Why did the communist-led resistance in Vietnam win the anticolonial war against France everywhere except the south? Join us for a lecture.

In The First Vietnam War, Shawn McHale explores why the communist-led resistance in Vietnam won the anticolonial war against France (1945–54), except in the south. He shows how broad swaths of Vietnamese people were uneasily united in 1945 under the Viet Minh Resistance banner. The unstable union eventually shattered in 1947, and from this point on, the war in the south turned into an overt civil war wrapped up in a war against France. Based on extensive archival research in four countries and in three languages, this is the first substantive English-language book focused on southern Vietnam’s transition from colonialism to independence.

Author

Shawn McHale is an Associate Professor of History and International Affairs at the Elliott School. He has worked and taught extensively on issues surrounding Vietnam, Southeast Asian history, history and memory, and colonialism’s impact and legacy. His other research interests include Buddhism, Confucianism, communism, gender, memory, civil war and violence. He spent the 2007-08 academic year as a Fulbright-Hays fellow in Vietnam and France, and formerly directed the Sigur Center for Asian Studies. He holds a Ph.D. in Southeast Asian History from Cornell University.

Moderator

Alyssa Ayres is the Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. Her work focuses primarily on India’s role in the world and on U.S. relations with South Asia in the larger Indo-Pacific. Before joining the Elliott School, she was a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia under the Obama administration. She holds a Ph.D. in South Asian Languages and Literatures from the University of Chicago.

The Sigur Center for Asian Studies will host Dr. Shelley Rigger to launch her new book, The Tiger Leading the Dragon: How Taiwan Propelled China’s Economic Rise as the sixth edition of the 2021 New Books in Asian Studies series. This event will also feature Bruce Dickson, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at GW, as a discussant, and Richard Haddock, Program Associate at the East Asia National Resource Center, as a moderator. The webinar begins at 11:30 AM EDT.

Dr. Rigger’s new book discusses how the once-secretive, isolated People’s Republic of China became the factory to the world. Dr. Rigger convincingly demonstrates that the answer is Taiwan. She follows the evolution of Taiwan’s influence from the period when Deng Xiaoping lifted Mao’s prohibitions on business in the late 1970s, allowing investors from Taiwan to collaborate with local officials in the PRC to transform mainland China into a manufacturing powerhouse. After World War II, Taiwan’s fleet-footed export-oriented manufacturing firms became essential links in global supply chains. In the late 1980s, Taiwanese firms seized the opportunity to lower production costs by moving to the PRC, which was seeking foreign investment to fuel its industrial rise. Within a few years, Taiwan’s traditional manufacturing had largely relocated to the PRC, opening space for a wave of new business creation in information technology. The Tiger Leading the Dragon traces the development of the cross-Taiwan Strait economic relationship and explores how Taiwanese firms and individuals transformed Chinese business practices. It also reveals their contributions to Chinese consumer behavior, philanthropy, religion, popular culture, and law.

For this month’s book giveaway: Attend with the name you registered as and submit a question to be entered to win. Advance questions can be sent to gsigur@gwu.edu with subject “NBAS: The Tiger Leading the Dragon” or directly posted in the live Q&A. The Sigur Center will purchase the book from a local DC bookstore and pay for shipping. The contest is open to U.S. addresses only. 1 entry per person regardless of the number of questions submitted.

Registration closes at 11:30 am on September 29th. Registered guests will receive an email with instructions for joining WebEx prior to the event. Media inquiries must be sent to gwmedia@gwu.edu in advance. If you need specific accommodations, please contact gsigur@gwu.edu with at least 3 business days’ notice. This event is free, open to the public, and will be recorded.

The Tiger Leading the Dragon: How Taiwan Propelled China’s Economic Rise is available from Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Use promo code RLFANDF30 for a 30% discount!

Shelley Rigger is the Brown Professor of East Asian Politics at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina. She has a PhD in Government from Harvard University and a BA in Public and International Affairs from Princeton University. She has been a visiting researcher at National Chengchi University in Taiwan (2005) and a visiting professor at Fudan University in Shanghai (2006). Rigger is the author of two books on Taiwan’s domestic politics: Politics in Taiwan: Voting for Democracy (Routledge 1999) and From Opposition to Power: Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (Lynne Rienner Publishers 2001). She has published articles on Taiwan’s domestic politics, the national identity issue in Taiwan-China relations and related topics. Her current research studies the effects of cross-strait economic interactions on Taiwan people’s perceptions of Mainland China. Her monograph, “Taiwan’s Rising Rationalism: Generations, Politics and ‘Taiwan Nationalism’” was published by the East West Center in Washington in November 2006.

