[Soasiastudents] Roundtable Discussion May 24

[Keith Snodgrass]

The Project for Critical Asian Studies and the Simpson Center for the Humanities at the University of Washington present:

The Crisis in the Study of History and Epigraphy of Early ("Classical") South and Southeast Asia in North American Universities

A Roundtable Discussion in Honor of Romila Thapar, Katz Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Humanities and Professor Emeritus of History, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Tuesday, May 24, 2005 
Communications 202 
1:00-3:00 pm 
Reception to follow 

Chaired by Boreth Ly (Assistant Professor of Asian Art, University of Utah and Project for Critical Asian Studies Fellow, UW) and Laurie Sears (Professor of History, UW)


This roundtable discussion seeks to present and to analyze the crisis in the transmission and the teaching of the early or so-called "classical" history of South and Southeast Asia in North American universities. In addition, we hope to get an assessment of comparable situations in other academic contexts from different parts of the world. Scholars focusing on early South and Southeast Asian history from different disciplinary backgrounds will present short discussions about their respective fields of study, and then a distinguished panel of discussants working on East Asian and European subjects will offer their thoughts in light of comparative studies in their respective fields. Some of the questions that this roundtable seeks to raise are:

· What implications does this "crisis" have regarding required training or well-rounded    
  scholars of early histories? 
· Is the study of epigraphy simply one of the colonialist projects? 
· Is there room for a true interdisciplinary scholar-intellectual in North  American universities? 
· Is the academic world becoming increasingly myopic? 
· What comes after the "Faustian drive"? 
· How might we bridge the gap between the past and the more immediate present? 
· What can we do to fill in the necessary lacunae? 
  
 Participants: 
Romila Thapar, Katz Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Humanities 
Richard Salomon, Professor of Asian Languages & Literature and Buddhist Studies 
Colett Cox, Professor of Asian Languages & Literature and Buddhist Studies 
Charles Keyes, Professor of Anthropology and Buddhist Studies 
Peter Lape, Assistant Professor of Archaeology and Curator, Burke Museum 
Vicente Rafael, Professor of History 
K. Sivaramakrishnan, Associate Professor of Anthropology 

Discussants: 
Patricia Ebrey, Professor of Chinese History, Carol Thomas, Professor of Ancient Greek History, Robert Stacey, Professor of Medieval History, Sandra Joshel, Associate Professor of Roman History, and William Boltz, Professor of Asian Languages & Literature and Classical Chinese 



Keith Snodgrass      
Associate Director  & Outreach Coordinator
South Asia Center, Jackson School                     
Box 353650, University of Washington                  
Seattle, WA 98195    
Phone: (206)543-4800; Fax(206)685-0668                                    
                     South Asia Center on the Web:
     <http://jsis.artsci.washington.edu/programs/soasia/index.htm>
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