Author: Fei Xu

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Student Report: Reading and Q&A with Megan McDowell

Report by Rebecca Combs, Class of 2025 & Photo by Ruixiang Hu, Class of 2027

On October 22th, 2024, the HRC welcomed American Literary Translator Megan McDowell for a book reading and Q&A. About 25 students and 4 faculty members attended.

Originally from Richmond Kentucky and currently residing in Santiago Chile, McDowell has translated many of the most important Latin-American writers working today, including authors such as Alejandro Zambra, Samanta Schweblin and Mariana Enríquez. McDowell has won two O’Henry Prizes for short stories of exceptional merit, which she won for her translated works. Her writing has been published in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and The New York Times magazine.

McDowell read from her newest work of translation: A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enríquez, an Argentinian author and journalist. Samanta Schweblin has described this book to be “a diabolical collection of stories featuring achingly human characters, whose lives intertwine with ghosts, goblins, and the macabre”.

Of the stories within the novel, McDowell read an excerpt from her translated version titled “Night Bird”, written under the influence of Mildred Burton, an Argintenian artist. The reading was filled with mesmerizing imagery, with combinations of folktale and trauma interweaved together to form a commentary on the roles of women and socialization.

During the Q&A, McDowell was questioned about the criteria she uses to choose books to translate. She described how she has a few authors who she works with over their careers, stating “the more we work together the more trust is built, now I am reading their works as they are writing them– the process is like an ongoing conversation”.

McDowell was asked whether it is possible for someone to simply know a language to be able to translate a book, and she provided DKUers with a poignant answer: “I don’t think it is enough to know the language at all, I think it is the first step”. She continued with “my approach to translation is that of a learner, I approach it with curiosity. I am not a native Spanish speaker, and I am always trying to learn more about the cultures and the language that I translate”.

McDowell also shared her personal experiences with translation errors to encourage aspiring translators to maintain an honest, ongoing conversation with their authors (should they be alive). Some other exciting topics of discussion during the event included her priority in translation, the danger behind the concept of “untranslatability,” and issues with mistranslation with examples from Deborah Smith’s translation of Han Kang’s The Vegetarian.

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Lecture: Western Feminism and Its Analytics in Neoliberal Times

Date: Thursday, November 7th
Time: 11 AM BJT
Zoom ID: 261 330 4845
Location: IB 1047

Lecture Overview:
The talk will explore how Western Feminist theorists and social scientists have moved away from the Marxist tradition, particularly at the turn of the century, just when Marxist intellectuals began critically examining the relationship between various late 20th-century post-isms (poststructuralism, post-industrialism, postmodernism) and the rise of neoliberalism. This shift has led to a focus on micro-level perseverance and struggles of the underprivileged, moving away from larger structures of domination and exploitation.

Krylova will discuss how these changes have de-scaled and de-radicalized key categories like power, resistance, and agency, with lasting consequences on feminist scholarship.

About the Speaker:
Anna Krylova is an expert in historical and social theory, gender theory, and Marxism, with a focus on modern Russia and feminist theory. She is the author of Soviet Women in Combat: A History of Violence on the Eastern Front, which won the 2011 AHA Herbert Baxter Adams Prize. Her current book project, History-Writing or Sleepwalking Through History in Neoliberal Times, reexamines American historians’ engagement with poststructuralism.

Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with cutting-edge feminist theory and its intersections with Marxist thought!

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Congratulations to Professor Ben Van Overmeire on his book, American Koan: Imagining Zen and Self!

Congratulations to Professor Ben Van Overmeire on his publication of American Koan: Imagining Zen and Self in Autobiographical Literature! This remarkable work explores how American Buddhists utilize Zen riddles to shape their identities.

The koan, a renowned East Asian spiritual exercise, serves as a thought experiment in the form of riddles or puzzles that Zen Buddhists use to attain enlightenment. Iconic examples include the questions, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” and “Does a dog have Buddha-nature?” Additionally, the provocative injunction “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him” challenges conventional understanding.

