Events
Our events are usually free, open to the public, and benefit from a wide participation – please email us for more information, watch our website and Facebook page, or join our program email list to receive event notices and the eNewsletters!
Asia @ Noon Lecture Series
Asia@Noon talks are held many Fridays throughout the academic year held in various rooms across North Campus. The presenter usually speaks for about 45 minutes, with time for discussion at the end of each talk. Undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and people from the Buffalo community are invited and encouraged to attend. If you are a scholar of Asia-related research, we invite you to contact us about speaking at Asia@Noon.
The Work of Literary Translation in the Age of Digital Computability or, How I Stopped Worrying And Learned To Love Google Translate
Steven Yao, PhD
Edmund A. LeFevre Professor of English, Hamilton College
Date: November 21, 2024
Time: 3 p.m.
Location: Poetry Collection, 420 Capen Hall
Steven Yao is the author of two influential books: "Translation and the Languages of Modernism" (Palgrave/St. Martins, 2002) and "Foreign Accents: Chinese American Verse from Exclusion to Postethnicity" (Oxford, 2010), the latter of which received the Association for Asian American Studies Book Award in Literary Studies. He has also co-edited "Sinographies: Writing China" (Minnesota, 2008), "Pacific Rim Modernisms" (Toronto, 2009), and "Ezra Pound and Education" (2012).
Yao’s contributions to scholarship have been recognized with numerous honors, including an ACE Fellowship for the 2012-13 academic year and a fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies in 2005. He holds a PhD in English from the University of California, Berkeley.
Pain and Empathy: Exploring the Literature of Nobel Laureate Han Kang
A Symposium with Keynote Speaker Yoon Sun Yang
Date: March 27, 2025
Time: 4–7:30 p.m.
Location: Screening Room - 112 Center for the Arts
A buffet reception with food, beverages, and engaging conversation will follow the symposium at 7 p.m.
All attendees are warmly invited to join.
Registration closes on Sunday, March 23.
Discover the profound literary contributions of Han Kang, recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature and the first South Korean and Asian woman to receive this prestigious honor. This symposium celebrates Han Kang’s body of work, renowned for its poetic exploration of South Korea’s history, empathy and philosophical reflection.
Illustration: Nikas Elmehed
The symposium features:
- An introduction to “Human Acts” and the Gwangju Uprising of 1980.
- A multimedia reading of excerpts from “Human Acts.”
- A keynote address, “Feeling the Pain of Others: Nobel Laureate Han Kang’s Literature,” by Professor Yoon Sun Yang (Boston University), a leading scholar of Korean literature and culture.
About the Keynote Speaker:
Yoon Sun Yang
Professor Yoon Sun Yang is an Associate Professor of Korean and Comparative Literature and of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Boston University. Her book “From Domestic Women to Sensitive Young Men: Translating the Individual in Early Colonial Korea” (Harvard University Press, 2017) received the James B. Palais Book Prize of the Association for Asian Studies in 2020.
Sponsored by:
Asia Research Institute, Asian Studies Program, Department of Comparative Literature, Department of English, Department of Media Study, Humanities Institute, Office of International Education and the Korea Language and Culture Fund.
2025 Annual Conference of the Asia Research Institute
Medicine, the Body, and the Senses: Asian Perspectives
Date: Friday, April 11, 2025
Time: All Day
Location: Buffalo Room- 10 Capen Hall, North Campus
Join twenty-two scholars from Asia, Europe, and North America as they gather at UB for the 2025 annual conference of the Asia Research Institute. This multidisciplinary conference will explore how understandings of the body and the senses shape:
- Healing outcomes in medical traditions
- Religious experiences and embodied practice
- Gender relations and sociopolitical processes across Asia
- The influence of social, political, and religious contexts on sensorial perception
Keynote Speaker:
Judith Farquhar
Max Palevsky Professor Emerita of Anthropology and Social Sciences, University of Chicago
Renowned for her groundbreaking research on traditional medicine, popular culture, and everyday life in contemporary China, Professor Farquhar’s work has shaped the field of medical anthropology.
