Description

Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), the northwestern region of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), is historically, culturally, religiously and ethnically the eastern part of Central Asia. XUAR is also the region in which—before the “peaceful liberation” of Xinjiang—the Uyghur Islamic society believed in the differences in gender roles and duties between men and women. The man’s responsibility was to earn money, while the woman’s responsibility was to manage the household. It is well recognized that the PRC, after having annexed Xinjiang as an integral and inalienable part of the country, committed itself to promote and extend to this peripheral area the concept of equality between men and women, based on the total equality of roles and responsibilities. Uyghur women are faced with a dilemma: preserving local traditions directly implicated to the Islamic culture or accepting the social modernization promoted by China to “liberate women”. I explore how/if the current status of women is directly influenced by local values, Islamic culture and/or by Han reforms. Using the ethnographic and linguistic approach, I aim to identify the theories and practices regarding women and gender, accompanied by an overview on the material conditions of women throughout the twentieth century.

Elena Caprioni obtained her Honours MA in Foreign Literatures and Languages (Chinese) at the University of Rome (Italy) in 2003. She received her PhD in History and International Relations from the University of Cagliari (Italy) in the fall of 2008. Her research analyzes Uyghur-Han relations in Xinjiang. She continued her studies on Uyghur language and society at Indiana University (Bloomington, USA), Xinjiang Normal University (Urumqi, PRC) and Central University for Nationalities (Beijing, PRC). Currently, she is pursuing post-doctoral studies on questions of gender in Uyghur society at the Institute of Asian Research of the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, CAN). Her research interests cover a range of topics in nationalism, identity, and gender in Xinjiang.

Description

Mr. Mark Kruger oversees the economic and financial analysis and reporting undertaken at the Embassy. He is responsible for engaging the Chinese authorities on a broad array on economic issues including macroeconomic and financial policy as well as topics that have a significant impact on Canada’s interests.

A China watcher for more than 20 years, Mark has been working in the Canadian Embassy since September 2006. Prior to moving to Beijing, Mr. Kruger was Senior Advisor to the Canadian Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund from January 2003 to August 2006. From 1989 to 2003, Mr. Kruger held a number of positions in the Bank of Canada, including Assistant Chief in the Banks’ International Department, where he was responsible for international financial policy and emerging market issues. Mr. Kruger began his career working for the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission in Calgary, Alberta.

Mr. Kruger holds a BA from Colby College and an M.A. from the University of Toronto.

Description

‘Politicizing Justice’ examines key debates concerning issues of redress and reparations for Japan’s war of aggression, colonial expansion and their Cold War aftermath. Through observing several critical sites of the inter- Asian and trans-Pacific redress efforts at the turn of the new century, I will explore their political and intellectual implications in the context of the global expansion of the human rights regime. The talk will also consider some of the possibilities for theorizing historical justice, violence, as well as the Cold War’s politics of knowledge over Asia and the Pacific.

Lisa Yoneyama received her B.A. in German Language Studies and M.A. in International Relations at Sophia University, Tokyo, and Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology at Stanford University, California. She has taught at UCSD since 1992 and taught Cultural Studies, U.S.-Japan Studies, Asian American Studies, and Critical Gender Studies. Her research interests center on the history and memory of war and colonialism, gender and militarism, and the cultural dimensions of transnationalism, neo-colonialism, and the Cold War and post-Cold War U.S. relations with Asia.

Description

Indonesia, together with China and India, are the only emerging economies that showed remarkable resilience during the global economic crisis, and at the same time showed strong economic performance. It is the largest ASEAN member and now an active member of the G-20. Indonesia is the third largest democracy in the World, and has the largest Muslim population.

The presentation will focus on how Indonesia has managed to achieve such progress, and how it will use its growing importance in the new regional and global economic architecture.

About the speaker:

Mahendra Siregar, age 47, is Vice Minister of Trade since his appointment by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on 11 November 2009.

