Events are sponsored by the History Society and Asian Studies Department.

Please check the College of Arts and Sciences calendar for a complete listing of scheduled events.

Asian Studies Department &
Swirbul Library Lecture and Discussion:
"The Wisdom to Preserve Psychological Health from the Daodejing"
Friday, August 6, 2010
Swirbul Library, Room 101
4:30 p.m.–6:00 p.m.

On Friday, August 6, there will be a talk entitled “The Wisdom to Preserve Psychological Health from the Daodejing,” by Dr. Xichen Lu, eminent classical Daoist scholar and psychologist. The Daodejing: The Classic of the Way and the Virtue, is a central text of the Daoist tradition. In recent years this text has been used in China in the treatment of mental illness. In this presentation, Dr. Xichen Lu will discuss the cognitive behavioral therapeutic aspects of the Daodejing text and its clinical application with patients. Dr. Lu will draw on her experience as a classical Daoist scholar, psychologist, and practitioner of Daoism to explore this unique modern Chinese psychotherapeutic intervention.

Professor Xichen Lu is the Director of the Ethics Research Institute at South Central University, Changsa, China. Professor Lu is a council member of the Association of Chinese Religions and a scholar and practitioner of Daoism.  She has published four books on Daoism and over one hundred research articles.

Dr. Steve Jackowicz, who has recently translated Dr. Lu’s work, will serve as translator during Dr. Lu’s talk, and he will briefly discuss the history of the Daodejing. Dr. Jackowicz began his study of East Asia at Harvard University where he received his Bachelor’s degree. Dr. Jackowicz went on to complete a Master’s Degree in Acupuncture at the New England School of Acupuncture. He subsequently studied at Boston University in an interdisciplinary program leading to his Doctorate in East Asian Medicine.

Sponsoring this Asian Studies event are College of Arts and Sciences Dean Steven J. Rubin and University Libraries Dean Charles Simpson.

Discussion will follow the lecture and is encouraged through blog participation.
Go to the Adelphi Library blog about this event.

For information and to RSVP, please contact Asian Studies Co-Director Dr. Cristina Zaccarini at zaccarin@adelphi.edu.




International Films
During club hours at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesdays, there will be international films followed by discussion.

One of the editors of the English language translation of this work, Professor Lawrence Sullivan (Political Science/Asian Studies), will read from Feathered Serpent. Professor Hanna Kim (Anthropology/Asian Studies) will comment upon the book from an anthropological perspective and Professor Cristina Zaccarini (History/Asian Studies) will explore the book in the context of the history of Chinese women and the Cultural Revolution.

Read more about this book and an author Q&A on the Simon & Shuster website or visit Amazon.com.

To comment about the Feathered Serpent book and view the blog and pictures of the event, go to http://blogs.adelphi.edu/library/entry/feathered_serpent


Fall 2008

"The Sky Below"—Screening and discussion with filmmaker Sarah Singh
October 13, 2008
Black Box Theater, Performing Arts Center

The Sky Below
An award-winning documentary, by filmmaker Sarah Singh on Pakistan and India vis a vis 1947 Partition of Indian Subcontinent. Featuring voices from both sides of the border; while exploring ancient and historic sites—along with music—from Kutch to Kashmir and Karachi to the Khyber Pass.

The Sky Below was nominated for the 2008 Social Justice Award for Documentary Film in Santa Barbara. In Kathmandu at the Film South Asia it won the Best Film Debut award.


Talk: Gayatri Sinha on "The Divine Feminine in Indian Art"
October 20, 2008
Black Box Theater, Performing Arts Center

Gayatri Sinha is an independent curator and art critic. She has been a columnist with leading newspapers (Indian Express 1981-91, The Telegraph 1991-94, and The Hindu 1995-2006) and is the author of several books including Expressions and Evocations—Contemporary Indian Women Artists; Krishen Khanna: A Critical Biography; Indian Art: an Overview; The Art of Adimoolam; Krishen Khanna: The Embrace of Love; Krishen Khanna: Images in My Time; Bricks and Bees - Andrew Burton Projects in India, Holland and England. She is India editor for the art magazine Contemporary (UK): her essays and catalogues have been widely published.

She has curated art shows in India, Europe, and the US. These include The Self and the World (National Gallery of Modern Art, 1997 – an exhibition of Indian women artists); a photography exhibition Woman/Goddess that travelled in India and in the United States (1999-2001); Cinema Still (2003), After Dark (Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai 2004); Middle Age Spread Imaging India 1947-2004 (National Museum, New Delhi 2004); Watching Me Watching India, Fotographie Forum, Frankfurt (co-curator Celina Lunsford, 2006); I Fear, I Believe, I Desire (Gallery Espace, 2007); Frame/Grid/Room/Cell (Bodhi Art, 2007); and Public Places Private Spaces, Contemporary Photography and Video Art in India (The Newark Museum, 2007, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2008).

She has lectured widely on Indian art, including venues such as the Asian Art Museum, Singapore, Tate Britain, Japan Foundation, Tokyo, the CIHA conference (2004) Montreal, and the Tate Modern, on Indian art, photography and curatorial practice.