Conference Conveners:
- Yan Liu – Associate Professor of History, UB
- Genie Yoo – Postdoctoral Fellow, Dumbarton Oaks & Incoming Assistant Professor of History, UB
📖 Conference Sponsors:
Asia Research Institute, Office of International Education, Department of History, Asian Studies Program, Office of Global Health Initiatives in the School of Public Health and Health Professions, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Department of Anthropology.
Events Calendar
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Past Events
MONUMENTAL FAITH: THE TEXTS OF THE TAJ MAHAL; SELECTION AND SIGNIFICANCE
Michael Calabria, PhD. Associate Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies St. Bonaventure University
Date: November 8, 2024
Time: 12–1 p.m.
Location: 280 Park Hall, UB North Campus
In June 1631, just three years into his reign, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan experienced the greatest tragedy of his life: the death of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. To honor her memory, he constructed a vast funerary complex known today as the Taj Mahal. Inscribed with fourteen complete surahs of the Qur’an and assorted verses from several other surahs, the Taj Mahal bears the most extensive inscriptional program of any Islamic monument in South Asia. Rendered into calligraphy of outstanding beauty, the texts comprise in essence Shah Jahan’s Qur’an, an elegant expression of his Islamic faith. Drawing upon historical records, hadith and tafsir literature, this presentation explores both the reasons for the selection of these texts, their placement within the complex, their significance for Shah Jahan and for the world today.
The Right to Information and Struggles over COVID-19 Vaccination in India
Aniket Pankaj Aga, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Geography
Date: October 25, 2024
Time: 12–1 p.m.
Location: 280 Park Hall, UB North Campus
After decades of struggles by environmental and justice movements, India enacted the Right to Information (RTI) Act in 2005, which opened large government files to public disclosure and scrutiny for the first time. Although scholars have generally dismissed such transparency laws as symptomatic of neoliberal economic agendas, this talk will argue that struggles around information and transparency must be contextualized in the historical sociology of state power and corporate capital. Prof. Aga examines specifically how lawyers, journalists, researchers, and activists engaged the state via the RTI Act on the issue of COVID-19 relief and mitigation, as well as the state’s responses. He suggests that struggles over information, far from floundering against the limits of neoliberal governance, have, in fact, effectively diagnosed the actual, non-liberal character of India’s political economy, revealing the act’s transformative potential.
The Asia Research Institute and Asian Studies Program Present:
2024 New York Conference on Asian Studies (NYCAS): “Life in the Asian Century”
Event Starts: Friday, September 27, 2024 6:00 AM (ET)
Event Ends: Saturday, September 28, 2024 12:00 AM (ET)
Location: Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Downtown Campus
955 Main Street, Buffalo NY
The University at Buffalo Asian Studies Program and Asia Research Institute will host the 2024 New York Conference on Asian Studies (NYCAS) at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (955 Main Street, Buffalo), September 27-28. We expect approximately 150 scholars to present on panels and roundtables, with opportunities for networking and socializing with faculty and students whose work focuses on all regions of Asia.
More information about the conference theme and schedule can be found on the Asia Research Institute website.
Managing Rivers and Traversing Oceans: New Perspectives on International Exchange and Environmental Change in Asia" UB PhD Alumni Panel
Phillip Guingona (UB PhD 2015) is assistant professor in the Department of History, Politics, and Law at Nazareth University.
Xiangli Ding (UB PhD 2018) is associate professor in the Department of History,
Philosophy and the Social Sciences at Rhode Island School of Design.
Date: September 13, 2024
Time: 12- 1 p.m.
Location: 280 Park Hall, UB North Campus
The Asia Research Institute and Asian Studies Program, along with the Department of History, are pleased to welcome back to campus two UB alumni to discuss their recently-published monographs. Dr. Phillip Guingona will present his work on “China and the Philippines: A Connected History, c. 1900–50” (Cambridge University Press 2023), and Dr. Xiangli Ding will discuss his recent book, “Hydropower Nation: Dams, Energy, and Political Changes in Twentieth-Century China” (Cambridge University Press 2024).
The Creation of the Global IP in the Japanese Entertainment Industry: From Mukokuseki to Co-Creation
Aki Nakamura PhD
Professor, College of Image Arts and Sciences, Ritsumeikan University
Date: September 6, 2024
Time: 12 - 1 p.m.
