Category: Past Events

Disability Rights in East Asia’s Democracies 2025

Friday, April 11th, 2025

9:00 AM – 2:00 PM ET

Hybrid Event

Lindner Family Commons

1957 E Street NW Washington, DC 20052

Elliot School of International Affairs

About

Speakers:

Sooyeun Lee has been working as a public interest attorney in the field of human rights in Korea since 2019. She majored in education in college, so she is very interested in the right to education and is working to ensure the right to education for children and youth with disabilities, remedy discrimination, and amend relevant laws. As a public interest lawyer, she is mainly engaged in litigation, law reform, and international solidarity activities. She has worked on cases of discrimination against persons with disabilities and has worked to change laws related to the right to vote and education. In international solidarity activities, she participated as a member of civil society in the deliberations of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2022 and the Human Rights Committee in 2023. Currently, she works for a NGO called NOW (Network for Organizing and Widening pro bono activities), which not only works in the field of disability rights, but also supports networking for public interest lawyers and promotes public interest lawyering in Korea.

Maeda Mayuko is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the George Washington University. Her research interests include disability rights movements, transnational activism, and Japanese politics. Currently, she is working on a project examining the voting rights of people with cognitive disabilities around the world. Sheis from Tokyo, Japan, and received her BA in Political Science and Russian from Grinnell College.

Chang Heng-hao is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and currently serves as the Dean of the College of Social Sciences at National Taipei University, Taiwan. He earned his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and is the founding president of the Taiwan Society for Disability Studies. His research focuses on the disability rights movement, representations of disability, and inclusive education. He serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Disability and Social Justice and guest edits the special issue “Disability in East Asia.” His work has been published in Disability & Society, Review of Disability Studies: An International Journal, Taiwanese Sociology and Taiwanese Journal of Sociology. He also co-edited a book, Disability Studies: Theories and Policy Implication, which introduces Disability Studies to Chinese language.

Reiko Nishida earned her Ph.D. in Law from the University of Tsukuba, Japan. Currently, she is a junior researcher at the Institute of Comparative Law at Waseda University, supported by a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) grant for FY 2023-2025. Her research focuses on comparative equality and anti-discrimination, including affirmative action to promote equal employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities, women, and foreign workers. She has expertise in anti-discrimination laws in both the U.S. and Japan. She is currently a visiting scholar at the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, where she continues her research.

Satoshi Kawashima is a professor of disability law and an advisor to the president of the Open University of Japan. He received a Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree from Niigata University in 2005. After being an Okayama University of Science professor, he moved to the Open University of Japan in 2023. He has published over 50 articles on disability law and disability studies in Japanese and is a contributor to and/or co-editor of over 30 academic books in Japan. He is a board member of the Japanese Society of Disability Law, the Japan Society for Disability Studies, the International Human Rights Law Association of Japan, and the Association on Higher Education and Disability of Japan. He is a member of several committees of governmental and semi-governmental organizations.  

Celeste Arrington is the Director of the GW Institute for Korea Studies and Co-Director of the East Asia National Resource Center (2024-Present). She specializes in comparative public policy, law and social change, lawyers, and governance, with a regional focus on the Koreas and Japan. She is also interested in Northeast Asian security, North Korean human rights, and transnational activism. Her first book was Accidental Activists: Victim Movements and Governmental Accountability in Japan and South Korea (Cornell, 2016). She has published numerous articles and, with Patricia Goedde, she co-edited Rights Claiming in South Korea (Cambridge, 2021). Her next book, forthcoming in Cambridge’s Studies in Law and Society series, analyzes the legalistic turn in Korean and Japanese regulatory style through paired case studies related to tobacco control and disability rights. She received a PhD from UC Berkeley, an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, and an AB from Princeton University. She has been a fellow at Harvard, the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich. GW’s Office of the Vice President for Research awarded her the 2021 Early Career Research Scholar Award. Her article with Claudia Kim won the 2023 Asian Law and Society Association’s distinguished article award.

2025 GW Taiwan Studies Research Fellows Presentation

Monday, April 7th, 2025

11:00 AM – 12:15 PM ET

Hybrid Event

Room 505

1957 E Street NW Washington, DC 20052

Elliot School of International Affairs

About

Speakers:

Dayna Bailey is a second-year graduate student in Chinese Language and Culture with a BA in Chinese Language and Literature. Her recent academic work focuses on modern and classical Chinese literary translation, and she is currently working on her master’s thesis on the translation and analysis of Su Hui’s palindrome poem《璇璣圖》. A passionate linguist, Dayna has studied more than ten languages, which she enjoys using to explore global literature.

Faculty Advisor: Xiaofei Kang

Research Project: “To Hell and Back – The Influence of the Video Game Devotion
on the Taiwanese Guanluoyin Folk-Religious Practice”

Kyle Nguyen is from the Bay Area, California, and is a sophomore undergraduate student at the Elliott School of International Affairs. He is majoring in International Affairs with a concentration in Security Policy and minoring in Data Science. His research interests include the modern security relations between East Asian countries. During his TERP Fellowship, Kyle will analyze the economic and security aspects of Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy (NSP) and its impact on Taiwan’s relationship with China, the US, and Southeast Asia nations.

Faculty Advisor: Sunggun Park

Research Project: “Assessing the Intricacies of Taiwan’s Southbound Policy and its Effects on Regional Activity in Overall East Asia“

Fiona Stokes is a Taiwanese American sophomore undergraduate student at the Elliott School of International Affairs. Within her IA major, she is concentrating on Contemporary Cultures and Societies. In addition, she is double majoring in Art History. During her TERP Fellowship, Fiona will be interviewing former inhabitants of Taiwanese military villages to better understand how its culture set the framework for contemporary Taiwanese society.

