Call for Student Helpers! Humanities Research Center Spring 2025 Conference
The Humanities Research Center is currently seeking student helpers for the HRC Spring 2025 Conference which will be held in AB from Friday April 18 until Saturday April 19. There will be three keynote speakers from Stanford, Duke, and Australia National University as well as student sessions throughout the conference, with times to work as early as 8:30am & as late as 6pm. There is no requirement to be available both days. Any support would be greatly appreciated.
Each helper gets a free t-shirt and a free invite to the Gala Dinner đ
Interested?
Reach out to Faye Xu (fx20@duke.edu) for application details.
Register Now for the 2025 Undergraduate Humanities Research Conference: Gender and Sexuality, April 18-19
The Humanities Research Center is thrilled to announce the Spring 2025 Undergraduate Humanities Research Conference, centered on the theme of “Gender and Sexuality.” This event will showcase three keynote lectures and a range of undergraduate research presentations, offering a dynamic platform for critical discussions and fresh insights into these important topics.
Conference Details:
- Dates: April 18-19, 2025
- Venue: AB2103, Duke Kunshan University
Students who register for the conference are invited to attend a gala dinner with all presenters, offering an excellent opportunity for networking and community building.
Register Here
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Timeline
- 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.
Keynote Speakers
Yujie Zhu is Associate Professor at the Centre for Heritage and Museum Studies at the Australian National University. With a background in anthropology and a focus on critical heritage studies, his research examines the cultural politics of the past across diverse heritage and memory spaces. He is the author and editor of 9 books including Making Places Sacred (2025, co-authored with Matt Tomlinson), Chinaâs Heritage through History (2024), Heritage Tourism (2021), Heritage Politics in China (2020, co-authored with Christina Maags), and Heritage and Romantic Consumption in China (2018). He served as the vice-president of the International Association of Critical Heritage Studies (2014-2020) and deputy-chair of Anthropology Tourism Committee of the IUAES (2013-2021).
Usha Iyer is Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies in the Department of Art and Art History at Stanford University. They are the author of Dancing Women: Choreographing Corporeal Histories of Hindi Cinema (Oxford University Press, 2020). Their current book project, Jamminâ: Black and Brown Media Intimacies between India and the Caribbean, studies the affective engagements of Caribbean spectators with Indian cinema and the impact of Caribbean performance cultures on Indian film industries. They are co-editing the volume, Shift Focus: Reframing the Indian New Waves, with Manishita Dass.
Gabriel N. Rosenberg is Associate Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies and History at Duke University. He earned his Ph.D. from Brown University in History. He was the recipient of the Gilbert C. Fite Award from the Agricultural History Society, the K. Austin Kerr Prize from the Business History Conference, and a François AndrĂŠ Michaux Fund Fellowship from the American Philosophical Society. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University’s Program in Agrarian Studies, an Early Career Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh’s Humanities Center, and a Visiting Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. His writing has appeared in journals such as the Journal of American History, American Quarterly, GLQ: A Journal of Gay and Lesbian Studies, TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, Agricultural History, and Diplomatic History.
The program details will be announced soon!
Reading Group for “Embracing Diversity: Developing Cultural Competence for Inclusive Education”
Diversity, Equity, Inclusiveness, and Justice is an essential topic in academia. Despite its wide discussion in academia, at the practical level, it still poses a challenge for educators seeking to enhance their teaching practices. It is crucial to ensure that educational materials and curricula are inclusive, relevant, and engaging for all students while creating safe and inclusive learning environments.
Location: AB3107(3C)
Date & Time: March 28, 12pm-1pm
Lunch will be provided!
Scan below to sign up:
Scan below to get the reading:
For questions, please email Prof. Weng (zhenjie.weng@dukekunshan.edu.cn) or Prof. Zhao(yanan.zhao@dukekunshan.edu.cn).
Student Report on Exploring Anne Conwayâs 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 âAnne Conway: What Does It Mean to Be Spiritual?â by Yining Wu, a Ph.D. candidate at Temple University specializing in early modern philosophy. Present during the discussion were many upperclass students and DKU professors eager to learn more about Conwayâs thought.
