the general human phenomenon of mind and body transactions.

PARTICIPATION

1. Conference participation is by invitation only. An invitation is extended to all ICI Fellows and Scholars. The Conference Planning Group will make nominations of Chinese scholars for participation in the conference. A short list of these Chinese Scholars will be made by the Planning Group Executive. 2. The planing committee has initially reserved 30 places for foreign scholars and 24 places for Chinese Scholars. While the total of 54 participants is fixed, the exact number of foreign and Chinese scholars is subject to change. 3. Conference Participants are asked to consult two primary research sources in preparation for the conference. (1) Wilson, Robert A. and Frank C. Keil (Eds.), The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences (Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 1999). “Most models of human cognition abstract away from variation, whether cultural or individual. But in the case of language, the capacity to handle the cultural variation is a central property of cognitive ability. Consider for example that language ability is modality independent; according to cultural tradition it can not only be spoken or signed but also represented visually by reference to sounds, meanings, or both . . . . In this modality independence it is very unlike any other sensory input or motor output system.” (p. 441). (2) Smithsonian Institution, HUMAN: Origins, Body, Mind, Culture, Peoples (New York, NY: Dorling Kindersley Ltd., 2004). “Humans are phenomenally inquistive—hence the development of science. We investigate and experiment, theorize about the origins of existence and the nature of the universe, and have a powerful spiritual sense. This aspect of the human mind, together with our aesthetic sense, led humans to develop pleasure in painting and music, poetry and theater. This book is one expression of the natural inquisitiveness of humankind. No other species seems interested in how the body works. One great modern advance was the technology to make images of the brain at work, helping us to understand the humanmind—what makes each” of us truly human. (“Foreword” page 7, by Robert Winston, editorial consultant).

PUBLICATION of PAPERS

Conference papers will be published in book form under the same title as the conference: Communicology and Cognitive Science in East-West Cultures For this reason, the operating language of the conference will be American English. Complete papers will be due at the time of the conference with final drafts due approximately three months after the conference. It is expected that all papers will be revised and edited for publication after conference discussion on them.

Initial Contact

Prof. Richard L. Lanigan,

  ICI: Institute Director

Richard L. Lanigan, Ph.D.
Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Communicology
Dept. of Speech Communication   (MC 6605)
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, IL.  62901-6605
USA
(618) 453-1894