Faculty Advisor: Patricia Chu

Research Project: “Dinner at Air Force Village No. 2”

Discussants

Adrienne Chih-fang Wu is the program manager at the Global Taiwan Institute and the host and producer of Taiwan Salon, GTI’s cultural policy and soft power podcast. With an interest in exploring the intersection of culture and policy, her research focuses on how Taiwan can strengthen international connections through nation branding, cultural diplomacy and a strong civil society. She is also a member of the UC Berkeley U.S.-Taiwan Next Generation Working Group, where she is conducting a research project on the barriers to importing Taiwanese cultural products. Before joining GTI, she graduated from Ritsumeikan University and Kyunghee University with a Dual Master’s Degree in International Relations. She spent seven years living in Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan—including three years of teaching English in Japan and Taiwan and a year of study at Waseda University while pursuing her B.A. in Honors East Asian Studies from McGill University. She also worked at the Presidential Precinct to help facilitate the Mandela Washington Fellowship Program for young African leaders. As a Taiwanese-American, the mission of GTI is close to her heart, and she is excited to be part of an organization committed to better public understanding of Taiwan worldwide.

Ben Levine is a program assistant at the Global Taiwan Institute. He graduated from George Washington University with a MA in Chinese Language and Culture. Ben received his BA from Boston University majoring in international relations, with a functional concentration in international economics and a regional concentration in Asia. Previously, Ben was awarded a fellowship from the Taiwan Education and Research Program at GWU to research Taiwanese defense policy and hypothetical US responses. He also was awarded a Huayu Enrichment Scholarship in August 2022, allowing him to spend 9 months in Taipei at National Chengchi University studying Mandarin. His research focuses on Taiwan’s defense policy and various social and economic issues in Taiwan.

Moderator

Richard J. Haddock is the Assistant Director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at the George Washington University, where he leads the Center’s robust Taiwan affairs programming, outreach, and curriculum development. He is also a member of the UC Berkeley U.S.-Taiwan Next Generation Working Group, where his research focuses on U.S.-Taiwan education diplomacy and exchange. Previously, he has held positions at the GW East Asia National Resource Center, the National Democratic Institute’s Asia team, the American Institute in Taiwan’s Public Diplomacy Section, and the U.S. Department of State.

Mr. Haddock is currently pursuing a PhD in Public Policy and Public Administration at the George Washington University, focusing on digital democracy and e-governance development in the Asia-Pacific. He holds an MA in Asian Studies from the Elliott School, with a concentration on domestic politics and foreign policy of East Asia. He graduated from the University of Central Florida with a BA in Political Science and minors in Asian Studies and Diplomacy.

From Traditional Chinese Opera to the World Stage: The East-West Cultural Collision of Contemporary Legend Theatre

Thursday, April 3rd, 2025

3:30 – 5:30 PM ET

Room 113

Elliott School of International Affairs

1957 E Street NW Washington, D.C. 20052

The GW Taiwan Education and Research Program (TERP) cordially invites you to its upcoming Taiwan Humanities Lecture on the topic of Peking opera culture and historical anecdotes in Taiwan!

Join us for a unique event and performance demonstration with theatre actor and artistic director Chu Po-Cheng, recipient of a 2024 Asian Cultural Council grant to research and study the diverse and free-form expressions of Broadway theater (both on and off-Broadway). He will speak about the importance of Wu Hsing-kuo, a Taiwanese born actor, playwright, director, and Fulbright Scholar known around the world for his adaptations of Western theatre into traditional Peking Opera. After introducing the works of Wu Hsing-kuo, Chu will highlight several performances and pieces of the Contemporary Legend Theatre (CLT), a Taiwanese performing arts company that was created in 1986 by Wu Hsing-kuo, and became renowned worldwide for integrating traditional Peking Opera techniques with Western classical plays. Po-Cheng will then introduce Peking opera, its origins and global spread. He will then conclude by performing Lin Chong’s Night Flight, a classic traditional Peking Opera piece, and answering questions from the audience.

Chu Po-Cheng is a Contemporary Legend Theatre actor, and artistic director of Hsing Legend Youth Theatre. Specializing in martial artist and elderly male roles, he is a disciple of the international master Wu Hsing-kuo. Currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Performing Arts at the National Taiwan University of Arts.

Venturing across Peking Opera, modern dance, and contemporary theater, he is a new-generation multi-disciplinary performing artist in Taiwan. Chu won the Best Young Actor Award at the 34th Taiwan Traditional Arts Golden Melody Awards in 2023 and received the Asian Cultural Council Fellowship in 2024. In 2016, he won second place in the Elderly Male category at the Meng Xiaodong Peking Opera Art Scholarship Foundation competition.

Works as a writer, director, and actor: ” Wu Song” (2018) was performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the UK, receiving a four-star review, and was selected by the Taiwanese Ministry of Culture to perform at the Festival d’Avignon in France in 2019.

In 2020, “The Youth Party” was selected by the Taiwanese Ministry of Culture to perform at the Festival d’Avignon in France. In 2021, he was commissioned by the Taoyuan Iron Rose Arts Festival to produce “2221-Eternal Flower.”

The Taiwan Education and Research Program was established in 2004 to promote and support both academic and policy-related study and research on the history, international relations, and the contemporary political, economic and social development of Taiwan. The Taiwan Education and Research Program operates under the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. The program is co-directed by Alexa Alice Joubin, Professor of English, Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies, Theatre, International Affairs, and East Asian Languages and Literatures, and Richard Haddock, Assistant Director, Sigur Center for Asian Studies.

The Future of U.S. Policy and the Indo-Pacific

Thursday, January 16th, 2025

1:00 – 4:30 PM ET

The State Room

Elliott School of International Affairs

1957 E Street NW Washington, D.C. 20052

What opportunities and challenges lie ahead for the United States and its allies in the Indo-Pacific region? This two-panel event brings together experts from the United States and Asia to discuss the future of U.S. policy and the policies of key regional players, including Korea, Japan, China, and their neighbors. As we enter a new year marked by political transitions in many capitals, the speakers will assess the foreign policy challenges and domestic political dynamics that will shape U.S. engagement and broader developments across the Indo-Pacific. 

This GWIKS Korea Policy Forum is organized in partnership with GW’s Sigur Center for Asian Studies, East Asia National Resources Center, Taiwan Education and Research Program, Seoul National University’s Institute for Peace and Unification Studies, and Ritsumeikan University’s Center for East Asian Peace and Cooperation Studies.

