Past Events
This symposium brings together scholars working across the Mediterranean and East Asia to explore the manifold dimensions of letter-writing in premodern cultures. Through perspectives spanning ancient Rome, early medieval China, and medieval Japan, the event examines how epistles shaped education, literary self-presentation, emotions, and relationships of power across different historical and cultural contexts.
This event is free and open to the public.
Kelly Yang is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of over 15 books for children, young adults and adults. She will speak on how she overcame poverty and language barriers as a young immigrant child to become an internationally best-selling and award-winning author.
The event is free and open to the public.
The Ullŭng Islander’s Drift through Classical and Post-classical Japanese Poetry, lecture by Jeffrey Niedermaier.
Vassar celebrates Soweto with a screening of Sifiso Khanyile’s critically acclaimed documentary Uprize!, followed by a faculty roundtable featuring Professors Mia Mask, Ismail Rashid, and Samson Opondo, along with local activist and South African native Dr. Ereshnee Naidu. The discussion will be moderated by Professor Mariam Rashid.
Campus community only, please.
Join playwright Mahesh Dattani, guest playwright and author, and the student cast of Dance Like a Man, for a compelling new play reading of his new work, Dance Like a Goddess and conversation exploring the dynamic intersection of performance and politics in modern India.
This event is free and open to the public.
In this presentation, Dr. Liu will introduce the research methods of “Clothing, Food, and Traveling,” the speaker’s new work on Xingshi Yinyuan Zhuan, a seventeenth-century magnum opus writing under the pseudonym of Xizhou Sheng.
This event is free and open to the public.
Professor of Chinese Studies Liang Luo examines how the White Snake legend is being reimagined through contemporary opera, film, and theater as a framework for digital-age minority activism.
This lecture examines literary and historical narratives to elaborate “colonial domesticity.”
Campus community only, please.
The Asian Studies Program Annual Gandhi Lecture. Jyotsna Vaid ’76 will discuss the remarkable life of her late sister, the renowned LGBTQ+ activist Urvashi Vaid ’79.
This event is open to the public.
The screening will feature the 98-minute full version of the film, followed by a live Zoom Q&A session with director Yujiro Seki, who will share the origin story and vision behind this cross-disciplinary project. Open to the public.