Asian Studies Graduate Student Conference

Asian Studies Graduate Student Conference

 Department of Asian Studies

University of British Columbia

 FREE and open to the public!

What is the Asian Studies Graduate Student Conference?

The Annual Asian Studies Graduate Student Conference is a day of presentations by graduate students from the Asian Studies department, featuring special guest presenters unique to each year. Participants in the conference will present their original research, engage in accompanying discussions on their papers or presentations, and enjoy refreshments while meeting and talking with scholars working in a wide variety of disciplines and regions.

 

Upcoming Event:

TBD

 

Past Event List

2025:

Saturday 8 March, 2025 (10:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Asian Centre Auditorium, 1871 West Mall, Vancouver, BC)

 

2024:

Sunday 3 March, 2024 (9:00 AM – 5:00 PM; Asian Centre Auditorium, 1871 West Mall, Vancouver, BC)

 

2023:

Saturday 4 March, 2023  (8:30 AM – 5:30 PM; Room 120 at C.K. Choi Building, 1855 West Mall, Vancouver, BC)

2023 Asian Studies Graduate Student Conference

 

2020:

Sunday 1 March, 2020 (9:00 AM – 5:30 PM; Asian Centre Auditorium, 1871 West Mall, Vancouver, BC)

2020 Asian Studies Graduate Student Conference

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Sunera Thobani

 

2019:

Saturday 9 March, 2019 (9:30 AM – 5:00 PM; Room 120, C.K. Choi Building, 1855 West Mall, Vancouver BC)

Asian Studies Graduate Conference 2019

 

2018:

Sunday 10 March, 2019 (10:00 AM – 3:30 PM; Asian Centre Auditorium, 1871 West Mall, Vancouver, BC)

2018 Graduate Student Conference

 

2017:

Saturday 11 March, 2017 

2017 Graduate Student Conference

Panel discussions from Dr. Christina Yi, Dr. Bruce Rusk, Dr. Ross King, Dr. Jessica Main and Dr. Hyung-Gu Lynn from the Department of Asian Studies

 

2016:

Saturday 12 March, 2016

2016 Graduate Student Conference

Opening and closing talks from Dr. Ross King and Dr. Christopher Rea from the Department of Asian Studies

 

2015:

Saturday 11 April, 2015

2015 Graduate Student Conference

Opening and closing talks from Dr. Stefania Burk, Dr. Anne Murphy, and Dr. Ross King from the Department of Asian Studies

 

2014:

Saturday 5 April, 2014

2014 Graduate Student Conference

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Daisuke Miyao, Associate Professor of Japanese Film and Chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Literature at the University of Oregon

 

2013:

Saturday 9 March, 2013

2013 Graduate Student Conference

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Rebecca Copeland, Professor and Chair of Department of Japanese Language and Literature at Washington University in St. Louis

 

2012:

Saturday 12 May, 2012

2012 Graduate Student Conference

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Melek Ortabasi, Director and Associate Professor of the World Literature program at Simon Fraser University

Tianzhu-Hurvitz Lecture Series

 Department of Asian Studies

University of British Columbia

 FREE and open to the public!

About the Tianzhu-Hurvitz Lecture: 

We are proud to announce the UBC Tianzhu-Hurvitz Lecture Series, named for prominent academic and pioneer in the field of Buddhist Studies, Dr. Leon Hurvitz. Dr. Hurvitz’s fascination with medieval Japanese led him to explore Buddhism, which became his main passion. He published numerous monumental works over the course of his career while also teaching at UBC Department of Asian Studies for nearly twenty years. This lecture series invites distinguished scholars around the world to share and discuss their research at UBC in honour of Dr. Hurvitz’s contributions to the field. Learn more here

 

Next Upcoming Lecture:

(TBD)

 

Past Lecture List

2021:

Thursday 22 April, 2021 (9:00 – 10:30 AM; Online via Zoom)

Ethics of Ambiguity in Chan and Existentialism

Wendi L. Adamek (Professor in the Department of Classics and Religion, University of Calgary)

 

2020:

Friday 9 October, 2020 (8:00 – 9:30 AM; Online via Zoom)

Karma in Chinese Buddhist Historiography

John Kieschnick (Professor of Buddhist Studies, Stanford University)

 

2019:

Thursday 7 November, 2019 (2:30 – 4:00 PM; Asian Centre Auditorium: 1871 West Mall, Vancouver, BC)

FROGBEAR Guest Lecture: Through Altruism to Enlightenment

Dr. Rey-Sheng Her 何日生 (Tzu Chi Foundation)

 

Asian Studies Careers Night

 Department of Asian Studies

University of British Columbia

What is Asian Studies Careers Night? 

