Archives & Recordings – Page 25 – Sigur Center for Asian Studies

10/4/18: U.S. Politics and Government: The View From Asia

September 21, 2018July 14, 2021Archives & RecordingsLeave a Comment

Thursday, October 4, 2018
12:30 PM – 2:00 PM
Lindner Family Commons – Room 602 (6th Floor)
The Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052

The Sigur Center for Asian Studies will host a panel of news journalists based in Washington, DC reporting from a variety of Asia-based news outlets to discuss how audiences in Asia view contemporary U.S. politics and government.

Light refreshments will be available. This event is free to the public, but is off the record and not for attribution.

Speakers:

Ms. Seema Sirohi is a graduate of Delhi University in India. She has a Master’s degree in journalism from Jawarahal Nehru University in Delhi and an M.A. In sociology from the University of Kansas in the USA. She has worked as a reporter for the Associated Press and as a correspondent and feature writer for the Telegraph. She has also served as a writer and editor for a number of internationally prominent newspapers and magazines. Since 2011, she has been a correspondent and columnist for the Economic Times , India’s largest daily business newspaper.

Mr. Prashanth Parameswaran has lived in Malaysia, Singapore and the Phillipines. He is currently a Ph.D candidate at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He has previously worked on Asian affairs at several think tanks in the U.S., including the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. And he is currently senior editor of The Diplomat Magazine which covers Asian affairs and has its headquarters in D.C.

Mr. Takeshi Kurihara is a graduate of the University of Tokyo where he earned a B.A. in journalism. He began his career as a reporter for NHK (Japan public television), working in western Japan and then eventually was transferred to Tokyo where he worked as a political reporter. Takeshi first came to the United States as a visiting scholar at Stanford University in 2015. In June 2018, he was transferred to the Washington bureau of NHK where he specializes in covering news related to U.S. government policies.

Moderator: Professor Andrew Krieger, senior adjunct professor at Montgomery College in Rockville, MD; teaches courses in international relations, sociology, and American government.

Kano film promotional picture with group of baseball players and their coach

9/24/18: GTI Taiwan Cinema Night: “Kano”

September 18, 2018July 14, 2021Archives & RecordingsLeave a Comment

Logos of the Global Taiwan Institute, Sigur Center, and the Organization of Asian Studies

The Global Taiwan Institute, the Organization of Asian Studies, and the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at George Washington University are pleased to present the film “Kano” in GTI’s ongoing series of social and cultural programs in Washington, DC.

Monday, September 24, 2018

Doors Open at 5pm; Film Starts at 5:30pm
Lindner Family Commons – Room 602
Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052

promotional photo of movie called Kano

THE FILM

We will be showing the film “Kano”, directed by Taiwanese director Umin Boya (馬志翔). “Kano” tells the true story of a multicultural high school baseball team from southern Taiwan as it competed for the prestigious Japanese High School Baseball Championship in 1931. This ragtag band of Taiwanese indigenous, Han Chinese, and Japanese teammates must overcome language and cultural barriers to not only survive, but to succeed. The film examines Taiwan’s long colonial past, as well as explores themes of personal and national identity through the lens of baseball, Taiwan’s national sport.

GUEST SPEAKER

Photo of Wei Te-Sheng with green background We will be joined by guest speaker director Wei Te-Sheng (魏德聖), who is also the producer of “Kano.” Born in Tainan, director Wei graduated with a degree in electrical engineering, and only started his entertainment career after he completed the mandatory military service in Taiwan. His first directed movie “Cape No. 7” not only was a hit, but successfully brought life back to the Taiwan film industry. Director Wei will join us at the event and answer questions in the Q&A session after the film.

9/26/18: Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila (1945)

September 18, 2018May 14, 2021Archives & Recordings, New Books in Asian Studies1 Comment

The Sigur Center for Asian Studies and Asia Policy Point cordially invite to a book launch discussion with author James M. Scott (Target Tokyo; The War Below; and The Attack on the Liberty) to talk about his most recent publication, Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila (1945).

Wednesday, September 26, 2018
12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Chung-wen Shih Conference Room
Suite 503
The Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052

Book cover of Rampage by James M Scott

Before World War II, Manila was a slice of America in Asia, populated with elegant neoclassical buildings, spacious parks, and home to thousands of U.S. servicemen and business executives who enjoyed the relaxed pace of the tropics. The outbreak of the war, however, brought an end to the good life. General Douglas MacArthur, hoping to protect the Pearl of the Orient, declared the Philippine capital an open city and evacuated his forces. The Japanese seized Manila on January 2, 1942, rounding up and interning thousands of Americans.

