Events and Programs

Past Events

Vincent Who? Documentary screening and talk with Curtis Chin
In 1982, at the height of anti-Japanese sentiments arising from massive layoffs in the auto industry, a Chinese-American named Vincent Chin was beaten to death in Detroit by two white autoworkers. Chin’s killers got off with a $3,000 fine and three years probation, but no jail time. Vincent Who? asks how far Asian Americans have come since then and how far they have yet to go.

Traditional Japanese Tea

Ken Zuckerman Concert: Hindustani Ragas

Lecture: Mona Bhan, “Ecological Anxieties and Imaginaries on the India-Pakistan Border”
Bhan, associate professor of anthropology at DePauw, is the co-author of the forthcoming “Climate without Nature: A Critical History of the Anthropocene,” with Cambridge University Press. Her ongoing work in the border provinces of Kashmir analyzes the relationship between dams, environmental and ecological imaginaries, and India’s counterinsurgency politics.

Lecture: Atiq Rahman, “Resilience Building in the Anthropocene: Lessons from Bangladesh”
Atiq Rahman is a prominent environmentalist, scientist, and development expert from Bangladesh. He is well-known worldwide for his pioneering role and contribution to environment and nature conservation, climate change, poverty alleviation and sustainable development. In 2008, he was honored with the highest UN Environmental Award, the Champion of the Earth, and with Bangladesh’s National Environment Award for Innovative Environmental Research and Technology Development. He is a long-standing lead author and convening lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and as such, was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

Honors Thesis Presentations
Susanna Birnbaum and Melissa Heineman

Altered State: Painting Myanmar in a Time of Transition
An exhibition of contemporary art from Myanmar, on display in the Galleria in the Center for the Arts.

Ian Holiday
The exhibit organizer for Altered State: Painting Myanmar in a Time of Transition, will give a public talk on the exhibition and on contemporary politics in Myanmar [Burma].

Diwali and Garba Event
Top NAACH and Asian Students Association invite you to light up the weekend! Free Indian food and mango smoothies; performances by your favorite Berg groups (with a Bollywood twist!) AND a special guest dance group!

“Academic Freedom and the Study of Religion”, Dr. Wendy Doniger

The religion studies department is pleased to host Dr. Wendy Doniger, University of Chicago’s Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions. Her visit will include a public lecture and faculty workshop, as part of the Mellon Visiting Scholars in the Humanities series.

Doniger’s book The Hindus: An Alternative History, published in 2009, was challenged by Hindu conservatives and the original publisher, Penguin India, eventually agreed to cease publication of the book and destroy any remaining copies. The book has since been republished in India by a new publishing company. In an op-ed published in The Chronicle of Higher Education in April 2016, Dr. Doniger argues that her own experience and that of other scholars reflect a double threat to academic freedom: religious actors attempting to control both who can speak about a religion and which aspects of the religion should be represented. Her talk will address issues of academic freedom and freedom of speech as well as the role that religion studies plays in both thinking through these issues and in dealing with a planet in the death grip of religious hatreds.

Holi: The Festival of Colors
Enjoy free activities on The Front Lawn, Holi themed menu in the Dining Hall.
Sponsored by Asian Students Association, the Chaplain’s office, Asian studies, East Hall, and Taylor Hall

Friends of Allentown Parks Cherry Blossom Festival
Cedar Beach Park

Tested film screening and Q&A with director Curtis Chin 

Traditional and Modern Japanese Music: Kaoru Watanabe with shamisen and koto performer Sumie Kanako.
Join us for an exciting evening of traditional and modern Japanese music by world-renowned taiko and transverse flute artist

Free and open to the public. www.watanabekaoru.com

Cosponsored by Muhlenberg College’s Dean of Students office, the music department, lectures and forum, the multicultural center, Asian studies and the theatre department.

Guided Zen Meditation
Fulford Room, Trexler Library

Take a break from studying for finals and learn a new life skill! Join Rev. Eric Daishin McCabe of the Japanese Soto School of Buddhism for a talk and guided Zen meditation. Cushions and chairs provided. All are welcome! 

Sponsored by the Chaplain’s office, Trexler Library and Asian studies.