One of the main aims of the International Knowledge and Discourse Conference was to 'emphasise the interdisciplinarity of the English language', said organiser Nigel Bruce, principal language instructor in HKU's English centre.
He said English was the medium in which students 'traded ideas', and the English centre, which co-hosted the conference, wanted to stress the role language played 'in the construction of both individual and social meaning'.
'It brought together different perspectives,' Mr Bruce said, 'and that is important. Students should treat every book, every paper as just another perspective. Nothing should be taken for granted.'
He said the main 'constituencies' in the conference were involved with language and education, and one aim was to move them towards social criticism through linguistic analysis. 'In social theory, once you accept the 'language turn' - the view that any account of social behaviour has to take into account the role of language - there is no going back,' he said.
This second conference - the first was held in 1996 - provided a forum for the exchange of ideas for more than 200 participants from a wide range of disciplines and every continent.
Plenary speakers from the UK, US and France gave keynote speeches on eight topics ranging from 'universities and knowledge production' to 'critical approaches to literacy', 'gender, ethnicity and identity' and 'cross-cultural pragmatics'. The next conference is due to be held in the summer of 2005.
