Event Report: Riverbanks Homes
On the afternoon of Thursday, December 4, the Humanities Research Center (HRC) opened its doors to 枕河人家 Riverbank Homes, an exhibition that brings the quiet stories of Suzhou’s Shantang Street (山塘街) into vivid conversation with the present. Curated by Honey Huang and developed through Senior Lecturer of Chinese Language Professor Li Xu’s community-based learning project […]
Learn How to Discover the Past
Archives and History Initiative by Carl Zhang and Disty Mahmud In this talk, DKU archival specialist Ryder Kouba presented his insights and expertise as the university’s archivist and special collections librarian, discussing the types of archives he is building, the importance of preserving materials, and online resources available beyond DKU. He also shared thoughts on […]
Report on Entangled Cartographies: Mapping the Unmappable in a Digital Age
Report on Entangled Cartographies: Mapping the Unmappable in a Digital Age Reported by Kymbat Altybay, class of 2028 On November 6-7, 2025, the IB Lecture Hall at Duke Kunshan hosted the international conference “Entangled Cartographies.” For two days, a unique group of thinkers gathered to solve an urgent question: how do we chart digital, ecological, […]
Student Report on Exploring Anne Conway’s Spiritual Philosophy: A Lecture by Yining Wu
Written by Nathan Franco, Class of 2028 On Thursday, March 6, 2025, DKU faculty, staff, and students gathered for an interesting discussion on the political theorist Anne Conway, titled “Anne Conway: What Does It Mean to Be Spiritual?” by Yining Wu, a Ph.D. candidate at Temple University specializing in early modern philosophy. Present during the […]
Citizenship Lab Research Project: “Urban Green Space and Migrant Integration”
The Humanities Research Center’s Citizenship Lab proudly funds Maggio Laquidara’s research project. Student: Maggio Laquidara Mentor: Professor Renee Richer The role of urban green space in moderating or exacerbating the integration of migrants into the local community is an issue of recent research interest. Urban green spaces can bring communities together in joint activities with […]
Citizenship Lab Research Project: “Lawmaking in China: Motivations and Strategies Behind Legislative Proposals”
The Humanities Research Center’s Citizenship Lab proudly funds Annemieke van den Dool’s research project. Student: This project will be advertised in spring 2024 Mentor: Professor Annemieke van den Dool This project deepens our understanding of policy and legislative processes in China through a combination of desk research and interviews aimed at unpacking the motivation and […]
Citizenship Lab Research Project: “Youth-Led Climate Action: An In-Depth Analysis of Youth Engagement in UNFCCC Processes – COP as an Example”
The Humanities Research Center’s Citizenship Lab proudly funds Manal Bidar’s Signature Work project. Student: Manal Bidar Mentor: Professor Coraline Goron, Ph.D. In the face of a rapidly changing climate landscape, the role of youth-led climate action within global governance frameworks is more crucial than ever. This research project, titled “Youth-Led Climate Action: An In-Depth Analysis of Youth Engagement […]
Citizenship Lab Research Project: “A Queer Metamorphosis: Animal Narratives and Lesbian Love in Chinese Cultures”
The Humanities Research Center’s Citizenship Lab proudly funds Ruohan Wang’s Signature Work project. Student: Ruohan Wang Mentor: Professor Zairong Xiang This project bridges animal studies and queer theory in the context of Chinese cultures, taking animality as a heuristic lens to examine the queer undercurrents in Chinese stories of animal-human metamorphosis. It primarily focuses on two […]
Citizenship Lab Research Project: “Gender, Health, and Catastrophe – Studying the Impact of the 2022 Superfloods on Women’s Health in Pakistan’s Most Affected Areas”
The Humanities Research Center’s Citizenship Lab proudly funds Arabela Urpi Iggesen Valenzuela’s Signature Work project. Student: Arabela Urpi Iggesen Valenzuela Mentor: Professor Umair Sajid During the summer of 2022, Pakistan experienced monsoon rains 3-5 times as heavy as the national average, and subsequently the worst-ever recorded floods in their history. This caused unprecedented damage across the […]
Citizenship Lab Research Project: “Unfinished Homes: Stalled Lives amid China’s Real Estate Crisis”
The Humanities Research Center’s Citizenship Lab proudly funds Yutong Shi’s Signature Work project. Student: Yutong Shi Mentor: Professor Mengqi Wang In China’s ongoing real estate crisis, a significant number of contractors have abandoned construction, leaving apartment buildings unfinished. On social media, images of unfinished homes, known as lanwei lou/烂尾楼, proliferate. Many apartments in these buildings […]
