The CMS Mobilities research group invites you to a talk by Prof. Wanning Sun on March 16 from 3:00 to 4:30 PM in C.K. Choi 351, examining Chinese-language media, transnational platforms, and political belonging among PRC immigrants in Australia. 🔗 Register: migration.ubc.ca/events/event...

Discover how marriage, race, and geopolitics intersect in Reform-era China. Join us for a conversation on Post-Soviet Brides in the China Dream with Prof. Elena Barabantseva (@manchester.ac.uk). 📅 March 12 | 11:00–12:30 PM 📍 Buchanan Tower, Room 225 🔗 Register: migration.ubc.ca/events/event...

On Friday, March 13 at 11am, join our Assistant Professor Pasang Yangjee Sherpa and scholars Mabel Gergan and Arvind Kumar as they explore critical questions around Indigeneity, caste, race, and decolonial thought in South Asia. Join in-person or online via Zoom at this link: bit.ly/4lnjcpQ

Discover how the movement of Buddhist ideas, art, and individuals shaped and contributed to a richly connected Global Asia across two millennia! Join us in-person or online on March 11 from 5pm for the next Yin‑Cheng Distinguished Lecture, featuring Dr. Tansen Sen.

Drawing upon their individual and collaborative research, Dr. Shneiderman and Dr. Baniya explore how European funding is flowing into Nepal, while young people are flowing out of the country through labour migration to global locations including Europe. Lunch will be served. RSVP on our website!

Discover the key role theater and performance played in suturing identity in global Chinese theatre in the 1980s! Join Dr. Wah-Guan Lim for his talk on Tuesday, March 10 at room 604 of the Asian Centre.

Join this pre-AAS research talk with Toeda Hirokazu (Waseda University) and Tanaka Yukari (Nihon University) on March 10! Japan Studies graduate students can also join a professional development seminar held on March 11. See more details here:

Join upcoming events in March such as panel discussions and curator tours for Entangled Territories: Tibet Through Images, an exhibition curated by our Assoc. Prof Fuyubi Nakamura! If you're not able to visit in-person, enjoy an online tour hosted by Dr. Nakamura.

This Thursday at 4:30pm: Join Dr. Thomas Gaubatz as he discusses his monograph, The Textual Townsman: Writing Urban Identity in Early Modern Japan, exploring the tension between shared norms and the lived particularities in 17th-century Japan. Learn more: asia.ubc.ca/events/event...

In celebration of International Women's Day, join our Assistant Professor Ji-yoon An on Tuesday, March 3 as she takes a closer look at how the depiction of women in South Korean dramas have evolved over the past 20 years. alumni.ubc.ca/event/what-k...

On Mar 26-27, join us for the 25/26 Wat Lecture with Drs. Virginia Yip (CUHK) and Stephen Matthews (HKU) as they share how the future of Cantonese linguistic and cultural heritage relies on children and examine the language development of monolingual vs. bilingual children.

Co-organized by Dr. Colleen Laird and her colleagues, Videographic Venice invites participants to explore Venice as both subject and medium through videographic criticism. Apply by March 31: www.univiu.org/study/summer...

Thank you for attending Dr. Don Baker’s retirement lecture held on January 30. Marking his 40-year milestone with UBC Asian Studies, he discussed the lives of three brothers – a renowned philosopher, a pioneer biologist, and a Catholic Martyr in Chosŏn Korea. asia.ubc.ca/news/2025-26...

This Friday at 12 pm: Join Dr. Naoko Kato (Corpus Christi College and St. Mark’s College) as she tells the stories of the Japanese diaspora members who were “doubly abandoned” by both the Canadian and Japanese states during the postwar period. Learn more: asia.ubc.ca/events/event...

🎨 CMS invites artists to submit for the 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱–𝟮𝟲 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝗿𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻! Explore how migrants navigate physical, social, political, and identity borders, revealing journeys of exclusion, hope, pain, and resilience. Prizes: 🥇$1,250 🥈$250 Learn more: migration.ubc.ca/news/interna...

Join us for the upcoming lunchtime colloquium by Dr. Naveeda Khan, a Professor of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University! 📍Allard Hall, Room 121 (UBC-Vancouver) 📅 Thursday, February 5 @ 12:30-2:00 PM 📝 Register here: shorturl.at/GBfg4 🥕 FREE LUNCH PROVIDED!

