Call For Papers For Humanity Research Center 2025 Spring Conference

The Humanities Research Center is pleased to announce its annual Spring Conference 2025, which will be held in person at Duke Kunshan University from April 18-19, 2025, and will be centered around the topic of gender and sexuality. The conference will feature 4 keynote lectures and a couple dozen undergraduate research papers.

Current undergraduate students in at DKU and NYU Shanghai are invited to submit abstracts. Students selected from NYU Shanghai will receive round-trip transport to Kunshan, all meals, and shared accommodations.

Application

  • Papers must be written in English.
  • Papers must be unpublished research that has not been presented in a previous DKU Undergraduate Humanities Research Conference
  • Papers may be on any topic in an arts, humanities, interpretive social science or related interdisciplinary field. They do not have to address the conference theme.
  • Papers that rely principally on quantitive research methods will not be considered.
  • Papers must be by a single author.
  • Prizes of 1000 RMB will be awarded to the best five papers.

Fill out the application form here or scan the QR code.

Timeline

  • Tuesday, March 11, Information session on preparing a submission: Zoom TBD
  • Friday, March 14, or before: Submit application form with paper title and 300-word abstract.
  • Monday, March 24: Acceptance decisions announced.
  • Sunday, April 13: Final papers (max 10 pages double-spaced, excluding notes and bibliography) must be submitted to organizers to be considered for a prize.
  • Friday, April 18, and Saturday, April 19: Conference takes place on campus

HRC Spring 2025 & Duke-DKU Collaborative Grant Awardees

We are pleased to announce the recipients of the HRC Spring 2025 grants and the Duke-DKU Collaborative Grant Awards. Congratulations to all the awardees for their outstanding contributions!

HRC Spring 2025 Grant Awardees

Applicant Category Title
Jan Hua-Henning Book Manuscript Workshop Fire and Technology: The Birth of Modern Emergency Response in Germany and the United States, 1800-1900
Wenting Ji Small Event Voices of Late Imperial Chinese Women: Literature, Life, and Legacy
Seth Henderson, Richard Davis Small Event DKU Film Society – Film Event Series, Spring ‘25: Pushing Boundaries

Duke-DKU Collaborative Grant Award Awardees

Applicants (Duke) Applicants (DKU) Title
Aunchalee Loscalzo Palmquist Renee Richer Flora and Feminists: The Subversive Science of Botany
Eileen Chow Keping Wu, Kim Hunter-Gordon, Don Snow, Hui Yao, Wenting Ji, Meng Wang, Junyi Li Voices, Visuals and the Visceral: Wu Cultural Heritage at the Margins
David Wong, Wenjin Liu James Miller, Hwayeong Wang Moral Emotions in Chinese and Greek Philosophy

We look forward to seeing these innovative projects and collaborations come to fruition!

Superdeep Nighthawks: Eraserhead (Lynch 1977) | Jan 23, 8:08pm

8:08pm  |  IB 1008

The Nighthawks are bidding Superdeep farewells to one of the Greats: David Lynch. Not our first Lynch screening but the first in our David Lynch Retrospective, come join us this week for his 1977 Eraserhead (…& food & drink).
Thu Jan 23, 8:08pm IB 1008.

***

Superdeep Nighthawks meet on Thu eve (~9pm till late); more info here. To propose a screening, follow this link; for more info on Superdeep generally, follow this one.

Superdeep is sponsored by DKU’s Humanities Research Center.

Harmony Lab Event Report: Round Table Discussion

Written by Effy Bat-Erdene, Class of 2025. 

On December 6th, 2024, the DKU Harmony Lab, in collaboration with the Gender Studies Lab, hosted an engaging roundtable event titled Confucianism, Family, and Women. This event brought together faculty members and students for a thought-provoking discussion on the intersections of Confucian philosophy, family structures, and gender roles. With a particular focus on the pressing birth rate crises in East Asian nations, the discussions explored Confucian values as both a lens to critically examine these challenges and a potential framework for innovative solutions.