MacArthur, who escaped soon after to Australia, famously vowed to return. For nearly three years, he clawed his way north, obsessed with redeeming his promise and turning his earlier defeat into victory. By early 1945, he prepared to liberate Manila, a city whose residents by then faced widespread starvation. Convinced the Japanese would abandon the city as he did, MacArthur planned a victory parade down Dewey Boulevard. But the enemy had other plans. Determined to fight to the death, Japanese marines barricaded intersections, converted buildings into fortresses, and booby-trapped stores, graveyards, and even dead bodies.

The twenty-nine-day battle to liberate Manila resulted in the catastrophic destruction of the city and a rampage by Japanese forces that brutalized the civilian population. Landmarks were demolished, houses were torched, suspected resistance fighters were tortured and killed, countless women were raped, and their husbands and children were murdered. American troops had no choice but to battle the enemy, floor by floor and even room by room, through schools, hospitals, and even sports stadiums. In the end, an estimated 100,000 civilians lost their lives in a massacre as heinous as the Rape of Nanking.

Based on extensive research in the United States and the Philippines, including war-crimes testimony, after-action reports, and survivor interviews, Rampage recounts one of the most heartbreaking chapters of Pacific war history.

About the Speaker:

headshot of James Scott in professional attire A former Nieman Fellow at Harvard, James M. Scott is the author of Target Tokyo, which was a 2016 Pulitzer Prize finalist and was named one of the best books of the year by Kirkus, The Christian Science Monitor and The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. His other works include The War Below and The Attack on the Liberty, which won the Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison Award. His fourth book, Rampage, will be released on October 2, 2018. Scott lives with his wife and two children in Mt. Pleasant, SC.

Commentator: Dr. Richard Frank, Pacific War History, Inc., author of Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire

banner flyer for the Mid-Autumn Festival

9/20/18: Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration 中秋节庆祝活动

September 14, 2018May 18, 2021Archives & RecordingsLeave a Comment

Flyer for the Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration

On Thursday, September 20, 2018, the GW Confucius Institute will hold the 2018 Mid-Autumn Festival in the GW Confucius Institute townhouse. Guests will get a chance to taste the traditional holiday food, the famous mooncakes, and network with others who are interested in China and other Asian cultures. There will be materials available for you to hear about learning Chinese language and study abroad opportunities in Asia.

9/18/18: Asian Development Bank’s Role in Asia and the Pacific Region: Past Lessons and Future Challenges

September 11, 2018May 18, 2021Archives & RecordingsLeave a Comment

The Sigur Center for Asian Studies and the GW Institute for International Economic Policy cordially invite to a special discussion with Mr. Xianbin Yao, Special Senior Advisor to the President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Tuesday, September 18, 2018
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
Chung-wen Shih Conference Room
Suite 503
The Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street,NW

Washington, DC 20052

Mr. Xianbin Yao, Special Senior Advisor to the ADB President, will provide a historical perspective of ADB’s close partnership with developing countries in the Asia Pacific region. He will also discuss projected financing requirements to 2030 for infrastructure investment in the region, highlighting the sub-regional cooperation initiatives that are important factors driving this demand. The infrastructure investment needs of the region are huge and can only be met through coordinated efforts of governments, the private sector, multilateral financial institutions and bilateral donors.

About the Speaker:

Headshot of Xianbin Yao in professional attire

Mr. Xianbin Yao, Special Senior Advisor to the ADB President, has a wide range of development experience in the Asia Pacific region. He held several senior level positions within ADB, including Director General of the Pacific Department, Director General of Regional and Sustainable Development Department, Chief Compliance Officer of ADB, and Deputy Director General of East Asia and Central West Asia Regional Departments.

Deepa Ollapally, pictured in professional attire

Moderated by: Dr. Deepa M. Ollapally, Director of the Rising Powers Initiative and Research Professor of International Affairs, George Washington University.

satellite view of the Indian Ocean and surrounding landmasses

9/24/18: The Indo-Pacific and Regional Trends: Towards Connectivity or Conflict?