In American Koan, Professor Van Overmeire examines the literary function of these ancient dialogues within the autobiographies of modern Western writers, including Natalie Goldberg, Peter Matthiessen, Philip Kapleau, and Ruth Ozeki. Through insightful analyses, he reveals the vibrant world of American Zen literature, addressing themes such as success and failure in Zen, the role of women in this traditionally patriarchal context, the integration of Zen insight with compassion, and the illusion of linear time. This critical yet empathetic study offers a captivating perspective on the journey of Americans becoming Buddhas.

For more information, please click here :American Koan – UVA Press (virginia.edu)

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Migratory Ghosts Series: Open Call for Student Writing

Calling all writers with a creative (and optionally spooky) spark!

Submit 3-5 poems or 2-5 pages of prose to be judged by our visiting writers, Juli Min and Zhou Sivan. Winners from each genre will be selected to read alongside these acclaimed authors on November 22. Let your words linger and haunt us!

Bios: Juli Min is the author of Shanghailanders.

Zhou Sivan has published three poetry chapbooks: Zero Copula (Delete Press, 2015), Sea Hypocrisy (co-published by DoubleCross Press and Projective Industries, 2016), and The Geometry of Trees (Sputnik & Fizzle, 2022), exploring themes from poetic form to Malaysia’s policies on refugees and trees as metaphor.

Deadline: November 13, 2024
Submit your work to: yl984@duke.edu

Unleash your creativity—this is your chance to shine!

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Around the City With Her Camera / 持摄影机的女性走在城市中

An Exhibition of Films by East Asian Women / 东亚女性影展

Modern individuals might find themselves under frequent lockdowns in two senses of the word. While many hesitate behind both the physical and mental barriers to reconnect with the world, several women filmmakers who stride confidently through cities with their cameras in hand, emancipating the potential of the most barren and hopeless urban landscapes. Through their lenses, cities flourish again—whether in the form of an unexpected encounter between strangers, a casual stroll in the park, or even a glimpse of an overlooked greenery beneath the overpass. Their works blur the boundaries between now and then, here and elsewhere, us and them, allowing audiences to reconnect with multiple temporal and spatial possibilities, rebuilding bonds with people and places across these barriers.现代人总是经历着身体与心灵的双重封锁。物理与意识上的隔阂让我们不知该如何跨出下一步、重新建立起与外界的连接。与此同时，有一些女性正举着摄影机、阔步迈在既定印象里最“贫瘠”而“无望”的都市之中。在她们的镜头里，都市因为一场陌生人之间的游戏或一片高架桥下的植被而茂盛。而傍晚公园里的一次倾谈，或站在此刻所处的地域去想象远处或过去的“他乡”，都可以成为她们通过电影重新构建都市景观的方法。     “Around the City With Her Camera”, (or “With Her Camera”, and formerly the “Sino-Japanese Women’s Film Exhibition”) is a film exhibition dedicated to showcasing exceptional works by women filmmakers in East Asia. We strive to facilitate meaningful encounters and exchanges between talented filmmakers and enthusiastic audiences in China. In our 2024 exhibition, we invite four female filmmakers based in East Asia to share their stories about the “cities” they live in, care for, or long for. The invited filmmakers include IGUCHI Nami and OKAWA Keiko from Tokyo, PAN Lu from Hong Kong, and HONG Da-Ye from Seoul. Their internationally acclaimed works are set in existing cities of Tokyo, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Seoul, yet they transcend these cities’ administrative boundaries, extending into other spaces and times“持摄影机的女性走在城市中——东亚女性影展”的前身为“中日女性影展”。从2020年起，我们致力于在中国各大城市展映扎根于中国与日本两国的女性电影创作者们的优秀作品，旨在成为创作者与创作者、创作者与观众之间的纽带。本次，我们进一步拓宽视野，以“都市”为据点、放眼东亚，邀请近年来分别以东京、上海、广州、香港、首尔等都市为作品主体进行影像创作、并在各大国际影展广泛收获好评的四位女性导演参与到新一期的展映中来。前两届“中日女性影展”和本届“东亚女性影展”皆由北京日本文化中心（日本国际交流基金会）赞助联合主办，特此鸣谢。

     Experienced filmmaker IGUCHI Nami, known for her playful storytelling and light-hearted cinematic style, brings her unconventional love stories set in Tokyo’s Setagaya district. In contrast, veteran film editor OKAWA Keiko offers a surprisingly grounded and quiet portrayal of Minato, one of Tokyo’s most luxurious and bustling wards. PAN Lu, with her dual roles as filmmaker and scholar, presents works co-directed with Bo WANG and ARAKI Yū, employing her academic perspective and experimental approach to explore the production and circulation of cities and their images across time and space. HONG Da-Ye, who has been documenting her and her friends’ lives since high school, candidly reveals the struggles faced by her classmates and herself within South Korea’s education system.

