Past Events
Second Time's a Charm for U of A Student with Dream to Study Abroad
May 8, 2017
Khloe Benton, a University of Arkansas sophomore, has been awarded a Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study abroad this summer. Benton will spend five weeks in Japan as part of an international business seminar led by economics professor Robert Stapp.
The scholarship program, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, is intended to increase international experiences for American students, so they will be better prepared to thrive in the increasingly global economy. The scholarship will cover up to $5,000 of Benton's study abroad costs.
U of A Sophomore Selected for Nationally Competitive Study Abroad Award
April 28, 2017
Analeigh Ulrich, a University of Arkansas sophomore, has won a Freeman-ASIA award to study abroad in Japan this summer. The nationally competitive award supports undergraduates planning to study abroad in East or Southeast Asia.
The international studies and East Asian studies major will be part of two-month intensive Japanese language program at Osaka Gakuin University. Participants are allowed to use only limited English throughout the program's duration, so Ulrich is looking forward to making strides in her Japanese language ability.
Two U of A Students Get a Jump-Start on Their Careers
April 18, 2017
Most college students plan to graduate and pursue lucrative careers, but do they ever think about the competition? In order to land that "dream job," applicants must have skills that set them above other candidates.
Japanese language learners David Black and Emily Matlock have increased their marketability by learning a second language and passing the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). The exam, which measures the Japanese-language proficiency of non-native speakers, is used to advance education and find employment. It is also the only certification exam authorized by the Japanese government, and the University of Arkansas is one of only 15 JLPT test sites in the U.S.
Re-inventing Culture in China's Xinjiang Province, Lecture and Performance
Thursday, April 20, 2017 at 6:00pm
Giffels Auditorium, Old Main
Elise Anderson, a doctoral candidate for dual degrees in Folklore & Ethnomusicology and Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University-Bloomington, will present "Sufi Music in an Age of Terror: the Persistence of the Uyghur Muqam as Public Symbol in the PRC," a special guest lecture co-sponsored by the King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies and the Asian Studies Program at the University of Arkansas' Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.
Ethnomusicologist Frederick Lau to Give Talk on Chinese Culture for Asian Studies Speaker Series
Thursday, April 13, 2017 at 8:00pm
HOEC Room 102
Dr. Frederick Lau of the University of Hawaii at Manoa will give the 2017 Mulberry-Leaf Lecture, as part of the Asian Studies Speaker Series, at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 13, in the Human Environmental Sciences Building (HOEC) Room 102. His lecture is titled "Listening to Chinese Music, Learning about Chinese Culture." He will also give a lecture demo in the Department of Music and meet with students from a number of departments during the week.
Asian Studies Program Receives Federal Grant to Enhance Curriculum
March 31, 2017
The Asian Studies Program in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is expanding its curriculum, thanks to an Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Languages Program grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
The $52,608 grant, awarded in the fall, has three major objectives - to strengthen Chinese and Asian language classes, to create a new minor in Chinese studies, and to develop an Asian business concentration for non-business students.
Murniati's Research Tells the Stories of the 'Forgotten'
March 15, 2017
Tri Murniati, Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies doctoral student, is using her research to tell the stories of Indonesian domestic workers.
The goal of her research is to change the 'mindset' of readers about domestic workers, and map Indonesian migrant writing's position in the world of immigrant writing.
She has been accepted to attend the 2017 Asian Graduate Student Fellowship at the National University of Singapore. During this six-week program, Murniati will collect supporting materials for her research on Indonesian domestic workers.
Event History
Flute & Shakuhachi Graduate Recital: Cali Alexander
Wednesday, May 4th, 2016 at 7:00 pm
Giffels Auditorium (2nd floor of Old Main)
Admission is free and
the public is welcome.