September 5, 2018July 14, 2021Archives & Recordings4 Comments

Monday, September 24, 2018
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
Room 505
The Elliott School of International Affairs
1957 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052

This event is co-sponsored with the Rising Powers Initiative

map of Belt and Road Initiative

The Sigur Center for Asian Studies and the Rising Powers Initiative will host an event on the Indo-Pacific to assess whether maritime and political trends in the region are advancing regional connectivity or setting the stage for greater mistrust and conflict. Experts on China, India and Japan will consider the nature of these countries’ Indo-Pacific strategies, whether these strategies are driven by economic or strategic motivations, how the Belt and Road Initiative and the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor are evolving, and implications for the role of the U.S.

This event is public and open to the media. Light refreshments will be available.

Speakers:

Mike Mochizuki, pictured in professional attire Robert Sutter, pictured in professional attire Jagannath Panda pictured with computer Deepa Ollapally, pictured in professional attire

(From left to right)

Dr. Mike Mochizuki, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, and Japan-U.S. Relations Chair in Memory of Gaston Sigur at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University; Co-Director, Memory and Reconciliation in the Asia-Pacific, Sigur Center for Asian Studies. Professor Mochizuki holds the Japan-U.S. Relations Chair in Memory of Gaston Sigur at the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University. Dr. Mochizuki was director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies from 2001 to 2005. He co-directs the “Memory and Reconciliation in the Asia-Pacific” research and policy project of the Sigur Center. Previously, he was a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He was also Co-Director of the Center for Asia-Pacific Policy at RAND and has taught at the University of Southern California and Yale University.

Dr. Robert Sutter, Professor of Practice of International Affairs; Director, B.A. Program in International Affairs, George Washington University. A Ph.D. graduate in History and East Asian Languages from Harvard University, Sutter taught full time for ten years at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and part-time for thirty years at Georgetown, George Washington, Johns Hopkins Universities, or the University of Virginia. He has published 21 books, over 200 articles and several hundred government reports dealing with contemporary East Asian and Pacific countries and their relations with the United States. His most recent books are: Foreign Relations of the PRC: The Legacies and Constraints of China’s International Politics since 1949 (Rowman & Littlefield 2018); US-China Relations: Perilous Past, Uncertain Present (Rowman & Littlefield 2018); Chinese Foreign Relations: Power and Policy Since the Cold War (Rowman & Littlefield 2016); The United States and Asia; Regional Dynamics and 21st Century Relations (Rowman & Littlefield 2015). Sutter’s government career (1968-2001) focused on Asian and Pacific affairs and US foreign policy. He was the Director of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division of the Congressional Research Service, the National Intelligence Officer for East Asia at the US National Intelligence Council, the China Division Director at the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and professional staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Dr. Jagannath Panda, Research Fellow and Coordinator of the East Asia Centre at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. Dr. Panda is primarily based out of New Delhi where he holds the position of Research Fellow and Centre Head for East Asia at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (ISDA) where he is in charge of the East Asia Centre’s academic and administrative activities. These include Track-II and Track 1.5 dialogues with the Chinese, Japanese and Korean think-tanks and institutes. He is a recipient of V. K. Krishna Menon Memorial Gold Medal (2000) from the Indian Society of International Law & Diplomacy in New Delhi. He is the author of India-China Relations: Politics of Resources, Identity and Authority in a Multipolar World Order (Routledge: 2016) and a Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Asian Public Policy (Routledge). He is also affiliated (honorary) to the Institute of Transnational Studies (ITS), Germany/Italy. Dr. Panda is the first South Asian scholar to receive the prestigious East Asia Institute (EAI) fellowship. He has also received a number of prestigious fellowships such as the STINT Asia Fellowship from Sweden, Carole Weinstein Fellowship from the University of Richmond, Virginia, USA; National Science Council (NSC) Visiting Professorship from Taiwan; Visiting Scholar (2012) at University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), USA and Visiting Fellowship from Shanghai Institute of International Studies (SIIS) in Shanghai, China. He has been invited as lead speaker to talks, seminars, conferences and symposiums and have also chaired prominent events. Dr. Panda has published in leading peer-reviewed journals like Journal of Asian Public Policy (Routledge), Journal of Asian and African Studies (Sage), Asian Perspective (Lynne Reiner), Journal of Contemporary China (Routledge), Georgetown Journal of Asian Affairs (Georgetown), Strategic Analyses (Routledge), China Report (Sage), Indian Foreign Affairs Journal (MD Publication), Portuguese Journal of International Affairs (Euro Press) etc.

