Spring semester 2024 programming for the Center for East Asian Studies will feature a Professional Series lecture on diplomacy to be offered by the former ambassador to the Republic of Korea, a talk by the curator of the Anderson Japanese Gardens, an exhibition of Tibetan calligraphy, and a workshop on the stories of UW-Madison’s early 20th-century students from China.
CEAS has a long-standing partnership with the Anderson Japanese Gardens, located in Rockford, Illinois, and will bring curator Tim Gruner to campus to offer the first talk of the semester, scheduled for February 6. Another important cultural event this semester will feature a two-day exhibition of Tibetan calligraphy scheduled for April 26-27, through a collaboration between CEAS and the Center for South Asia, working with the New York-based Latse Project.
The CEAS Professional Series brings to campus individuals who do significant work in East Asian studies, but who do so outside of the context of a university. The next speaker in the series will be former Ambassador Kathleen Stephens, who will offer a public lecture April 18 on diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific region.
Other distinguished invited speakers will include:
- Sunho Ko, Korean history, Korea Foundation fellow, March 12
- Jill Li, documentary filmmaker, Feb 16
- Robert Sharf, Buddhist studies, UC-Berkeley, Feb 20
- Hui Wang, Chinese intellectual history, Tsinghua University, March 20
CEAS faculty and alumni will offer talks and activities at an event April 8 focused on the history of students from China at UW-Madison in the 20th century, including the stories of prominent political activists and scientists. This event is part of an ongoing project to document and archive the work of Badgers who exemplified the Wisconsin Idea by using their education at UW-Madison to influence modernization efforts in China.
UW-Madison faculty will also offer a “What are you working on?” (WAYWO) talk on Japanese language and culture education in Wisconsin (Junko Mori, February 13), and hold a panel on Digital Literacy for East Asian Studies April 2.
Continuing programs will include the CEAS Webinar Series on Chinese Pragmatics, which this semester will feature a February 27 webinar on the language surrounding the giving and accepting of gifts by Yunwen Su, University of Illinois; and the spring Trans Asia Graduate student Conference (TAGS), which will have a CEAS-sponsored keynote April 20 by Howard Chiang of UC-Santa Barbara.
Center events can be found on this website’s Events Page, and through the Center’s Facebook Events Page.
Here is a list of the spring semester lineup:
4 p.m. Tuesday Feb 6 @ 206 Ingraham Hall: “A Brief History of Rockford’s Anderson Japanese Gardens: Patterns in nature that inspire Japanese garden design” by Tim Gruner, Curator, Anderson Japanese Gardens (Rockford, Illinois)
4 p.m. Tuesday Feb 13 @ 206 Ingraham Hall: CEAS WAYWO (What Are You Working On) “For Whom and For What Cause? The History of K-12 Japanese Language and Culture Education in Wisconsin” by Junko Mori, Japanese Linguistics, UW-Madison
3 p.m. Friday Feb 16, @ Elvehjem Building, Room L150: “Lost Course: A small Chinese village’s big protest” Documentary screening, followed by Q&A with filmmaker Jill Li. 180 minutes, Chinese with English subtitles
6:30 p.m. Tuesday Feb 20 @ Elvehjem Building, Room L140: “Thinking through Buddhist Visualities” by Robert Sharf, Buddhist Studies, UC-Berkeley
4 p.m., Tuesday Feb 27, Zoom Webinar: “Variations in Chinese Gift Offering and Acceptance Interactions” by Yun-wen Su, Chinese Linguistics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
4 p.m., Tuesday March 12 @ 206 Ingraham Hall: “The Dreams of Male Gardeners: Urban Gardens on the Korean Homefront” by Sunho Ko, Korea Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at UW-Madison
4 p.m., Wednesday, March 20 @ Sewell Social Sciences Bldg., Room 8417: Havens Wright Center for Social Justice Lecture: “The Dawn of the Pacific Century: China and the condition of the spatial revolution” by Hui Wang, Chinese Intellectual History, Tsinghua University (Beijing, China) and a 2023-24 Princeton Scholar
4 p.m., Tuesday April 2 @ 206 Ingraham Hall: Panel on Digital Literacy for East Asian Studies, Discussion by UW-Madison faculty
4 p.m., Monday April 8 @ Memorial Union: “Chinese Badgers, Badgers in China: Spring Workshop on the history of UW-Madison’s early 20th century students from China,” Presentations by students and alumni
4:30 p.m., Thursday April 18 @ Pyle Center, Room 313: CEAS Professional Series Lecture: “American Diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific: Asia Hands for the 21st Century” by Kathleen Stephens, former Ambassador to the Republic of Korea
Friday-Saturday, April 19-20 @ Ingraham Hall’s 206 and 336: Trans Asia Graduate Students (TAGS) Conference, Keynote talk April 20 by Howard Chiang, Taiwan Studies, UC-Santa Barbara
Noon – 5 p.m., Friday-Saturday, April 26-27 @ Pyle Center, Rooms 325-326: Tibetan Calligraphy Exhibition, Presentations and demonstrations by Kristina Dy-Liacco and Pema Bhum, the New York City-based Latse Project
9 a.m., Saturday, May 4 @ Memorial Union: Cinemap: Japan Film and Digital Humanities Workshop, Presentation and discussion by UW-Madison and invited scholars