Upcoming Events
Spring 2025
EASC Guest Speaker Series: Dr. Ambedkar and Navayana Buddhism: Opening New Forms and Approaches to Liberation – Talk by Santosh Raut
Tuesday, April 1, 2025 | 5:00PM-6:20PM PT | Zoom Webinar | RSVP
Moderated by Prof. Jessica Zu, Santosh Raut (Harvard Divinity School) explores how Bhimrao Ambedkar writes about and expounds his vision of the Buddha-Dhamma as an instrument to reconstruct society and the peaceful transformation of an individual.
EASC Guest Speaker Series: By the Women, For the Revolution: Gendered Struggle of Navayāna Buddhism – Talk by Harsha Gautam
Wednesday, April 2, 2025 | 12:00PM-1:20PM PT | Zoom Webinar | RSVP
Moderated by Prof. Jessica Zu, Harsha Gautam (University of Texas at Austin) challenges the widespread notion that Navayāna Buddhism is exclusively a lay-focused tradition, emphasizing the pivotal role played by monastics, particularly nuns, within the movement. By focusing on the grassroots efforts of Navayāna nuns with oppressed communities, this talk will explore the innovative strategies the nuns employ to introduce Buddhism to unfamiliar audiences. It will also delve into how these Buddhist nuns navigate and resist the intersecting oppressions of caste and gender, while actively contributing to the broader struggle for social emancipation.
Opportunities and Challenges for US-Asia Relations | West Coast US-Asia Scholars Network Distinguished Speaker Event
Friday, April 4, 2025 | 2:00PM-3:00PM | DML 240 | RSVP
Join us for a dialogue with distinguished speakers – former Ambassador Cho Hyun and Councilmember Jon Kaji – moderated by Prof. Jane Junn (USC).
The West Coast US-Asia Scholars Network is an event that brings together senior scholars and midcareer professionals who study topics related to US-Asia relations with some interest in policy relevance or public intellectual space. The event will address topics of importance to US-Asia relations in politics, economy, and diplomacy.
Organized by the USC Korean Studies Institute and the Korean Heritage Library. Sponsored by the USC East Asian Studies Center and Korea Foundation.
EASC Guest Speaker Series: The Perils and Possibilities of “Speaking Freely” in the People’s Republic – Talk by Nicholas Bartlett
Monday, April 7, 2025 | 1:00PM-2:00PM | SOS 250 | RSVP
Moderated by Prof. Joshua Goldstein (EASC Director and Professor of History and East Asian Languages and Cultures), Prof. Nicholas Bartlett (Barnard College) explores the politics of speaking in contemporary China through Tavistock tradition Group Relations Conferences (GRCs). Prof. Bartlett refers to the distinctive genre of speech produced in these spaces as “speaking freely.” By attending to specific instances of speaking in Tavistock tradition groups hosted in a country frequently attacked for its failure to promote liberal ideas of free speech, this talk explores the possibilities and perils associated with encounters across difference in the People’s Republic and beyond.
This event is co-sponsored by USC Departments of History, East Asian Languages and Cultures, and Anthropology.
EASC Guest Speaker Series: China’s Relations with Central Asia: Why Should Americans Care? – Talk by Morris Rossabi
Friday, April 11, 2025 | 4:00PM-5:30PM | THH 202 | RSVP
Moderated by Prof. Bettine Birge, Prof. Morris Rossabi (Columbia University) first describes traditional Chinese relations with Central Asia, including the so-called Silk Roads, but he then focuses on China’s increasing interest and involvement in the region since the 1990s collapse of the Soviet Union. As China plays a greater economic role in Central Asia, he also discusses the impact on Xinjiang and on China’s relations with Russia. He concludes with an explanation of the importance of these developments for the U.S.
This event is co-sponsored by the USC Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and Center for International Studies.
Dislocated Blossoming Years: A Talk on Wong Kar-Wai and In the Mood for Love
Monday, April 14, 2025 | 3:30PM | DML 240 | RSVP
If you’re fascinated by Wong Kar-Wai (1958–) and his iconic film In the Mood for Love (1999), don’t miss this insightful discussion on his work and artistic vision.
Beyond exploring the film’s formal aesthetics, this talk will also highlight key figures who shaped Wong’s career, including actor-producer Alan Tang Kwong-Wing, who funded Days of Being Wild and worked with Wong as a scriptwriter; renowned art designer Cheung Shu-ping; and visionary cinematographer Christopher Doyle.
This event is co-sponsored by the East Asian Library, East Asian Studies Center, and the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures.