Moderator: Dr. Deepa M. Ollapally, Director of the Rising Powers Initiative and Research Professor of International Affairs, George Washington University. Deepa Ollapally is directing a major research project on power and identity and the worldviews of rising and aspiring powers in Asia and Eurasia. Her research focuses on domestic foreign policy debates in India and its implications for regional security and global leadership of the U.S. Dr. Ollapally has received major grants from the Carnegie Corporation, MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Asia Foundation for projects related to India and Asia. She is a frequent commentator in the media, including appearances on CNN, BBC, CBS, Reuters TV and the Diane Rehm Show.

9/13/18: Japan’s Foreign Policy during an Era of Global Turbulence: Perspectives of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan

August 29, 2018May 14, 2021Archives & Recordings2 Comments

Mr. Yukio Edano’s Remarks (in Japanese)

Mr. Yukio Edano’s Remarks (in English)

Thursday, September 13, 2018
12:45 PM – 2:00 PM
State Room – 7th Floor
1957 E St. NW
Washington DC 20052

Since its sudden and energetic entrance in Japanese politics beginning with the October 2017 snap election in Japan’s House of Representatives, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) has become the largest opposition party in Japan. CDP leader Yukio Edano – former Chief Cabinet Secretary and Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan among other official positions – formed the party along the principles of progressive economics, civil rights, and pacifism, especially opposition to proposals to revise Article 9 of Japan’s postwar Constitution. As the CDP continues to make an impact in contemporary Japanese politics, what are the implications of its foreign policy perspectives for Japan, the region, and the world?

About the Speaker:

Mr. Yukio Edano is currently Leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), the largest opposition political party in Japan. He has been a member of the House of Representatives since 1993. Mr. Edano has served in numerous cabinet-level positions in the Japanese government: Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (2011-2012), Minister for Nuclear Incident Economic Countermeasures (2011-2012), Chief Cabinet Secretary (2011), Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs (2011), and Minister of State for Government Revitalization (2010-2011). Other positions held include Secretary-General of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ, later the Democratic Party, DP) (2010), Chairman of the Party’s Research Commission on the Constitution (2004 & 2013), Chair of the Party’s Research Commission on the Constitution (2010), and Head of Working Groups for Review of Government Programs, Government Revitalization Unit (2009). He graduated from the School of Law of Tohoku University, and registered as an Attorney in 1991.

Mike Mochizuki, pictured in professional attire

Moderator: Professor Mike Mochizuki holds the Japan-U.S. Relations Chair in Memory of Gaston Sigur at the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University. Dr. Mochizuki was director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies from 2001 to 2005. He co-directs the “Memory and Reconciliation in the Asia-Pacific” research and policy project of the Sigur Center. Previously, he was a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He was also Co-Director of the Center for Asia-Pacific Policy at RAND and has taught at the University of Southern California and Yale University.

9/10/18: The Great Australian China Debate: Issues and Implications for the United States and the World

August 27, 2018May 18, 2021Archives & Recordings1 Comment

Check out Prof. Rory Medcalf’s article on “Australia And China: understanding the reality check” in the link below!!

Link to Article

Monday, September 10, 2018
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
Room 505
1957 E St. NW
Washington DC 20052

Australian navy on the waters

As China increasingly exerts its power around the world, one country has become an unlikely front line in the contest for influence: Australia. This country recently introduced tough laws against foreign interference and espionage, followed by a decision effectively to ban Chinese corporates from its 5G network. These actions have defined Australia’s position at the leading edge of a global trend to push back against the ‘sharp power’ of China’s Communist Party in influencing the internal affairs of other states.

In this public lecture, prominent Australian strategic analyst Rory Medcalf will examine this vital US ally’s new assertion of its interests and independence. He will position Australia’s China debate in the broader dynamic of strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific region and consider wider implications for the United States, allies and partners in managing Chinese power while avoiding both capitulation and conflict.

Light refreshments will be available.