Join our next FHIS Research Seminar to explore the interpreter’s body as a site of analysis and to reflect critically on the embodied demands of the profession—especially in an age of AI, when bodies are increasingly framed as problems to be solved or eliminated.

This Thursday at 4:30pm: Dr. Jiajun Liang (University of California) will be discussing the Studio Ghibli film Grave of the Fireflies, a tragic portrayal of civilian suffering in the aftermath of Japan’s defeat in World War II. Learn more:

This Friday at 12pm: Join the talk by Dr. Millie Creighton (Department of Anthropology, UBC), who will discuss Japan-Palestine connections, and the Japanese residential community’s involvement with Palestinians. Learn more:

Apply to a workshop for Ways of Undoing: Craft, Collaboration, and Videographic Practice, a three-year international initiative exploring how new practices can unsettle hierarchical structures in videographic scholarship. asia.ubc.ca/news/call-fo...

Please join us in welcoming our new Associate Professor of Teaching in Korean Language and Culture, Ho Jung Choi! He is a highly experienced educator and former director of Princeton University’s Korean Language Program, bringing expertise and leadership to our community. asia.ubc.ca/news/asian-s...

On Friday, January 30, join us for the 2026 Capstone Lecture, where our Professor in Korean History and Civilization, Dr. Don Baker will explore the remarkable lives of the Chŏng brothers, revealing valuable insight into life in late 18th- and early 19th-century Korea. asia.ubc.ca/events/event...

We're excited to welcome Chui Joe Tham, our new Geiss Hsu Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in Ming Studies, who recently arrived from the University of Oxford with a Doctor of Philosophy in History! Learn about her research, interests and path to academia.

Applications for the position of Lecturer in Japanese Language are due by January 5, 2026. Please share with qualified individuals in your network!

This Friday: join our Professor of Modern Japanese Literature and Popular Culture Dr. Sharalyn Orbaugh as she delves into how kamishibai (paper theatre) plays were used in Japanese wartime propaganda.

Congratulations to our Professor of Pre-Modern Japanese Literature and Art, Dr. Joshua Mostow, on receiving this year's Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature for his book "Hyakunin’shu: Reading the Hundred Poets in Late Edo Japan"! buff.ly/qHVv7XO

[Hybrid] How does U.S. immigration law create racial hierarchies through temporary visas? Find out during our second #SpeakerSeries event with Dr. Ming Chen on Nov 24, 11:45 AM–1:45 PM PT, IKBLC Dodson Room 302. 🔗 Register: migration.ubc.ca/events/event...

On November 19, join our Assistant Professor Naveena Naqvi for a talk titled “Paracolonial Thought in Afghan North India 1774-1857,” exploring how Afghan political communities in north India were polyvocal, decentralized, and actively shaping norms of civility. Learn more:

We are inviting applications for a Lecturer in Japanese Language, starting August 2026! We're seeking an exceptional and experienced teacher of Japanese Language courses with interest and expertise in innovative curriculum design and pedagogy. Apply by Jan 5, 2026. Details: bit.ly/japn-lecturer

On Friday, November 7, join Dr. Kelly McCormick (UBC History) as she discusses the untold stories of women photographers in Japan and reveals how photography has built community and pushed back against media depictions of women in Japan.

If your spooky movie season isn't over just yet (and why should it be? 👻 ), why not look beyond the jump scares and consider the powerful cultural metaphors that could lie within? Dr. Ji-yoon An (@asia.ubc.ca) discusses her new course, Cinematic Monsters of Asia www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...

UBC CENES, FHIS, and Asian Studies are excited to collaborate on a careers workshop for our students! Check out our event "From Classroom to Career: Speaking Success with Language Learning". More details in the link below. fhis.ubc.ca/events/event... @arts.ubc.ca @ubc-fhis.bsky.social @asia.ubc.ca

Despite growing conversations around equity, caste continues to be ignored in Canadian discourses. OVERCASTE is one of the first exhibits to focus on the lived experiences of caste in the BC Panjabi communities. Join the opening reception + panel discussion on Thu, Oct 30!