    来自日本的井口奈己与大川景子——前者是有着感性且跳脱的笔触、履历丰厚的电影作者，后者是创作灵感十足、默默耕耘在日本电影界的资深剪辑师。两位导演从女性视角出发，分别以东京的世田谷区及港区为舞台，相互呼应但又风格鲜明地刻画出一组当代的东京风物诗。有着影像作者与都市研究学者双重身份的中国导演潘律，这次带来两部合作（分别与王博、荒木悠合作导演）作品。研究者的视角，使得她能以历史化的眼光去看待现代都市文化的形成与嬗变；而对影像生产与流通模式的深入思考，则使得她能以电影为媒介来细致体察光怪陆离的都市生活。来自韩国的青年作者洪多艺，自高中起就手执摄影机、记录着首尔高考学子们生活中的酸甜苦辣。她的作品以其友人与自身的经验为出发点，真诚刻画出个体在都市体系中的挣扎与抗争。

    By presenting these remarkable works by East Asian female filmmakers, “Around the City With Her Camera—An Exhibition of Films by East Asian Women” hopes to offer fresh perspectives on both “women’s cinema” and “urban cinema.” Let us seize the opportunity to reconnect with the world and with each other by meeting at the cinema! 
    在四位风格鲜明的女性影像作者的加持下，“持摄影机的女性走在城市中——东亚女性影展”希望为中国的影迷观众、日本文化关注者、以及东亚都市文化爱好者们带来崭新的“女性都市影像”。让我们通过她们的镜头，重新建立连接外界的契机、夺回跨越前方障碍的勇气！

策展团队：沈念、杨眉、闻豪

(Curatorial Team：SHEN Nian、YANG Mei 、WEN Hao)

海报设计：林仪娟

Time： November 3rd &10th,1:00pm

地点：Duke Kunshan University

CCT East 2nd&3rd floor theater

时间：11月3日&10日 下午1:00

地点：昆山杜克大学社区中心 2楼3楼 剧院

      Please find the specific schedule of screenings and activities at the end of the article

放映与活动具体时间表请见文末

艺术家与放映作品

Artists and Films

01

倒错的编年史：出/入亚洲之旅
Anachronic Chronicles: Voyages Inside/Out Asia
PAN Lu and ARAKI Yū share home video-footage of their 90s childhoods in all their funny, celebratory, awkward and banal glory. Edited together remotely during the pandemic, the two artists discuss early home video technology, the social status of this footage in different contexts (both migrated as children), and also how these images were made and circulated. Their playful yet insightful conversation stitches the chaotic footage together and gives new life to a nostalgic form of cinema.
该片全部由1960年代至1990年代期间东亚各地普通家庭拍摄的家庭影像构成，它试图展示充满人类学和社会学信息的民间影像的 “反景观 “的力量。家庭攝/录像机的出现改变了东亚普通人看待自己和世界的方式：第一次对能够控制移动图像的制作感到兴奋或者不舒服;（自我）邀请的表演和自我展示；以半摆拍、窥视和无意识的方式对家庭活动的记录。录像中重叠的主题和类似的场合看似无聊 , 但作者用俏皮而富有洞察力的对话将混乱的镜头拼接在一起 , 为一种怀旧的电影形式赋予了新的生命。

PAN Lu

潘律

PAN Lu is Associate Professor at Department of Chinese History and Culture, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.  As a filmmaker, she co-directed Many Undulating Things (2019), Miasma, Plants, Export Paintings (2017), Traces of an Invisible City: Three Notes on Hong Kong (2016) with Bo Wang and Anachronic Chronicles: Voyages Inside/Out Asia (2021) with Yu Araki. She was one of the curators of Kuandu Biennale, Taipei, 2018.香港理工大學中國文化系副教授。她的影像作品包括：与王博共同执导的《港城三记》（2016年）、《瘴气、植物和外销画》（2017）和《涌浪之间》（2019年）以及与荒木悠共同执导的《倒错的编年史：出入亚洲之旅》（2021年）。她是2018年台北关渡双年展的策展人之一。