Bruce Dickson received his B.A. in political science and English literature, his M.A. in Chinese Studies, and his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan. He joined the faculty of The George Washington University and the Elliott School in 1993. Professor Dickson’s research and teaching focus on political dynamics in China, especially the adaptability of the Chinese Communist Party and the regime it governs. In addition to courses on China, he also teaches on comparative politics and authoritarianism. His current research examines the political consequences of economic reform in China, the Chinese Communist Party’s evolving strategy for survival, and the changing relationship between state and society. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Smith Richardson Foundation, the US Institute of Peace, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. 

Richard J. Haddock is currently the Program Associate for the East Asia National Resource Center (NRC), which is supported by a Title VI grant from the U.S. Department of Education. In this role, Mr. Haddock is primarily responsible for East Asia learning content development, strategic planning and grant management, liaising with key community and educational stakeholders, and reporting to the Department of Education. He is also a member of the UC Berkeley U.S.-Taiwan Next Generation Working Group, where he is conducting a research project on the current state and future prospects of Taiwan Studies in the United States. He has held positions at the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, the National Democratic Institute’s Asia team, the American Institute in Taiwan’s Public Diplomacy Section, and the U.S. Department of State. Mr. Haddock is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Public Administration at The George Washington University, focusing on digital democracy and e-governance development in the Asia-Pacific. He holds an M.A. in Asian Studies from the Elliott School, with a concentration on domestic politics and foreign policy of East Asia. He graduated from the University of Central Florida with a B.A. in Political Science and minors in Asian Studies and Diplomacy.

The Sigur Center for Asian Studies will proudly host Jagjeet Lally, lecturer in the History of India at University College London, in the upcoming edition of the 2021 New Books in Asian Studies series to discuss his recently published India and the Silk Roads: The History of a Trading World. After being introduced by Director Benjamin D. Hopkins, he will engage in a conversation about the book with Hasan Karrar, Associate Professor in the humanities and social sciences program at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, who will act as discussant and moderator. The webinar will take place from 10 AM EDT to 11:15 AM EDT on WebEx.

India’s caravan trade with central Asia was at the heart of the complex web of routes making up the Silk Roads. But what was the fate of these overland connections in the ages of sail and steam? Jagjeet Lally sets out to answer this question by bringing the world of caravan trade to life—a world of merchants, mercenaries, pastoralists and pilgrims, but also of kings, bureaucrats and their subjects in the countryside and towns.

India and the Silk Roads is a global history of a continental interior, the first to comprehensively examine the textual and material traces of caravan trade in the ‘age of empires’. By showing how no single ruler could control the nebulous yet durable networks of this trading world, which had its own internal dynamics even as it evolved in step with global transformations, Lally forces us to rethink the history of globalisation and re-evaluate our fixation with empires and states as the building blocks of historical analysis. It is a narrative resonating with our own times, as China’s Belt and Road Initiative brings terrestrial forms of connectivity back to the fore—transforming life across Eurasia once again.

The Sigur Center continues to offer a book giveaway to support research and local business. To be eligible to win, please register and attend with the same name, and be sure to follow us on Twitter. The winner will be randomly selected during the event and contacted for a U.S. address. The Sigur Center will purchase a book from a local DC bookstore and pay for shipping.

India and the Silk Roads: The History of a Trading World is available from Hurst Publishers. Use promo code SILKROADS25 for a discount!

Since 1949, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has maintained unrivaled control over the country, persisting even in the face of economic calamity, widespread social upheaval, and violence against its own people. Yet the party does not sustain dominance through repressive tactics alone—it pairs this with surprising responsiveness to the public. Bruce Dickson’s new book, The Party and the People explores how this paradox has helped the CCP endure for decades, and how this balance has shifted increasingly toward repression under the rule of President Xi Jinping. Join us for a discussion with Alyssa Ayres, dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs, and Bruce Dickson. This discussion will be followed by an audience Q&A session.

This event is co-sponsored by the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at the Elliott School of International Affairs and the Elliott School Book Launch Series.

The Party and the People: Chinese Politics in the 21st Century is available from Princeton University Press. Use promo code BRDI for a 30% discount on the book until August 31, 2021!

Follow us on Youtube for the webinar recording! Access is also available for Dr. Dickson’s powerpoint presentation. 

