Panelists:
Ian Baird, Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Ben Belton, Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University
Nathan Green, Geography, National University of Singapore
Patrick Slack, Geography, McGill University
Moderator: Jefferson Fox, East-West Center, Honolulu

Register to attend.

Spring 2021 Webinar Series
In recent decades, people living in the Lower Mekong Region have witnessed major shifts from predominantly subsistence agriculture to industrializing economies, with attendant changes in migration, crop production systems, and major infrastructure (roads, dams, industrial estates). This series of four webinars will explore how communities in the region are experiencing the economic, social, and cultural dislocations of these transformations.

To view a flyer please visit The Mekong, China, & Southeast Asian Transitions series: Markets for Mekong Goods Spring 2021 Webinar series flyer.

International concurrent times: HST (2-3:30pm) | EST (7-8:30pm) | Vientiane/BKK/PhnomPenh/Hanoi=Jan. 28 (7-8:30am)

Register to attend.

Full webinar series schedule: Panel 1 : Jan 27 - Markets for Mekong Commodities
Panel 2 : Feb 24 - Migration, Mobility, and the Mekong
Panel 3 : Apr 7 - The Spirits and Spiritual Life of the Mekong
Panel 4: Apr 28 - Mekong Dams: Debates and the Politics of Evidence

This series is made possible through funding from the Henry Luce Foundation and is co-organized by Michigan State University-James Madison College and Asian Studies Center, the East-West Center, University of Hawai'i-Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hawai'i at Manoa-Center for Chinese Studies, and Chiang Mai University-Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development.

Speaker: David Firestein, President and Chief Executive Officer at The George H. W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations

Over the last four years, the U.S.-China relationship has deteriorated dramatically, reaching a modern-era low-point by the end of 2020.  As the Biden Administration takes the reins of the U.S. government, what is the current state of the U.S.-China relationship?  Where are the issues currently on the agenda?  What are the major disagreements?  What are areas of possible collaboration?  What are the near-term and longer-term prospects for the relationship?  George H. W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations president and CEO David Firestein, a former U.S. diplomat, think tank executive and university professor, will share his insights, pointing to both likely areas of policy continuity and possible points of departure.

Co-sponsored by the MSU Faculty Emeriti Association and Asian Studies Center

Panelists:

Ian Baird, Geography, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Ben Belton, Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University
Nathan Green, Geography, National University of Singapore
Patrick Slack, Geography, McGill University, Montreal
Moderator: Jefferson Fox, East-West Center, Honolulu

Full Webinar Series
Panel 1: Markets for Mekong Commodities
Date: January 27, 2021

Panel 2: Migration, Mobility, and the Mekong
Date: February 24, 2021

Panel 3: The Spirits and Spiritual Life of the Mekong
Date: April 7, 2021

Panel 4: Mekong Dams: Debates and the Politics of Evidence
Date: April 28, 2021

Please register in advance.

This series is made possible through funding from the Henry Luce Foundation and is co-organized by Michigan State University-James Madison College and Asian Studies Center, the East-West Center, University of Hawai'i-Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hawai'i at Manoa-Center for Chinese Studies, and Chiang Mai University-Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development.

Presentations on a comprehensive conservation and restoration of Lake Biwa by Shiga Prefectural government, the upcoming collaboration on global leadership for water & management of World Lake Environments, and water-related research conducted by MSU faculty members.

• Mr. Yasuhisa Ishikawa, Director General, Department of Lake Biwa and the Environment, Shiga Prefecture Government – The conservation and restoration of Lake Biwa
• Mr. Yasutaka Shimizu, Senior Manager, Department of Lake Biwa and the Environment, Shiga Prefecture Government
• Mr. Junichi Tanoue, Senior Manager, Department of Lake Biwa and the Environment, Shiga Prefecture Government
• Joan Rose, Homer Nowlin Chair in Water Research - Fresh water-related research by MSU faculty members

Co-organized by the MSU Asian Studies Center and the Japan Center for Michigan Universities (JCMU)

 

Representatives from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) office in Washington, DC will share information on JSPS International programs and fellowships designed to support graduate students, postdocs and faculty members in all career stages conduct research in Japan in all fields of research. The Info Session is particularly useful for those interested in conducting research, participate in research training, collaborate with researchers, and conducting postdoctoral research in Japan, or inviting researchers from Japan to MSU.

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) is the core funding agency of Japan and was established in 1932. JSPS supports scientific research in all fields as well as international research exchanges.

Please join us for a public seminar by a senior delegation from the University of Gadjah Mada (UGM) of Indonesia.

Indonesia has been investing heavily in higher education, research and innovation. The Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education (Lembaga Pengelola dana Pendidikan LPDP) provided more than 20,000 awards for graduate education and research to date. More than $3.2 billion is expected to be invested for graduate education and research in collaboration with international institutions.

Please join us in learning about Indonesia's higher education landscape and UGM's international priorities. Network with the UGM delegation and explore education and research collaborations opportunities. Lunch will be provided.

The event is co-hosted by the Michigan State University Asian Studies Center and Visiting International Professional Program.

Rosemary Admiral, PhD
Assistant Professor of History
The University of Texas at Dallas

Women today have complex relationships with Islamic law. I wanted to see how these relationships mapped onto the past, particularly in the case of North Africa. My research found women engaging with the law in creative and strategic ways, not only through the courts but also by way of a number of less-formal community spaces that they carved out for themselves.

Register in advance for this meeting:

 

Ten leading scholars and practitioners of politics, political science, anthropology, Israel studies, and Middle East affairs address the theme of continuity and change in political culture as a tribute to Professor Myron (Mike) J. Aronoff whose work on political culture has built conceptual and methodological bridges between political science and anthropology. There will be three consecutive panels on the three themes of the book by its contributors.

Please register in advance on the Symposium on Continuity and Change in Political Culture, Israel and Beyond registration page.

Sponsored by the Serling Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel 

The early Jadids, especially the ones in the Volga region in the 19th century, have been very eager in advancing the need of "Ijtihad" (interpretation) within Islam that to revitalize Islam by re-establishing and reforming Islamic law and its interpretations to accommodate Islam with modern society. The later Jadids in the early 20th century, however, were more interested in the need of social and political changes in their communities rather than the pure theological aspects of Islam, but they recognized that gaining public support meant that they had to couch their arguments in ways that were not in sharp contrast to local beliefs.

Timur Kocaoglu is professor of International Relations at James Madison College. He also serves as the Associate Director of the Center for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies as well as the Turkic languages Coordinator at the College of Arts and Letters at MSU.

 

After a group of friends graduate from Delhi University, they listlessly haunt their old campus, until a British filmmaker (Alice Patten) casts them in a film she's making about freedom fighters under British rule. Although the group is largely apolitical, the tragic death of a friend owing to local government corruption awakens their patriotism. Inspired by the freedom fighters they represent in the film, the friends collectively decide to avenge the killing.

For more information, please contact Prof. Rajiv Ranjan at rranjan(at)msu.edu.