Daoism’s transcultural and transhistorical resonances

The 1st Research Workshop of
‘Daoism, Cinema and Wellbeing:
Meditative Cinema’

This first workshop entitled “Daoism’  Transcultural and transhistorical resonances” foregrounds the philosophical and aesthetic connections and exchanges between Daoist thought and broader philosophical traditions across Asia, the West, and beyond. It invites participants, from various disciplines, to examine the historical and contemporary networks through which ideas, artistic practices, and cultural forms circulate, so to rethink film ontology, aesthetics, and ethics as inherently transcultural and transhistorical projects rather than traditions bounded by geography or nation. In doing so, it also invites participants to consider how a renewed, de-Westernised philosophical and theoretical approach can deepen decolonial understandings of ecology and wellbeing, thereby contributing to new forms of cinematic world-making.

We will also address methodological questions central to comparative film philosophy, including how to navigate cultural specificity without falling into essentialism and how to articulate meaningful conceptual bridges across traditions. The discussion further considers the decolonial significance of such an approach, exploring how transcultural frameworks can unsettle entrenched Western paradigms and open space for alternative aesthetic genealogies.

This first workshop also marks the launch of CAVe – Cinema, Asian Philosophes and Visual Ecologies Research Hub in the School of Arts at QMUL.