Join us for virtual sessions over the course of three days in May that will consider the structure, reach, and impact of China’s Belt & Road Initiative and its implications for commercial relations, dispute resolution, and the future of legal developments in Asia more generally. Three panels will focus on fundamental issues of dispute resolution in US-China business contracts; the evolving of dispute resolution forums in Asia; and the future of Hong Kong as a hub for commercial relationships in the Asian region.

Join us for a virtual series of films based on the Malay folktales of a blood-sucking ghost born from a woman who dies in childbirth. The smash hit premiered in April 1957 and screened for nearly three months at the local Cathay cinemas. Its success spawned two other sequels in 2004 and 2019. It is also said to have launched the Pontianak genre in Singapore and Malaysia, with rival Shaw producing its own Pontianak trilogy.

In the virtual presentation, Dr. Yamada discusses the Vocaloid and DTM (desktop music) phenomena through the lenses of media and fan studies, looking at online social media platforms, the new technology for composing, and fans of the Vocaloid character. He provides a sense of how interactive new media and an empowered fan base combine to engage in the creation processes and enhance the circulation of Vocaloid works.

The People’s Republic of Desire explores the lives of the successes of China’s digital society, a world in which live-streamers are celebrities of fame and fortune with millions of fans and super-rich patrons that lavish them with gifts. And yet, the film is a disturbing look into cyber escapism, loneliness, and isolation. The film won the Grand Jury Award at the 2018 SXSW, among many other awards. It has screened at over 40 film festivals worldwide and broadcasted nationally on PBS Independent Lens.

Dr. Shuyu Kong will discuss "participatory culture" and "affective communication" through a case study of internet media fandom of TV spy drama Undercover. She argues that Chinese media fandom demonstrates a new form of creative energy and interpretive practice among the younger generation of Chinese, and indicates a new social bonding through cultural consumption in post-socialist China.

Register here

UCIS International Career Toolkit Series Presents:Peace Corps 60th Anniversary Alumni Panel

Mastering LinkedIn for Future Global Affairs Careers
Wednesday, March 3rd, 3:30-4:15pm

Alyson Kavalukas joins us from Career Services to discuss successful generation of a LinkedIn account in seeking positions, learning from professionals and alumni, and increasing networking potential in global affairs. Question and Answer session to follow.

Register:
https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMldemprT4uGNGoE4BN_XfFP4nPb0mGEDi5

Dr. Saeji will explore the contradictions and effects of the use of imagined and real Korean settings and traditional iconography in recent videos from Korean hip-hop artists with a particularly close reading of the rapper Beenzino’s mid-2016 offering “January.” She investigates what symbols and icons are used to visually represent Korea in the videos, as they take a foreign genre and imbue it with Koreanness.

The Shahrashub (city disturber) and / Ekphrases genre of Persian poetry provides a window into the urban spaces of early modern Eurasia, revealing the relationship between people, their imaginaries, and the built environment around them. This workshop provides an introduction for using this specialized literary material to derive scholarly insights.

PLEASE NOTE that registrations are limited and will be confirmed on a first-come, first-serve basis for Ph.D. students and faculty who work on Eurasia and can meet the language prerequisites specific to each topic.

Among the abundant paperwork of 17th century Posol'skii prikaz, there were two main forms of record-keeping known as posol'skie knigi and stolptsy, which stand out due to their functionality. Apart from the sheer linguistic complexity, the records were bound together in leather-bound books consisting of dozens, if not hundreds, documents of the distinct genres related to diplomacy communications. Yet beneath this complexity lies a world of diplomatic contact and transregional connectivity.