ARAKI Yū

荒木悠

Born 1985 in Yamagata City, Japan, ARAKI received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, U.S.A. in 2007, and completed his Master of Film and New Media Studies from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2010. His films have been programmed in international festivals such as Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin, Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival, Videoex, and International Film Festival Rotterdam, where he won the Ammodo Tiger Short Film Award in 2018. In 2019, he was selected as one of the 21 finalists for the Future Generation Art Prize hosted by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in Kyiv, Ukraine. He currently lives and works in Kyoto, Japan.1985年出生于日本山形市，2017年毕业于华盛顿大学圣路易斯分校美术与雕刻专业，并于2010年取得东京大学电影与新媒体研究硕士学位。自2013年起，他受邀参与全球多个艺术驻地和工作坊。他曾在日本及欧美多国举办展览，电影作品多次入选全球知名电影节，并于2018年获得鹿特丹国际电影节短片金虎奖。2019年，他入围了乌克兰Victor Pinchuk基金会举办的未来时代艺术奖21人短名单。他目前生活工作于日本京都。

02

瘴气、植物、外销画
Miasma, Plants, Export Paintings
The devastating tropical climate created strong fear and anxiety in the British troops who stationed at Hong Kong after the opium wars. The 19th Century myth of Miasma, the bad air, related epidemic diseases with air, environment and race, which later helped to consolidate the vertical segregation on Hong Kong island. Acclimatization efforts were made in pace with expansion of the British Botanic Empire, a global network of scentific researches of plants, which circulated not only botanic specimens but also images created for the purpose of study. In the particular case of Canton in South China, local commercial artists were commissioned to make plant paintings. This work examines the peculiar dynamics between imperialism, scientific research, race and the right to look in 19th Century Canton.
鸦片战争后，驻扎香港的英军中弥漫着对于南中国地区热带湿热气候的焦虑与恐惧。19世纪流行的瘴气理论将瘟疫和空气、环境与种族联系起来，而这些焦虑间接地决定了香港直到今日的阶级分化和空间形态。这一时期港英政府开始着力于港岛的绿化，香港植物园的建立同时又肩负着为大英帝国博物学科收集整理殖民地植物和自然知识的任务。英国博物学家对于植物的档案需求促进了外销画在欧洲的流行。本作品着眼于梳理殖民地早期殖民主义和帝国扩张对于粤港空间与自然形态的影响，也试图探讨在这一框架下东西方文化抑或商贸交流的模式与今日的异同。
PAN Lu and Bo WANG has been working together on various artistic projects since 2012, delving into themes such as space, image, environment, colonialism, the Cold War in the entangled histories and presents in East Asia. Their collaborative works including Postcards from the Future (2014) and Ode to Infrastructure (2016) as multimedia installations. Additionally, they co-directed Traces of an Invisible City: Three Notes on Hong Kong (2016), Miasma, Plants, Export Paintings (2017) and Many Undulating Things (2019).
潘律和王博自2012年以来一直合作进行各种艺术项目，深入探索东亚纷繁历史和现实中的主题，包括空间、图像、环境、殖民主义以及冷战等议题。他们的合作作品包括多媒体装置《来自未来的明信片》（2014年）和《基建礼赞》（2016年）。此外，他们还共同执导了纪录片《港城三记》（2016年）、《瘴气、植物、外销画》（2017年）和《涌浪之间》（2019年）。

Bo WANG

王博

Bo WANG is an artist, filmmaker and researcher based in Amsterdam.艺术家、电影作者和研究者，目前生活及工作于阿姆斯特丹。

03

拯救蜻蜓
Saving a Dragonfly
In her senior year of high school, the director films herself and friends preparing for the college entrance exam. Despite becoming a college student, she still suffers from the anxiety she felt during her high school years. One day, she gets a call from her friend that she is not doing well in college. She decides to write to her friend.
在高中最后一年，导演拍摄了自己和朋友们为应对大学入学考试而备考的情景。尽管成功考入了大学，她仍然延续着自高中起就感受到的焦虑。有一天，她接到了朋友的电话，得知朋友在大学里过得并不顺利。于是，导演决定写信给她的朋友。