The discussion began with a brief introduction to Anne Conway (1631-1679). Before taking the last name Conway, her maiden name was Finch. As a noblewoman, one would assume Conway lived a life of luxury, but in contrast, Conway suffered from lifelong headaches, making pain and suffering a big theme in her work. Speaking of her work, Conwayâs papers were first published in a Latin translation in 1690, followed by an English translation by Dr. Clark. Much of Conwayâs work was also influenced by Thomas Hobbes, Rene Descartes, Henry More, and F.M. van Helmont.
In her presentation, Yining Wu highlighted three puzzles (which are answered at the end) and three topics that are major themes in Conwayâs works.
Conwayâs Principles:
God â the creator of all creatures and Middle Nature. God doesnât directly interact with creatures. God is beyond time and space. God is a pure spirit.
Middle Nature (Jesus) â serves as the mediator between God and creatures.
Creatures â lowest beings; mutable (either move in the direction of goodness or evilness); the world of creation is one substance, being corporeal and spiritual at the same time. Creatures exist in time and space. Creatures are not a part of God, as God is indivisible.
The God referenced above has no connection to any religion but is the general, philosophical God. Creatures refer to humankind, and the Middle Nature is Jesus, as Conway commonly refers to it.
Conwayâs Puzzles:
What are the differences between fallen spirits and God the Spirit if the former is still called “spirit” after all?
How is it possible that the substance of the created world is spiritual and corporeal at the same time, given that corporeality is in opposition to God the Spirit?
What does it mean when Conway uses certain adjectives to refer to spirit (e.g., light, subtle, thin, etc.)?
After laying the foundation of her discussion, Wu began to discuss Spirit, Life, Sensitivity, and Activity in Conwayâs work.
Spirit simply means having life or certain life functions. In Conwayâs work, âlifeâ is the basic explanatory unit in the cosmos. Wu argues that life is a more fundamental feature, of which sensitivity and activity are signs and expressions in Conway.
When God communicates His attributes to creatures, the attribute of life always comes first, followed by the attributes of senses and intelligence (or other mental-related functions). The aspect of sensitivity within the spirituality of the created world directly corresponds to Godly spirituality, while the aspect of activity is not straightforwardly shown in God the Spirit.
âSince life is the default setting for every created being, I contend that the attribute of life at least assumes a minimal degree of spirituality in a creature or a minimal similarity to God the Spirit.â â Yining Wu
Life and Spirit tend to be the easier concepts to understand in Conwayâs work, while Sensitivity and Activity take a little more brain power to fully comprehend in Conwayâs cosmos. Sensitivity is used to represent the signs of Life; for example, a common reflection of life is stones.
Stones and metals are perceptive, intelligent, and capable of love, even if this is not self-evident to human eyes. A stone can further improve itself, developing thoughts of its own and loving other creatures if its inner spiritual parts continue to wear and divide, allowing the spiritual parts to participate more in exchanges with other creatures. Similarly, the activity of creaturely spirits flowing in and out implies changes to their status or condition of life, including the “death” of one individual and the generation of a new one. This means there is no real death because no body parts or spirits can truly die. If people âdieâ or go into a coma, they become like a stone. Or, when people âdieâ and are left out in nature, animals will eat the body, and the soil will use the bones and other parts for nutrients. In this way, the creature has just taken a new form.
Before ending the discussion, Wu answered Conwayâs puzzles:
âWhy are the fallen spirits in the created world still called âspiritâ after all?â
The spirits of creatures, while entailing corporeality due to the Fall of the divine spirit, are still the products of God’s creation and inherit certain attributes from God.
âHow is it possible that the substance of the created world is spiritual and corporeal at the same time, given that corporeality is in opposition to God the Spirit?â
The connotations of creaturely spirituality mainly refer to the sensitivity and activity of creatures. The aspect of activity implies the necessary existence of corporeality in the created world.
âWhat does it mean when Conway uses certain adjectives to refer to spirit (e.g., light, subtle, thin, etc.)?â
The spiritual parts of a creature are more fine-grained in the physical dimension, lighter in weight, and more capable of moving freely.
Q&A Session
Finally, the audience asked some insightful questions during the Q&A session.
Q: Is the âGodâ connected to a religion?
A: In this research, God is the philosophical God or the general God.
Q: How does God affect creatures?
