Guest Speaker Events

Presented by Dr. Dru Gladney, Professor of Anthropology, Pomona College. This talk examines China’s important move West under President Xi Jinping’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative. In the context of building a “New Silk Road”, the talk examines China’s growing connections with the Middle East and the increasing importance of Muslim minorities in China. How will China’s own 21 million Muslims be affected by these changing relationships? This talk also examines the role of global social media and Western scholarship 

Panel on the founding of CSUN's Chicana/o Studies Department in 1969. Read more

Although scholars have problematized the dichotomy between “migrant” as voluntary and economic, and “refugee” as forced and political, few case studies exist.  Focusing on the “boat people” who left Vietnam in the late 1970s (most of whom were ethnic Chinese) and resettled in the United States, Canada and Australia, Lisa Tran argues that while international and state policy  Read more

Associate Professor at the Department of Religious Studies, Connecticut College, Sufia Uddin, will address the legacy of Kazi Nazrul Islam. He lamented British rule in India, religious conflict and violence. In his poetry and essays he condemned zealots. Uddin will explore the roots of his pluralist perspective and understanding of Islam in the life of the nation, Bengali society, and his own life. Read more