East Asian Studies Center

Thursday, October 31, 2024 | 2:00PM-3:20PM | Zoom | RSVP

Dr. Tian Li (Yale University), with Faculty Moderator Raymond Tsang, discusses the Korean Wave (Hallyu) that has flourished on the Chinese mainland since the 1990s despite looming political conflicts and cultural boycotts. Tian Li’s research theories the (re)localization of Korean screen culture in China through the concept of what she terms screen capitalism—a system of audiovisual relations that foregrounds the negotiations of boundaries through affective and sensory co-experiences. This talk will show how Hallyu has already become an Amnyu (undercurrent) in the Chinese context, and so (re)shaped the contours of Chinese screen culture despite that it continues under different names. By demonstrating the compatibility of screen capitalism’s logic with both capitalist and (post)socialist societies, Tian Li contends that this audiovisual mechanism, insofar as it is fluidly transplantable, ideologically permeable, and transnationally gendered, circulates a shifting cultural paradigm both on and off the screen.

Thursday, October 31, 2024 | 4:00PM – 5:30PM | CAS 100 | RSVP

Please join us for the Fall 2024 EASC Grad Mixer! Enjoy food, drink and conversation with fellow students across USC. Graduate students from any field are welcome to join, so this is a great opportunity to meet fellow students with East Asia-related research topics and interests!

Halloween Costume Optional!

Friday, November 8, 2024 | 3:30PM-5:00PM | SOS 250 | RSVP

Dr. Ed Pulford (University of Manchester) with Faculty Moderator Joshua Goldstein, explores drawing on a new book, at the three-way convergence of China, North Korea and Russia, populations with similarly stark but also very different experiences of socialism and its ambivalent aftermaths interact regularly, and in doing so shed unique light on the progressive state projects which have swept this borderland. Everyday cross-border encounters bring the temporal ideas spawned by Maoist, Soviet and Kimist socialisms, the Soviet collapse and ‘rise’ of China into direct contact. As a decade of fieldwork shows, borderlanders here remain haunted by divergent visions of progress and struggle to see their neighbours as ‘coevals’ in an era of postsocialist commerce and utilitarian friendships.

Co-sponsored by the USC Department of Anthropology. 

Wednesday, November 13, 2024 | 11:00AM-12:20PM | DML 240 | RSVP

Prof. Namhee Lee (UCLA) with Faculty Moderator Prof. Sunyoung Park, argues that despite the widespread despair, a broad spectrum of civil society has made equally determined and vociferous efforts to demand and work for democratization in all spheres of life. She explores the political horizons and social imaginaries of these movements, which compel rethinking the meaning of democracy and broadening the existing concept of social movements.

Co-sponsored by the Korean Studies Institute. 

Wednesday, November 13, 2024 | 2:00PM-4:00PM | The Michelle and Kevin Douglas IMAX Theatre | RSVP

Join us for a screening of Waiting for the End, followed by a Q&A with director Memetjan Semet, moderated by Prof. Jenny Chio. Shirzat, a young Uyghur graduate living in exile, one day learns his father has disappeared in China’s mass detentions. His life unravels—financial struggles, failed relationships, and immigration issues weigh him down. When news of his father’s long prison sentence reaches him, Shirzat faces an agonizing choice: speak up and risk his remaining family’s safety, or remain silent and betray his conscience. This film exposes the personal toll of genocide and the impossible choices faced by those living in exile.

Wednesday, November 13, 2024 | 5:00PM – 6:30PM | Location TBD | RSVP

Please join us for the 10th annual East Asia Career Panel! The East Asia Career Panel is an annual event EASC organizes and is open to all undergraduate and graduate students interested in using East Asian language and area studies skills in their future professions and learning about the different career options available. Our impressive alumni panelists come from professions in fields such as business consulting, entertainment, journalism, non-profit, marketing, and education. The panel will be followed by a Q&A and networking opportunity.

Wednesday, November 20, 2024 | 2:00PM-3:00PM | CAS 100

Please join us for the EASC Open House as part of International Education Week (IEW) at USC! Come meet the EASC team and find out about our events, academic programs, fellowships, and other resources. Snacks and drinks will be provided!

Thursday, November 21, 2024 | 4:00PM-5:30PM PST | Zoom | RSVP

EASC Guest Speaker Series: Talk by Prof. Zhange Ni (Virginia Tech) with Faculty Moderator Dr. Kun Huang 

The Cthulhu Mythos is fictional universe positing the existence of Cthulhu and other monstrous deities and warning against attempts to venture into a cosmos indifferent, if not hostile, to human interests. These monsters have arrived in China and transfigured there. The Cthulhu conquest of China is also the Chinese conquest of Cthulhu. The anti-humanism of supernatural horror has been transformed into a humanist critique against the capitalist system that utilizes information sciences and digital technologies to exploit human capacities. Prof. Ni will use Chinese fantasy novels to explore themes of corporate horror, proletarian manifesto, and the salvation of insanity.

Monday, November 25, 2024 | 3:00PM-4:30PM | SOS B40 | RSVP

Moderated by Prof. Travis Major, Abduweli Ayup, an Uyghur scholar and activist, will give a presentation about the Uyghur people and the current crisis they face. This will be followed by a screening of the documentary “Behind the Mask”, which is centered on his experiences as a survivor of a Uyghur internment camp and subsequent opportunity to confront a former guard from his camp; however, he must consider the effect on his children, who witnessed his arrest. The documentary will be followed by a Q&A.

This event is co-sponsored by the USC Center for International Studies and Center for Advanced Genocide Research.