Location: 280 Park Hall, UB North Campus
From Pokémon to Demonslayer, games, anime and character goods from Japan seem to be everywhere in the world, providing an entertainment alternative to what has long been the dominant entertainment content enriching the lives of people around the world: Hollywood. movies. However, such content did not emerge overnight, and there is a reason why this type of entertainment was created and developed in Japan. This presentation will show how different aspects of Japanese culture have enabled the Japanese to interpret and adapt Western media and transform them
Part of the AsiaTalks and Asia@Noon lecture series, organized by the UB Asia Research Institute and UB Asian Studies Program
Replaying Japan 12th Annual International Japanese Game Studies Conference
Date: August 19-21, 2024
Since 2012, the Replaying Japan conference has hosted researchers from various fields conducting research on Japanese and Asian game culture. In August, New York State (Western New York) became a hub for Game Studies scholars as Replaying Japan made its way to Buffalo, alongside the Video Game Preservation Conference, which took place at the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester. In celebration of this synergy between cities and conferences, the 12th International Japan Game Studies Conference was held on the UB North Campus in Buffalo, New York, USA, and in tandem with The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.
With collaborators and/or cosponsors from local and international institutions and organizations, this year’s conference brought together a wide range of researchers and creators from around the globe to present their work on topics related to the theme of preservation, innovation, and new directions in Japanese Game Studies in a post-Covid world.
2023-2024 Events
Asian Studies Program/Middle East Initiative- Movie Night
Wind Carpet movie poster
Date: March 29th
Time: 5:00-7:00 pm
Place: Diversity Center, 240 Student Union
Come join us for a relaxing night of food and film.
"The Wind Carpet" will be presented. A Japanese woman designs a carpet she wants to show at the Nakayama Carnival. After ordering weavers in Isfahan to begin the weave, her death leaves the carpet unfinished. Thus, her husband and daughter go to Iran to complete the work. Afterward, they become the guests of a family in Isfahan.
2024 Rustgi Undergraduate Conference on South Asia: South Asia in Story
Katas Raj, Pakistan (Photo credit: Walt Hakala)
April 5 and April 6, 2024
University at Buffalo, SUNY
The University at Buffalo, SUNY, is proud to hold its sixth annual Rustgi Undergraduate Conference on South Asia. We invite papers on the theme “South Asia in Story,” which may be interpreted broadly in its social and artistic senses. By focusing on South Asian narratives, the organizers hope that participants can offer new perspectives on both global and local issues.
The 2024 Rustgi conference will feature a keynote lecture by Javaid Tariq, the co-founder of the National Taxi Workers’ Alliance. The National Taxi Workers’ Alliance is an organization that promotes justice for taxi drivers in New York City. In his student years, Javaid Tariq was actively involved in anti-war protests and campaigns.
We welcome undergraduate participants from all disciplines who are studying South Asia to submit proposals, preferably but not necessarily working on any topic relating to the theme. Possible topics of discussion include:
- Depictions of South Asia in Story
- Origin Myths
- Diaspora in Art and Media
- Expressions of Religious Identity
- Gender Expressions
- Fashion
- Narratives of Health, Illness, and Disability
- Political Expression
- Names and Identity
- Burdens of Representation
- Propaganda
- Appropriation
- Intersectionality
This list of suggestions is by no means exhaustive. We encourage papers that explore sociopolitical issues, communities, or theories stemming from underrepresented perspectives. We shall organize panels around presentations addressing similar issues that draw from various disciplinary perspectives, including the social sciences, natural sciences, engineering, management, humanities, fine arts, and others.
Format
The conference will be held on Friday, April 5 and Saturday, April 6, 2024. Student presenters should plan for 15-minute presentations. Each panel will include 30 minutes for discussion.
Deadline
Proposals, including 250-word abstracts and the contact information of a faculty supervisor, must be submitted via the online submissions portal by Sunday, January 22, 2024.
Funding and Accommodations
We are able to provide a limited number of presenters with a travel subvention of up to US$300. Accepted participants who attend in person will also be provided with individual hotel accommodations. The University at Buffalo cannot provide any additional assistance or guidance to international applicants seeking entry into the United States.
