International Development Work in Various Communities
October 20th, 6pm-7pm, Virtual Format

Sakun Gajurel, Volunteer Initiatives and Youth Engagement Coordinator, UNICEFF
Rotary Peace Fellow, World Food Programme, Disaster Relief, Refugee Operations

Research and International Reconstruction in Afghanistan
October 12th, 6pm-7pm, Virtual Format

Nikolai A. Condee-Padunov
Research Associate, Lessons Learned Program, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR)

Preparing Competitive Graduate School Applications Panel
28th, 6pm-7pm, Virtual Format

Pitt graduate program experts and current graduate students from the School of Public Health, GSPIA, Economics, History, and Asian Studies share expertise in researching graduate programs and crafting strong applications. Learn tips on writing effective personal statements, securing letter writers, and submitting desired credentials. Ask individual questions at the breakout session.

Navigating Online Global Efforts During Covid Time
September 23rd, 6pm-7pm, Virtual Format

Jessica Baumgardner-Zuzik
Senior Director -Learning & Evaluation, Alliance for Peacebuilding

This talk presents the multifaceted story of China’s soft power campaigns in Africa, with a special focus on Ethiopia—one of China’s closest economic and political partners on the continent. Countering the claims of China’s authoritarian export, the analysis of China’s engagement with Ethiopian elites, youth and media audiences, showcases what I describe as a “fragmented spectacle” — a grand, but disjointed display of China’s prowess. In particular, China’s soft power appeal is rooted in generosity of scale or the large-scale access to its initiatives.

This paper pushes back against the pervasive masculinist gendering of mobility in the emerging field of “InterAsian” studies. Existing research has focused on the movements of mobile men, a framework that risks naturalizing gendered notions of female stasis. In contrast the paper argues for the need to reconceptualize the concept of mobility, and the archives where we look for its traces, to capture the modes through which women travelled InterAsian spaces.

My presentation will offer a historical perspective on secularism in South Asia through a discussion of a history of religious reform movements from the early twentieth century through the end of colonial India, as a way of historicizing the creation of a constitutional secular state in India in the mid-twentieth century. Though Indian history will comprise the base of the presentation, it will address the issue of religious freedom in contemporary South Asia, drawing on cases from India and Bangladesh primarily.

After a year of Zooming and virtual film screenings, we’re excited to see our friends in person once more. Join us under the Schenley Plaza tent for our Welcome Reception on Tuesday, September 28 at 3 p.m.! There will be refreshments, chances to meet and hang out with other students and faculty interested in Asian Studies, and information about upcoming Asian Studies events. Catch a performance from one of our talented student groups and meet our Japan Studies post-doc, who will perform on the shamisen.

What is the relationship between everyday human culture and the global realities of anthropogenic climate change? My current book project, “Fueling Tokyo: Japan in the Age of Global Energy,” takes up this problem, knitting together histories of people, resources, technologies, and infrastructures to help us better understand the cultural connections that have fueled the Anthropocene in Japan. The country is the world’s third-largest economy; it imports 95% of its primary energy. Japan built an empire in pursuit of energy: labor and food calories, coal, hydroelectric sites, and oil.

Artisanal production is touted today as part of Japan’s immutable traditional culture, characterized as a rapidly disappearing form of manual labor and long-held customs that are in sharp contrast to the white collar work in office buildings or government organizations so prevalent today. Similarly, the lives of commoners in premodern Japan are often imagined as being removed from the aesthetics, poetics, and cultural heights of the aristocracy. But were these divisions of social group and status so rigidly defined?