Past Asia in Focus Speakers

picture of green spiky fruit

Asia in Focus Speaker Series, 2019

Wednesday, September 25th
#MeToo Movement in China: The Rise of the Feminist Resistance 
Li Maizi
Chinese gender equality and LGBTQ activist

Asia in Focus Speakers Series, 2016-2017

Thursday, February 16th
"Handouts for the Weak?:Minority Welfare Benefits in China"
Andrew MacDonald, PhD, University of Oxford
Post-Doctoral Associate, Center for Asian Democracy, University of Louisville

Monday, February 20th
"Red Flags, Red Lines, and Red Scares: U.S.- China Relations in the Era of Trump and Xi"
Robert Daly, Woodrow Wilson Center
Robert Daly is Director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.
This talk was co-sponsored by the UofL Center for Asian Democracy and The Louisville Committee on Foreign Relations.

Thursday, March 23rd
"Lessons from an Election in Mumbai"
Lisa Bjorkman, Assistant Professor, Urban and Public Affairs, University of Louisville

Thursday, April 20rd
"The Land I Lost: A Vietnamese Refugee Story"
Minh Nguyen, Eastern Kentucky University

Asia in Focus Speaker Series, 2015-2016

Thursday, April 7th
“Islam and Democracy in Indonesia: Tolerance without Liberalism”
Jeremy Menchik, Boston University
*Co-sponsored with the Weber Endowed Chair for Politics, Science, and Religion

Wednesday, March 23rd
“China’s Urban Future”
Richard Dilworth, Drexell University

Wednesday, February 24th
“The Temporal Logic of Repression in China: A Political Calendar Approach"
Rory Truex, Princeton University

Thursday, February 11th
"China's Recent Developments and its Democratic Prospects"
Minxin Pei, Claremont McKenna College
*Co-sponsored with the Asian Studies Program and the McConnell Center

Wednesday, January 27th
“The Global Expansion of Chinese NGOs: A Threat or New Collaborator?”
Reza Hasmath, University of Oxford

Thursday, December 3rd
“Secularism, Religion and the Politics of Reproductive Health in the Philippines”
David Buckley, University of Louisville

Thursday, November 5th
“Development, Democracy, and Dissent in Malaysia and Singapore”
Surain Subramaniam, UNC-Asheville

Thursday, October 15th
“Envisioning China's Future: New Middle Kingdom or Singapore on Steroids?”
Eric Shibuya, Professor of Strategic Studies, US Marine Corps Command and Staff College

Asia in Focus Speaker Series, 2014-2015

Monday, April 13th
“Gifts to a former mentor: Hong Kong’s contribution to the rise of China and the consequences of that rise for the current relationship"
Dr. Alan Smart, University of Calgary
*Co-sponsored by the UofL Department of Anthropology

Wednesday, April 8th
"How does Korean media cover female candidates in high-profile elections?"
Dr.Jinhyeok Jang

Wednesday, March 11th
“Affirmative Action or Reverse Discrimination?: Urban Ethnic Minority Job Market in China”
Dr. Andrew MacDonald, CAD Post-Doctoral Research Associate

Thursday, Nov. 13th
"Collecting the Orient:  Images of Japan in Cigarette Cards, 1880s-1910s"

Dr. Todd Munson, Randolph-Macon College

Thursday, Oct. 23rd
"The Politics of Regime Building in the Malacca Strait"
Dr. Alice Ba, University of Delaware

Thursday, September 11th
"Chine Goes Global: The Partial Power"
David Shambaugh, George Washington University

Asia in Focus Speaker Series, 2013-2014

Wednesday, April 2nd,
"PROPAGANDA WITH PURPOSE? Uncovering Patterns in North Korean Nuclear Rhetoric, 1997-2012"
Dr. Timothy Rich, Assistant Professor in Political Science, Western Kentucky University