HONG Da-Ye

洪多艺

HONG Da-Ye is a young documentary director from South Korea. She began filming documentaries in high school, focusing on education issues. Her first feature, Saving a Dragonfly, originated during her high school senior year in 2014 and continued until she transformed it into her college graduation project. The film offers a unique take on the ‘coming-of-age’ narrative. Daye firmly believes that the truth of documentary resides within the emotions of its subjects.
韩国的青年纪录片导演。她自高中起开始拍摄纪录片，影片主题专注于教育问题。她的第一部长片《拯救蜻蜓》自2014年（高中最后一年）起开始拍摄，一直延续到她将其转变为自己的大学毕业项目。这部影片为观众提供了一种独特的”成长”叙事。洪多艺坚信，纪录片的真相往往存在于其拍摄对象的情感之中。

04

有人在唱歌
Someone to Sing Over Me
だれかが歌ってる
A tune in the mind. A series of coincidences with a painting. A showcase of serendipitous moments in everyday life around Setagaya, Tokyo.
脑海中流淌的旋律、一幅画展开的巧合，围绕东京世田谷区上演出平凡日常中的奇迹。

注意左手
Keep Your Left Hand Down
左手に気をつけろ
In 202X, an unknown virus is being spread by left-handers. The children’s police force sets out to arrest them. Rin was searching for her missing sister.
故事发生在孩子警察打压左撇子、充斥着幼稚暴力的时代，大学里仍然进行着传统的电影研讨班、咖啡馆里情侣约会、神秘的女占卜师预言未来、而电影院里总是顾客稀疏…在这样的背景下，主人公凛踏上了在世田谷区寻找失踪姐姐的冒险之旅。

IGUCHI Nami

井口奈己

IGUCHI Nami was born in 1967 in Tokyo, Japan. Her first, self-produced film Inuneko (8mm) won the TBS Award in the PFF Award Competition in 2001, and a remake of version, Inuneko (35mm) earned her the Jury Special Award, International Critics Federation Prize, and the Best Screen Play Award at the Torino International Film Festival in 2004. In the same year, IGUCHI also became the first female director who received the Japan Film Director Association’s Newcomer Director Award. After box-office hits Don’t Laugh at My Romance (2007) and The Tale of Nshino (2014), Iguchi created a short film, Someone to Sing Over Me (2019) and a mid-length film Keep Your Left Hand Down (2023), which premiered at the 36th Tokyo International Film Festival.
出生并成长于东京。2001年，她以8毫米电影《犬猫》出道并在PFF Awards 2001中获得企划奖（TBS奖）。2004年，井口转型商业电影导演并成功翻拍了35毫米版的《犬猫》，并以此片获得第22届都灵国际电影节评审团特别奖、国际评论家联盟奖以及最佳编剧奖。同时，井口也是第一个获得日本电影导演协会新人奖的女性导演。此后，她在商业院线接连推出了《不要嘲笑我们的性》（2007）、《西野的恋爱与冒险》（2014）等叫好又叫座的作品。在2019年，井口制作了一部短片《有人在唱歌》。并在2023年的东京国际电影节上，首映了中篇电影新作《注意左手》。

05

绿洲
Oasis

Mai, an artist, and Rintaro, a bicycle builder. The two weave through their city on bicycles. A river an overpass, the ivy in a ditch, state housing in the process of demolition…. The film follows the couple as they move about, taking pictures of whatever catches their eyes. Mai believes that even these small stories from everyday encounters constitute the culture of a city and the film documents Mai’s process of incorporating these stories into her work.The film was produced as part of the “Cultural Narrative of  a City”project, which strives to present the “City” of Minato Ward in all its delicate yet Vibrant cultural diversity.
艺术家舞和自行车职人林太郎骑着自行车穿越东京港区。经过高架桥下的河流、沟渠中生长的藤蔓，以及正在解体的公营住宅……移动的同时，他们将触动心情的事物拍成照片并记录下来。