Mark your calendars for next Saturday, November 1st, at 7:00 PM (PDT)! Speaker Kathryn Babayan explores gender in the archive, revealing how these records offer glimpses into domestic life and illuminate family culture and social relationships.

Join our Assistant Professor Kiran K. Sunar this Thursday, October 23 at 4pm for a talk on the many visual and material incarnations of the South Asian Sohni Mahiwal tale—a tragic riverine love story which has been retold and reimagined by various artists and tellers.

TOMORROW, Oct 18 at 4:00 PM (PDT): RSVP to learn more about the catalysts of change within an institutional framework. asia.ubc.ca/events/event...

Join our Sustainability Initiative Committee and the Hong Kong Studies Initiative on Thursday, October 23 for an evening of eco-documentary screenings and discussion that will illuminate the often-overlooked natural heritage of Hong Kong! Learn more and register:

Explore the history of the Trans-Iranian Railway, Iran’s first national railway completed in 1938, and how it reshaped mobility, labor, and belonging!

THIS FRIDAY: Join Dr. Michi Ann Saki (Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts) for a discussion on viewpoints and experiences of educational stakeholders engaged in offering Japanese language support to ethnic minority children in public elementary schools in Japan. asia.ubc.ca/events/event...

Join us online on October 18th at 4:00 pm as Hamid Sajadi and Rumee Ahmed discuss the question of how transformation occurs in Shi’a political jurisprudence through the interaction between entrenched institutional structures and emerging demands.

Hear from Indigenous women from the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh about their everyday experiences of gendered violence, displacement and representation of Indigenous women and Indigenous people in the national discourse. RSVP to join the conversation online or in-person!

"More Swindles from the Late Ming" (2025), translated by UBC Asian Studies professors Dr. Christopher Rea and Dr. Bruce Rusk, presents sensational stories of scams from Zhang Yingyu’s criminal underworld, where women both led and exposed elaborate cons. Read the full Q&A:

How has modern Japanese literature been shaped by aesthetic ideals? Join us on October 10 at 4:00pm as Dr. Anri Yasuda, through explores how the timeless questions about beauty are at the heart of modern literature’s ability to illumine the inimitable experiences of being human.

Our Assistant Professor, Dr. Pasang Yangjee Sherpa, spoke at the International Mountain Conference in Innsbruck last month, sharing insights from her work in Khumbu and highlighting glaciers as powerful, interconnected beings. Read more: asia.ubc.ca/news/dr-pasa...

[Hybrid] How do Australia’s deterrence policies shape refugee lives long after they receive legal recognition? Prof. Helena Zeweri unpacks their lasting impact in our first #SpeakerSeries of the year on Oct 6, 11:45 AM–1:45 PM PT, IKBLC Dodson Room 302. 🔗 Register: migration.ubc.ca/events/event...

Tomorrow, October 2 at 2:00pm PT: join Palestinian lived theologian Shadia Qubti for an intimate presentation exploring what it means to live between worlds and how communities maintain identity, family bonds, and hope amid systems of separation. asia.ubc.ca/events/event...

Join #UBCForestry and @landfood.ubc.ca on September 30 at 1956 Main Mall as we unite for an Intergenerational March to Commemorate Orange Shirt Day. Learn more: bit.ly/osd-2025 #UBC #OrangeShirtDay

Why is everyone obsessed with KPop Demon Hunters? The movie has broken records on Netflix, and its songs continue to dominate the charts. Asian Studies Assistant Professor Ji-yoon An sat down with The Globe and Mail to discuss the sensation and the spread of South Korean culture.

Congratulations to Asian Studies Professor Sunera Thobani on her latest publication, "Decolonizing Knowledge: Looking Back, Moving Forward"! The book looks at the definitions of decolonization that emerged from anti-colonial thinkers in their struggles for freedom from colonialism. buff.ly/Uqf3HGR

Tomorrow at 7:00am: Join Dr. Shahira Yacout (The American University in Cairo) for a discussion on teaching Arabic listening skills, where she explores teacher challenges, learner difficulties, and approaches to selecting effective audio materials. Presented in Arabic: asia.ubc.ca/events/event...