Bruce Dickson received his B.A. in political science and English literature, his M.A. in Chinese Studies, and his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan. He joined the faculty of The George Washington University and the Elliott School in 1993. Professor Dickson’s research and teaching focus on political dynamics in China, especially the adaptability of the Chinese Communist Party and the regime it governs. In addition to courses on China, he also teaches on comparative politics and authoritarianism. His current research examines the political consequences of economic reform in China, the Chinese Communist Party’s evolving strategy for survival, and the changing relationship between state and society. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Smith Richardson Foundation, the US Institute of Peace, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. @GWUColumbian

Alyssa Ayres is Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University. Ayres is a foreign policy practitioner and award-winning author with senior experience in the government, nonprofit, and private sectors. From 2013 to 2021, she was senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), where she remains an adjunct senior fellow. Her work focuses primarily on India’s role in the world and on U.S. relations with South Asia in the larger Indo-Pacific. Her book about India’s rise on the world stage, Our Time Has Come: How India is Making Its Place in the World, was published in 2018. Ayres is also interested in the emergence of subnational engagement in foreign policy, particularly the growth of international city networks, and her current book project (working title, Bright Lights, Biggest Cities: The Urban Challenge to India’s Future, under contract with Oxford University Press) examines India’s urban transformation and its international implications. From 2010 to 2013, Ayres served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia. She received an AB from Harvard College and an MA and PhD from the University of Chicago. @AyresAlyssa

The Sigur Center for Asian Studies and the Institute for Public Diplomacy & Global Communication proudly host Wazhmah Osman, filmmaker and Professor at Temple University’s College of Media and Communication Studies, in the upcoming edition of the 2021 New Books in Asian Studies series to discuss her recently published Television and the Afghan Culture Wars Brought to You by Foreigners, Warlords, and Activists with Director Benjamin D. Hopkins, who will act as a moderator and discussant during the event.

Portrayed in Western discourse as tribal and traditional, Afghans have in fact intensely debated women’s rights, democracy, modernity, and Islam as part of their nation building in the post-9/11 era. Wazhmah Osman places television at the heart of these public and politically charged clashes while revealing how the medium also provides war-weary Afghans with a semblance of open discussion and healing. After four decades of gender and sectarian violence, she argues, the internationally funded media sector has the potential to bring about justice, national integration, and peace.

This event is free, open to the public, and will be recorded. Questions can be sent in advance to gsigur@gwu.edu with subject “Afghan Culture Wars Q&A.”

Television and the Afghan Culture Wars: Brought to You by Foreigners, Warlords, and Activists is available from University of Illinois Press (use F20UIP for 30% off!).

The Sigur Center for Asian Studies proudly hosts Thomas Simpson, Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge, in the second edition of the 2021 New Books in Asian Studies series to discuss his recently published The Frontier in British India: Space, Science, and Power in the Nineteenth Century with Director Benjamin D. Hopkins, who will act as a moderator and discussant during the event. 

Thomas Simpson provides an innovative account of how distinctive forms of colonial power and knowledge developed at the territorial fringes of colonial India during the nineteenth century. Through critical interventions in a wide range of theoretical and historiographical fields, he speaks to historians of empire and science, anthropologists, and geographers alike.

The Frontier in British India provides the first connected and comparative analysis of frontiers in northwest and northeast India, and draws on visual and written materials from an array of archives across the subcontinent and the UK. Colonial interventions in frontier spaces and populations were, it shows, enormously destructive but also prone to confusion and failure on their own terms. British frontier administrators did not merely suffer ‘turbulent’ frontiers, but actively worked to generate and uphold these regions as spaces of governmental and scientific exception. Accordingly, India’s frontiers became crucial spaces of imperial practice and imagination throughout the nineteenth century.

This event is free, open to the public, and will be recorded. 

In this webinar, co-editors Celeste Arrington (George Washington University) and Patricia Goedde (Sungkyunkwan University) will introduce their new book Rights Claiming in South Korea (Cambridge University Press) with fellow chapter contributor Erin Chung (Johns Hopkins University). Sociologists Paul Chang (Harvard) and Hae Yeon Choo (University of Toronto) will discuss the edited volume’s findings and contributions to our understanding of rights-based activism in contemporary South Korea.

People in South Korea have defined and articulated diverse grievances as rights violations and engaged in claims-making to remedy them. In what institutional contexts do such rights claiming occur, and what sources of support are available for utilizing different claims-making channels? This edited volume illuminates rights in action by investigating how rights are interpreted and acted upon via petitions, court claims, protest, and other legal mobilization methods. Our research shows that rights claims are diversifying in Korea and opportunities and resources for rights claiming have improved. But obtaining rights protections and catalyzing social change remains challenging. Contributors from across the social sciences analyzed original interviews, court rulings and statutes, primary sources in archives and online, and news media coverage in Korean. The chapters uncover conflicts over contending rights claims, expose disparities between law on the books and law in practice, trace interconnections among rights and movements, and map emerging trends in the use of rights language. Case studies include women, workers, people with disabilities, migrants, and sexual minorities.

The book launch is co-sponsored by the GW Institute for Korean Studies and the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, and its speakers will represent three continents: we look forward to hosting a diverse audience to discuss rights claiming in this event.