Asian Studies Program at UMBC

Global Asias 7 Conference: We are pleased to announce that Penn State will be hosting the Global Asias 7 Conference in Spring 2025. Panel proposals are due November 1, 2024. For details, see below or visit https://sites.psu.edu/vergeglobalasias/2024/08/30/cfp-global-asias-7-conference/

Welcome back!! We have lots of exciting updates coming your way this fall for the Global Asias Initiative.

First up - we're thrilled to welcome Dr. Mika Thornburg as our very first Global Asias Post-Doctoral Fellow.

Read more about her work here!

As the Global Asias Initiative closes out our 2023-2024 academic year, we’re so excited to share with you all of the progress we’ve made in our first year of work.

*We hosted an amazing, collaborative Spring Opening Workshop in April (photo: Abnet Shiferaw)
*We hired Priya Bhayana as the initiative’s Project Management Specialist
*Mika Thornburg will be joining us this fall as the Global Asias Postdoctoral Fellow
*Our first year Advisory Board helped drive the vision for the future of Global Asias (photo: Abnet Shiferaw)
*We launched Course Expansion Grants and Student Fellowships opportunities
*We’re now getting things ready for the fall! Save the date for the first in our conversation series, featuring Dr. Tina Chen. Stay tuned for programming associated with her visit.

Thank you to the Mellon Foundation for making this work possible.

If you missed Professor Fan Yang's Humanities Forum lecture on April 25, it's now available to watch on UMBCtube!

Drawing on her forthcoming book, Disorienting Politics: Chimerican Media and Transpacific Entanglements, Fan Yang mines 21st-century media artifacts such as Firefly and House of Cards to make visible the economic, cultural, political, and ecological entanglements of China and the United States. She demonstrates the ways in which race is embedded in geopolitics even when the subject of discussion is not the people, but the (Chinese) state.

Humanities Forum with Fan Yang Race, Politics, and Rising China through Chimerican MediaDrawing on her forthcoming book, Disorienting Politics: Chimerican Media and Transpacific Entangleme...

We're excited for our Global Asias Initiative to be featured in Mellon Foundation's latest newsletter Celebrating Asian American Experiences and History alongside some amazing projects! https://us11.campaign-archive.com/?e=915316994f&u=edfed987e2ba4277b75131566&id=f455692467

Asian American experiences in focus

In The Conversation US, Dr. Meredith Oyen, Director of the Asian Studies Program at UMBC, contextualizes the recent growth in Chinese migration to the United States and the role of the Darien Gap and U.S.'s southern border in their journeys.

Chinese migration to US is nothing new – but the reasons for recent surge at Southern border are A gloomier economic outlook in China and tightening state control have combined with the influence of social media in encouraging migration.

Welcome to May—and welcome to Asian American & Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month! Throughout the month, AAS will be celebrating through the sharing of resources, events, & other opportunities to explore history & culture.

Read more: https://www.asianstudies.org/celebrating-asian-american-and-native-hawaiian-pacific-islander-heritage-month/

Join the UMBC community as we mark Immigrant Appreciation Day on May 1, 2024 from 9am-5pm!

We're excited about a packed day of panels, trainings, story-sharing and more, including the Closing Keynote by Dr. Madeline Y. Hsu, "Asian Student Migrations and the Transformative Outcomes of Higher Education Institutions."

Check out the full schedule of events here: https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/dreshercenter/posts/141036

Sponsored by the Intercultural Communication MA Program; the Latinx and Hispanic Faculty Association; the Asian and Asian American Faculty and Staff Council; PROMISE at UMBC; the Department of Modern Languages, Linguistics, and Intercultural Communication; the College of Engineering and Information Technology; the Dresher Center for the Humanities; the Center for Social Science Scholarship; and the Center for Global Engagement.

This Thursday, April 25, 4-5:30pm Dr. Fan Yang is presenting her talk "Race, Politics, and Rising China through Chimerican Media" for the Humanities Forum! The talk takes place at the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery.

Drawing on her forthcoming book, Disorienting Politics: Chimerican Media and Transpacific Entanglements, Fan Yang mines 21st-century media artifacts such as Firefly and House of Cards to make visible the economic, cultural, political, and ecological entanglements of China and the United States. She demonstrates the ways in which race is embedded in geopolitics even when the subject of discussion is not the people, but the (Chinese) state.

Biography: Fan Yang (杨帆) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Communication Studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Yang is also an Advisory Board member of UMBC's Global Asias Initiative.An interdisciplinary scholar, Yang works at the intersection of cultural studies, transnational media studies, globalization, postcolonialism/postsocialism, and contemporary China. She is the author of Faked in China: Nation Branding, Counterfeit Culture, and Globalization (Indiana University Press, 2016), as well as the forthcoming book, Disorienting Politics: Chimerican Media and Transpacific Entanglements (University of Michigan, June 2024). Yang is also at work on a new project, “Shenzhen: A Media City of the Global South,” which examines the first Special Economic Zone located in southern China as a media-infrastructural complex that straddles globalizations from “above” and “below.”

Co-sponsored by the Department of Media and Communication Studies; the Asian Studies Program; and the Global Studies Program.



https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/globalasias/events/129553

Through the Global Asias Initiative, we're offering Undergraduate Research Fellowships for students and Course Expansion Grants for faculty! Applications for this coming Fall 2024 are due May 3, 2024. More information at bit.ly/UMBCglobalasias

UMBC Global Asias is made possible by a grant from the Mellon Foundation

Thank you so much to everyone who attended and contributed to the Global Asias Initiative Opening Workshop & Reception on April 5 and to all of our wonderful, engaging speakers. We are even more excited now about all of the possibilities of the work!