Agenda:

Panel 1: Grand Strategy (1:00 -2:30 PM)

• Youngjoo Jang, Visiting Research Fellow, Center for East Asian Peace and Cooperation Studies, Ritsumeikan University
• Robert Sutter, Professor of Practice of International Affairs, The George Washington University
• Drew Arveseth, Director, Korean Peninsula and Mongolia, United States National Security Council (NSC)
• Bumsoo Kim, Director, Institute for Peace and Unification Studies, Seoul National University

Break and Networking (2:30–3:00)

Panel 2: Emerging Challenges (3:00-4:30 PM)

• Inwook Kim, Associate Professor of International Affairs, Sungkyunkwan University
• Ilaria Mazzocco, Deputy Director and Senior Fellow, Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics, Center for Strategic & International Studies
• Prashanth Parameswaran, Global Fellow, The Wilson Center; CEO and Founder, ASEAN Wonk Global; Senior Columnist, The Diplomat
• Ann Kowalewski, Senior Non-Resident Fellow, The Global Taiwan Institute
• Tashi Rabgey, Research Professor of International Affairs, The George Washington University

Panel One

Dr. Youngjoo Jang is a visiting research fellow at the Center for East Asian Peace and Cooperation Studies, Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan. Her research interests include the U.S.-DPRK relations, the Japan-DPRK relations, and North Korea’s foreign policy over its nuclear development. She holds M.A. and Ph.D. in International Relations from Ritsumeikan University. Her dissertation title is “The U.S.-DPRK Nuclear Agreements through Interactions of Coercive Diplomacy from 1992 to 2012.” Her recent works appear in books (in Japanese) of New Horizons of North Korean Studies (Nakato and Choi, 2023) and External Relations of North Korea (Nakato and Mori, 2023) as a chapter, in Asia-Japan Research Institute website as a review article about North Korea (2023), and in the Ristumeikan Journal of International Studies as a journal article (2019). 

Professor Robert Sutter is Professor of Practice of International Affairs at the Elliott School of George Washington University (2011-Present ). He also served as Director of the School’s main undergraduate program involving over 2,000 students from 2013-2019. He has served as Special Adviser to the Dean on Strategic Outreach (2021-present). His earlier full-time position was Visiting Professor of Asian Studies at Georgetown University (2001-2011).

A Ph.D. graduate in History and East Asian Languages from Harvard University, Sutter has published 23 books (four with multiple editions), over 300 articles and several hundred government reports dealing with contemporary East Asian and Pacific countries and their relations with the United States. His most recent books are Chinese Foreign Relations: Power and Policy of an Emerging Global Force, Fifth Edition (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021), US-China Relations: Perilous Past, Uncertain Present, Fourth Edition (Rowman & Littlefield 2022), and Congress and China Policy: Past Episodic, Recent Enduring Influence (Lexington Books, 2024)

Sutter’s government career (1968-2001) saw service as senior specialist and director of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division of the Congressional Research Service, the National Intelligence Officer for East Asia and the Pacific at the US Government’s National Intelligence Council, the China division director at the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research and professional staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Drew Arveseth is the Director for the Korean Peninsula and Mongolia at the U.S. National Security Council (NSC). During his tenure on the NSC staff, he has engaged on U.S. policy issues ranging from extended deterrence, risk reduction, denuclearization, and Indo-Pacific regional security dynamics to civil-nuclear cooperation, regional development initiatives, economic security, transnational threats, and human rights. Drew played an integral role in preparations for the U.S.-ROK-Japan Camp David Trilateral as well as the State Visit of ROK President Yoon to the United States in 2023, which culminated in the release of the Washington Declaration. Prior to arriving at the NSC, he served as a U.S. Government analyst covering economic, political, and security developments on the Korean Peninsula and in the broader East Asia Pacific region. Before his national security career, Drew served with the Saejowi Initiative, an organization providing medical support and social services to DPRK defectors in the ROK. He received a Master’s in International Affairs from the George Washington University, where he focused on security in East Asia. He is a graduate of Utah State University, where he studied economics and international business.

Professor Bumsoo Kim received his B.A. and M.A. from the Department of International Relations at Seoul National University in 1992 and 1997 respectively, and his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago in 2006. Since then, he has worked as a research professor in the BK Program of the Department of Political Science at Seoul National University and as a lecturer at Seoul National University, and since 2010, has been a professor in the College of Liberal Studies (CLS) at Seoul National University. In the College of Liberal Studies, he served as an associate dean twice (2012-2014 and 2017-2019), and since February 2023, has been serving as a Dean. At the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies (IPUS), he served as a chief of External Relations Division, head of the Center for Unification Studies, and deputy director from 2016 to 2023, and since March 2023 has been serving as a director. He has also served as a researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Tokyo and a visiting professor at the University of Washington, U.S.A. He has served as a vice president of the Korean Political Science Association, a research board member of the Korean Association of International Studies, a president of the Governance Research Association, and a consultant for university restructuring at the Ministry of Education. As of March 2023, he is a member of the Academic Council of Seoul National University and an advisory board member of the Overseas Koreans Foundation.

His main research interests include political theory such as theory of justice and freedom, human rights theory, peace theory, nationalism, and multiculturalism. He has published many books in Korean, including What Is Fairness in Korean Society: 7 Theories of Justice to Protect a Fair Me(Akanet, 2022); What Is Peace Studies: Genealogy and Issues (Seoul National University Press, 2022); Korea-Japan Relations: Beyond Conflict to Reconciliation (Parkmun Press, 2021). He has also published many articles in peer-reviewed journals, which include “Bringing Class Back In: The Changing Basis of Inequality and the Korean Minority in Japan,” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 31(5), 2008, pp. 871-898; “Are North Korean Compatriots ‘Korean’? The Trifurcation of Ethnic Nationalism in South Korea during the Syngman Rhee Era (1948-1960),” Journal of Korean Studies, 24(1), 2019, pp. 149~171; “Are the Freedom of States and International Public Laws Compatible? Kant’s Theory of Peace and the Freedom of States” Korean Journal of International Relations, 59(3), 2019, pp. 7-54. In 2009, he received the Best Article Award of the Korean Political Science Association for his article “Who Is Japanese? the Boundaries of the ‘Japanese’ in Post-War Japan,” published in Journal of the Korean Political Science Association, 43(1), pp. 177-202.