2016 Asian Studies Photo Contest!
Contest: April 18th - September 9th
Contest details in flyer
The Asian Studies Program in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is having a competition to choose a new banner for our Facebook page. Three winners will be chosen by an expert panel of faculty and staff. All three winning photos will be periodically rotated on our Facebook banner, and we will create a photo album featuring all the photos submitted. Students who have studied abroad in Asia are encouraged to submit their photos to this competition. The contest is open between April 18th and September 9, 2016. Submit your photo now for a chance to win a gift certificate to a local restaurant!
THE MIDDLE WAY OF THE MIDDLE KINGDOM: A POLITICAL ECONOMIC READ ON XI'S ONGOING REFORM
Thursday, February 4, 3:15 pm - 4:30 pm
Leflar Law Center, Room 328
Prof. Dongsheng Di, an expert on the Chinese political economy from Renmin University of China. This event is free and open to the public.
ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM, BUREAUCRATIC ACCESS, AND POLICY INFLUENCE: EXPLAINING TRADE LIBERALIZATION DURING CHINA’S WTO ACCESSION
Thursday, April 2, 2:00 pm- 3:15 pm
Leflar Law Center, Room 240
Dr. Xiaojun Li, Assistant Professor Department of Political Science, University of British Columbia & Harvard-Princeton China and the World Fellow.
Xi Jinping: Economic Reforms and Authoritarian Politics
Thursday, April 9, 3:30 pm- 5:00 pm
Giffels Auditorium, Old Main (Room 201)
Dr. Barry Naughton, So Kwanlok Chair of Chinese International Affairs
Graduate School of International Relations &
Pacific Studies (IR/PS)
University of California, San Diego
The Rise of Unconventional Fuels and Their Impact on Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) Energy Relations with the Asia-Pacific Region
Thursday, February 26, 3:30pm- 5:00pm
Leflar Law Center, Room 342 (see flyer for details)
Manochehr Dorraj is a professor of political Science at Texas Christian University. His recent publications on Middle East-Asia relations include:“The Dragon Nests: China’s Energy Engagement of the Middle East” (w/ J. English); “Iran-China Relations and the Changing Political Map” (w/ J. English); “China’s Strategy for Energy Acquisition in the Middle East: Potential for Conflict and Cooperation with the United States”; China’s Energy Relations with the Developing World(w/ C. Currier); “China’s Quest for Energy Security in the Middle East: Strategic Implications” (w/ C. Currier). Professor Dorraj has given numerous interviews on global, Middle Eastern and Asian affairs to international and national media, including the Associated Press, United Press International, Agence France Press, The New York Times, PBS, National Public Radio, and The Economist.
Asian Studies Mixer
Wednesday, February 11, 3:30pm- 5:00pm
Arkansas Union, Room 513-514 (see flyer for details)
You are invited to come to meet with peers and faculty. There will be prizes as well. Hope to see you there.
Tracing the Forgotten: Personal Letters of Soldiers and Low-ranking Officials in Early China
Monday, April 21st, 2014, 2:00pm- 3:30pm
KIMP 308
Dr. Charles Sanft
Assistant Professor
Department of History
University of Tennessee
Chinese Internet and the World: Connectivity, Contestation, and Tradition
Thursday, April 17th, 2014, 4:00pm- 5:15pm
Hillside Auditorium 206
Dr. Guobin Yang
Assistant Professor
Communication and Sociology Annenberg School for Communication & Department of Sociology
University of Pennsylvania
Japanese Politics Now: Abenomics, The Trans-Pacific Partnership and Beyond
Wednesday, February 5, 2014, 3:45pm- 5:00pm
Giffels Auditorium, Old Main
Dr. Kiroki Takeuchi
Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
Fellow, John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies
Southern Methodist University
Discerning Why Patients Die: Subsurface Tangles of Law and Plitics in Japan, Taiwan, and the United States
November 20, 2013, 5:30pm- 6:30pm
JBHT 144
Robert B Leflar
Ben J. Altheimer Professor of Legal Advocacy
University of Arkansas School of Law
Professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Visiting Professor at Tokyo (Law) and Keio (Medicine) Universities, Japan
Outdoor Ceremony Celebrating 20 years of Exchange between Shimane University and the University of Arkansas
Wednesday, September 18, 2013, 1:30 p.m.