About the Speaker:

Portrait of Rory Medcalf, head of the National security College

Professor Rory Medcalf is Head of the National Security College at the Australian National University in Canberra. He has led the College’s expansion to leverage its academic and training programs as a key think tank for futures analysis and policy contestability in Australia’s national security community. His career spans diplomacy, intelligence analysis, think tanks, academia and journalism. He was founding director of the international security program at the Lowy Institute and an adviser on Australia’s 2016 Defence White Paper. Professor Medcalf is known internationally as an early proponent of the increasingly influential Indo-Pacific concept of the Asian strategic environment. He is a Nonresident Senior Fellow with the Brookings Institution.

Moderator: Benjamin D. Hopkins is a specialist in modern South Asian history, in particular that of Afghanistan, as well as British imperialism. His research focuses on the role of the colonial state in creating the modern states inhabiting the region. His first book, The Making of Modern Afghanistan, examined the efforts of the British East India Company to construct an Afghan state in the early part of the nineteenth century and provides a corrective to the history of the so-called ‘Great Game.’ His second book, Fragments of the Afghan Frontier, co-authored with anthropologist Magnus Marsden, pairs a complex historical narrative with rich ethnographic detail to conceptualize the Afghan frontier as a collection of discrete fragments which create continually evolving collage of meaning.

brown book cover with photo of Japanese surrender in WWII; text: Memory, Identity, and Commemorations of World War II edited by Daqing Yang and Mike Mochizuki foreword by Akira Iriye

8/31/18: Book Launch: Memory, Identity, and Commemorations of World War II – Anniversary Politics in Asia Pacific

August 10, 2018May 14, 2021Archives & Recordings, New Books in Asian StudiesLeave a Comment

Friday, August 31, 2018
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM EDT
Lindner Commons – Room 602
1957 E St. NW
Washington DC 20052

Book cover of Memory Identity and Commemorations of WWII

Why do some governments and societies attach great significance to a particular anniversary year whereas others seem less inclined to do so? What motivates the orchestration of elaborate commemorative activities in some countries? What are they supposed to accomplish, for both domestic and international audience? In what ways do commemorations in Asia Pacific fit into the global memory culture of war commemoration? In what ways are these commemorations intertwined with current international politics?

This book presents the first large-scale analysis of how countries in the Asia Pacific and beyond commemorated the seventieth anniversaries of the end of World War II. Consisting of in-depth case studies of China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines, United States, Russia, and Germany, this unique collective effort demonstrates how memories of the past as reflected in public commemorations and contemporary politics—both internal and international—profoundly affect each other.

About the Speakers:

Dr. Mike Mochizuki holds the Japan-U.S. Relations Chair in Memory of Gaston Sigur at the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University. Dr. Mochizuki was director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies from 2001 to 2005. He co-directs the “Memory and Reconciliation in the Asia-Pacific” research and policy project of the Sigur Center. Previously, he was a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He was also Co-Director of the Center for Asia-Pacific Policy at RAND and has taught at the University of Southern California and Yale University.

Daqing Yang, pictured in professional attire

Dr. Daqing Yang graduated from Nanjing University and received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. He specialized in the history of modern Japan. His research interests include the Japanese empire, technological developments in modern Japan, and the legacies of World War II in East Asia. In 2004, Dr. Yang was appointed a Historical Consultant to The Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group at the U.S. National Archives. Professor Yang is a founding co-director of the “Memory and Reconciliation in the Asia Pacific” program based in the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, and is currently working on a new project on postwar China-Japan reconciliation. He is the author of Technology of Empire: Telecommunications and Japanese Expansion in Asia, 1883-1945. He co-edited the following books: Historical Understanding that Transcend National Boundaries, which was published simultaneously in China and Japan; Rethinking Historical Injustice and Reconciliation in Northeast Asia; and Communications Under the Seas: The Evolving Cable Network and Its Implications.

Robert Sutter, pictured in professional attire

Dr. Robert Sutter is Professor of Practice of International Affairs at the Elliott School of George Washington University beginning in 2011. He also serves as the school’s Director, Program of Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs. A Ph.D. graduate in History and East Asian Languages from Harvard University, he has published 21 books, over 200 articles and several hundred government reports dealing with contemporary East Asian and Pacific countries and their relations with the United States. His most recent books are: Foreign Relations of the PRC: The Legacies and Constraints of China’s International Politics since 1949 (Rowman & Littlefield 2018); US-China Relations: Perilous Past, Uncertain Present (Rowman & Littlefield 2018); Chinese Foreign Relations: Power and Policy Since the Cold War (Rowman & Littlefield 2016); The United States and Asia: Regional Dynamics and 21st Century Relations (Rowman & Littlefield 2015). Professor Sutter’s government career (1968-2001) focused on Asian and Pacific affairs and US foreign policy.