Spring 2025 EASC Faculty Luncheon
Tuesday, April 15, 2025 | 11:30AM – 1:30AM | University Club Scriptorium | By Invitation Only
EASC is excited to host our annual Faculty Luncheon this spring! We look forward to having the opportunity to share recent developments and reconnect with each other. We will be hosting this year’s lunch party at the University Club Scriptorium. We look forward to celebrating the end of the semester with you!
Please RSVP by Tuesday, April 1.
Movement Lab + Film Screening with Wen Hui& Eiko Otake
Friday, April 18, 2025 | 1:30PM – 6:30PM | SCA Gallery | RSVP
This is a story of friendship between two independent female artists and the body memories they each carry with intention. In January 2020, New York-based interdisciplinary artist Eiko Otake traveled to Beiiing to visit Wen Hui, a Chinese choreographer, and filmmaker. Though born eight years apart, their lives were shaped by distinct histories Eiko in postwar japan, Wen during the Cultural Revolution. Their month-long visit became a space for deep conversation, reflection, and artistic collaboration, eventually, to the documentary No Rule is Our Rule (2022).
Marking another year of inspiring friendship and collaboration, Eiko and Wenhui come to USC to share their work, inviting the community to join them for a full-day experimental workshop, featuring a guided movement session and a screening of their collaborative film.
Documentary Screening ZERO WASTE — Exploring South Korea’s Recycling Activism with Filmmaker Danny Kim
Friday, April 18, 2025 | 6:00PM – 8:00PM | SCA 110
Join KSI and filmmaker Danny Kim for an evening of discussion about recycling practices in South Korea, with a screening of the eco-documentary ZERO WASTE and a conversation to follow with experts in the field. This event aims to bring together all like-minded individuals who are concerned about the future of planet Earth and who want to know more about what human action can be taken to ensure a more sustainable future. Following the stories of artists, activists, and individuals in the South Korean context, ZERO WASTE provides a look into the way people are trying to address the waste problem in their national context, and it offers all viewers a chance to contemplate what actions they could take to join the “zero waste” movement for a greener future.
Sponsored by the Korean Studies Institute. Co-sponsored by the East Asian Studies Center, the Levan Institute for the Humanities, the Institute for Ecological Futures, and the Environmental Humanities Working Group.
EAAS MA End of Year Luncheon
Tuesday, April 22, 2025 | 11:30AM – 1:30PM | CAS 100 | RSVP
EASC is excited to host an End of the Year Luncheon for our EAAS MA students! Join us for an opportunity to get together with your MA cohort, share recent developments, and enjoy some delicious food. We look forward to celebrating the end of the semester with you!
This event is by invitation only.
Please RSVP by Monday, April 14.
2025 EASC Commencement Open House
Thursday, May 15, 2025 | 2:00PM-4:00PM | CAS 100 | By Invitation Only
On Thursday, May 15, EASC faculty, staff, family and friends will gather to celebrate our East Asian Area Studies graduating seniors and M.A. students. Please join us from 2:00PM – 4:00PM at CAS 100 for the EASC Commencement Open House before the USC Main Commencement Ceremony!
For more information about Commencement 2025, visit the USC Commencement Website.
Please RSVP by Wednesday, April 30.
Providing leadership, coordination and support for East Asian studies at the University of Southern California.
113
Affiliated Faculty in over 44 departments
388
Students sent to East Asia on Global East Asia
$2.8 M
Awarded in Student and Faculty Funding
EASC Signature Programs
Undergraduate
Global East Asia (GEA) is a four week upper-division Maymester research course with a study abroad component for USC undergraduate students, made possible by the East Asian Studies Center and USC Dornsife. This intensive program gives students the opportunity to travel and conduct research in China or Japan. Students from all majors, schools and language backgrounds are eligible to apply and experience East Asia in a unique way.
Graduate
EASC Graduate Fellowships provide summer stipends, typically between $1,000-$3,000, depending on the proposed course of study. The purpose of the award is to advance understanding of East Asia and/or US-Asia relations. The award may be used for research, language training or area studies, and can also be used for research including Asia in a comparative context or as a case study.
Research
A centerpiece of the East Asian Studies Center’s efforts to support all forms of research that deal with East Asia at USC is the manuscript review. Any USC faculty working on a book that deals with East Asia in some way are eligible for possible support. The program is designed to provide helpful and timely feedback to faculty preparing monographs or other similarly large academic works prior to submission for publication.
Student Journal of Asian Studies @ USC
The USC Student Journal for Asian Studies (SJAS @ USC) is a student-run journal created to publish undergraduate and graduate research in various disciplines in Asian studies. In its most recent issue, SJAS @ USC featured work on Filipino surnames, Korean moon jars, and techno-orientalism.
The Spring 2025 issue is set to be published in May 2025.
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Contact Us
East Asian Studies Center
3454 Trousdale Parkway, CAS 100
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0154