Wednesday, March 19th
“Civil Society Movements in India: From Anna to AAP”
Dr. Partha Basu, Professor, Department of International Relations, Jadavpur University, Kolkata and Senior Fulbright Scholar, University of Louisville

Wednesday, March 5th
"The Transformation of Higher Education in KAZAKHSTAN:  The Case of Eurasian National University"
Aigerim Shilibekova, Visiting Scholar, Davis Center for Russian & Eurasian Studies, Harvard University

December 4th
"The Promise and Pitfalls of Local Administrative Procedure Reform in China"
Neysun A. Mahboubi, Research Scholar of the Center for the Study of Contemporary China at the University of Pennsylvania

November 6th,
"Suing Dragons? Taking the Chinese State to Court"
John Wagner Givens, Post-Doctoral  Research Associate in the Center for Asian Democracy at the University of Louisville

October 2nd
"Yasukuni Shrine and Japan’s Unending Post-war"
Dr. Akiko Takenaka, Assistant Professor of History, University of Kentucky

September 4th
"Burmese Refugees in Malaysia: Caught between a stubborn regime and an ineffective United Nations"
Meagan Floyd & Michael Zeller, Recent UofL graduates, McConnell Scholars

Asia in Focus Speaker Series, 2012-2013

Wednesday, April 17th
"Legacies of Contention in Southeast Asian Transitions: Some Lessons from the Philippines, Indonesia and Myanmar"
Vincent Boudreau, Director of Colin Powell Center for Leadership and Service, City College of New York

Wednesday, March 20th
“The Politics of Space, State, and NGOs in China”
Dr. Jennifer Hsu, University of Alberta

Tuesday, February 14th
“Burma and the United States: New Directions in a Time of Change”
Priscilla Clapp, Former Minister-Counselor in the U.S. Foreign Service and Chief of Mission – Burma

Wednesday, January 30th,
“Dynastic Democracy? Heaven’s Mandate, Public Opinion, and Confucian Rebellion in Early China”
Dr. Daniel Tauss, University of Louisville

Wednesday, November 14th
"Indonesia: Challenges to the World's Largest Muslim Democracy"
Dr. William Liddle, Ohio State University

Wednesday, October 17th
"Recent Trends in Protest in China."
Andrew MacDonald, University of Oxford

Wednesday, September 19th
"From Socialist Ideology to Cultural Heritage:  The Changing Basis of Legitimacy in the People's Republic of China."
Dr. Richard Madsen, University of California, San Diego

Asia in Focus Speaker Series, 2011-2012

Wednesday, February 8th
"The Global Economic Crisis and Change in Chinese Foreign Policy"
Dr. Thomas Moore, University of Cincinnati

Wednesday, March 21st
"On Their Best Behavior: Multinationals Suing the Chinese State"
John Wagner Givens, University of Oxford

Thursday, April 5th
“Regional Dynamics in Asia: The impact of Russia’s hosting of the 2012 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit”
Dr. Sergey Sevastyanov, Vladivostok State University of Economics & Service

Tuesday, November 8th
“The Digital Origins of Democracy: Information Technology and Political Islam”
Dr. Philip Howard, University of Washington

Friday, October 21
“Money and Scandal in Japanese Politics”
Dr. Matthew Carlson, Univ. of Vermont

Tuesday, September 13th
"Losing Leviathan? Strong-State Democratization in Malaysia and Singapore"
Dr. Dan Slater, University of Chicago

Asia in Focus Speaker Series, 2010-2011

Feb. 23rd: Lien-Hang T. Nguyen, University of Kentucky
"The Evolution of U.S.-Chinese-Vietnamese Relations from the Cold War to the Present: A Historian’s Perspective"
Go here for a summary of Dr. Nguyen's talk

Jan. 28th: Gardner Bovingdon, Indiana University
Topic: "Hu knows the answer to China's national question? Nationalism, national identity and political reform in China'
Go here for a summary of Dr. Nguyen's talk