OKAWA Keiko

大川景子

Born in Ishikawa Prefecture, 1978, OKAWA has a degree from the Graduate School Film and New Media, Tokyo University of the Arts. She worked on Yuki and Nina (2009, directed by Suwa Nobuhiro) as an assistant editor. She also editor on Haruhata-san’s Recorder (2022, directed by Sugita Kyoshi) and Small,Slow but Steady (2022, directed by Miyake Sho) and Following The Sound (2023, directed by Sugita Kyoshi) and After The Fever (2024, directed by Yamamoto Akira) and All The Long Nights (2024, directed by Miyake Sho). She directed A Home Within Foreign Borders (2013).She also participates as a lecturer for “Children Meet Cinema.” a Japan-wide educational film work shop.She made a director’s statement on Oasis as such: “My mentor, also a film director Makoto Sato, says in his book Mirror Called Everyday that Tokyo is a cheaply constructed city like so many mortar apartment buildings that have been developed with an “adhoc rationality”. This is exactly how the Metropolitan Expressway was built as I focused on in my film Oasis. We are now living in Tokyo, a city that can be described as an incoherently layered city. I attempted to depict this through the main characters, whose lives are closely connected with my life and career. I also directed this film with an awareness of my own unique approach as a film editor.”
曾担任《春原的竖笛》、《惠子，凝视》、《和毛绒公仔说话的人很温柔》等众多在国际电影节上大放异彩的获奖作品的剪辑师。作为电影导演，拍摄制作《异境中的故乡》（2013）、《泉岳寺》（2019）、《食之探求 书之旅》（2020）等作品。新作《绿洲》（2023）入选了2023年山形国际纪录片电影节“日本视点”单元。
关于《绿洲》的导演自述——在他的著作《以日常为名的镜子》中，我尊敬的导师、同时也是电影导演的佐藤真先生写道：“东京像是一个临时修补的木造公寓般不断膨胀的城市，仅仅凭借着一时的‘合理’而持续进行着开发和积累。”我在电影《绿洲》中所关注的首都高速公路也正是这座支离破碎的城市的一个象征。

策展团队

Curators

SHEN Nian

沈念

SHEN Nian is an academic, curator and translator. She completed a Doctor of Philosophy degree in film studies at Kyoto University, and has been serving as judge at Shanghai International Film Festival. She also lectured at Shanghai Theatre Academy, and worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Shanghai Fudan University, and hosted the MasterClass of the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival.

京都大学电影学博士，上海国际电影节选片评审。历任上海戏剧学院教师，复旦大学中文系博士后，上海国际电影节大师班主持人。日语电影书著《滨口龙介：那些欢乐时光》与《电影中的东京》译者，“中日女性学术交流”活动策展人。

YANG Mei

杨眉

YANG Mei is a non-fitciton writer, film director, screenwriter and translator. She worked as a report editor at the fashion magazine, GQ China.

非虚构作家，电影导演和编剧，曾任《GQ智族》杂志报道编辑。非虚构作品有《上海爱情故事：一个老来单身的女人决定恋爱》、《耶鲁村官秦玥飞：权力的局外人》、《17岁CEO王凯歆：风口少女的神通与孤独》等；合译书著有《校园女孩、金钱与反叛》；电影作品《红娣》入围海外国际电影节。

WEN Hao

闻豪

WEN Hao is a postdoctoral researcher at Nagoya University. His research interests include the dynamic relationship between cinema and cities in Japan, Japanese independent cinema, and film festival culture in East Asia. His publication can be found on Mediapolis, Ebisu: Études japonaises, Chinese Independent Cinema Observer, and Artforum China.日本名古屋大学与英国华威大学联合影像研究项目博士。主要研究对象为都市与电影间的动态关系以及电影在城市基建中的角色与作用。关心日本独立电影及电影节文化。化名Methy 进行电影评论、电影节报道、影人采访及影展策展等多重活动。

Specific arrangements for screening&activities

放映与活动具体安排

日本国际交流基金会是日本唯一一所在世界各国及地区综合性地开展国际文化交流事业的专门机构。1994年北京日本文化中心作为日本国际交流基金会的北京事务所成立。为加深中日两国相互理解，基于以上理念，本中心在中国各地举办了多种多样的活动及事业。主要活动分为文化艺术交流、日语教育、日本研究国际对话三个领域。

The Humanities Research Center (HRC) at DKU promotes research and creative expression in the arts and humanities and encourages interdisciplinary efforts. Working in close partnership with Duke’s Franklin Humanities Institute, the HRC functions as a key research bridge between faculty and students at Duke and DKU.

dKunst Art on Campus at Duke Kunshan University (DKU) is curated by Professor Zairong Xiang to foster a critically engaged artistic ecosystem on campus and beyond.