Inquiries
Please contact southasiaundergradconf@gmail.com for more information about the conference.
To view past conference programs, please visit
The sixth annual Rustgi South Asian Undergraduate Research Conference is made possible by a generous gift from the families of Dr. Vinod Rustgi and Dr. Anil Rustgi as well as funding from the University at Buffalo Office of International Education.
Reading the China Dream in the Xi Jinping Era
This event is sponsored by UB Asia Research Institute, cosponsored by the UB Asian Studies Program and Department of History.
Date: February 6, 2024
Time: 3:30 - 5:00 PM
Place: Buffalo Room, Capen 10
Based on ten years of reading, translating, and curating the works of contemporary Chinese intellectuals, David Ownby explores how reform and opening changed intellectual life in China, creating a de facto pluralism in the early 20th century, and how intellectuals have fared under Xi Jinping, who has sought to replace pluralism with ideological discipline.
David Ownby recently retired from the History Department of the Université of Montréal and is currently a Research Associate at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany. His most recent work focuses on intellectual life in contemporary China and he is the founder of the Reading the China Dream website.
An AsiaTalks lecture of the UB Asia Research Institute, cosponsored by the UB Asian Studies Program and Department of History.
End of Semester Game Night
Come celebrate the end of the semester with Asian Studies Program and a Movie Night!
Date: Monday December 4th
Time: 6:00-8:30 PM
Place: O’Brian 210
We’ll be screening Satoshi Kon’s Tokyo Godfathers (2003). Pizza and refreshments will be provided! Please RSVP by November 30th!
Contact Prof. Mimi Okabe (tsugumio@buffalo.edu) for any questions or concerns.
Prof. Mimi Okabe Book Launch Event
Date: November 3, 2023
Time: 2:30-3:00
Place: Park 532
Come out and celebrate the publication of Prof. Mimi Okabe's first book, Manga, Murder, and Mystery: The Boy Detectives of Japan's Lost Generation!
Prof. Okabe will be present to speak about her book and answer questions. Light refreshments will be provided.
Little is known about the boy detective in Japanese detective fiction despite his popularity. Who is he, and what mysteries does he unveil about cultural understandings of youth in Japanese society?
Manga, Murder and Mystery answers these questions by exploring the figure of the shonen (boy) detective in commercially successful manga series such as Detective Conan, The Case Files of Young Kindaichi, Death Note and Moriarty the Patriot. The book explores how these popular works tackle the crisis of young adult culture within the socioeconomic climate of Japan's 'lost decade' and Heisei era, broadly speaking. Mimi Okabe shows how detective manga materialized in a nation undergoing a state of crisis and how the boy detective emerged as a site of national trauma to address perceived youth problems but in thematically different ways.
Asian Studies Meet & Greet and Pizza Party
Date: October 30, 2023
Time: 5:00-7:00
Place: Park Hall 146
For Asian Studies Majors and Minors
TENTATIVE AGENDA
1. Have fun and make connections!
2. Introductions by members of the Asian Studies Facultyand Staff!
3. Meet the Undergraduate ambassador for Asian Studies!
4. Introductions by AS major and minor students and by members of UB Clubs that will support Asian Studies!
5. Q & A session for AS majors, minors and students interested in the Asian Studies Program!
6. Network with staff, professors and other students!
7. Trivia and/or games!
Anthony Cala, "Determining Value in Translations of The Tale of Genji: A Deep Dive into the Rainy-Day Dialogues"
Date: May 12, 2023
Time: 9:00-9:30 AM
Place: Zoom
Join us on Zoom where Anthony Cala will deliver an exciting presentation on the research he has completed for AS 498: Senior Research in Asian Studies.