Keep in touch with the initiative's upcoming programming & events here and on the Global Asias myUMBC group: https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/globalasias

The UMBC Global Asias Initiative is made possible by a grant from the Mellon Foundation.



Photography: Abnet Shiferaw

Check out this piece in The Conversation US by Dr. Preminda Jacob, Associate Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences and Affiliate Associate Professor of Asian Studies at UMBC. She discusses her research on the use of cinema to influence electoral and political decision-making in Tamil Nadu and India at-large, and cinema's role in political polarization and promotion of Hindu nationalist ideals.

As Dr. Jacob references - India's entertainment film industry has a massive worldwide audience. Adopting a Global Asias framing, we can imagine how this reach has implications beyond India, particularly in the political formation of South Asian diasporas and in U.S.-India state relations.

https://theconversation.com/bollywood-is-playing-a-large-supporting-role-in-indias-elections-224611

We're excited to announce that the UMBC College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences has received a $750,000 grant from Mellon Foundation to establish the Global Asias Initiative! UMBC’s existing Asian studies program and Asian American studies minor will grow into a more expansive Global Asias program that better serves and represents UMBC’s Asian American community, interested students, and beyond.

Read more here: https://umbc.edu/quick-posts/umbc-to-establish-global-asias-initiative/

Follow the initiative on myUMBC: https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/globalasias

Photo: Global Asias Advisory Board, photographer Abnet Shiferaw for UMBC

Come work with us!

We're looking for a postdoc to join our Global Asias Initiative for a two-year fellowship (with the possibility of conversion to a TT position)!

For more information, and to apply, visit the job listing on Interfolio:

Apply - Interfolio

It's advising season! Check out the announcement on our my.UMBC.edu group page for information on how to get started.

Asian Studies affiliate professor Chris Tong is featured in this fascinating article about his research on environmental disasters in China. He notes of his work, “One of the goals of my book is to offer readers resources to ‘think with China’ on shared concerns such as ecological crises, human rights, and animal advocacy,” says Tong. “I see my work as contributing to cultural diplomacy and what people in the policy world call ‘China literacy.’”

Follow the link to read more!

Turning The Tides: Historic Flood Research Is Personal Discovering clues about history’s most devastating floods isn’t just about making change. It’s also a journey inspired by generations of family.

We couldn't be more proud of our 2022 UMBC Asian Studies student award winners. These students demonstrated academic excellence, dedication to their language studies, and incredible leadership within the program during their time at UMBC. We know that they are going to go far and wish them all the best as they begin their next chapters!

Please join us in congratulating them!

Colleen and Claire, winners of this year's Constantine Vaporis Academic Excellence in Asian Studies award!

Sibgha and Jade, winners of this year's Excellence in an Asian Language award!

Camille and Maria, winners of this year's Outstanding Service to UMBC's Asian Studies Program award!

Join us on Tuesday afternoon, March 15, for "Asia and the Russia-Ukraine War," an online conversation about the influence and role of Russia's Asian neighbors on the war in Ukraine.

Dr. Brian Carlson from the Center for Security Studies will join UMBC's Dr. Brian Grodsky (chair and professor of Political Science), and Dr. Devin Hagerty (professor of Political Science) for a conversation moderated by our director, Dr. Meredith Oyen.

The talk will take place virtually on Tuesday, March 15 at 2:30pm EST. Learn more and find the WebEx link at http://events.umbc.edu/go/104128

This event is co-sponsored by Asian Studies and the Departments of History and Political Science.

It's the today at UMBC! The Merediths in Asian Studies are showing off their best black and gold UMBC swag, including our new 10th Anniversary tees 👀

We are proud of our students and all of their accomplishments over the last ten years. We can't wait to see what the future will bring, and hope that you'll join us this Giving Day! https://givingday.umbc.edu/

Wow, you're all really excited about our new shirts!

(We are, too, but wow!)

If you're a current student in the Asian Studies program, feel free to stop by the program office in Fine Arts 548 any time this semester to pick one up. We're here Mon-Thurs mornings, 8am-12:30pm, any time campus is open. Become the envy of everyone else on campus with your cool new swag!

Alumni, we heard you loud and clear! Program student, faculty and staff alumni can visit our website to fill out a Google form and request a shirt, too. The page also has a calendar for our other celebrations this semester, and we'll be adding more content regularly! https://asianstudies.umbc.edu/10th-anniversary-celebration-special-events/

Happy New Year from the Asian Studies Program! Here director Oyen is modeling our newest shirt (and definitely not about to be eaten by that nearby dragon). It features UMBC mascot True Grit, stylized for our subject and the season. Asian Studies students and faculty are welcome to stop by our offices to pick one up!

新年快樂!

Asian Studies is ringing in the 🐯 with a socially-distanced celebration! Stop by to pick up a Cup Noodles (for longevity), an orange (for prosperity), and a fortune cookie (for good fortune, of course)!

We're also celebrating our 10th anniversary at UMBC, and Asian Studies students are welcome to take home a t-shirt to show off their departmental pride!

Come see us this week, Tues-Thurs 9am-11:30am, and next week, Mon-Weds 9am-11:30am, in Fine Arts 548. If these times don't work, please email us to set up an appointment.

We wish you a healthy and prosperous new year!

Classes are over for Fall 2021, and it's finals week! You made it! We are incredibly proud of you and the hard work you put into this challenging semester.

We wish you the best for your exams and for the festive end of year holiday season!

UMBC's Spring 2022 schedule goes live on Monday morning, but Winter session registration is open now! Dr. Oyen will be offering her HIST 434 - The Vietnam Wars in International Context - in an online, asynchronous format this January.

Winter session can be a great time to catch up or get ahead. For more information about Winter 2022 classes and how to sign up, visit https://winter.umbc.edu/