LECTURES

The East Asia Resource Center periodically co-sponsors lecture series on timely, regional topics in conjunction with the other Jackson School Outreach Centers. Lecture series are typically scheduled for the spring quarter.

The East Asia Center also provides lectures for the general public on East Asia. For more information, please see the EAC list of upcoming events.

HOT SPOTS IN OUR WORLD

Jackson School Outreach Centers Lecture Series

Walker-Ames room, Kane Hall, University of Washington, Seattle Campus
Lecture Series: Wednesdays, February 18 –May 13, 2009 ~7:00 p.m.
Lecture Series Information: http://jsis.washington.edu/soasia//file/hotspots09lr.pdf

China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region is among the global “hot spots” examined by scholars in this spring’s Hot Spots in Our World series, sponsored by the UW Jackson School of International Studies. Lectures will focus on challenges posed by regional hot spots and implications for the United States. Dates and regional focus are as follows: February 18 (Middle East Center & Jewish Studies on Israel & U.S. Policy), March 4 (Canadian Studies on Health Social Movements), April 1 (Center for West European Studies & Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies on Energy Security), April 15 (Southeast Asia), April 29 (South Asia), and topping off the series, the East Asia Center and East Asia Resource Center present:

“China's Far West: Identity, Administration, and Separatism in Xinjiang”
Bradley Jensen Murg, PhD student, Political Science

The Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region is that rare case where theorists, area scholars, and policy makers generally agree: large-scale ethnic violence is inevitable. However, the mass rebellion in question has been "inevitable" for over half a century now and still has not taken place. Xinjiang is the classic "dog that won't bark" of ethnic conflict theory. This lecture provides an overview as to why the province has remained relatively calm over the course of the past half-century, discusses recent separatist violence in the region, and outlines a series of scenarios as to the path that Xinjiang will take over the next five to ten years.

Bradley Jensen Murg is a fourth year PhD student in the Political Science Department of the University of Washington focusing on the comparative political economy of growth and development in China and Eurasia. Previously he was a Henry Luce Scholar at the Asian Development Bank and has lived and worked throughout Asia. He speaks French, German, Mandarin, Russian, and Uighur.

Please note that the lecture line-up is subject to change. The lectures take place on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 pm in the Walker-Ames Room of Kane Hall, UW campus. The series is free and open to the public; no registration necessary. For more information, call Canadian Studies at (206) 221-6374.