Navigating life after graduation can be hard, so each year we bring in alumni with diverse experiences – at home and in Asia – to inform and inspire current students. The special feature of our Careers Nights revolve around robin networking sessions between current and prospective Asian Studies students and Asian Studies Alumni from various job fields. In our in-person events, we also had raffle prizes, and delicious free dinners! Careers Night is the perfect opportunity to make connections, meet fellow Asian Studies students, and feel more confident in taking the next steps on your career path.

 

Upcoming Event:

TBD

 

Past Events List

2024:

Thursday, 21 March 2024 (5:30 – 7:45PM; Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre, 6163 University Blvd, Vancouver, BC)

2024 Asian Studies Annual Careers Night

Featuring: (Guest Speakers) H.E. Mr. Shawn Steil, Ambassador of Canada to Vietnam; Robyn Stalkie, Career Strategist, UBC Career Centre and Faculty of Arts

 

2023:

Thursday, 16 March 2023 (6:00 – 8:00PM; Arts Student Centre, 1860 E Mall, Vancouver, BC)

2023 Asian Studies Annual Careers Night

Featuring: (Guest Speaker) Carli Rebecca Fink, Career Strategist, Arts – Centre for Student Involvement and Careers

 

2022:

Thursday, 17 March 2022 (6:00 – 7:30PM; online via Zoom)

2022 Asian Studies Annual Careers Night

 

2021:

Friday, 12 March 2021 (5:30 – 7:00PM; online via Zoom)

2021 Asian Studies Annual Careers Night

Featuring: (Guest Speaker) H.E. Dr. Sarah Taylor – Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Canada – Embassy of Canada Kingdom of Thailand, Kingdom of Cambodia and Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Panel: Conversations with Asian Studies Alumni: Identifying Skills and Possibilities

 

2020:

Thursday, 12 March 2020 (6:00 – 8:30 PM; Jack Poole Hall, Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre 6163 University Blvd, Vancouver, BC)

2020 Asian Studies Annual Careers Night

Featuring: (Guest Speaker) Juliana de Souza, Career Strategist, Arts – Centre for Student Involvement and Careers

 

2019:

Friday, 16 January 2019 (6:00 – 8:00 PM; Jack Poole Hall, Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre, 6163 University Blvd, Vancouver, BC)

2019 Asian Studies Annual Careers Night
Panel: Early Career Success (and Challenges) with a Degree in Asian Studies

 

2018:

Tuesday, 6 March 2018 (6:00 – 8:00 PM; Auditorium, Asian Centre 1871 West Mall, Vancouver, BC )

2018 Asian Studies Annual Careers Night
Keynote: Finding success in Canada-Asia relations with a degree in Asian Studies

Featuring: (Guest Speaker) Rachael Bedlington, Consul General of Canada in Guangzhou, China.

 

A Timely Message from the Cave: The Mahāmudrā and Intellectual Agenda of dGe-bshes Brag-phug-pa dGe-’dun-rin-chen (1926–1997), the Sixty-Ninth rJe-mkhan-po of Bhutan by Dagmar Schwerk (2020)

Publication title: A Timely Message from the Cave: The Mahāmudrā and Intellectual Agenda of dGe-bshes Brag-phug-pa dGe-’dun-rin-chen (1926–1997), the Sixty-Ninth rJe-mkhan-po of Bhutan

Publication year: 2020

Author: Dagmar Schwerk

book cover

About the book

This book addresses the long-lasting debate about the Mahāmudrā doctrine and meditative system that was first elicited through Sakya Paṇḍita (1182–1252)’s systematic critique in the thirteenth century. Not only has Dr. Schwerk made the positions of eminent Bhutanese Drukpa Kagyü masters between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries from the Drukpa Kagyü school accessible to English-speaking readers but she has also provided an in-depth analysis of the Mahāmudrā interpretation by the Sixty-ninth Chief Abbot of Bhutan Geshe Drapukpa Gendün Rinchen (1926–97). Furthermore, she documented and discussed the life of this renowned Buddhist master from the Drukpa Kagyü school on the basis of Tibetan autobiographical and biographical sources and his collected works in ten volumes.