Dr. Lily Gardner Feldman is currently the Harry & Helen Gray Senior Fellow at AICGS at Johns Hopkins University. She also directs the Institute’s Society, Culture & Politics Program. She has a PhD in Political Science from MIT. Dr. Gardner Feldman has published widely in the U.S. and Europe on German foreign policy, German-Jewish relations, international reconciliation, non-state entities as foreign policy players, and the EU as an international actor. Her latest publications are: Germany’s Foreign Policy of Reconciliation: From Enmity to Amity, 2014; “Die Bedeutung zivilgesellschaftlicher und staatlicher Institutionen: Zur Vielfalt und Komplexität von Versöhnung,” in Corine Defrance and Ulrich Pfeil, eds., Verständigung und Versöhnung, 2016; and “The Limits and Opportunities of Reconciliation with West Germany During the Cold War: A Comparative Analysis of France, Israel, Poland and Czechoslovakia” in Hideki Kan, ed., The Transformation of the Cold War and the History Problem, 2017 (in Japanese). Her work on Germany’s foreign policy of reconciliation has led to lecture tours in Japan and South Korea.

Dr. Christine Kim is Associate Professor of Teaching in the School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University. An historian by training, she teaches courses on modern Korea and East Asia at both the undergraduate and graduate levels; topics include comparative colonialisms, twentieth century conflicts, political symbolism, and film. Her research and writing focus on national identity, material culture, and political movements. The King Is Dead (forthcoming) explores the ways that colonization and modernization influenced Korean polity and identity during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She is also engaged in a study examining cultural heritage and arts management in Korea in the twentieth century. Kim is the recipient of numerous fellowships, including ones from the Department of Education (Fulbright-Hays), the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Korea Foundation, the Academy of Korean Studies, and the East-West Center.

historical photo of Taraknath Das with white border

8/29/18: Migration, Surveillance, and Inter-Imperial Spaces: Taraknath Das in North America, 1908–1925

August 9, 2018December 9, 2021Archives & RecordingsLeave a Comment

Wednesday, August 29, 2018
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
Chung-wen Shih Conference Room
1957 E St. NW, Suite 503
Washington DC 20052

This event is free and open to the public and media.

black and white photo of Taraknath Das

“The Tyee: the Book of the Class of
1912″ Vol. X11, 1911 p.33

This discussion will consider the impact and significance of South Asians in U.S. and Canada borderlands in the early twentieth century, a period of rising global white supremacy and the “global color line,” through the experience of Taraknath Das, an itinerant nationalist and political activist. By considering the itinerary of Das in the first two decades of the twentieth century – from study in the Norwich military academy to service in the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1907-08, work with the Ghadar movement, arrest and conviction in the Hindu-German Conspiracy Trial of 1917-18, imprisonment in Leavenworth prison through 1919, and subsequent education and writings – this discussion will explore the nationalism of “expatriate patriots” as seen within the context of settler colonialism and the frontiers of expanding settler states. Finally, Dr. Bose will briefly comment on how a study of this topic advances discussions about the role of Asians in settler contexts, referencing recent debates in North America as well as the significance of Das, and his contemporaries, for a study of Indian nationalism.

Light refreshments will be available. This event is on the record and open to the media.

About the Speaker:

Headshot of Neilesh Bose in brown shirt Neilesh Bose is Assistant Professor of History and Canada Research Chair of Global and Comparative History at the University of Victoria in Victoria, BC, CANADA. Dr. Bose is an historian of modern South Asia with interests in colonialism and decolonization, settler colonialisms, migration, nationalism, literary history, and intellectual history. Published work includes the book Recasting the Region: Language, Culture, and Islam in Colonial Bengal (Oxford, 2014) as well as journal articles and review essays in Modern Asian Studies, the Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, and Modern Intellectual History, among others. Current work features a biography of Taraknath Das, the itinerant nationalist and activist (1884-1958) as well as a special edition of South Asian History and Culture about decolonization across East and West Bengal.