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Join us Friday!

CAS 2022 Symposium

CAS’s theme this academic year has been Intermountain Asia. With this symposium, we seek to draw attention to the myriad connections between our corner of the world and Asia. We aim to better connect with our fellow Asianists nearby, and to cultivate a vision of Asian Studies that does not limit “Asia” to a distant place, or an object of inquiry far removed from our everyday lives here in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region more broadly. Teaching and researching Asia in Colorado means asking our students to engage with non-western societies, cultures, and languages; grappling with histories of colonialism and imperialism in which the US is implicated; and providing understandings of local, regional, and transnational connections within and across Asia. Indeed, many Asia scholars are tied to both Asia and the US, through family, work, and other connections. 

Former Association for Asian Studies President Christine Yano has called for Asian Studies to take a more global perspective, emphasizing transnational circuits and dynamic encounters, focusing on mobilities and interactions across oceans and borders. Asia cannot be artificially separated from the rest of the world, including the United States. In this spirit, we believe that discussions of linkages between the US and Asian societies and examinations of how Asian societies and Asian diaspora communities are grappling with issues of religious, racial/ethnic, and gender/sex diversities and inequalities can also help us to think about how scholars of Asia can contribute to ongoing efforts to build justice, equality, diversity, and inclusion in our communities.

Intermountain Asia and DEI: Asian Studies in Colorado and Beyond

British and Irish Studies Room, Norlin Library 5th Floor (CBIS)
Friday, April 29, 2022
Noon to 4:30 pm

Introductory remarks from John-Michael Rivera, Associate Dean for Arts and Humanities

This public-facing symposium during the afternoon of April 29, 2022 will bring together faculty from several Front Range higher educational institutions to discuss connections across Asian societies and between Asia and the US, diversity and marginalization in and among Asian countries, and how scholars of Asia can participate in diversity and equity initiatives in Colorado and elsewhere. The symposium will highlight CAS’s unique ability to coordinate and organize academic discussions on Asia in the Front Range region. Cumulatively, the symposium will bring Asia, Asian America, and transnational Asia into dialogue. 

This symposium will be structured around 3 inter-locking roundtables: 

12:15 pm - Roundtable 1 - Inter-Asian Connections and Links between Asia and Colorado, will ask participants to reflect on the importance of teaching about Asia in Colorado and what is gained by examining connections and linkages between Asian societies and Colorado. 
Einor Cervone, Associate Curator of Asian Art, Denver Art Museum 
Clarence Lee, Asian Languages and Civilizations, CU Boulder
Carole McGranahan, Anthropology, University of Colorado Boulder
Andrea Stanton, Religious Studies, University of Denver
Moderator: Rachel Rinaldo, Sociology and Center for Asian Studies, University of Colorado Boulder

1:30 pm - Roundtable 2 - Diversity and Marginalization within and among Asian Societies, will ask participants to reflect on historic and recent struggles over religious, racial/ethnic, sex/gender and other forms of inequality and diversity within and between Asian societies and what can be learned from such struggles. 
Lucy Chester, History, University of Colorado Boulder
Joon Kim, Ethnic Studies, Colorado State University
Evelyn Shih, Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Colorado Boulder
Tenzin Tsepak, Center for Asian Studies, University of Colorado Boulder
Moderator: Keller Kimbrough, Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Colorado Boulder

2:45 pm - Roundtable 3 - Asian Studies in Justice, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Work, will ask participants to reflect on how scholars of Asia can participate in JEDI efforts, in Colorado and elsewhere.
Aun Hasan Ali, Religious Studies, University of Colorado Boulder
Mithi Mukherjee, History, University of Colorado Boulder
Stephanie Santos, Gender, Women, and Sexualities Studies, Metropolitan State University Denver
Moderator: Katherine Alexander, Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Colorado Boulder 

A reception with light refreshments will follow