Click here to read a Q&A interview with Dagmar about the book-writing process at the UBC Himalaya Program website.

Below is a link to the media kit which provides further information on the publication:
A Timely Message from the Cave – Media Kit

Peace Corps Volunteers and the Making of Korean Studies in the United States, contributed by Bruce Fulton and Don Baker (2020)

Publication title: Peace Corps Volunteers and the Making of Korean Studies in the United States

Publication year: 2020

Author: Contributions by Bruce Fulton and Don Baker

About the book

From 1966 through 1981 the Peace Corps sent more than two thousand volunteers to South Korea, to teach English and provide healthcare. A small yet significant number of them returned to the United States and entered academia, forming the core of a second wave of Korean studies scholars. How did their experiences in an impoverished nation still recovering from war influence their intellectual orientation and choice of study—and Korean studies itself?

In this volume, former volunteers who became scholars of the anthropology, history, and literature of Korea reflect on their experiences during the period of military dictatorship, on gender issues, and on how random assignments led to lifelong passion for the country. Two scholars who were not volunteers assess how Peace Corps service affected the development of Korean studies in the United States. Kathleen Stephens, the former US ambassador to the Republic of Korea and herself a former volunteer, contributes an afterword.

One Left, co-translated by Bruce Fulton and Ju-chan Fulton (2020)

Publication title: One Left

Publication year: 2020

Author: Translated by Bruce and Ju-chan Fulton

About the book

During the Pacific War, more than 200,000 Korean girls were forced into sexual servitude for Japanese soldiers. They lived in horrific conditions in “comfort stations” across Japanese-occupied territories. Barely 10 percent survived to return to Korea, where they lived as social outcasts. Since then, self-declared comfort women have come forward only to have their testimonies and calls for compensation largely denied by the Japanese government.

Kim Soom tells the story of a woman who was kidnapped at the age of thirteen while gathering snails for her starving family. The horrors of her life as a sex slave follow her back to Korea, where she lives in isolation gripped by the fear that her past will be discovered. Yet, when she learns that the last known comfort woman is dying, she decides to tell her there will still be “one left” after her passing, and embarks on a painful journey.

One Left is a provocative, extensively researched novel constructed from the testimonies of dozens of comfort women. The first Korean novel devoted to this subject, it rekindled conversations about comfort women as well as the violent legacies of Japanese colonialism. This first-ever English translation recovers the overlooked and disavowed stories of Korea’s most marginalized women.

Mind and Body in Early China by Edward Slingerland (2018)

Publication title: Mind and Body in Early China

Publication year: 2018

Author: Edward Slingerland

About the book

Mind and Body in Early China critiques Orientalist accounts of early China as the radical, “holistic” other. The idea that the early Chinese held the “strong” holist view, seeing no qualitative difference between mind and body, has long been contradicted by traditional archeological and qualitative textual evidence. New digital humanities methods, along with basic knowledge about human cognition, now make this position untenable. A large body of empirical evidence suggests that “weak” mind-body dualism is a psychological universal, and that human sociality would be fundamentally impossible without it.

Edward Slingerland argues that the humanities need to move beyond social constructivist views of culture, and embrace instead a view of human cognition and culture that integrates the sciences and the humanities. Our interpretation of texts and artifacts from the past and from other cultures should be constrained by what we know about the species-specific, embodied commonalities shared by all humans. This book also attempts to broaden the scope of humanistic methodologies by employing team-based qualitative coding and computer-aided “distant reading” of texts, while also drawing upon our current best understanding of human cognition to transform our basic starting point. It has implications for anyone interested in comparative religion, early China, cultural studies, digital humanities, or science-humanities integration.