Zoom Link: https://buffalo.zoom.us/j/93706653794
2023 Rustgi Undergraduate Conference on South Asia Identity and Cultural Dissonance
Daulatabad Fort, photo credit: Walter N. Hakala
March 31st, 2023 and April 1st, 2023
University at Buffalo, SUNY
The University at Buffalo, SUNY, is proud to hold its fifth annual Rustgi Undergraduate Conference on South Asia. We invite papers on the theme of “Identity and Cultural Dissonance,” which may be interpreted broadly in its social or political sense. The quintessential struggle with identity that the South Asian diaspora experience correlates to the importance of seeking out and understanding one’s origins. The 2023 Rustgi conference will feature a keynote lecture from Council Member Shahana Hanif, a Bangladeshi American serving on the New York City Council for the 39th District, representing the divisions of Kensington, Borough Park, Windsor Terrace, and more. Her work in the community extends beyond her career as a council member: she has contributed to Participatory Budgeting and served as a tenants’ rights organizer and advocate for gender justice.
We welcome undergraduate participants studying South Asia from all disciplines to submit proposals, preferably but not necessarily working on any topic relating to the theme. Possible topics of discussion include:
- Identities in the diaspora
- Identity in religion
- Gender and identity
- Fashion in identity
- Identity and public health
- Identity and politics
- Online and offline identities
- Names and identity
- Burdens of representation
- Appropriation
- Intersectionality
This list of suggestions is by no means exhaustive. We encourage papers that explore sociopolitical issues, communities, or theories stemming from under-represented perspectives. We shall organize panels around presentations addressing similar issues that draw from various disciplinary perspectives, including the social sciences, natural sciences, engineering, management, humanities, fine arts, and others.
Please visit https://bit.ly/rustgisubmissions2023 to submit proposals.
Format
The conference will be held on Friday, March 31 and Saturday, April 1, 2023. Student presenters should plan 15- minute presentations. Each panel will include 30 minutes for discussion. Though the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic may require the conference organizers to shift the conference online, we have every hope of holding the event in person.
Deadline
Proposals, including 250-word abstracts and the contact information of a faculty supervisor, must be submitted via the online submission portal (https://bit.ly/rustgisubmissions2023) by Sunday, January 8, 2023.
When submitting abstracts, applicants must affirm that they will be enrolled as undergraduate students at the time of the conference. Those in graduate programs or not currently enrolled in an undergraduate program will not be permitted to present. The organizers reserve the right to confirm student status with their advisor and home institution.
Funding and Accommodations
We are able to provide a limited number of presenters with a travel subvention of up to US$300. Accepted participants who attend in person will also be provided with individual hotel accommodations. The University at Buffalo cannot provide any additional assistance or guidance to international applicants seeking entry into the United States.
Inquiries
Please contact southasiaundergradconf@gmail.com for more information about the conference.
To view past conference programs, please visit
- http://bit.ly/rustgi2018
- http://bit.ly/rustgiprogram2019
- http://bit.ly/rustgiprogram2021
- https://bit.ly/rustgiprogram2022
The fourth annual Rustgi South Asian Undergraduate Research Conference is made possible by a generous gift from the families of Dr. Vinod Rustgi and Dr. Anil Rustgi as well as funding from the University at Buffalo Office of International Education.
Asian Studies Co-Sponsor Event
November 14th, 2022 from 9:00am-noon at 107 Capen
Please join us for the Symposium on Reimagining International Education in/through the Global Pandemic, co-sponsored by the UB Vice Provost’s Office for International Education, Graduate School of Education, Asian Studies Program, and the Department of Indigenous Studies, on November 14th from 9-noon, at 107 Capen.
Symposium theme: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted, upended, and transformed the meaning and praxis of international education. How have scholars and practitioners in international and comparative education engaged with the global education emergency? What new questions are being asked to understand, challenge, and address the myriad, shifting educational challenges? How has the pandemic compounded the existing knowledge paradigms, methodological assumptions, and research imaginations in international and comparative education? This symposium hopes to bring a group of multidisciplinary education scholars to shed light on the future(s) of international education post-COVID.
2022 Rustgi Undergraduate Conference on South Asia
(Mis)Information
April 29 and 30, 2022
University at Buffalo, SUNY
The University at Buffalo, SUNY, is proud to hold its fourth annual Rustgi Undergraduate Conference on South Asia. We invite papers on the theme of “(Mis)information,” which may be interpreted broadly in its social or political sense. The echoes of misinformation ring in all our ears today as we interact with information endlessly. Regardless of whether it is inadvertent or purposeful, the spread of misinformation has affected how we communicate and process “truths” in our world. The 2022 Rustgi conference will feature a keynote lecture from novelist, essayist, and journalist Dr. Michael Muhammad Knight, Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Central Florida. As a scholar, Knight has explored misinformation by contending with prominent descriptions of Islam in media, dissecting concepts of religious othering both within and outside of the Muslim community. His works include The Taqwacores, Why I Am a Five Percenter, and Magic in Islam.
