Speaker: Dr. Patrick Hällzon, Postdoctoral, Uppsala University, Department of Linguistics

Talk Description: Swedish archives host some of the world’s largest collections of early-20th-century Uyghur material culture and written sources. This consists of manuscripts, printed books, photographs, as well as artifacts including medicine and seed collections. Many of the sources have been digitized and are freely accessible online for the general public. In the presentation I will discuss how I have used these sources in my current research project and what they can tell us about oasis life in Eastern Turkestan before the area became incorporated into the People’s Republic of China under the term Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Any poem, any language! The Language Resource Center celebrates National Poetry Month. Sweet Poetry is an evening event in April named for enjoying tasty treats while sharing poems in different languages.

Join us on Wednesday, April 15, 2026 at 5:30 pm in the Klarman Hall Atrium. During the event, Cornell community members are invited to watch live poetry recitations in multiple languages. The event booklet, available digitally, includes transcriptions of each poem along with approximate English translations.

We look forward to an amazing lineup of poetry readings/signings this April and are excited to celebrate National Poetry Month together!

This year's Sweet Poetry is part of The Asian & Asian American Center's APIDA Heritage Month celebration.

The event is co-sponsored by the Department of Asian Studies, the Department of Linguistics, and the Department of Romance Studies.

If you are interested in reading or signing a poem at the event, complete the form at https://forms.gle/TwQkpVkg4BgU7wKP9 or reach out to the LRC at cornelllrc@cornell.edu by Friday, March 27.

This multi-disciplinary panel brings together scholars studying Chinese migration to 20th century Malaya and contemporary Singapore. The overarching concern is to assess how geopolitics and class differentiation have shaped the experiences of Chinese migrants to the region as well as their local reception. The speakers hail from anthropology, labor relations, and history, and will discuss the experiences of Chinese university students in Singapore amid a rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape; the responses and interactions of local industrial workers towards their migrant counterparts, including Chinese workers, in contemporary Singapore; and how racialized citizenship policies in Cold War-era Malaya and Singapore reshaped the Chinese diaspora's relationship to China.

Panelists:

Zach Howlett, Associate Professor, Sociology and Anthropology, National University of Singapore

Wen Li Thian, PhD student, ILR, Cornell University

Darren Wan, PhD student, History, Cornell University

Moderator: Shaoling Ma, Associate Professor, Asian Studies, Cornell University

Cornell’s international community faces evolving questions about their rights and mobility. To help our students, faculty, and staff navigate these immigration policy changes, Global Cornell is sponsoring a webinar series featuring legal and immigration experts. These virtual sessions provide guidance on legal protections, recent policy updates, and Cornell-specific implications and include Q&A. The webinars are open to Cornell faculty, staff, and students. Registration is required.

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Immigration Policy Updates: What Cornell’s International Community Should Know
Wednesday, November 19 | noon | eCornell

During this fall’s second session, immigration law and international services experts discuss emerging legal issues relevant to our international community. Topics include updates on the H-1B fee increase, DACA, and winter travel guidance.

Panelists

Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer, Clinical Professor of Law, Cornell Law SchoolDan Berger, Immigration Law and Policy Fellow and Path2Papers Senior Attorney, Cornell Law SchoolLaura Taylor, Director, International ServicesModerator: Wendy Wolford, Vice Provost for International Affairs***

Register for the November 19 webinar. Submit your questions anonymously.

Sponsored by Global Cornell and its Office of Global Learning.

Title: Indebted Sisterhood: Sex Work and Social Reproduction Across Kenya, Vietnam, and China

Abstract: The heightened China’s presence in Kenya has provoked rampant rumors around Chinese women working in local brothels or Vietnamese women being trafficked to Chinese sham entertainment business. While the rumors demonstrate growing public attention to gendered labor in connection to Chinas One Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), they also reveal lack of reliable information about immigrant life of Chinese and Vietnamese female sex workers (VCFSWs) in Kenya. Hence, VCFSWs more likely suffer from police arrest, immigration scrutiny, and even Uber driversviolence. Drawing on fieldwork of six Chinese hostessing nightclubs in Nairobi, Kenya, this talk focuses on VCFSWs’ interpersonal relationships with their employer and sex worker “sisters”. Although the international anti-trafficking campaigns and Kenyan authorities stereotype VCFSWs as trafficked victims or indentured labor, this talk highlights debt embedded in culturally-mediated emotional ties and social reproduction that disrupts popular belief of non-Western migrant sex workers as temporary, and forced labor.

Xinlei Sha is PhD candidate in Anthropology at Cornell University whose research examines the circulation of intimate labor and relations alongside Chinese business and immigration in Kenya. This research was supported by the Wenner Gren, Social Science Research Council, East Asian Program, and among others.

Panelists:

Samira Rafaela, Former Member of European Parliament, Visiting Scholar, Cornell Law School

Chiara Cristofolini, Associate Professor of Labor Law, University of Trento, Visiting Scholar, Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations

Sarosh Kuruvilla, Andrew J. Nathanson Family Professor in Industrial and Labor Relations, Global Labor and Work, Academic Director, Global Labor Institute

Moderator:

Chantal Thomas, Radice Family Professor of Law and Director, Cornell Center for Global Economic Justice Cornell Law School