He graduated with a Bachelor degree in Economics from University of Indonesia in 1986, and received a Master in Economics from Monash University in 1991. Mahendra joined the Foreign Affairs Ministry in 1986 and was assigned to various postings including Economic Third Secretary of the Indonesian Embassy in London (1992-1995) and Information Counsellor of the Indonesian Embassy in Washington DC (1998-2001).

He joined Coordinating Ministry in late 2001 as Special Assistant to Minister Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti. He was then appointed as Deputy Minister in charge of International Economic and Financial Relations in May 2005 by Minister Aburizal Bakrie. He maintained the assignment during Coordinating Minister Boediono (2006-2008) and Coordinating Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati (2008-2009).

He was then appointed as Chairman and CEO of the newly established Indonesia Eximbank in September 2009 until December 2009. He was a member of Board of Commissioners of Indonesian Aircraft Manufacturing Company PTDI (2003-2008) and PT Antam, Tbk (2008-2009). He was a member the UNFCCC Adaptation Fund Board representing Asia (2007-2009). He is President Yudhoyono’s Sherpa to the G-20 meetings.

Description

This talk will explore a relocation of 800 pedagang kaki lima (street vendors) in Yogyakarta where both the government and street vendors evoke the possibility of violence a few months before a government planned relocation to a marketplace. I argue that this apprehensive moment, assumes a similar structure and feeling evoked in moments such as elections, and as what has been described as a saat in Bahasa Indonesia. I describe how this saat, a possible moment of violence, has its own structure and vocabulary and occupies a space between “actual” and “possible” violence, and how this space generates unique and very powerful structures of feeling, narratives and talk around violence.

The narratives associated with this saat are powerful because they are imagined in relation to other incidents of violence in the past and present. In this way, I argue that the talk of violence had a pervasive and persuasive hold over those involved in the relocation because it drew on other abnormal moments from the past, which placed this moment also outside the “normal” and the everyday and to surpass the exigencies of the local and the present.

Description

FREE ADMISSION
Please arrive early | First come first seated

Schedule [Updated 10.05.10]

3:30 Doors open

4:00-5:40 ESPRIT D’AMOUR (1983) | Dir. Ringo Lam Ling-Tung | Hong Kong (English Subtitle) | 98 min.

6:00-7:30 Panel on Hong Kong Films with Bart Testa (Professor of Cinema Studies) and Colin Geddes (International Programmer, TIFF & Ultra 8 Pictures), and moderated by Peter Kuplowsky [Dim sum snack will be provided]

8:00-9:40 THE OCCUPANT (1984) | Dir. Ronny Yu | Cast includes Chow Yun-Fat and Sally Yeh | Hong Kong (English Subtitle) | 96 min.

Colin Geddes will launch his donation of Asian films to U of T with fun and prizes

Description

Program:

6:00 Reception

7:00 Welcome remarks
Professor Joseph Wong
Director, Asian Institute at the University of Toronto

Dr. Julian Siggers
Vice President, Programs & Content Communication
Royal Ontario Museum

“Asia’s Rise
Lecture by Professor Joseph Wong

“Creation of the First Emperor’s Terracotta Army”
Lecture by Professor Chen Shen
Senior Curator, ROM
Professor of East Asian Studies, University of Toronto

8:00 Private tour of exhibition

9:00 Dessert & tea

Description

TSFF is returning for the 5th season in 2010. The two-day film festival is being held at Revue Cinema July 16th and Innis College on the 17th.

For more information on the films being screened, as well as how to purchase tickets, please visit the Toronto Singapore Film Festival website.

Description

Folk Religion is transmitted by the common people in any region, place or country from generation to generation. It has great impact upon the political, economic, and cultural development in local areas and continues to satisfy the emotional and religious needs of large sections of the population. The lecture will argue that folk religion in Bengal is organically related to local social structures, the
family kinship system, and to village and community life.