Between Ozark Hall and Old Main~ University of Arkansas
Commemorated with a gift of cherry trees
from the Consulate General of Japan-Nashville
Zhuangzi: How to Read a Text without an Author
September 18, 2013, 5:30pm- 6:30pm
JBHT 144
Professor Paul R. Goldin
University of Pennsylvania
Asian Studies Speakers Series Presents:
"A Tale of Two Nobels: Liu Xiaobo and Mo Yan"
April 25, 2013, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
SCEN 101
Dr. Perry Link
Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature and Foreign Languages
University of California, Riverside
Cultures of Sound: Lineages of Sutra Recitation in Medieval Japan
March 26, 2013, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Giffels Auditorium (Old Main 201)
Charlotte Eubanks
The Pennsylvania State University
poster (.pdf) | About Charlotte Eubanks | More Talk Info
Reaching the Borderlands: Protestant Missionary Support for Chinese Civilizing Mission in Tibet, 1900-1949
February 28, 2013, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Giffels Auditorium (Old Main 201)
Jeffery Kyong-McClain
Assistant Professor of History,
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Choice or Virtuosity: Buddhist Reflection on the Meaning of Freedom
October 17, 2012, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Giffels Auditorium (Old Main 201)
Dr. Peter Hershock
Director, Asian Studies Development Program East-West Center, Honolulu, HI
China and the Multilateral Trading System
April 23, 2012, 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM
Kimpel 105
Dr. Xiaodong Wang
Counsellor for Market Access, Trade Policy, and Asia Office of the Director-General
World Trade Organization
Empire and Information in Twelfth- and Thirteenth- Century China
March 15, 2012, 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
JBHT 144
Hilde De Weerdt
Professor of Chinese History
University of Oxford
William Egan Colby and the "Other" Cold War in Vietnam
March 1, 2012, 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
JBHT 144
Randall Woods
Distinguished Professor, John A. Cooper Professor of History
20th Century US, US Diplomatic
History Department
University of Arkansas
James McNeil Whistler and 19th-Century Japonisme
November 17th, 2011, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
KIMP 105
Daniel Sutherland
Distinguished Professor, History Department
University of Arkansas
The Dew on the Grass or the Yogurty Little Lump: Medieval Chinese Conceptualization of Fetus and Fetal Development?
Oct 20th, 2011, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
KIMP 105
Jessey J.C. Choo
Assistant Professor, History Department
University of Missouri, Kansas City
China's Place in the Early Modern World: A New Historiography
Thursday, September 29, 2011, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Old Main, Giffels Auditorium
Presented by Benjamin Elman, Chair of the Department of East Asian Studies, Princeton University
Sponsored by the History Department, Asian Studies Program, the Center for the Study of Early Asian and Middle Eastern Musics, and the Honors College.