The event began with an introductory presentation by Professor Roger Ames from Beijing University, a distinguished scholar in Confucian philosophy. Professor Ames reframed Confucianism not as a static “Eastern religion” but as a dynamic tradition of relational ethics rooted in intergenerational connectivity. Drawing on the tradition’s origins in ancestral sacrifices, he underscored the moral duties that bind past, present, and future generations. His keynote set the stage for participants to reconsider Confucianism’s relevance in addressing modern societal dilemmas, such as shifting family dynamics and demographic transitions.

Professor Sor-hoon Tan from Singapore Management University delved into the Confucian concept of family, describing it as a relational and hierarchical unit distinct from today’s nuclear family. She critically examined the centrality of the father-son relationship in traditional Confucianism while identifying its limitations in addressing broader familial and gender dynamics. This prompted a lively dialogue on whether Confucianism inherently perpetuates patriarchy or whether its core principles can be reinterpreted to support gender equality and inclusivity.

Professor Qian Zhu from DKU provided a historical overview of gender norms in modern China, tracing their evolution from the late Qing dynasty through the Mao era. Highlighting movements like the Tianzu (Heavenly Feet) campaigns and the emergence of the “new woman” in the 1920s, Zhu illustrated how women’s liberation was closely tied to nationalism and revolutionary ideals. Drawing connections to global influences such as Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, she underscored how feminist movements in China were both uniquely situated within Confucian traditions and globally resonant.

Professor Yu Wang, also from DKU, examined East Asia’s demographic crisis, including declining fertility rates, increasing divorce rates, and cultural stigmas surrounding premarital births. She discussed how generational shifts in attitudes toward marriage and parenthood reflect tensions between modern individualism and traditional Confucian values, which prioritize familial continuity and intergenerational obligations. Professor Wang’s presentation provided a sociological lens for understanding these trends and their implications for policy and culture.

The roundtable concluded with responses from DKU faculty members Professor Hwa Yeong Wang and Professor James Miller, alongside Wuhan University faculty members Professor Qin Liu and Professor  Yong Li. They offered critical reflections on the key themes from the presentations and emphasized Confucianism’s potential to contribute to global dialogues on gender and family dynamics.

The discussions were followed by a Q&A session, where attendees actively participated by raising questions and sharing their thoughts on the current implications. The event was a huge success, inspiring meaningful conversations about the historical significance and contemporary relevance of Confucianism in addressing pressing contemporary social issues.

Congratulations to Professor Seth Henderson on His New Publication: Colony in Crisis

We are excited to congratulate Professor Seth Henderson on the publication of his article, “Colony in Crisis: Riots, Propaganda, and Omission in the Hong Kong Film Unit 1966–1968,” in the Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television, one of the leading journals in film history.

In this groundbreaking article, Professor Henderson examines the Hong Kong Film Unit’s Hong Kong Today series, which chronicled the events of Hong Kong during the 1960s and early 1970s. The paper explores the 1967 Maoist riots, a pivotal moment in Hong Kong’s history, and the archival omissions surrounding them, shedding light on the colonial government’s propaganda efforts. Professor Henderson’s research highlights the complex dynamics of Cold War-era colonialism, government relationships, and the shaping of Hong Kong’s identity during a period of profound social and political change.

The full article can be accessed here.

We congratulate Professor Henderson on this significant contribution to the field and look forward to more of his insightful research!

History Through a Student’s Eyes: Research Assistant&SW

Reported by Sydney Brown, class of 2026 & Yuruo Zhang, class of 2027

On Wednesday, December 4th the Archives and History Initiative hosted its final event for the semester. Senior Haiyi Guo presented his experience as a student research assistant for Professor Zach Fredman, and discussed his Signature Work project. About 19 students and Professors Jan Hua-Henning, Titas Chakraborty, Jesse Olsavasky, Bryce Beemer, Joseph Giacomelli, Andrew Field, as well as Archivist Ryder Kouba were in attendance.

