Pepe the Frog by Prof. Katrien Jacobs |
Pepe the Frog as a mascot of the global alt-right and male supremacist hate wars has been liberated by the Hong Kong anti-extradition protest movement and its pro-democracy ideology. What are some of the reasons that this mascot figure has crossed political frontlines and what does it now mean to liberate Hong Kong? In this talk I will explain how USA and EU far-right netizens and activists have made great efforts to hijack and rebrand online imagery and personas within a Gramscian quest for cultural hegemony. I also critically ponder if the re-hijacked mascot personifies collectivism or elitism, inclusivity or xenophobia, gender freedom or machismo within the Hong Kong protest culture.

Freedom-Hi by Prof. Lim Song Hwee |
Examining two sets of artistic responses (including Freedom Hi) to the behaviour of some policemen during the protest movement in Hong Kong in June 2019, this talk illuminates how traditional Chinese characters and folk religious practices have been appropriated in innovative and queer ways to question established values rooted in metaphors of stasis such as the “Spirit of Lion Rock” of the 1970s and 1980s, thus marking a generational shift from solidity to liquidity in the imagination of Hong Kong.

Date: 2020.1.15
Time: 7-9pm
Venue : Room 307 | Esther Lee Building | CUHK

Speakers:
Katrien Jacobs
Department of Cultural and Religious Studies, CUHK

Lim Song Hwee
Department of Cultural and Religious Studies, CUHK

Conducted in English.
All are welcome.

Please register on or before 13 January 2020:
https://forms.gle/9AQkTdwrWwUFmRmq8

Website: www.cuhk.edu.hk/crs/ccs
Enquiry: cuccs@cuhk.edu.hk

Organized by the Centre for Cultural Studies, Department of Cultural and Religious Studies, CUHK