On Friday, Sept. 26, and Saturday, Sept. 27, Hamilton will host the 2008 New York Conference on Asian Studies (NYCAS). The conference will present panels, roundtable discussions, exhibitions and a film screening on the theme, "Cultural Connections, Convergences, and Collisions: Past and Present." Registration is complimentary for interested Hamilton, Colgate, Utica College, and SUNY IT students and faculty. The film screening, exhibitions, keynote address and roundtable discussions are free and open to the public.
The focus of the conference will be to explore questions related to the possible reorientation of Asian studies as the effects of globalization shift perspectives of and approaches to the field. Conference presenters include scholars from across the United States as well as other countries including India, the Netherlands, Japan, Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Korea.
Events open to the public on Friday include three roundtable talks, "Mobile identities, layered identities, marginality in Islamic societies," "China and the world in the wake of the Beijing Olympics," and "U.S.-Philippines relations: problems and prospects." The roundtable discussions begin at 2:30 p.m. in the Science Center.
Barbara Metcalf, Alice Freeman Palmer Professor of History at the University of Michigan, will deliver the keynote address, "Telling the story of Islam in Asia: reflections on teleologies and timelessness," at 6:30 p.m. in room G027 in the Science Center.
Children Playing Gods: The Ramlila Project, will be screened at 8 p.m. on Friday in room G027 of the Science Center. The film explores the Ramlila, a folk re-enactment that takes place in the city of Varanasi, where the gods come down to the earth each October. "Who are the children who become gods? What are their lives like? What do they learn?" the film asks. The Ramlila Project tells the story of a group of actors, artists and teachers who worked with children from a Varanasi neighborhood to teach theatre, history and self-identity.
Saturday's public events include three roundtables at 10:30 a.m. that will address "Perspectives on the Change of Regime in Pakistan 2008," "Imperial Connection: Asia in the Era of Imperialism," and "Teaching Asia." All roundtables will be held in the Science Center.
Running concurrently with the conference are three exhibitions of traditional and contemporary Chinese art in the Emerson Gallery. "Cherishing the Past: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy" features masterpieces of the literati or scholar-painters during the Ming and Qing dynasties, while "Dislocating the Center: Contemporary Chinese Art Beyond National Borders" takes a globalized look at contemporary Chinese art, through the works of American photographer Michael Cherney, Chinese-American painter Arnold Chang, and French calligrapher André Kneib. "Fairytale" presents the conceptual piece organized by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, where 1,001 volunteers came from China to Kassel, Germany for two weeks, as part of the prestigious international art show Documenta 12.
"Hamilton in East Asia: China and Korea" is another concurrent exhibition organized by senior Jia Huang and displayed in Burke Library. The exhibition explores the experiences and work of 19th and early 20th century Hamilton alumni who were missionaries, educators and business agents. Justus Doolittle, class of 1846 and author of Social Life of the Chinese, began his missionary work in 1850 in the city of Fuzhou (Foochow) before expanding his activities to education and business. Missionary Gilbert Reed, class of 1879, made his mark in China also by engaging Chinese elites on the political and social subjects of the era. Horace G. Underwood, class of 1939, served the Korean people as an educationalist following his graduation from Hamilton.
Associate Professor of History Lisa Trivedi is chairing the conference. Hamilton faculty members who are serving as session chairs and roundtable participants include Lisa Trivedi, Donald Carter, Steven Goldberg, Su Yun Kim, Kyoko Omori, Patricia O'Neill, Aishwarya Laksmi, Thomas Wilson, Ted Lehmann, Chaise LaDousa, Tomomi Emoto, Jay Williams, Cheng Li, Delia Aguilar, Anne Lacsamana, Anjela Peck, Shoshana Keller, Steven Yao, and Christopher Vasantkumar.
The focus of the conference will be to explore questions related to the possible reorientation of Asian studies as the effects of globalization shift perspectives of and approaches to the field. Conference presenters include scholars from across the United States as well as other countries including India, the Netherlands, Japan, Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Korea.
Events open to the public on Friday include three roundtable talks, "Mobile identities, layered identities, marginality in Islamic societies," "China and the world in the wake of the Beijing Olympics," and "U.S.-Philippines relations: problems and prospects." The roundtable discussions begin at 2:30 p.m. in the Science Center.
Barbara Metcalf, Alice Freeman Palmer Professor of History at the University of Michigan, will deliver the keynote address, "Telling the story of Islam in Asia: reflections on teleologies and timelessness," at 6:30 p.m. in room G027 in the Science Center.
Children Playing Gods: The Ramlila Project, will be screened at 8 p.m. on Friday in room G027 of the Science Center. The film explores the Ramlila, a folk re-enactment that takes place in the city of Varanasi, where the gods come down to the earth each October. "Who are the children who become gods? What are their lives like? What do they learn?" the film asks. The Ramlila Project tells the story of a group of actors, artists and teachers who worked with children from a Varanasi neighborhood to teach theatre, history and self-identity.
Saturday's public events include three roundtables at 10:30 a.m. that will address "Perspectives on the Change of Regime in Pakistan 2008," "Imperial Connection: Asia in the Era of Imperialism," and "Teaching Asia." All roundtables will be held in the Science Center.
Running concurrently with the conference are three exhibitions of traditional and contemporary Chinese art in the Emerson Gallery. "Cherishing the Past: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy" features masterpieces of the literati or scholar-painters during the Ming and Qing dynasties, while "Dislocating the Center: Contemporary Chinese Art Beyond National Borders" takes a globalized look at contemporary Chinese art, through the works of American photographer Michael Cherney, Chinese-American painter Arnold Chang, and French calligrapher André Kneib. "Fairytale" presents the conceptual piece organized by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, where 1,001 volunteers came from China to Kassel, Germany for two weeks, as part of the prestigious international art show Documenta 12.
"Hamilton in East Asia: China and Korea" is another concurrent exhibition organized by senior Jia Huang and displayed in Burke Library. The exhibition explores the experiences and work of 19th and early 20th century Hamilton alumni who were missionaries, educators and business agents. Justus Doolittle, class of 1846 and author of Social Life of the Chinese, began his missionary work in 1850 in the city of Fuzhou (Foochow) before expanding his activities to education and business. Missionary Gilbert Reed, class of 1879, made his mark in China also by engaging Chinese elites on the political and social subjects of the era. Horace G. Underwood, class of 1939, served the Korean people as an educationalist following his graduation from Hamilton.
Associate Professor of History Lisa Trivedi is chairing the conference. Hamilton faculty members who are serving as session chairs and roundtable participants include Lisa Trivedi, Donald Carter, Steven Goldberg, Su Yun Kim, Kyoko Omori, Patricia O'Neill, Aishwarya Laksmi, Thomas Wilson, Ted Lehmann, Chaise LaDousa, Tomomi Emoto, Jay Williams, Cheng Li, Delia Aguilar, Anne Lacsamana, Anjela Peck, Shoshana Keller, Steven Yao, and Christopher Vasantkumar.