Panel Two

Professor Inwook Kim is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Diplomacy at Sungkyunkwan University. His main research interests include history and geopolitics of oil, politics of alliances, and the Korean Peninsula. His works have either appeared or are forthcoming in International Studies Quarterly, Security Studies, Journal of Global Security Studies, Contemporary Security Policy, The Pacific Review, Foreign Affairs, and others.

Professor Kim holds a PhD in Political Science from the George Washington University where he was also a research affiliate at the Institute for Security and Conflict Studies (ISCS). He holds a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) from University of Oxford and received MSc in Politics of the World Economy from London School of Economics . He is also a former recipient of Fulbright Scholarship, and previously taught at Korea Military Academy, the University of Hong Kong, and Singapore Management University.

Ilaria Mazzocco is deputy director and senior fellow with the Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She has over a decade of experience researching industrial policy, Chinese climate policy, and the intersection between the energy transition and economic and national security. Prior to joining CSIS, she led research on Chinese climate and energy policy for Macropolo, the Paulson Institute’s think tank. She holds a PhD from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where her dissertation investigated Chinese industrial policy by focusing on electric vehicle promotion efforts and the role of local governments. She also holds master’s degrees from Johns Hopkins SAIS and Central European University, as well as a bachelor’s degree from Bard College. She speaks Chinese and Italian.

Dr. Prashanth Parameswaran is a fellow with the Wilson Center’s Asia Program, where he produces analysis on Southeast Asian political and security issues, Asian defense affairs, and U.S. foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific. He is also the CEO and Founder of ASEAN Wonk Global, a research hub that produces the weekly ASEAN Wonk BulletBrief newsletter; Senior Columnist at The Diplomat, one of Asia’s leading current affairs publications; and an Advisor at BowerGroupAsia, a strategic advisory firm focused on the Indo-Pacific region. His new book, “Elusive Balances: Shaping U.S.-Southeast Asia Strategy,” published in 2022, develops and applies an original “balance of commitment” approach to examining U.S. commitment in Southeast Asia over the past half century, along with policy recommendations for future administrations. 

A political scientist by training, Dr. Parameswaran is a recognized expert on Asian affairs and U.S. foreign policy in the region, with a focus on Southeast Asia and politics and security issues. He has conducted grant-based field research across the region, consulted for companies and governments, and taught courses affiliated with the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of State. His policy insights, research and commentary have been published widely in the United States and across the region in leading publications and journals including CNN, The Washington Post, The South China Morning Post, The Straits Times, Asia Policy and Contemporary Southeast Asia.

Dr. Parameswaran has held roles across think tanks, government, media and business in the United States and in the region, including most recently the Foreign Service Institute and The Diplomat, where he served as senior editor. In those capacities, he advanced research and analysis on key Asian political and security trends using rigorous research methodologies and extensive in-country networks, with an emphasis on Southeast Asia.

Dr. Parameswaran holds a Ph.D. and a Master of Arts from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University focused on international security, international business and U.S. foreign policy, and received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia where he studied foreign affairs and peace and conflict studies and graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

Ann E. Kowalewski has a decade of experience in think tank, government, and private sector on Indo-Pacific policy. Annie led the Indo-Pacific portfolio as a senior professional staff member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where she managed legislation and oversight regarding strategic competition with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), US policy towards Taiwan, alliance management, and the US diplomatic and security posture in the region. She also served as an Indo-Pacific senior policy analyst on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for three years.

Prior to serving on the Hill, Ms. Kowalewski spent four years researching Indo-Pacific issues at various think tanks. As a research associate with the American Enterprise Institute, she researched, wrote, and presented on topics to include US Indo-Pacific strategy, PRC military modernization programs, and recommendations for strengthening US defense alliances in the Indo-Pacific. She was also a China research assistant for Georgetown’s Center for Security Studies and the United States Institute of Peace.

Before her career in DC, Ms. Kowalewski served in the Scottish Parliament for two years as a parliamentary assistant working on EU case law and nuclear non-proliferation issues. She received her MA in Security Studies from Georgetown University and her LLB (Hons) from the University of Edinburgh, School of Law. She is fluent in Mandarin.

Professor Tashi Rabgey is Research Professor of International Affairs at the Elliott School where she specializes in statehood, authoritarianism and territorial politics, with a focus on multilevel governance and the politics of scale in the People’s Republic of China. She also works on constitutional and international legal issues relating to special status arrangements of asymmetric states and autonomous regions in comparative global contexts. Her primary regional focus is Tibet and Greater China, with a specialization in the Sino-Tibetan dispute. She is completing a long-term study of Chinese statehood, elite and institutional politics and Tibet’s rule and governance during China’s global rise.

At the Elliott School, she directs the Research Initiative on Multination States (RIMS) which convenes a Track II dialogue process with policy researchers in Beijing on state asymmetry and territorial autonomy. She is also founding director of the Tibet Governance Lab, a research platform and incubator for policy research on Tibet that provides a dynamic hub for the exchange of research, practice-driven insight and approaches to governance in contemporary Tibet.

Before joining the Elliott School, Professor Rabgey was codirector of the University of Virginia Tibet Center where she was a lecturer in contemporary Tibetan studies. She is also cofounder of Machik, a global nonprofit that has delivered strategies for Tibetan-language education, community empowerment and civic engagement in Tibet for over twenty years. She has been a fellow in the Public Intellectuals Program of the National Committee on US-China Relations, a visiting scholar at Sichuan University and visiting professor at the University of Kurdistan Hewlêr in Kurdistan (Iraq). She holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University, as well as law degrees from Oxford and Cambridge where she was a Rhodes scholar.

Moderators

Richard J. Haddock is the Assistant Director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at the George Washington University, where he leads the Center’s robust Taiwan affairs programming, outreach, and curriculum development. He is also a member of the UC Berkeley U.S.-Taiwan Next Generation Working Group, where his research focuses on U.S.-Taiwan education diplomacy and exchange. Previously, he has held positions at the GW East Asia National Resource Center, the National Democratic Institute’s Asia team, the American Institute in Taiwan’s Public Diplomacy Section, and the U.S. Department of State.

Mr. Haddock is currently pursuing a PhD in Public Policy and Public Administration at the George Washington University, focusing on digital democracy and e-governance development in the Asia-Pacific. He holds an MA in Asian Studies from the Elliott School, with a concentration on domestic politics and foreign policy of East Asia. He graduated from the University of Central Florida with a BA in Political Science and minors in Asian Studies and Diplomacy.

