Thinking with Tea - Cross-Cultural Reflections

Thinking with Tea – Cross-cultural Reflections aims to explore the myriad forms tea has taken where it has flourished. Specifically, as the title of the conference suggests, its goal is to think with tea: In which ways has tea inspired thinking and how can these ways of thinking inform philosophy in the present?
Conference poster

Event information

Event date
-
Registration period
-
Event type
Congresses and conferences
Event language
English
Event address

Seminaarinkatu 15
Jyväskylä 40100
Finland

Event organizer
Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy
Event payment
Free of charge

Tea has played a significant role in fostering cultural exchange between different regions and traditions throughout history. While tea has taken root in various forms in many cultures, mos are likely to associate the practice with China, its progenitor, or Japan, its cultivator. Yet, tea has a strong global presence and has flourished within Great Britain, the Americas, parts of Africa, Turkey and in Russia to name a few. 

Thinking with Tea – Cross-cultural Reflections aims to explore these myriad forms tea has taken where it has flourished. Specifically, as our title suggests, the conference’s goal is to think with tea: In which ways has tea inspired thinking and how can these ways of thinking inform philosophy in the present? Further, we explore the limits of philosophical thinking from the point of view of tea as a corporeal practice that operates beyond/before/between thought and its propositional analysis and forms of truth. The aim of the conference is thus twofold: To explore philosophical thought in relation to tea from the historical perspective, and to investigate how ways of thinking with tea can be put into practice within philosophy. 

Keynote speakers:

Jason M. Wirth, Seattle University, USA.

Adam Loughnane, University College Cork, Ireland.

The conference is free to attend for students and staff. If you should be interested in the conference, contact the conference organizers at anttoni.e.a.kuusela@jyu.fi for registration (free of charge).

Schedule

Monday 2.9.2024 (At Lyhty Building before lunch and at Boombox at Musica building after lunch)

Time Speaker Ttile
9:00–9:15  Anttoni Kuusela Welcome
9:15–9:45 Anttoni Kuusela Taking leave of the ordinary self through tea: Hisamatsu Shin’ichi, tea, and the Formless Self
9:45–10:15 Francesca Greco Radical Relationality and Meontological Structures: Philosophical Reflections from the Practice of Chadō (茶道)
10:15–10:45 Frederica Sgarbi (online) D.T. Suzuki: Zen and the Tea-Cult
10:45–11:15 None Comfort Break
11:15–11:45 John Charles Ryan Thinking With Kombucha: The Cultural History of the ‘Divine Tea’
11:45–12:15 Axel Karamercan A Social Ontology of Tea Culture in Turkey: On the Way to Conversation and Sharing the World
12:15–13:15 None Lunch
Time Speaker Ttile
13:15–13:45 Volker Heubel The Chinese way of tea seen from a transcultural perspective of life aesthetics
13:45–14:15 Garance Coggins (online) Drinking Tea in Thich Nhat Hanh’s Teaching
14:15–14:45 Marie Cazes  Tea-tasting atelier
14:45–15:15 None Comfort Break
15:15–16:30 Adam Loughnane Innovation, Stagnation and Negation in the Japanese Tea Ceremony

Tuesday 3.9.2024 (At Library Lähde Room B 347)

Time Speaker Ttile
9:00–9:30 Boyu Xie From ‘a tea field’ to ‘the Tea Field’ -Exploring the Dimension of Silence of Tea
9:30–10:00 Thomas Fuhrman-Lieker On the role of Calligraphy in Japanese Tea Ceremony
10:00–10:30 Maddalena Borsato Kaiseki, Wagashi and Sadō. Performative Taste in Japanese Tea Ceremony
10:30–11:00 None Comfort Break
11:00–11:30 Maki Sato Tea Practice as an embodied way of living
11:30–12:00 Lisa Indraccolo Reading the Classic of Tea (Chájīng 茶經) as Philosophy –Tea as a medium for self cultivation in the premodern Chinese intellectual tradition
12:00–12:30 Chuck Goldhaber (online) Praxis and Poeisis in Chanoyuū
12:30–13:30 None Lunch
Time Speaker Ttile
13:30–14:00 Michiel Herman The One Rule of the Heart Wittgenstein’s Thinking Ceremony
14:00–14:30 Jakub Sochacki (online) Tea, Reflexion and Transcendental Field
14:30–15:00 Beth Harper Li Bai’s 李白 (701-762) “Transcendent Palm tea”: tea-drinking, vibrant matter and a classical Chinese conception of the good life
15:00–15:30 None Comfort Break
15:30–16:45 Jason M. Wirth Yabunouchi, Zen, and Philosophy: Between Thinking and Practicing Chadō 

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