Past programs

Japan at War: The Rising Sun During World War Two – NCTA Online Seminar

Program Start Date: Feb 23 2026

Location: Online program

This seminar explored Japan and China during World War II, with presentations covering topics such as military victories and defeats, the first six months of 1942, Japan’s six aircraft carriers that reshaped global history, and the diplomatic, economic, and domestic crises of the 1930s that led to the Pacific War. Take a look at the

Behind the Headlines – NCTA Online Series

Program Start Date: Feb 10 2026

Location: Online program

  Staying informed about global events, especially in East Asia, can be overwhelming with the constant flood of news. That’s why we offered Behind the Headlines, an online series designed specifically for teachers. This series provided a clear and insightful overview of recent developments in Japan, China, North and South Korea, Taiwan, Xinjiang, Hong Kong.

Dream of Ding Village: Crises and Controversies in Contemporary China – Online NCTA Seminar

Program Start Date: Dec 15 2025

Location: Online program

In this online seminar, we explored literary texts from the Chinese reform era and new millennium as a lens for examining the consequences of China’s rapid modernization. Each week focused on a different contemporary crisis and include a secondary reading related to that topic. Our anchoring novel for the seminar was Yan Lianke’s Dream of

“Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future” by Dan Wang – NCTA Online Book Study

Program Start Date: Dec 4 2025

Location: Online program

Photograph: Getty Images via The Economist.   While much of today’s news emphasizes growing U.S.-China tensions, Dan Wang’s Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future offers a fresh perspective on China and sheds light on the United States in the 21st century. Combining sharp analysis with engaging storytelling, Wang presents a vivid portrait of a

Ultra-Low Birth Rate in East Asia: Care, Crisis Discourses, and Collaborative Responses – NCTA Online Program

Program Start Date: Nov 19 2025

Location: Online program

In this one-day program, we examined Japan’s declining birth rates through the lens of “care” (kea, ケア) and the evolving discourse of “who cares” that gained renewed attention in the aftermath of the 3.11 disaster and the COVID-19 pandemic. With guidance from Professor Andrea Gevurtz Arai, we explored how these conversations have centered on reproductive

Social Change Projects in East Asia – NCTA Online Program

Program Start Date: Nov 5 2025

Location: Online program

Educators joined Andrea Gevurtz Arai, Professor of Japan and East Asia Studies and Cultural Anthropology in the Jackson School of International Studies, for an online program exploring the newly published volume Spaces of Creative Resistance: Social Change Projects in Twenty-First-Century East Asia, which she curated and edited. This collection brings together a cross-national, interdisciplinary group

Teaching with Memory Politics: Museums, Memorials, and Asian Histories – NCTA Online Seminar

Program Start Date: Oct 22 2025

Location: Online program

Educators joined us for this six-week seminar course that explored the politics of memory in and about Asia through consideration of museum collections, memorials, and personal ephemera. The politics of memory refers to the ways that societies remember, and sometimes intentionally forget, past events, and how those memories are shaped, controlled, and contested. Through a

Chinese Socialist Culture – NCTA Online Program

Program Start Date: Oct 13 2025

Location: Online program

Most standard curricula related to Chinese socialist culture in the United States relied on popular memoirs and films that reflected upon the horrors of the Chinese socialist period in retrospect. Many of these materials were written originally in English, primarily targeted a Western audience, and tended to affirm a lingering Cold War paradigm that regarded

Write About Asia: 2024 Freeman Award Winners

Program Start Date: Aug 5 2025

Location: Online program

This program is currently full and registration has closed. Write About Asia: 2024 Freeman Award Winners The National Consortium for Teaching about Asia (NCTA), the Committee on Teaching about Asia (CTA) of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), and Asia for Educators (AFE) at Columbia University sponsor the annual Freeman Book Awards for new young adult and children’s literature. The awards recognize quality books for

“The Art and Activism of Ai Weiwei”, NCTA Summer Program in Seattle, WA

Program Start Date: Jul 14 2025

Location: Seattle, WA

When: July 14 to July 18, 2025 Where: Seattle Art Museum and University of Washington (Seattle, WA) Educators joined the East Asia Resource Center and the Seattle Art Museum for a unique opportunity to partake in a close study of Ai Weiwei’s work from the 1980s to the present in his largest-ever US-based exhibition, Ai,