Corporate Social Responsibility Panel
Wednesday, September 21, 2011, 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Walton College Room 203
Presented by Asian Studies, Political Science & the Walton College of Business
International Symposium on China & Global Trade Governance: China's 10-year Experience in the World Trade Organization
Friday, April 29, 2011- 8:45 AM - 5:30 PM
Arkansas Union
Presented by Asian Studies & the Department of Political Science
poster (.pdf) | conference agenda (.pdf)
The Poetics of Diplomacy: Rethinking the Emergence of Poetry in Early East Asia
Thursday, March 3, 2011- 4:00 PM
JB Hunt 216
Dr. Wiebke Denecke
Assistant Professor of Chinese, Japanese, and Comparative Literature in the Modern
Languages & Comparative Literature Department at Boston University
Presented by Asian Studies & the Department of Political Science
Asian Studies Speaker Series
Thursday, September 30, 2010- 3:30 PM
JBHT Room 216
Dr. Robert Finlay, Professor of History,
University of Arkansas
Porcelain Stories: From China to the World
Asian Studies Speaker Series
Thursday, April 22, 2010- 2:00 PM
Old Main 417
Kun Qian, Assistant Professor of Chinese, Asian Studies,
University of Richmond
Becoming Minority: Wolf Totem & An Alternative
History of Chinese Empire
Asian Studies Speaker Series
Thursday, April 8, 2010- 4:00 PM
Kimpel Hall 105
Keith N. Knapp, Professor of East Asian HIstory,
Chair of The Citadel's Department of History, &
the Westvaco Professor of National Security Studies
Exemplary Everymen: Confucian Commoners in Early Medieval China
Asian Studies Speaker Series
Thursday, January 21, 2010- 4:00 PM
Kimpel Hall 105
Suisheng Zhao, Professor and Executive Director, International Studies, University
of Denver
US-China Relations during Obama's First Year
Asian Studies Speaker Series
Thursday, November 19, 2009- 4:00 PM
Kimpel Hall 105
Dr. Hui Wu, Professor of Rhetoric and Composition and Comparative Studies, Chair,
Department of Literature and Languages, University of Texas, Tyler
The Concept of Human in Chinese Culture
Asian Studies Speaker Series
Thursday, October 15, 2009- 4:00 PM
Kimpel Hall 105
Guolong Lai, Professor of Chinese Art and Archaeology, University of Florida
Burial and the Transformation of Early Chinese Religion, Zaoyang Jiuliandun (c. 4th
century B.C.E.) Burial Site
Mulberry-Leaf Lectures in Early Asian Musics
Thursday, September, 2009- 4:00 PM
Old Main, Giffels Auditorium
Robert Bagley, Professor of Early Chinese Art and Archaeology, Princeton University
The Archaeology of Music in China, The Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng (d. 433 BC)
Asian Studies Speaker Series
Thursday, February 26th 2009 - 2:00 PM
Science Building 418
Dr. Andrew Mertha Department of Government Cornell University
China's Recent Political Pluralization of the Policy Process: Lessons from Hydropower
and International Trade
Asian Studies Speaker Series
Friday, February 20th 2009 - 11:30 AM
Giffels Auditorium - Old Main
Russell Bearden - Department of History Southeast Arkansas College
Japanese American Wartime Internment in Arkansas:
Why Arkansas and the Consequences?
Asian Studies Speaker Series
Thursday, November 6, 2008 at 3pm
Holcomb Hall Room 104F
Dr. John Kennedy - Department of Political Science, University of Kansas
Out of the Shadows: Identifying the "Missing Girls" in Shaanxi
Asian Studies Speaker Series
Thursday October 23, 2008 at 3pm
Holcombe Hall Room 104F
Dr. Hwee-San Tan
Sounds of the Human World: Globalising Buddhist Music as an Expression of Spirituality
Yu Siu-Wah
Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at 8pm
Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall, Fine Arts Center
A Soiree of solo music for the Chinese two-stringed fiddle Er-Hu
Professor Yu Siu-Wah
Tuesday, October 21, 2008 at 11am
Mullins Library, Room 104
Silkworm: Talks in Early Asian Musics
poster (.pdf) | Yu Siu-Wah (.pdf)
Mulberry-Leaf Lecture '08
Mary M. Dusenbury
Tuesday, October 21, 2008 at 4pm
Mullins Library
Trollops, Tropes and Transformations: Costumes in Medieval and Early Modern Dance/Drama in Japan
poster (.pdf) | Mary M. Dusenbury (.pdf)
Dr. Huaiyu Chen and Dr. Houbin Liu
Thursday October 9, 2008 at 3pm
Holdcomb Hall Room 104F
Medieval Prayers for the Buddhist Lantern Ritual from Dunhuang
poster (.pdf)