A: Imagine if I draw myself on the whiteboard, but instead of physically writing it myself, I use my mind to wave at an AI robot to draw me on the whiteboard. In this case, I am not actually making physical contact with the robot, whiteboard, or marker.
Q: How does Conway justify that stones have sensitivity?
A: This is justified by the belief that everything has a soul. Conway believes that a stone can be broken down and made into something more advanced in the hierarchy of creation. And if it can be made into something more advanced, then it has a soul and hence sensitivity.
Overall, the event was an eye-opener into Conwayâs mind and a great way to study women in philosophy.
Navigating China’s Archives: A Hands-On Guide for Emerging Researchers
We are excited to invite you to an upcoming event hosted by DKU HRC and the Archives and History Initiative, titled “Navigating Textual Sources and Digital Databases.”
As an emerging researcher, you are wondering: where can I find material in China? How do I begin my research? The presentation introduces samples of archives and hands-on exercise of exploring digital databases in China that help you navigate in the world of mass-produced data.
Date: March 19, 4pm-5:15pm
Location: DKU Library Teahouse
Mark your calendars and be part of this engaging discussion that promises to enrich your academic journey. We look forward to seeing you there!
Gender + Pain: Let’s discuss gendered psychological and physical pain
Date:Â March 19th, 6:00 PM
Location: Water Pavilion
HRC Student Worker Rebecca Combs Wins First Place at Stanfordâs TreeHacks Hackathon
Rebecca Combs, a student worker at the Humanities Research Center (HRC) and a Computation and Design major from Duke Kunshan University’s Class of 2025, won a first-place award at Stanford Universityâs prestigious TreeHacks hackathon.
The event brought together over 1,000 students from universities worldwide to develop technology solutions for real-world challenges. Combs and her team developed EcoBite, a mobile app that helps users track and reduce food waste by uploading images of food, which the platform analyzes to estimate waste weight.
TreeHacks 2025 prize announcement: EcoBite wins first place in the Best Use of FlutterFlow category
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, food loss and waste account for 8 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Recognizing the urgency of the issue â and aligning with Stanfordâs sustainability challenge â Combs and her teammates developed the app to raise awareness and promote sustainable habits.
Rebecca Combs (first from right) with her teammates during the judging phase at TreeHacks 2025.
Reflecting on her experience, Combs described the event as both intense and memorable.âTreeHacks was simultaneously unforgettable and a blur â 36 hours is an absolute time crunch when coding a mobile application, on top of trying to consistently make development choices that reinforce EcoBiteâs impact,â she said.
âWhen surrounded by so many other brilliant university students pursuing or interested in computer science, you can truly feel the energy of everyoneâs talent and bright ideas, keeping one motivated to get work done â even when running off no sleep.â
Rebecca Combs with her teammates at Stanfordduring TreeHacks 2025
Combs credited her success to the strong teamwork of her fellow participants â Pierre Harbin, Ali Fayed, and Russ Semsemâ as well as support from FlutterFlow representatives such as Patricia Wei, Matthew Early, and Frank van Puffelen, and sustainability guidance from Stanford faculty member Keegan Cooke.
Combs said the achievement was particularly meaningful as she nears graduation. âAs a last-time hackathon participant since I graduate in 12 weeks, this achievement will remain clear in my memory for quite a long time,â she said. Looking ahead, Combs and her team plan to prioritize user feedback to refine EcoBiteâs features and usability.
Rebeccaâs achievement highlights her innovation and dedication to using technology for social good. Congratulations to her on this well-deserved recognition!
Exploring Anne Conway’s Spiritual Philosophy: A Lecture by Yining Wu
Embark on a captivating journey into the depths of philosophy with Yining Wu’s upcoming lecture, “Anne Conway: What Does It Mean to Be Spiritual?”
Event Details:
- Date & Time: Thursday, March 6, 3:00â4:30 PM
- Location: IB 2050
Yining Wu, a Ph.D. candidate specializing in early modern philosophy, will delve into Anne Conway’s profound insights on spirituality.
Itâs part of the Gender initiative because the renewed attention to Conwayâs work is part of the movement to excavate the underappreciated role women have played in the history of philosophy
We look forward to your participation.