Nusantara’s Indigenous Knowledge co-edited by Thomas Hunter (2020)

Publication title: Nusantara’s Indigenous Knowledge

Publication year: 2020

Author: Co-edited by Thomas Hunter

About the book

The ten chapters in this volume represent a breakthrough in the study of the Social Sciences and Humanities crafted by the professors and graduate students of the Faculty of Cultural Studies of the University of Indonesia (Universitas Indonesia). Taken together, these fascinating studies of Indonesian textual, cultural and social traditions represent the beginning of a process of formulating the study of the humanities and social sciences of one of Indonesia’s premier universities as “interpretive communities” that can bring contemporary methods and methodologies to bear on the study of contemporary society, the historical legacies of contemporary society and the many forms of local knowledge found are a part of the fabric of Indonesian life. The title of the work “Local Knowledge of Nusantara” invokes both the growing importance of traditional cultural and social patterns in formulating Indonesian identities, and through the term Nusantara the long and colorful cultural history of Indonesia as a geographical area encompassing diverse cultures that yet share common goals and aspirations.

The riches of the local wisdom of Nusantara are revealed in these chapters through the study of inscriptions, manuscripts, storytelling traditions, rituals, musical performances and social patterns that constitute the fabric of life in this great island nation. The geographical and cultural spread of the chapters is quite broad, ranging from a study of the asymmetrical marriage system of the Angkola Batak ethnicity of Sumatra and its role in preserving cultural autonomy to studies of performance practices of the Betawi ethnicity of the Jakarta region of Java and the Banjar ethnicity of southern Kalimantan (Borneo)

Such diversity makes the book an important reference work for students and professionals in the Social Sciences and Humanities, as well as for members of the reading public with an interest in comparing cultural identities and local wisdom from different ethnicities of Nusantara through manuscripts, inscriptions, oral traditions and socio-cultural practices. The volume brings to public attention two important issues related to Nusantara’s local wisdom. These are how oral tradition becomes a space for storing collective memories and how Nusantara’s local cultures survive and adapt themselves to transformations in contemporary society. Due to the highly diverse nature of the data that forms the basis of these studies, the theories, approaches and methods of research offered in this book are also various. Several important manuscripts and inscriptional records are studied using the approaches of philology and codicology. The study of oral tradition, on the other hand, has been carried out through ethnographic work, specifically through interviews and field observation. The authors of several chapters have put into practice a number of differing theoretical approaches including structuralism and the emerging discipline of memetic studies, while others look to studies of intertextuality, ethnography, and sociology. These methodologies have been applied to the study of textual, performance and social practices represented in the volume in ways that are sure to spark the interest of a wide readership.

Chinese Film Classics, 1922–1949 by Christopher Rea (2021)

Publication title: Chinese Film Classics, 1922–1949

Publication year: 2021

Author: Christopher Rea

About the book

Chinese Film Classics, 1922–1949 is an essential guide to the first golden age of Chinese cinema. Offering detailed introductions to fourteen films, this study highlights the creative achievements of Chinese filmmakers in the decades leading up to 1949, when the Communists won the civil war and began nationalizing cultural industries.

Christopher Rea reveals the uniqueness and complexity of Republican China’s cinematic masterworks, from the comedies and melodramas of the silent era to the talkies and musicals of the 1930s and 1940s. Each chapter appraises the artistry of a single film, highlighting its outstanding formal elements, from cinematography to editing to sound design. Examples include the slapstick gags of Laborer’s Love (1922), Ruan Lingyu’s star turn in Goddess (1934), Zhou Xuan’s mesmerizing performance in Street Angels (1937), Eileen Chang’s urbane comedy of manners Long Live the Missus! (1947), the wartime epic Spring River Flows East (1947), and Fei Mu’s acclaimed work of cinematic lyricism, Spring in a Small Town (1948). Rea shares new insights and archival discoveries about famous films, while explaining their significance in relation to politics, society, and global cinema. Lavishly illustrated and featuring extensive guides to further viewings and readings, Chinese Film Classics, 1922–1949 offers an accessible tour of China’s early contributions to the cinematic arts.

The Spirit of the Modern Intellectual Aristocracy edited by Josephine Chiu-Duke (2020)