Professor Celeste Arrington specializes in comparative politics, with a regional focus on the Koreas and Japan. Her research interests include law and social change, governance, civil society, social movements, policy-making processes, lawyers, the media and politics, and qualitative methods. She is also interested in the international relations and security of Northeast Asia and transnational activism.

Her first book was Accidental Activists: Victim Movements and Government Accountability in Japan and South Korea (Cornell, 2016). She has published articles in Comparative Political Studies, Law & Society Review, Journal of East Asian Studies, Law & Policy, Asian Survey, and elsewhere. With Patricia Goedde, she co-edited Rights Claiming in South Korea (Cambridge, 2021). Her current book project analyzes the legalistic turn in Korean and Japanese governance through paired case studies related to tobacco control and disability rights.

Her research has received support from numerous fellowships and programs. She is a core faculty of the GW Institute for Korean Studies (GWIKS) and President of the Association for Korean Political Studies. GW’s Office of the Vice President for Research awarded her the 2021 Early Career Research Scholar Award.

The Taiwan Education and Research Program was established in 2004 to promote and support both academic and policy-related study and research on the history, international relations, and the contemporary political, economic and social development of Taiwan. The Taiwan Education and Research Program “TERP” operates under the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. The program is co-directed by Liana Chen, Associate Professor of Chinese Language & Literature, and Alexa Alice Joubin, Professor of English, Women’s Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Theatre, East Asian Languages and Literatures, and International Affairs.

Taiwanese Americans: Voices through the Arts A Taiwan Humanities Virtual Symposium

Friday, November 1st, 2024

01:00 PM – 05:30 PM ET

Virtual Event via Zoom

About the event: 

About:

Speakers:

Leona Chen is a Taiwanese American community organizer, writer, and speaker committed to building upon the legacy of Taiwanese American elder-activists and serving the multi-generational Taiwanese diaspora. Her 2017 debut poetry collection, BOOK OF CORD (Tinfish Press), confronts the shaping of Taiwanese identity through state and family narratives. She is the editor-in-chief of TaiwaneseAmerican.org.

Eric Tsai is a producer and digital content lead at TaiwanPlus. He started working at TaiwanPlus when it launched in 2021, and has been contributing to various Taiwan education efforts for over a decade. While at TaiwanPlus, Eric has helped launch Taiwan Explained YouTube channel and TaiwanPlus News Instagram. Eric grew up in Taipei, and went to undergrad in New Jersey. Prior to returning to Taiwan, he was a tech product manager in New York and Boston.

Kaley Emerson started his career as a photographer, and soon transitioned into video production where he found a love for documentary filmmaking. As a documentary filmmaker, he has worked with Discovery Channel, NatGeo, KIA Motors, VOX, VICE MEDIA, and Taiwan Plus. In the commercial space, he has shot and directed campaigns for KIA, NETFLIX, The Walking Dead, Red Bull, ASUS, EVA AIR, Taiwan Tourism, Hawaii Tourism, and Marvel. Additionally, over the years he has directed dozens of music videos for artists, with a majority generating millions of views.

Felicia Liang is an artist and printmaker based in the Bay Area, California. Her colorful work explores her identity and emotions and how the cultures and communities she is around uniquely shape them. She draws to tell stories and establish her place in the world through whimsical food, still life, and cityscape illustrations. She’s known for works celebrating her Taiwanese-American identity and uplifting local Chinatowns in the Bay Area and New York.

Her illustrations have been featured on Tripadvisor, Eater, and the LA Times, and her products have been featured in Refinery 29, Glamour, and New York Magazine. She’s had two solo exhibitions both in New York and San Diego, California and regularly showcases her work at craft markets throughout the year.

Isabelle Engler is a board-certified music therapist specializing in the NICU and pediatrics. Engler has performed at and attended piano festivals in San Francisco, San Diego, New York, Tokyo, Paris, and Italy. Additionally, she’s worked with educators and artists as a collaborative pianist; her most recent works are the Fire Organ and Cymatics Sculpture, produced by Guerilla Science, and Andantino, a chamber music concert series designed for families. Experienced in working with hospitalized children and caregivers, children with autism spectrum disorder, and adults with neurological impairments, Engler desires to use music to serve children and families. Engler resides in Southlake, Texas, with her husband and two daughters.

Christine Lin is the Director of Training & Technical Assistance at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies based at UC Law San Francisco and has taught in the Refugee & Human Rights Clinic. Her research on the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and the advocacy of local autonomy led her to pursue a career in international human rights law advocating for the rights of asylum seekers and refugees. Currently, Christine is researching the role of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in non-Refugee Convention signatory states and examining the protection of asylum seekers in Taiwan.

As a Visiting Scholar at The George Washington University’s Sigur Center for Asian Studies and the U.S.-Taiwan Next Generation Working Group 2023-2025, Christine is examining the coalescing of a Taiwanese American identity and U.S.-Taiwan relations. She previously published on Taiwanese Americans’ political views in the United States and the status of Taiwan.

Previously, Christine served as the Legal Director of Hong Kong Refugee Advice Centre and an Attorney Advisor with the U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review through the Attorney General’s Honors Program. She has taught in refugee legal aid clinics at the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Christine is on the board of the Taiwanese American Professionals – San Francisco.

Jonathan Hsy is Professor of English at George Washington University and Affiliated Faculty in the Sigur Center for Asian Studies and in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. He teaches in the Department of English and the Asian American Studies program with interests in comparative literature, translation, race, and media studies. He is the author of Antiracist Medievalisms: From “Yellow Peril” to Black Lives Matter (2021) and serves on the Executive Board of the Circle for Asian American Literary Studies. Hsy is a founding member of RaceB4Race, an interdisciplinary research network led by scholars of color in Premodern Critical Race Studies, and he has received fellowships from the NEH, Mellon, Institute for Advanced Study, and Huntington Library. His publications on literature, media, and cultural identity have appeared in the Journal of American Ethnic History, PMLA, Literature Compass, and Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies.

