2023 Asia Scholar Network Conference

The Asia Scholar Network exists to create a community of scholars working on Asia-related topics in North Carolina. (This has grown out of strong partnerships across the 16 UNC system campuses and the North Carolina Community College network, but welcomes participation from any scholar based in the state.) We build on the strengths of each college and university, providing scholars with opportunities to network, share information and collaborate. Ultimately, we also hope to improve access to resources for the study of Asia and spark collaboration in the field of Asian studies in the state of North Carolina. Read more about the Asia Scholar Network here.

The keynote at this year’s conference will be provided by Prof. Kim Jones, Associate Professor of Dance at UNC-Charlotte. She will present her research reconstructing modern dance of Korea’s most influential choreographer of the mid-20th century.

Here is an official schedule:

SATURDAY, APRIL 29

8:30AM – 9:15AM- REGISTRATION AND BREAKFAST

9:15AM-10:30AM- SESSION 1

Southeast Asia – Rm. 1005

• • • Dr. Christina Carter, Assistant Professor at Appalachian State University: “Decolonizing Time: Writing Figures Outside of Historicism”
    • Dr. Rungsima Kullapat, Research Affiliate at UNC-CH: “Utilize Cultural Heritage to Drive the Local Communities Economy in the Phimai Ancient City”
    • Dr. Buraskorn Torut, Assistant Professor at Mahidol University (Thailand): “Building Income Security for Older Persons through Community Resilience after COVID-19 Pandemic: Case Study of Elderly Clubs in Thailand”

Modern India – Rm. 3024

• • • • Sugandh Gupta, Graduate Student @ UNC-CH: “Dawai ke Ghulam: De-addiction services for youth in Jammu City, Jammu and Kashmir, India” 
      • Sandeepan Tripathy, PhD Candidate at the National University of Singapore: “What Makes Moving Valuable?”
      • Dr. Sonia Kapur is regretfully unable to attend

10:30AM-10:45AM – BREAK

10:45AM-12:00PM- SESSION 2

Chinese History – Rm. 1005

• • Dr. Kent Guy, Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington: “Jin Fu and the River”
  • Dr. James Hudson, Assistant Professor at UNC-Pembroke: “Sino-U.S. Political Discourses in Republican Era South China”
  • Dr. Peter Coclanis, Albert R. Newsome Distinguished Professor of History at UNC-CH: “Overseas Chinese Business Strategies and Structures in Singapore and Malaysia, c. 1880-1940”

Asia and North America – Rm. 3024

• • Yiping Xia, Postdoctoral Research Associate at UNC-CH: “Chinese immigrants in Toronto and ‘Ethnic News Intermediaries'”
  • Dan Du, Assistant Professor at UNC-Charlotte: “Behind the Teacup: The Consumption of Chinese tea in the United States during the Long Nineteenth Century”
  • Dr. Zachary Morgan is regretfully unable to attend

12:00PM-12:45PM- LUNCH

12:45PM-1:45PM- KEYNOTE: Professor Kim Jones, Associate Professor of Dance at UNC Charlotte

1:45PM-2:00PM- BREAK

2:00PM-3:15PM- SESSION 3

Historical Approaches to the Sinophone World – Rm. 1005

• • • Ivy Janson, Graduate Student at UNC-CH: “The New Fuzhou: Hybridity and Localization Among the Fuzhou Methodist Community in Sarawak”
    • Jason Castro, Graduate Student at UNC-CH: “Topic Ryukyu and the State-authorized Chinese immigrants’ community: the creation of “Kumemuran” and its in-betweenness location in Sino-Ryukyuan relations”
    • Kun Meng, Graduate Student at UNC-CH: “The Cult of the Peacock in the Late Ming: Food Culture and Ecological Imperialism”

Asia on Screen – Rm. 3024

• • • Peace Ajirotutu, Undergraduate Student at UNC-Pembroke: “Exploring the Lives of the Imperial Consorts and Empresses in Qianlong’s Court Through the Story of the Yanxi Palace”
    • Renuka Gusain, Assistant Professor at UNC-Asheville: “Using Contemplative Pedagogy to Teach Hindi Cinema”

Governance in Independent Asia – Rm. 1009

• • • Somin Lee, Visiting Scholar at UNC-CH & Judge at Seoul District Court of South Korea: “Introducing the Constitutional Court in South Korea and Two big decisions”
    • Fakhridho Susilo, Graduate Student at Yale University & The Australian National University & Shashank Singh, PhD Candidate, JNU and Fox International Fellow at Yale University: “Aristocratic Politics in Post-Colonial Asia: India and Indonesia Compared”
    • Ting Wang, Assistant Professor of Sociology at UNC-Greensboro: “Pandemic Measures and Trust in Government in China”

3:15PM-3:30PM- BREAK

3:30PM-4:45PM- SESSION 4

Trans-national Asia – Rm. 1009

• • • Raymond Dokupil, Graduate Student at UNC-CH: “Thinking with our Stomachs: Elevating Food Culture in Asian Diasporic Studies”
    • Muziah Kargbo, Graduate Student at UNC-CH: “Transnational Spaces of Korean Webtoons in Relations to Japanese Manga”
    • Helen Richard, Graduate Student at UNC-CH: “Umma: Negotiating the Liminal Space of Diaspora”

South Asia Culture and Literature – Rm. 1005

• • • Allan Life, Professor Emeritus at UNC-CH: “South Asia according to Liebig: trade card representations, 1880-1940”
    • Aadil Sofi, Lecturer at UNC-CH: “Reorientation and an Alternative Vision of life in the light of Sir Muhammad Iqbal”
    • Dikshant Uprety, Research Affiliate at UNC-CH: “Sustainability, Celebrating the World Environment Day, and the Engendering of the Environmental Subject in the Mount Everest Region”

In the meantime, register for the event using the form below: