**CANCELLED** 

Lecture by Professor Dennis Frost Associate Professor of East Asian Social Sciences Department of History and East Asian Studies

For several weeks this summer, much of the world's attention will be fixated on Japan as Tokyo hosts the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. While the majority of media coverage, will be focused on the athletes, the competitions, and the medal counts, sporting mega-events always involve more than just games. From massive cost overruns to inspiration porn, this talk will briefly explore several stories that offer insights on the broader implications of the Tokyo 2020 Games for Japanese society and beyond.

Dr. Pablo Sender has a degree in Microbiology and a doctorate in Biological Sciences. Dr. Sender is one of the world's leading Theosophical scholars. As an international speaker, he has presented programs and retreats in India, Europe, Oceania, and the three Americas. His articles are published in Theosophical journals throughout the world, and he is the author of books in English and Spanish. His latest book is "The Evolution of the Higher Consciousness."

When faced with challenges in daily life, we respond with physical, emotional or intellectual actions. Although these responses may be appropriate to deal with situations on a practical level, they are rarely able to address the root cause of the problems we encounter. J. Krishnamurti and the non-duality teachings in different spiritual traditions propose that there is a higher faculty in us—choiceless awareness—which can bring about a fundamental change in ourselves and society. 

 

Sponsored by the Asian Studies Center, Anshu Varna, Center for Gender in Global Context (GenCen)

Vidhu Aggarwal will discuss narrative entropy by looking at both ancient texts, such as the epic Mahabharata, in relationship to contemporary cosmology/technology to get at the condition of perpetual war and perpetual crisis. In doing so she will discuss the concept "avatar" as both the Sanskrit word for incarnation of God in a time of crisis, but also in terms of our contemporary digital embodiment in social media and video gaming worlds; and in relationship to her own diasporic poetics through the chapbook "Avatara" and larger project "Migrant Domains. Please contact the Michigan State Museum at museum.msu.edu.

 

Sponsored by the Asian Studies Center, Department of English, the Consortium for Critical Diversity in a Digital Age, and Michigan State Museum

Details to come 

**CANCELLED** 

Arabic Diwan is a gathering of Arabic students who are in the Arabic program, where they speak the language and learn about the culture in a relaxed environment with our Fulbright teaching assistant. Students from all Arabic language levels are encourages to attend. Also, we extend the invitation to the Arabic speaking students at the English Center. 

Ausma Zehanat Khan is a Canadian novelist and author of crime and fantasy novels. Khan holds a Ph.D. in International Human Rights Law with a research specialization in military intervention and war crimes in the Balkans. She received her LL.B. and LL.M. from the University of Ottawa, and her B.A. in English Literature and Sociology from the University of Toronto. Khan was the editor-in-chief of Muslim Girl magazine from 2007 until the magazine's closure. Khan published her first novel The Unquiet Dead in 2015; the book received "best first novel" accolades from both the Arthur Ellis Awards and the Barry Awards in 2016.