Moderators

Alexa Alice Joubin teaches in the English department at George Washington University. She is an affiliated faculty in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and co-founded the GW Digital Humanities Institute. She directed the Dean’s Scholars in Shakespeare (a signature program of GW’s Columbian College of Arts and Sciences). At MIT, she is co-founder and co-director of the open access Global Shakespeares digital performance archive. Her publications can be accessed on ResearchGate.

Her teaching and publications are unified by a commitment to understanding the mobility of early modern and postmodern cultures in their literary, performative, and digital forms of expression. Her research has been funded by the Fulbright, National Endowment for the Humanities, American Council of Learned Societies, Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, International Shakespeare Association, Folger Institute, and other agencies.

Her latest books include Race (co-authored; Routledge New Critical Idiom series), Local and Global Myths in Shakespearean Performance (co-edited; Palgrave), and Shakespeare and the Ethics of Appropriation (co-edited; Palgrave). She is co-general editor of The Shakespearean International Yearbook, and has guest-edited special issues of the journals Shakespeare: Journal of the British Shakespeare Association, Asian Theatre Journal, and Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation. She received the MLA’s Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize, an honorable mention of NYU’s Joe A. Callaway Prize for the Best Book on Drama or Theatre, and the International Convention of Asian Scholars (ICAS) Colleagues’ Choice Award.

She chaired the MLA committee on the New Variorum Edition of Shakespeare and edits the Palgrave-Macmillan book series on “Global Shakespeares”. She has taught at Lincoln College, Oxford, as an early modern studies faculty of the Middlebury College Bread Loaf School of English (a summer graduate program) and in South Korea as distinguished visiting professor at Seoul National University.

In her outreach work, Alexa has testified before congress in a congressional briefing on the humanities and globalization, and been interviewed by BBC 4 (TV), BBC Radio (in D.C., London and Edinburgh), The Economist, Voice of America, Foreign Policy, Index on Censorship, Hay Festival, Edinburgh Festival, and various outlets and podcasts by Oxford University Press, Folger Shakespeare Library, and other journals, news media, and publishers in the U.S., China, Japan, Korea, and Brazil.

At Middlebury College Alexa holds the John M. Kirk, Jr. Chair in Medieval and Renaissance Literature at the Bread Loaf School of English.

Richard J. Haddock is the Assistant Director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at the George Washington University, where he leads the Center’s robust Taiwan affairs programming, outreach, and curriculum development. He is also a member of the UC Berkeley U.S.-Taiwan Next Generation Working Group, where his research focuses on U.S.-Taiwan education diplomacy and exchange. Previously, he has held positions at the GW East Asia National Resource Center, the National Democratic Institute’s Asia team, the American Institute in Taiwan’s Public Diplomacy Section, and the U.S. Department of State. Mr. Haddock is currently pursuing a PhD in Public Policy and Public Administration at The George Washington University, focusing on digital democracy and e-governance development in the Asia-Pacific. He holds an MA in Asian Studies from the Elliott School, with a concentration on domestic politics and foreign policy of East Asia. He graduated from the University of Central Florida with a BA in Political Science and minors in Asian Studies and Diplomacy.

Adrienne Chih-fang Wu is a research associate at the Global Taiwan Institute and the host and producer of Taiwan Salon, GTI’s cultural policy and soft power podcast. With an interest in exploring the intersection of culture and policy, her research focuses on how Taiwan can strengthen international connections through nation branding, cultural diplomacy and a strong civil society. She is also a member of the UC Berkeley U.S.-Taiwan Next Generation Working Group, where she is conducting a research project on the barriers to importing Taiwanese cultural products. Before joining GTI, she graduated from Ritsumeikan University and Kyunghee University with a Dual Master’s Degree in International Relations. She spent seven years living in Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan—including three years of teaching English in Japan and Taiwan and a year of study at Waseda University while pursuing her B.A. in Honors East Asian Studies from McGill University. She also worked at the Presidential Precinct to help facilitate the Mandela Washington Fellowship Program for young African leaders. As a Taiwanese-American, the mission of GTI is close to her heart, and she is excited to be part of an organization committed to better public understanding of Taiwan worldwide. She is a Strait Talk GW ’23 Alumna.

The Taiwan Education and Research Program was established in 2004 to promote and support both academic and policy-related study and research on the history, international relations, and the contemporary political, economic and social development of Taiwan. The Taiwan Education and Research Program “TERP” operates under the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. The program is co-directed by Liana Chen, Associate Professor of Chinese Language & Literature, and Alexa Alice Joubin, Professor of English, Women’s Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Theatre, East Asian Languages and Literatures, and International Affairs.

Tides of Memory, Culture, and Connection: The Taiwan Love Boat

A Film Screening & Conversation with Director Valerie Soe & Prof. Patricia Chu

Wednesday, October 30th, 2024

12:00 PM – 02:00 PM ET

George Washington University Student Center Amphitheater

800 21st St NW, Washington, DC 20052

About the event: 

About:

Speakers:

Valerie Soe is a Professor in the Asian American Studies Department at San Francisco State University. Since 1986 Valerie Soe’s experimental videos, installations, and documentary films have won dozens of awards, grants, and commissions and have exhibited worldwide. Her feature documentary, Love Boat: Taiwan, was released in 2019 and won the Audience Award at the Urban Nomad Film Festival in Taipei, Taiwan, and has played to sold-out festival audiences across North America and in Taiwan. Her short experimental documentary, Radical Care: The Auntie Sewing Squad (2020) won a Director’s Choice Award at the 2021 Thomas Edison Film Festival and the 2021 Best of Bernal Award at Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema. Her writing has been published in books and journals including Countervisions: Asian American Film Criticism; The Palgrave Handbook of Asian Cinema; Amerasia Journal, and Asian Cinema, among others. Soe is the author of the blog beyondasiaphilia.com (recipient of a 2011 Art Writers’ Grant, Creative Capital/Andy Warhol Foundation), which looks at Asian and Asian American art, film, culture, and activism. She is Professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University.

Patricia Chu is a Professor of English and Director of Asian American Studies and Director of Undergraduate Studies at George Washington University. Her main focuses are Asian American and diasporic literature, film, and cultural studies; Women’s writing and autobiography; 20th and 21st century American literature; Victorian literature, especially the English novel; literature of transracial adoption; children’s and young adult literature; fantasy and speculative fiction; postcolonial theory; autobiography theory; psychoanalytic/affect theory.

