Transnational Chinese Villagers: NY’s Fuzhounese Immigrants Build a Global Community

Over the past twenty years Fuzhounese immigrants have transformed the face of New York’s Chinatown, supplanting the Cantonese as Chinatown’s largest ethnic Chinese community and vying for leadership in the area’s economics, politics, social life, and even language use. Drawing upon ongoing field research in New York and Fuzhou, this lecture will explore the emergence … Read more

Constructing National Identity in Post-Colonial India

Based on Ravi Kalia’s latest publication, Gandhinagar, this presentation traces India’s efforts to establish its twentieth-century architectural identity. Kalia explains that Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat in western India, became a battleground for the competing ideals that had surfaced during the building of Chandigarh and Bhubaneswar. Exploring the impact of modernist architecture on India as … Read more

Experiencing China and Chinese Culture: CUNY Study Abroad in China

This lecture will talk about unique features of CUNY-Asian-faculty-led study abroad in China program. In particular, the lecture will discuss various educational benefits of the program while students and faculty have real experience of China’s society, the people, the language, and culture. Topics: how the trip is organized prominent and unique features of the program … Read more

Buddha – Light of Asia: How We Lost Him At Bamiyan

The Buddha, an apostle of peace, amity and love appeared on earth in the sixth century before Christ. He was not represented in iconic form till the advent of the Christian era. His devotees worshipped the lord only through the symbols. The pre-Christian art in India as carved on pillars of the stupa or the … Read more

Striped Zebra

Striped Zebra: The Immigrant Psyche is a presentation on the forthcoming research volume on the subject of migration. The metaphor of Striped Zebra postulates that – upon migration – an immigrant’s mind assumes a “dyadic” structure, in which two parallel streams of thought run side by side. One of these, called the “Seed” values is … Read more