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Past Events

Fall 2022

  • Thursday, September 22
    Japanese Tea Ceremony
    In community with the Vanderbilt Center for Languages and the Department of History of Art & Architecture
  • Friday, September 23
    Ice Cream Social at Sarabha's Creamery
  • Monday, October 10
    Japanese Cultural Event: Koto Music & Onigiri Action
    In community with the Vanderbilt Center for Languages
  • Thursday, October 20
    JET Info Session
  • Monday, Nov 14
    Kimono Viewing & Discussion
    Organized by Dr. Shimizu
    In community with the Department of History of Art & Architecture, the Vanderbilt Center for Languages, and guest expert Sachi Uemoto
  • Thursday, Dec 1
    Sino-Black Relations: A Discussion with Keisha A. Brown
    In community with the Departments of African American and Diaspora Studies & American Studies

Spring 2022

  • Saturday Feb 12 - Sunday Feb 13
    China and the World Conference
    Panels and discussions will be in person on Vanderbilt's campus
  • Thursday Mar 24,12:30pm
    From Vincent Chin to #StopAAPIHate
    Abstract: Before the alarming escalation in anti-AAPI xenophobia resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, there was similar backlash decades prior amid the rise of the Japanese auto industry. The backlash included the murder of 27-year-old Chinese American Vincent Chin in 1982. This year marks the 40th anniversary of his death. From then until now, journalist and activist Helen Zia has been front and center in leading AAPI advocacy and she’s seen it all. Join us for a panel discussion as Helen shares her experience and observations on 40+ years of AAPI resistance, how far we’ve come since Vincent’s death, and the work we have left to do to achieve justice and equity.
    Moderator: Rev. Laura M. Cheifetz, Assistant Dean of Admissions, Vocation & Stewardship, Vanderbilt Divinity School
    Panelists: Vivian Shaw, Mellon Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies, College of Arts & Science; Linken Lam, President of the Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) at Peabody College
    Commons Center Multi-purpose Room (2nd floor)
    Watch now!

Spring 2019

  • Thursday Jan 10, 6pm
    "South by South Asia: Food, Passion, and Identity"
    Talk by Farhan Momin
    Buttrick Hall 102
  • Thursday Jan 31, 12pm
    "Bruce Lee: A Life"
    A Conversation with Bruce Lee biographer, Matthew Polly
    Sarratt 218/220
  • Thursday Jan 31, 7:30pm
    Screening of Enter the Dragon, Q&A to follow
    Sarratt Cinema
  • Thursday Feb 7, 4:10pm
    "Illumination and Its Discontents: Tokyo, Electrification, and Japan's Fossil-Fueled Modernity"
    Ian Jared Milller, Professor of History, Harvard University
    Buttrick 306
  • Thursday Feb 28, 4:10pm
    "Stock Religous Characters in Secular Stories for Children: What can Japanese Picturebooks Teach Us?"
    Talk by Heather Blair, Associate Professor of Religous Studies, Indiana University
    Buttrick 123

Fall 2018

  • Monday Sept 24, 4:10pm
    "Making Borders in Modern East Asia: The Demarcation of the China-Korea Tumen River Border, 1881-1919"
    Nianshen Song, Assistant Professor of History, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
    Buttrick 123
  • Thursday Oct 4, 4:10pm
    "Buddhist Networks in Southwest China"
    Megan Bryson, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, UT Knoxville
    Buttrick 206
  • Wednesday Oct 10, 12:10pm
    "The Ten-thousand Rooms Project"
    Mick Hunter, Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures, Yale UniversIty
    Buttrick 344
  • Wednesday Oct 10, 4:10pm
    "Rethinking the Warring States 'Masters'"
    Mick Hunter, Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures, Yale University
    Buttrick 344
  • Thursday Oct 18, 7:30pm
    Screening of The Good, the Bad, and the Weird (Dir. Kim Jee-Woon)
    Presented by Se Young Kim & Haerin Shin, Q&A to follow
    Sarratt Cinema
  • Thursday Oct 25, 7:30pm
    Screening of A Bittersweet  Life and Q&A with Dir. Kim Jee-Woon
    Sarratt Cinema
  • Friday Oct 26, 4:00pm
    "Good, Bad, and Weird Cinema: The Aesthetics of New Korean Film"
    A Conversation with Dir. Kim Jee-Woon
    Wilson Hall 103