The Taiwan Education and Research Program was established in 2004 to promote and support both academic and policy-related study and research on the history, international relations, and the contemporary political, economic and social development of Taiwan. The Taiwan Education and Research Program “TERP” operates under the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. The program is co-directed by Liana Chen, Associate Professor of Chinese Language & Literature, and Alexa Alice Joubin, Professor of English, Women’s Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Theatre, East Asian Languages and Literatures, and International Affairs.

Beyond Boba: Taiwan’s Culinary Culture in a Global Context

A Conversation with Clarissa Wei, Tzu-i Chuang Mullinax, and Eileen Chengyin Chow

Friday, October 18th, 2024

Hybrid Event

10 AM – 11:30 AM ET, with a food tasting from 11:30 AM-1:00 PM

Room 505

Elliot School of International Affairs

1957 E Street NW Washington, D.C. 20052

About the event: 

About:

Speakers:

Tzu-i Chuang Mullinax is a Taiwanese American chef and food writer currently based in Washington DC. Having spent the past two decades living across various locations in the US, Taiwan, China, and Indonesia. She is driven to explore similarities and differences across culinary cultures and build bridges to understanding between the English and Chinese-speaking food worlds. She is the author of Anthropologist in the Kitchen (廚房裡的人類學家), a genre-defining food memoir, and several best-selling cookbooks. Her YouTube channel features videos of Western-style cooking presented in Chinese, and Chinese-style cooking presented in English. She is also the host of the award-winning documentary mini-series: The Melting Wok – Chinese Foods American Dream.

Eileen Chengyin Chow is Associate Professor of the Practice in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Director of Graduate Studies in EAS, and also currently Acting Director of the Asian/Pacific Studies Institute at Duke University. Additionally at Duke, Eileen is a founding/core faculty member in the Asian American Diaspora Studies Program, the first such program in the U.S. South; and is the founding director of Duke Story Lab, a humanities lab dedicated to the study of stories and the communities that coalesce around them. Elsewhere, she is Director of the Shewo Institute of Chinese Journalism at Shih Hsin University in Taipei, Taiwan, and serves on the editorial boards of Biographical Literature, the LA Review of Books, Asia Society’s China Books Review, and Third State Books; and with Carlos Rojas, is co-editor of the Sinotheory book series for Duke UP. Eileen’s teaching and research interests include literature, film and visual studies, popular culture (anime/manga, fandoms, media technologies), diaspora studies, and the histories of Chinatowns around the world.

Clarissa Wei is a journalist and cookbook author. Her debut cookbook, Made In Taiwan, is a celebration of the island nation she calls home. It was a finalist for the 2024 James Beard Award for Best International Cookbook and the IACP Julia Child First Book Award. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the New Yorker, and Foreign Policy, among other places. Previously, she was an award-winning senior reporter at Goldthread, a video-centric imprint of the South China Morning Post. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she currently lives in the hills of Taipei with her husband and toddler. Her second cookbook, Sitting The Month, is about postpartum recovery and will be published by Norton in 2026.

The Taiwan Education and Research Program was established in 2004 to promote and support both academic and policy-related study and research on the history, international relations, and the contemporary political, economic and social development of Taiwan. The Taiwan Education and Research Program “TERP” operates under the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. The program is co-directed by Liana Chen, Associate Professor of Chinese Language & Literature, and Alexa Alice Joubin, Professor of English, Women’s Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Theatre, East Asian Languages and Literatures, and International Affairs.

The Sigur Center for Asian Studies and GW Institute for Korean Studies(GWIKS) together received the highly regarded designation of National Resource Center (NRC) for East Asian Studies. The designation — the first time these two centers have received NRC status — enhances the institutes’ ability to engage the broader public community, including students, K-12 educators, HBCUs, policymakers, military veterans, journalists and the general public on regional and global issues of importance. With this award, GW joins a handful of other world-leading universities with this honor, including Stanford, Columbia, and the University of Chicago. Additionally, the Sigur Center and GWIKS have been awarded funding for Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships which support undergraduate and graduate students studying modern foreign languages and related area or international studies.

The Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures (EALL) focuses on teaching and research on the languages and cultures of China, Japan and Korea. We offer undergraduate majors and minors in all three language tracks, as well as a unique master’s program in Chinese. Our internationally published faculty are experts in the languages, culture and literature of East Asian peoples, from ancient civilizations to modern times. In today’s global economy, knowledge of East Asia can provide a crucial stepping stone to careers in academia, business, diplomacy, government, medicine, law and much more.

Saturday, July 27th, 2024

7:30 PM – 10:30 PM ET

Virtual Event via Zoom

About the event: 

Speaker:

Yujen Lien (連育仁 Lian Yuren) is currently the Dean of ViewSonic Academy and an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Chinese Language and Literature at Chung Yuan Christian University (中原大學). He has previously served as an Associate Professor and Director of the Chinese Language Teaching Center at the same university. Due to his work experience, educational background, and interests, Professor Lian is highly familiar with teaching tools, online services, and hardware and software related to the integration of digital technology into international Chinese education. Since 2007, he has lectured on digital Chinese teaching techniques and strategies in over 40 countries and has his own teaching channel and community on the internet. His digital teaching training channel has over 50,000 subscribers, with total views exceeding 6.5 million. These educators continue to discuss and actively integrate emerging technologies into both physical and online classrooms. (YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@lienlaoshi)

The Sigur Center for Asian Studies and GW Institute for Korean Studies (GWIKS) together received the highly regarded designation of National Resource Center (NRC) for East Asian Studies. The designation — the first time these two centers have received NRC status — enhances the institutes’ ability to engage the broader public community, including students, K-12 educators, HBCUs, policymakers, military veterans, journalists and the general public on regional and global issues of importance. With this award, GW joins a handful of other world-leading universities with this honor, including Stanford, Columbia, and the University of Chicago. Additionally, the Sigur Center and GWIKS have been awarded funding for Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships which support undergraduate and graduate students studying modern foreign languages and related area or international studies.

The Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures (EALL) focuses on teaching and research on the languages and cultures of China, Japan and Korea. We offer undergraduate majors and minors in all three language tracks, as well as a unique master’s program in Chinese. Our internationally published faculty are experts in the languages, culture and literature of East Asian peoples, from ancient civilizations to modern times. In today’s global economy, knowledge of East Asia can provide a crucial stepping stone to careers in academia, business, diplomacy, government, medicine, law and much more.

