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East Asia Program

Monday, 11/20 Ainu as an Indigenous Language of Japan

An Ainu elderly man offering tea in a ceremony in Japan

Anna Bugaeva, Institute of Arts and Sciences, Tokyo University of Science Monday, November 20 at 4:45 p.m. Goldwin Smith Hall 64 in person.

Introduced by John Whitman, Linguistics, Cornell. In historical times, Ainu, the only non-Japonic language of Japan and a lone witness of earlier cultures in Japan, was spoken by the people inhabiting the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido, the southern part of Sakhalin Island, and the Kuril Islands. Traditionally, the Ainu were hunter-gatherers who eventually faced the modern colonial expansion of Japan and Russia. This expansion ultimately led to the loss of their language in the early 21st century. In 2008, the Japanese government finally recognized the Ainu people as an indigenous ethnic group. This talk will discuss the significance, within a Japanese context, of the legal recognition of Ainu as an indigenous language.

Wednesday, 11/15 CCCI: The Qing Conquest as "Just War"

Nicola Di Cosmo talking and gesturing is an older white male wears glasses and a white open collared shirt.

"The Qing Conquest as 'Just War': Manchu Arguments and European Reception" is the title of this Cornell Contemporary China Initiative lecture by guest speaker Nicola Di Cosmo, East Asian Studies, Institute for Advanced Study. Wednesday, November 15 at 4:45 p.m. Goldwin Smith Hall 64 in person.

Di Cosmo examines the early justification of the anti-Ming war articulated by the Manchu ruler Nurhaci (Qing Taizu, 1559-1626) and its reception in Europe, in particular in the work of Martino Martini, De Bello Tartarico.  Introduced by Yue (Mara) Du, Department of History, Cornell.

For complete information, read more.

Apply by Jan. 10: Undergraduate Global Scholars

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November 10, 2023

Speak Up for Global Free Speech

Make your voice heard as a student leader in Cornell's freedom of expression theme year. We welcome applications from writers, scholars, activists and artists, poets and podcasters, hands-on practitioners, and more.

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Berger International Speaker Series with Marco Wan – Exploring World Literature and Law

November 14, 2023

12:15 pm

Cornell Law, MTH G85

As Law and Literature takes root around the world, from the United States to Germany, from Israel to Hong Kong, scholars working in the interdiscipline have been exploring what it might mean to study legal-literary relations in a more global frame. In this seminar, Marco Wan posits one answer to this question by drawing on the notion of ‘circulation’ as it has been considered in debates about world literature. He will begin with a survey of recent developments in Law and Literature, and then examine questions of reception, interpretation, and translation raised by the ways in which literary texts circulate into new legal-cultural environments. He will anchor his analysis in a close reading of Dai Sijie’s Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (2000), a Franco-Chinese novel about two young men who are sent to the mountains for re-education during the Cultural Revolution in China, and who discover a suitcase of forbidden Western classics.

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Program

East Asia Program

The Qing Conquest as "Just War": Manchu Arguments and European Reception

November 15, 2023

4:45 pm

Goldwin Smith Hall, 64

Nicola Di Cosmo, East Asian Studies, Institute for Advanced Study

Among the many facets of the Manchu conquest of China, a relatively unexplored one is that of Manchu ideology and propaganda. This talk examines the early justification of the anti-Ming war articulated by the Manchu ruler Nurhaci (Qing Taizu, 1559-1626) and its reception in Europe, in particular in the work of Martino Martini, De Bello Tartarico. While there have been a few studies on Nurhaci's manifesto, known as the “Seven Great Grievances,” this talk draws special attention to his reasons to justify the war against the Ming, and to explicitly stake his claim to rule All Under Heaven in light of the “just war theory”. Nurhaci's unprecedented pronouncement, moreover, not only underpinned the Manchu war effort for the following decades but also influenced the reception of the Qing conquest in Europe and the arguments made by Jesuits in favor of transferring their loyalty to the new dynasty.

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Program

Einaudi Center for International Studies

East Asia Program

Boren Awards Info Session

November 13, 2023

4:45 pm

276 Caldwell Hall

Learn about the prestigious Boren Scholarships that fund study abroad outside Western Europe, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand. Boren Awards focus on developing linguistic and cultural knowledge among aspiring federal government employees. Boren Awards are funded by the federal government and are open to U.S. citizens who are currently matriculated students. Maximum undergraduate awards are determined by duration of study: up to $25,000 for 25-22 weeks and up to $8,000 for 8-11 weeks (STEM majors only).

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Program

Einaudi Center for International Studies

East Asia Program

Southeast Asia Program

Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Institute for African Development

Institute for European Studies

South Asia Program

CANCELED: Andrew Schonebaum: Animating Forces: Late-Ming and Early-Qing Conceptions of "Plucking Life" (caisheng 採生).

November 3, 2023

3:30 pm

Rockefeller Hall, 375 Asian Studies Lounge

Unfortunately, this 4C's text reading with Andrew Schonebaum is canceled. For more information, please contact: eap-guwen@cornell.edu.

The Cornell Classical Chinese Colloquium (CCCC) 古文品讀 is a reading group for scholars interested in premodern Sinographic text (古文). The group meets monthly during the semester to explore a variety of classical Chinese texts and styles. Other premodern texts linked to classical Chinese in Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese have been explored. Presentations include works from the earliest times to the 20th century. Workshop sessions are led by local, national, and international scholars.

Participants with any level of classical Chinese experience are welcome to attend.

At each session, a presenter guides the group in a reading of a classical Chinese text. Attendees discuss historical, literary, linguistic, and other aspects of the text, working together to resolve difficulties in comprehension and translation.

No preparation is required; all texts will be distributed at the meeting.Contact eap-guwen@cornell.edu for more information and subscribe to CCCC news for updates about events. Please make sure to send your subscription request from the email address at which you wish to receive CCCC updates.

Cornell faculty hosts are TJ Hinrichs, History, and Suyoung Son, Asian Studies.

Additional Information

Program

Einaudi Center for International Studies

East Asia Program

Laidlaw Scholars Symposium

November 8, 2023

5:00 pm

Klarman Hall Auditorium & Atrium

Laidlaw Scholars at Cornell will share their summer research and leadership-in-action experiences at this annual symposium.

Beginning in the Klarman Hall Auditorium, a panel of scholars will share their work and experiences. The presentation will be followed by poster presentations throughout the Groos Family Atrium.

The Laidlaw Undergraduate Leadership and Research Scholarship Program provides generous funding to first- and second-year undergraduates over two years as they pursue internationally focused research, engage in leadership training and a leadership-in-action experience, and join a global network of like-minded peers.

Learn more about the program, which is administered by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies with leadership training support from the David M. Einhorn Center for Community Engagement.

Additional Information

Program

Einaudi Center for International Studies

Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies

East Asia Program

Southeast Asia Program

Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Institute for African Development

Institute for European Studies

South Asia Program

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