Haiyi Firstly introduced his previous research experience, as a history research assistant. “New Book: The Tormented Alliance” is Professor Fredman’s new book project, it was a study about the cooperation between the US Army and the Nationalist Government in China during World War II. Guo reviewed and collated reference information for writing. “Rest and Recreation (R&R) program” is a research program about the US Army’s vacation program (R&R) during the Vietnam War. He helped to collect related resources from online archives.

Guo’s signature work project, “A History of Gender in the Vietnam War,” was influenced by the work he did with Prof. Fredman. Guo utilises interviews conducted with former Donut Dollies for his primary sources, and conducted historical research into the chronology of the Vietnam War, and on gender issues. His project has three main focuses: American and Allied women in military and support roles; Vietnamese Women’s Experiences During the Vietnam War; and Women’s leadership in post-war recovery.

His first focus on American and Allied Women looks at the Donut Dollies, women who volunteered with the Red Cross to provide relaxation and comfort for male soldiers in Vietnam. Guo also looks at how consequently, former Donut Dollies developed PTSD from sex violence. The next focus (Vietnamese Women’s Experiences During the Vietnam War) looks at how the war destroyed rural comunities and forced women to move and go into sex work. Here, Guo looks at bar girls and the intersection with sex work. He also looks at how the perception of American soldiers being generous and willing to marry provided the hope for better futures for Vietnamese women. The final focus, Women’s Leadership in Post-War Recovery, addresses the story of one Vietnamese woman who was separated from her family, and in the United States, started a support group called “Families of Vietnamese Prisoners Association.” The group worked to reunite families who were separated during the Vietnam War.

In the end, participants asked about the research content and context, including the societal and cultural implications of the Vietnam War on women’s roles. The Discussion highlighted how wartime experiences reshaped traditional gender expectations and led to the stigmatisation of women involved in non-conventional roles, such as entertainment or support services. Comparisons were drawn to other historical instances, such as Korean “comfort women,” which emphasised shared struggles and the complexities of addressing historical narratives. The audience also reflected on how these roles influenced post-war integration and the lingering perception of women who worked in such capacities. Moreover, participants also inquired about the challenges of sourcing and analysing materials. Questions centred on how primary sources were accessed and evaluated, especially those from Vietnamese archives or oral histories. The speaker explained the reliance on English-language interviews and newspaper reports due to the difficulty of accessing Vietnamese-language resources. Thus, the audience suggested the potential for incorporating oral histories to provide richer, more personal insights into women’s experiences. The audience also raised points about the ethical considerations of interpreting sensitive topics, such as trauma and stigma, through historical research.

Before the dismiss of the event, Professor Jan Hua-Henning quickly mentioned a research assistant opportunity open for all students. Student workers on the team will help Professor Hua-Henning create a website and database for the Global Histories of Risk (GLOHRI) project and will be the first ones to contribute to the database. If interested, please contact Professor Hua-Henning at jan.huahenning@dukekunshan.edu.cn for furthur information.

RAS HISTORY CLUB JAN 18: ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE SELF IN FRANCOPHONE LITERATURE

Asian and North African francophone literatures share not only a common language but are both fertile grounds where writers explore the experiences of the self, families, and society at large. In these literatures, writing functions as an archaeological device to make sense of the obstructive social processes that make life excessively demanding and complex. This orientation positions Asian and North African francophone narratives as some the most significant archives of the individual’s journey in and out of the private or public sphere in the modern era.

This talk will introduce novels written by Aki Shimazaki, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Linda Lê, Mohammad Berrada, Kim Thuy, Abdallah Laroui, Marguerite Duras and Pham Duy Khiem, and will invite us into these two literary and cultural traditions, bringing North Africa and Asian societies and literatures into close conversation with each other.

Location

Garden Books
长乐路325号,近陕西南路
325 Changle Rd, Near Shaanxi South Rd
Shanghai, China

About the speaker

Adrien Pouille is an Assistant Professor of African Literature at Duke Kunshan University. He holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Indiana University Bloomington, and has taught at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Wabash College, and Indiana University Bloomington. He is the author of Human Journeys and the Quest for Knowledge in African Writing, published in 2021, and contributed to the Saafi-Saafi & English/French Dictionary (2016), among other publications.