In 2020, the Center for Asian Studies held 22 events. After twelve in-person events before COVID-19,聽we moved to a virtual platform in April, allowing us to welcome a particularly large audience of nearly 1000 attendees over the year. Here is a summary of some of our bigger events.
In mid-February, CAS held an early event dealing with COVID-19: 鈥淭he Coronavirus Crisis: an Emergency Teach-In.鈥� This event sought to provide social, political, epidemiological, and cultural perspectives on the Coronavirus crisis (which was not yet a pandemic) to assist audience members with understanding and assessing the situation. It was moderated by CAS Director Tim Oakes, with panelists聽Molly Lamb, an Assistant Professor at the Colorado School of Public Health;聽Xiaoling Chen, a PhD Student in Health Geographies at CU-Boulder; and聽Travis Klingberg, a CU-Boulder alumnus and Postdoctoral Fellow in Geography at NYU Shanghai.
To address another crisis, CAS sponsored 鈥淯yghur Voices: 鈥楴ever Again鈥� Is Now鈥澛爋n March 4, featuring a heartfelt presentation by Uyghurs whose family members have disappeared. Speakers included聽Mustafa Aksu, a representative from the Uyghur Human Rights Project, and聽Sarah Tynen听补苍诲听Darren Byler, both from CU-Boulder.听
Our second event addressing the Coronavirus occurred on June 18. 鈥淎sia After COVID-19鈥� looked at shifts taking place in Asia as a result of the global pandemic. The panel featured聽Michael Vatikiotis,聽a Singapore-based writer and journalist;聽Yang Yang, a CU alumna and postdoctoral researcher at the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore;聽Ben Dooley, who reports on Japan鈥檚 business and economy for The New York Times; and聽Jinhwan Oh, Associate Professor of International Studies at Ewha Womans University and a recent CAS visiting scholar.听
Our fall event lineup started with 鈥淗ong Kong: Global China鈥檚 Restive Frontier,鈥� a talk by聽Ching Kwan Lee,聽Dr. Chung Sze-yuen Professor of Social Science at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Professor of Sociology at UCLA.听This event had 91 attendees logging in from locations around the world including Australia, Canada, China, Estonia, Hong Kong, Korea, Russia, Singapore, and Taiwan.
Our annual theme,聽Sound and Noise in Asia,聽coordinated by CAS affiliate聽Evelyn Shih, Assistant Professor of Chinese,聽started with a symposium that included a keynote address by聽Judith Zeitlin, 鈥溾�業nstrument of Flesh鈥�: The Operatic Voice in Late Ming Musical Culture.鈥澛燭he keynote was followed by panel discussions by聽David Humphrey聽(Michigan State University),聽Jina Kim聽(University of Oregon),聽Julie Keblinksa聽(University of California, Berkeley), and聽Evelyn Shih聽over two days. Our final event of 2020 was also on the聽Sound and Noise in Asia聽theme: 鈥淟istening for India: Reading and the Multilingual Nation,鈥� was presented by聽Madhumita Lahiri聽from the聽University of Michigan.
Videos from select events are available at聽www.colorado.edu/cas/event-videos. Overall, although we were used to holding in-person events aimed primarily toward the CU-Boulder campus community, the need to adapt to virtual events allowed CAS to pivot toward a wider audience around the globe, which we will continue into 2021 and beyond. Upcoming event information is always available at聽www.colorado.edu/cas/event-list.听