The Gender Studies Lab funded by the HRC has offered invaluable support for this film exhibition.

How to get there？

交通方式

 From Shanghai

从上海出发

  • By High-speed Train: to Kunshannan Railway Station (17-26 minutes, ticket price ¥19~)
  • 高铁：至昆山南站（17-26分钟，票价19元起）
  • By Subway: taking Shanghai Metro Line 11 to Huaqiao Station, then transfer with Suzhou Rail Transit Line 11 to Zuchongzhigongyuan Station or Kunshanwenhuayishuzhongxin Station
  • 地铁：上海11号线至花桥站，同站换乘苏州轨道交通11号线至祖冲之公园地铁站或昆山文化艺术中心地铁站

  From Hangzhou

 从杭州出发

  • By High-speed Train: to Kunshannan Railway Station (72-86 minutes, ticket price ¥78~)
  • 高铁：至昆山南站（72-86分钟，票价78元起）

From Suzhou

 从苏州出发

  • By Subway: taking Suzhou Rail Transit Line 11 to Zuchongzhigongyuan Station or Kunshanwenhuayishuzhongxin Station
  • 地铁：苏州轨道交通11号线至祖冲之公园地铁站或昆山文化艺术中心地铁站

Registration channel

报名通道

DKUers Scan Here：

  For off-campus participants:

 校外报名通道

致谢：编辑/排版｜浩 然, 校对｜邱 邱

   排版｜吕潇航

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Exploring the Digital Archives of the English East India Company

Time: Thursday, October 24, 12 noon – 1 pm
Location: LIB 1115
Presenter: Titas Chakraborty

Join Us for an Engaging Workshop: Exploring the Digital Archives of the English East India Company with Prof. Titas Chakraborty!

Discover the rich resources of the British Library and learn how to effectively navigate the digital archives of the English East India Company. This workshop will cover:

  • Exploring the British Library website
  • Utilizing various guides for research support
  • Discussing related research questions

Don’t miss this chance to explore the past through a modern lens!

Food will be provided!

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Congratulations to Professor Emily McWilliams for her Contribution to the Balkan Analytic Forum Publication Series!

The Humanities Research Center is delighted to celebrate Professor Emily McWilliams’ participation in the inaugural volume of the Balkan Analytic Forum’s (BAF) publication series. Professor McWilliams Co-Edited the volume with Professor Miroslava Trajkovski from the University of Belgrade, who directs the Balkan Analytic Forum. As the volume’s Co-Editor, Professor McWilliams played a vital role in shaping a collection of essays that delve into themes from the forum’s inaugural conference series, including BAF I: Normativity and BAF+: Normativity of Art. Professor McWilliams notes that these essays highlight the diversity and depth of analytic philosophy’s approach to normativity, offering valuable insights that resonate across various philosophical traditions.

Professor McWilliams expressed her enthusiasm for this project, noting how meaningful it was to work on this volume as a philosopher at a Sino-American joint venture institution with a global outlook. The mission of the Balkan Analytic Forum, which emphasizes the historical and cultural embeddedness of intellectual traditions while fostering global dialogue, aligns perfectly with Duke Kunshan University’s own commitment to rooted globalism. You can access the electronic version of the publication here: Balkan Analytic Forum – Normativity 2024.

In addition to her editorial work, Professor McWilliams was honored with two prestigious speaking engagements at the University of Belgrade this month. She delivered a keynote address at the 2nd Annual Balkan Analytic Forum Conference, titled “Hijacking and Relational Intellectual Humility in Collective Inquiry”, and presented an invited lecture on “Inquiry and Epistemic Injustice”. To access the video, please click the following link: Instagram Reel.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Professor McWilliams for her outstanding contributions and for advancing global scholarly exchange in the field of analytic philosophy!