Her richly illustrated presentation focuses on the evolution of the divine feminine from ancient to contemporary times. She draws on the Rig Veda and Puranic texts and establishes the relationship between the goddess, her absolute principle of immance and the land, bhu, prithvi as holy. She shows how a unique aesthetic and art economies arose in the period of popular culture in the 19th century – of printed oleographs, etc. as a result of the economics of mass reproduction and the British attempt to market goods – like soap and baby food. Her presentation examines the translation of such poetics by Indian nationalists into the concept of Bharat Mata as divine and feminine in the nationalist period. She also presents subsequent responses and subversions from contemporary artists from the 1990's onwards.

For information about this event, please contact Prof. Gita Surie surie@adelphi.edu


The Ancient Chinese healing system known as Qigong
November 11, 2008
University Center, Room 313

The Adelphi Wellness Series is proud to present Meryl Harmon-Halem, Licensed Clinical Social Worker and certified Qigong Instructor who will be giving an overview and demonstration of qigong, which combines breathing techniques with movement. Halem describes her therapy as encompassing “the ideology of holistic, integrative and collaborative conversations to enable mind/body and spiritual dimensions to those present to render informed decisions about their life's journey.

Qi Gong/Meditation and other stress managment techniques are employed through a customized program to enhance mindfulness in the dialogical communication taking place. Specific emphasis is on the present, and the weaving of how yesterday's constructions of feelings, beliefs, thoughts and actions can impact today and tomorrow. The notion of self-healing and the idea that people can pro actively participate in the context of their lives profusely permeates the heart of the work.”


Distinguished Faculty Recital #1
November 12, 2008

Flutist Linda Wetherill, Professor at Adelphi University, will perform with the Chair of the music department at the Performing Arts Center on the evening of November 12, 2008.  She will include the Asian masterwork "Cursive" for flute and piano by Chou Wen Chung and premiere Venezuelan/Parisian Mirtru Escalona Mijare's "Sombre et Sombre" for solo flute and electronics based upon the Indian raga "Todi."  She has been described as a literal reservoir of music from across the world, and one who is no mere imitator of sound.  She has developed a repertoire which, judging by what connoiseurs of music have said of her, is remarkable for range and expressiveness, and is especially appealing for those that appreciate Asian music. Even those with only a listening acquaintance of music must have found her music at Natarani endowed with exceptional beauty.  Highlighted by musical notes, a mood of mysticsm followed by serenity was created.

For more information about Linda, see www.LindaWetherill.com

Artists:
Linda Wetherill, Flute
Christopher Lyndon-Gee, Piano

Program:
Charles Ives, Piano Sonata No. 2 'Concord, Mass., 1840-1860'
Pierre Boulez, Sonatine (flute and piano)
Mirtru Escalona-Mirjares, Work for solo flute & electronics (Premiere)
Philippe Leroux, P.P.P. (flute and piano)


Spring 2008

Colloquium: Ha Jin's War Trash (2004)
April 24, 2008
School of Social Work Building, Room 302

Panelists:
Patricia Joyce, School of Social Work
Lawrence Sullivan, Political Science
Cristina Zaccarini, History

Ha Jin's War Trash (2004) tells the story of the loneliness and suffering of Chinese POWs during the Korean War. Written in documentary style by Yu Yuan, a young Chinese officer whose knowledge of English thrusts him in the role of interpreter between the Chinese POWs and their American captors, War Trash depicts the conflict of Yu Yuan who has never become a Communist but who resists the temptation of release to Nationalist Taiwan in order to return to his fiance and aging mother on the mainland. The political conflict between Nationalist and Communist Chinese, played on by the American captors, is still another part of the story as is the ingenuity of Chinese POWs who defy the "war trash" epithet.


Professor Lawrence Sullivan will speak on the "Feathered Serpent"
April 30, 2008

Professor Lawrence Sullivan will speak on the "Feathered Serpent", one of the finest works of fiction in Chinese 20th century literature, which like George Orwell's "Animal Farm" and Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels", satirizes and criticizes the totalitarian regime of Chinese Communism. Authored by one of China's most famous women writers, Ms. Xu Xiaobin, the work is also a major contribution to women's fiction genre, tracing the life of five generations of women in a single family.


Reading: "Gao Wenqian's Zhou Enlai: The Last Perfect Revolutionary"
February 20, 2008
108 Earle Hall (Honor's College)

Professor Lawrence Sullivan (Translator) will read Gao Wenqian's Zhou Enlai: The Last Perfect Revolutionary (Public Affairs, 2007). Books will be available for sale at the author's discount. All proceeds will be donated to the Honor's College Scholarship Fund.


Celebration of Chinese New Year 2008 Year of the Rat
February 13, 2008
Blodgett Hall, Room 201

Demonstration of Chinese New Year Music with Chinese instruments and student and faculty performance. Adelphi's World Music Ensemble will perform on flute, gongs, bells, cymbals, sho and dizi. Brown bag lunch!

World Music Ensemble is comprised of students from Prof. Linda Wetherill's "Music and Society: Major Traditions of the World."



Fall 2007

Panel Discussion on Contemporary China

Politics, Church-state Relations and Medicine in Contemporary China
Presenters will be Joseph Lee, assistant professor, Pace University, Lawrence Sullivan, associate professor, Adelphi University, and Cristina Zaccarini, assistant professor, Adelphi University.



Fall 2006

"T'ai Chi Ch'uan as a Physical Manifestation of Taoist Philosophy"
October 18, 2006
University Center, Room 313

Spring 2006

For an interview with Lana Noone:
http://www.adoptvietnam.org/adoption/babylift-noone.html