The Taiwan Education and Research Program was established in 2004 to promote and support both academic and policy-related study and research on the history, international relations, and the contemporary political, economic and social development of Taiwan. The Taiwan Education and Research Program operates under the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. The program is directed by Liana Chen, Associate Professor of Chinese Language & Literature, and Alexa Alice Joubin, Professor of English, Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies, Theatre, International Affairs, and East Asian Languages and Literatures.

2024 GW Taiwan Studies Research Fellows Presentation

Thursday, May 2nd, 2024

3:00 PM – 4:30 PM ET

Chung-wen Shih Asian Studies Conference Room Suite 503

1957 E Street NW Washington, DC 20052

Hybrid via Zoom

About

Speakers:

Tappy Lung is from New York and is a senior undergraduate student at the Elliott School of International Affairs. She is double majoring in International Affairs and Political Communication, concentrating on Asian identities, politics, diplomacy, and development. During her TERP Fellowship, Tappy will be surveying the experiences of foreign students in Taiwan to understand the role of academic exchange in Taiwan’s public diplomacy.

Faculty Advisor: Christopher Teal

Research Project: “Taiwan’s Public Diplomacy Through Academic Exchange Programs“

Hong-Lun Tiunn, MPH, is a research associate at Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity and a Health Policy Ph.D. student at the Milken Institute School of Public Health. His research interest focuses on the labor policy issue of healthcare workforces. He is involved in research projects related to international migration of Taiwanese nurses to the US. Before joining GW, he served multiple years as chief of staff for a member of the Taiwanese parliament and helped to establish labor unions for Taiwanese healthcare professionals. He also holds a certification as an occupational hygienist.

Faculty Advisor: Patricia (Polly) Pittman

Research Project: “Addressing Nurse Brain Drain: An Investigation of Taiwanese Nurses’ Migration to the United States”

Simran Dali is a first-year graduate student at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, pursuing an M.A. in Asian Studies with a thematic specialization in Taiwan/China and a professional specialization in Global Gender Policy. Simran holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies from Dickinson College, with a concentration in East Asia. With a background in health studies and an internship at the US-Taiwan Business Council, Simran’s academic journey reflects a commitment to understanding and addressing social, economics, and health issues, particularly in the context of East Asia. Proficient in English, Nepali, Marathi, Hindi, and possessing basic knowledge of French and Mandarin. Simran hopes to bring a multilingual perspective to her research on language barriers impacting the socioeconomic integration of foreign brides in Taiwan.

Faculty Advisor: Kuniko Ashizawa

Research Project: “The Dual Effects of Language Barriers on Economic and Social Integration of Foreign Brides in Taiwan“

Alex Wan is a sophomore undergraduate at the George Washington University majoring in International Affairs and Art History with a concentration in Asia and Contemporary Cultures and Societies. Born in Vancouver, he grew up in Beijing before attending school in Maryland. His interests include collective memory and nationalism in China, and of historic Taiwanese language policy. In his free time, he enjoys swimming, traveling, and skiing. Alex will be collaborating with Aidan Boyle on the research project, “Linguistic Legacies in Taiwan’s Age of Reconciliation”, advised by James Evans.

Faculty Advisor: James Evans

Research Project: “Linguistic Legacies in Taiwan’s Age of Reconciliation”

Aidan Boyle is a sophomore undergraduate student at the George Washington University pursuing a double major in International Affairs with a concentration in Conflict Resolution and Chinese Language and Literature. Born and raised in Taipei, Aidan moved to Washington, DC as a freshman in college to pursue higher education. Aidan will work alongside Alex Wan to research Kuomintang language policies and their effects on voter sentiment in the 2024 Taiwanese presidential election. His interests include modern Taiwanese history, cross-strait relations, and the Taiwanese transitional justice movement. Outside of the classroom, he enjoys lifting weights and playing rugby. Aidan will be collaborating with Alex Wan on the research project, “Linguistic Legacies in Taiwan’s Age of Reconciliation”, advised by James Evans. 

Faculty Advisor: James Evans

Research Project: “Linguistic Legacies in Taiwan’s Age of Reconciliation”

Moderator

Liana Chen is Associate Professor of Chinese and International Affairs at George Washington University. She is the Director of the Taiwan Education and Research Program. Chen is the author of Literati and Actors at Work: The Transformations of Peony Pavilion on Page and On Stage in the Ming and Qing Dynasties (Taipei: National Taiwan University Press, 2013) and Staging for the Emperors: A History of Qing Court Theatre, 1683-1923 (Amherst, New York: Cambria Press, 2021). Liana Chen’s areas of teaching and research focus on Chinese drama and theatre, Chinese literature of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and Taiwanese theatre, literature and film. Liana Chen’s research has been supported by the Foundation for Development of Chinese Culture (Taiwan), The American Council of Learned Societies, and Sigur Center for Asian Studies.

Examining Refugee Protection in Non-Signatories to the Refugee Convention & Protocol:
Lessons Learned for the Taiwan Context

Thursday, April  25, 2024

12:30 PM – 2:00 PM ET

Online Event via Zoom

About

Speaker

Christine Lin is the Director of Training & Technical Assistance at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies based at UC Law San Francisco and has taught in the Refugee & Human Rights Clinic. Her research on the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and the advocacy of local autonomy led her to pursue a career in international human rights law advocating for the rights of asylum seekers and refugees. Currently, Christine is researching the role of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in non-Refugee Convention signatory states and examining the protection of asylum seekers in Taiwan.

As a Visiting Scholar at The George Washington University’s Sigur Center for Asian Studies and the U.S.-Taiwan Next Generation Working Group 2023-2025, Christine is examining the coalescing of a Taiwanese American identity and U.S.-Taiwan relations. She previously published on Taiwanese Americans’ political views in the United States and the status of Taiwan.

Previously, Christine served as the Legal Director of Hong Kong Refugee Advice Centre and an Attorney Advisor with the U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review through the Attorney General’s Honors Program. She has taught in refugee legal aid clinics at the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Christine is on the board of the Taiwanese American Professionals – San Francisco.