Spring 2018

  • Tuesday Jan 23, 4:10pm
    "Walk in US, Talk on Japan"
    Presentation, Q&A, and networking with delegation headed by Ichiro Fujisaki, former Japanese Ambassador to the United States and President of the America-Japan Society
    Kissam C216
  • Tuesday Jan 30, 8:00pm
    "Migration: The Music of Wu Fei"
    Performance by The Wu Force with Wu Fei, Abigail Washburn & Kai Welch
    Turner Hall, Blair School of Music
  • Thursday Feb 8, 4:10pm
    Lecture:  "Imagination and Interpretation in Early China"
    Michael Puett, Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History and Anthropology, Harvard University
    Cohen Memorial Hall 203
  • Wednesday Feb 21, 4:10pm
    "Bhutan:  Development with Values"
    Presentation and Q&A with representatives from the Bhutan Foundation
    Cohen Memorial Hall 203
  • Friday Feb 23, 12:00pm
    Asian Studies Lunar New Year Potluck Luncheon
    Buttrick Hall 230
  • Thursday Mar 15, 4:10pm
    Lecture:  "From 'Literary' to 'Civil' Culture:  Redefining Literature in the Biographies of New Tang History"
    Anna Shields, Professor of East Asian Studies, Princeton University
    Buttrick Hall 123
  • Wednesday Apr 4, Lecture at 5:30pm; Reception and book signing at 6:30pm
    An Evening with Amitav Ghosh,
    author of The Ibis Trilogy and The Great Derangement
    Central Library Community Room
  • Saturday Apr 7, 12:00pm
    Tennessee Area Japanese Speech Contest
    Wilson Hall 103
  • Friday Apr 13, 12:00pm
    Seminar:  "The Literary Imagination of Ritual in Early Japan"
    Torquil Duthie, Associate Professor, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, UCLA
    Robert Penn Warren Center

Fall 2017

  • Thursday Sept 7 - Saturday Sept 9, 8:30am
    "Space and Speech:  Discursive Environments Around Non-Arab Islam"
    John E. Sawyer Seminar Conference
    Sarratt 216-220
  • Monday Sept 11, Reception at 6:00pm, Performance at 6:30pm
    "Qissebaazi -- Reimagining the Art of Storytelling"
    Danish Husain, Director, The Hoshruba Repertory Theatre, New Delhi

    John Seigenthaler First Amendment Center
    Watch now!
  • Tuesday Sept 12, 4:10pm
    "China and the World in 1900:  Stories of the Boxers and the First Global War"
    Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Chancellor's Professor of History, University of California, Irvine

    Buttrick 102 
  • Wednesday Sept 13, 7:00pm
    "North Korea and Global Wars in Asia"
    Roundtable/Q&A with Asian Studies Faculty
    Brett Benson, Peter Lorge, Haerin Shin, Ben Tran, and special guest Jeffrey Wasserstrom, UC Irvine, editor, The Journal  of Asian Studies
    Kissam 216C 
  • Thursday Oct 5, 1:10pm
    Reunion Week Event: "The Studio of Cai Guo-Qiang: an Archivist's Perspective"
    Lydia Ohl (VU class of 2011)
    Documentary Screening:  Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang (2016)
    Directed by Kevin McDonald
    203 Cohen Memorial Hall
  • Wednesday Nov 8, 12:00pm
    Pre-modern Cultural Studies Seminar: "Ghosts of India Past; Ghosts of India Present -- Can India's Most Hated Villain be Explained, or Even Humanized?"
    Richard M. Eaton, Professor of History, University of Arizona
    Robert Penn Warren Center
  • Thursday Nov 9, 4:10pm
    Film Screening: Nostalgia for the Future (2017), followed by panel discussion and reception
    Directed by Avijit Mukul Kishore & Rohan Shivkumar
    203 Cohen Memorial Hall
  • Monday Nov 13, 12:00pm
    Legal History Colloquium:
    "The Evolution of the Legal Subject in Classical Hindu Law"
    Donald R. Davis, Associate PRofessor of Asian Studies, University of Texas at Austin
    Buttrick 123
  • Friday Dec 1, 12:00pm
    "Wire Aesthetics:  Tube Entertainment's Flops and the Protocols of Late US Empire"
    Joseph Jeon, Associate Professor of English and Asian-American Studies, Pomona College
    Robert Penn Warren Center
  • Monday Dec 4, 3:10pm
    Vanderbilt History Seminar: Roundtable on the Environmental History of China and India
    Ruth Mostern (University of Pittsburgh) and Ben Cohen (University of Utah)
    Sarratt 216-220
  • Fridays at 11:00am
    Weekly Hindi-Urdu Programming:
    "Chai Time"
    Elliott McCarter, Senior Lecturer of Hindi-Urdu, Vanderbilt University
    Furman 001