We welcome undergraduate participants studying South Asia from all disciplines to submit proposals, preferably but not necessarily working on any topic relating to the theme. Possible topics of discussion include:
- Censorship (of journalism and activist voices)
- Role of information in religious conflicts
- Disinformation
- Digital literacy
- Institutions that diffuse information
- Determinants of beliefs arising from information
- Future of misinformation
- Ethics of information dissemination
This list of suggestions is by no means exhaustive. We encourage papers that explore sociopolitical issues, communities, or theories stemming from under-represented perspectives. We shall organize panels around presentations addressing similar issues that draw from various disciplinary perspectives, including the social sciences, natural sciences, engineering, management, humanities, fine arts, and others.
Please visit https://bit.ly/rustgisubmissions2022 to submit proposals.
Format
The conference will be held on Friday, April 29 and Saturday, April 30, 2022. Student presenters should plan for 15-minute presentations. Each panel will include 30 minutes for discussion. Though the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic may require the conference organizers to shift the conference online, we have every hope of holding the event in person.
Deadline
Proposals, including 250-word abstracts and the contact information of a faculty supervisor, must be submitted via the online submissions portal (https://bit.ly/rustgisubmissions2022) by Sunday, February 20, 2022.
When submitting abstracts, applicants must affirm that they will be enrolled as undergraduate students at the time of the conference. Those in graduate programs or not currently enrolled in an undergraduate program will not be permitted to present. The organizers reserve the right to confirm student status with their advisor and home institution.
Funding and Accommodations
We are able to provide a limited number of presenters with a travel subvention of up to US$200. Accepted participants who attend in person will also be provided with shared hotel accommodations. The University at Buffalo cannot provide any additional assistance or guidance to international applicants seeking entry into the United States.
Inquiries
Please contact rustgiconference@buffalo.edu for more information about the conference.
To view past conference programs, please visit
The fourth annual Rustgi South Asian Undergraduate Research Conference is made possible by a generous gift from the families of Dr. Vinod Rustgi and Dr. Anil Rustgi as well as funding from the University at Buffalo Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, UB Community for Global Health Equity, UB Humanities Institute, and UB Office of International Education.
The University at Buffalo Humanities Institute Research Workshop on Translation will host Dr. Jennifer Dubrow (University of Washington-Seattle) for an online public lecture, "Characters to Resist Modernity in the Short Stories of Saadat Hasan Manto." The event will take place on Zoom 2 - 3:30 pm EDT Monday, May 9, 2022. To register for this talk and download three brief English translations of short stories by Manto, please visit https://bit.ly/dubrowtranslationzone.
This talk introduces the work of Saadat Hasan Manto (1912-1955), whom Salman Rushdie called “the undisputed master of the modern Indian short story.” Now known for his radical stories of prostitutes and Partition, Manto penned indelible characters who refused South Asian modernity’s categories of Hindu/Muslim, pimp/prostitute, and man/woman. Through a reading of some of Manto’s most well-known and controversial stories, this talk reveals how Manto used a character-driven style to critique colonial modernity, and then fragmented this style to interrogate sexuality after Partition.
Jennifer Dubrow is Associate Professor of Urdu at the University of Washington-Seattle. She is the author of Cosmopolitan Dreams: The Making of Modern Urdu Literary Culture in Colonial South Asia, published by the University of Hawai’i Press in 2018 and Permanent Black in 2019. She is currently writing a book on Urdu modernism in South Asia from the 1930s to the 1960s.
NYCAS 2021: SUNY Brockport
Theme: Asian Lives/Asian Studies in the Pandemic and Post Pandemic EraIdentity
Date: October 1 - 2, 2021
Format: Hybrid
Website: Official 2021 NYCAS Website.