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Migratory Ghosts Series: Open Call for Student Works

Calling all writers with a creative (and optionally spooky) spark!

Submit 3-5 poems or 2-5 pages of prose to be judged by our visiting writers, Juli Min and Zhou Sivan. A winner from each genre will be chosen to read alongside them on November 22. Let your words haunt us!

Bio:

Juli Min is the author of Shanghailanders.

Zhou Sivan has published three poetry chapbooks, which address poetic form (Zero Copula, Delete Press, 2015), Malaysia’s policies on refugees and migrants (Sea Hypocrisy, co-published by DoubleCross Press and Projective Industries, 2016), and trees as metaphor (The Geometry of Trees, Sputnik & Fizzle, 2022).

Deadline: November 22, 2024

Send your submission to: yl984@duke.edu

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Should We Care About The Future?

Should We Care about the Future? Vasubandhu on Selfless Agency and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Location: Vigne, 1221-1 Changle Lu , Shanghai, China

Time: October 26th, 4:00-6:00 pm

Professor Oren Hanner will give a lecture in Shanghai on October 26 sponsored by HRC and the Royal Asiatic Society. Members of the DKU community can register at a discounted rate using a valid @dukekushan.edu.cn email address.

Buddhist philosophy is well known for its rejection of an enduring self that exists beyond the various mental and physical components that make up a person. This rejection, however, raises a host of difficulties—both philosophical and practical. For example, if this is the case, how and why should Buddhists careabout their future happiness? If there is no enduring self that persists from past to present to future, should we worry about whether the outcomes of our actions produce happiness for ourselves in the future?

In this talk, Professor Oren Hanner of Duke Kunshan University introduces the Buddhist critique of the self that underlies this problem. The talk then discusses the way in which the Indian thinker Vasubandhu (c. 4th-5th century CE), one of the founders of the Yogācāra school of Buddhist philosophy, explains the possibility of agency in the absence of a persisting self and his solution to the problem of our motivation to act for our own future happiness, given that the Buddhist path prescribes non-attachment to the self and letting go of desire.

Speaker’s Bio:

Oren Hanner’s research focuses on the history of Buddhist philosophy inIndia, ethics, philosophy of action, and cross-cultural philosophy. His recent writing dealt with questions related to the meaning of life, joint moral agency, and justice, as they can be understood from a Buddhist perspective.

Oren is the editor of Buddhism and Scepticism: Historical, Philosophical, and Comparative Perspectives (Projekt Verlag, 2020) and has published articles in various journals, including Sophia, Comparative Philosophy, Philosophy East and West, and Mindfulness. From 2019 to 2023, he was the book review editor of the Journal of Buddhist Ethics.

Oren holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and communication from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, an M.A. in philosophy from Tel-Aviv University, and a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from the University of Hamburg.

Register now:  https://ras-china.glueup.cn/event/ras-philosophy-club-oct-26-should-we-care-about-the-future-45311/

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Migratory Ghosts Series: A Reading By Megan Mcdowell

Megan McDowell has translated many of the most important Latin American writers working today, including Alejandro Zambra, Samanta Schweblin, Mariana Enríquez, and Lina Meruane. Her translations have won the National Book Award for Translated Literature, the English PEN award, the Premio Valle-Inclán, and two O. Henry Prizes, and have been nominated for the International Booker Prize (four times) and the Kirkus Prize. Her short story translations have been featured in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The New York Times Magazine, Tin House, McSweeney’s, and Granta, among others. In 2020 she won an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, She is from Richmond, KY and lives in Santiago, Chile.

Zooming in from New York, Megan McDowell will read from her newest work of translation, A Sunny Place for Shady People, by Mariana Enríquez. “A diabolical collection of stories featuring achingly human characters whose lives intertwine with ghosts, goblins, and the macabre, by ‘Buenos Aires’s sorceress of horror.’ ” (Samanta Schweblin, The New York Times). The reading will conclude with a Q&A. Bubble tea will be provided.

Please RSVP here: https://duke.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6saDBs3eAJRUZeK

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