DKU Film Society Scheduleď˝Pushing Boundaries: The Best of Cinema
Join the DKU Film Society for a carefully curated series of screenings showcasing some of the most acclaimed films from renowned directors across different eras and genres. This semesterâs lineup highlights a diverse selection of cinematic masterpieces that have left a lasting impact on the world of film.
Convener: DKU Film Society
Time: Thursdays, 6:30 PM
Location: CCTE Theatre
Spring 2025 Screening Schedule
March 6 â Little Women (2019) â Dir. Greta Gerwig
A fresh and poignant adaptation of Louisa May Alcottâs classic novel, exploring the lives, struggles, and ambitions of the March sisters.
March 20 â Iâm Not There (2007) â Dir. Todd Haynes
A unique, multi-actor portrayal of the enigmatic Bob Dylan, blending fact and fiction to explore the many facets of his identity.
March 27 â Do the Right Thing (1989) â Dir. Spike Lee
A powerful and visually striking film examining racial tensions in a Brooklyn neighborhood on a scorching summer day.
April 3 â Election (1999) â Dir. Johnnie To
A gripping Hong Kong crime thriller about power struggles within a triad organization, showcasing Toâs signature tense and stylish direction.
April 10 â Taxi Driver (1976) â Dir. Martin Scorsese
A dark psychological drama following the descent of an alienated Vietnam War veteran into vigilante violence in a corrupt New York City.
April 17 â Underground (1995) â Dir. Emir Kusturica
An epic, surreal tragicomedy chronicling the turbulent history of Yugoslavia through the lives of two friends caught in the chaos of war.
April 24 â Fitzcarraldo (1982) â Dir. Werner Herzog
An audacious tale of obsession, following a dreamerâs impossible quest to build an opera house in the Amazon jungle.
May 1 â La Haine (1995) â Dir. Mathieu KassovitzA gripping social commentary on urban youth and police brutality, following three friends navigating life in the Parisian suburbs.âAll students and faculty are welcome! Whether youâre a film enthusiast or just looking to experience great cinema, join us for engaging discussions and an exploration of storytelling through film.
LCC 2025 Conference Report: Exploring Language and Culture
On February 21, the Language and Culture Center (LCC) at Duke Kunshan University successfully hosted its inaugural conference âThink Globally, Act Locally: How We Engage Language and Cultureâ. The event attracted approximately 120 scholars, educators, and language teaching professionals from prestige institutions, including New York University Shanghai, Xiâan Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Wenzhou-Kean University, The Ohio State University, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Southeast University, City University of Hong Kong, and the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. Gathering in the Academic Building at Duke Kunshan University, participants engaged in a series of insightful lectures and in-depth discussions, collaboratively exploring innovative approaches and practical strategies in language education and intercultural communication.
Dr. Scott MacEachern, Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs at Duke Kunshan University, delivered the opening remarks for the conference. He shared his valuable experience of learning 18 diverse languages during his archaeological research in northern Cameroon, West Africa, and highlighted the crucial role of language learning in shaping identity and fostering cultural recognition.
Dr. Francis Troyan, Professor of Multilingual Education at The Ohio State University, delivered an engaging keynote s
peech titled âIntegrated Performance Assessment for Engaging Language and Culture.â He critically examined the limitations of current language proficiency assessments and shared insights on implementing integrated performance assessment in university language courses. His approach aims to comprehensively evaluate studentsâ deep understanding and practical application of both language and culture.
Dr. Don Snow, Professor and Senior Director of the Language and Culture Center, emphasized that the role of language educators goes beyond teaching vocabulary and grammar. More importantly, it involves helping students develop essential life skills, such as exploring the unknown, overcoming cultural and linguistic barriers, and collaborating effectively with people from diverse backgrounds.
Following the keynote speech, attendees joined eleven parallel sessions and an interactive poster session for lively discussions on a range of topics, including the impact of artificial intelligence on writing and learning, perspectives on teaching Chinese as a Second Language, approaches to intercultural communication, and innovations in language assessment. These in-depth and wide-ranging exchanges not only fostered academic dialogues in the field of language education but also provided valuable insights for advancing innovation and development in language teaching.
The conference was hosted by the Language and Culture Center, and generously sponsored by the DKU Humanities Research Center. It provided a platform for language educators from bothdomestic and international institutions to connect and collaboratively explore innovations and improvements in language education.
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