2023-2024 Inner Asian and Altaic Studies Lecture Series
Previous IAAS Lectures
IAAS Lectures Series Academic Year 2022-2023
Fall 2022 Semester
IAAS Lectures will be hybrid events held on Wednesdays at 1:15 - 2:30 pm ET, unless otherwise noted. Lectures are open to the Harvard community and the general public.
IAAS Lectures Series Academic Year 2021-2022
2021-22 Virtual IAAS Lecture Series
IAAS LECTURES FALL 2021
2021-22 Virtual IAAS Lecture Series
Fall 2021 Semester
October 6, 2021 at 1:15 pm EST
Pests, Keystone Species and Hungry Ghosts: The Gesar Epic and Human - Pika Relations on the Tibetan Plateau Abstract
Prof. Emily Yeh, University of Colorado Boulder
November 3, 2021 at 1:15pm EST
Politics and Literature in Mongolia 1921-1948 Abstract
Dr. Simon Wickhamsmith, Rutgers University
December 1, 2021 at 1:15pm EST
Reincarnations of Power Amongst the Mongols: From Möngke Tengri to the Śiditü Lama Abstract
Prof. Sangseraima Ujeed, University of Michigan
Spring Semester 2022
February 2, 2022 at 1:15pm EST (Zoom Registration Here)
The Transcultural Features of Mongolia’s Buddhist Manuscripts and Xylographs Abstract
Prof. Vesna Wallace, University of California, Santa Barbara
February 16, 2022 at 1:15pm EST (Zoom Registration Here)
Ethnic, Linguistic, and Religious Diversity in Afghanistan, in Historical Perspective Abstract
Prof. Deborah Klimburg-Salter, Emerita, University of Vienna, and Associate, South Asian Studies, Harvard University
March 2, 2022 at 1:15pm EST (Zoom Registration Here)
Deer Stone, Khirigsuur Culture: First Emergence of Inner Asian Nomadic Empires Abstract
Dr. Bayarsaikhan Jamsranjav, National Museum of Mongolia
April 6, 2022 at 1:15pm EST This is a hybrid event~ (Zoom Registration Here)
In person, CGIS-S250, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge MA (Masks are required.)
This Time It Will Be Different: State Discourse and Native Response in Xinjiang, 1934-1957 Abstract
Dr. Joshua Freeman, Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer, Princeton UNiversity
IAAS Lecture Series Academic Year 2020-2021
Previous Events, Spring 2021 virtual IAAS Lectures:
Fall 2020 virtual IAAS Lectures:
October 7, 2020, at 1:15 PM ET
IAAS Lecture Series Academic Year 2019-2020
Spring 2020 IAAS Lectures:
Fall 2019 IAAS Lectures:
The Green-Eyed Lama (Ногоон нуден лам): Reflections on her best-selling novel and Mongolia's recent history Description Oyungerel Tsedevdamba, former Member of the Mongolian Parliament and former Minister of Sports, Culture and Tourism October 16, 2019, 1:15 pm Dangling Threads to Examine the Channels: Tales of Pulse Diagnosis in Tibetan and Chinese Literature Abstract William McGrath, Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Manhattan College November 6, 2019, 1:15 pm Why Pots (Don't) Matter: Complexity in Bronze Age Eurasia Abstract Paula Dupuy, Assistant Professor of Anthropoogy, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan December 4, 2019, 1:15 pm Postponed until 2020-21 Lecture Series: The Circulation of Medicine and Notions of Healing in Early 20th Century Chinese Turkestan via Network Analysis Abstract Arienne Dwyer, Professor of Linguistic Anthropology, University of Kansas Date to be announced
IAAS Lecture Series Academic Year 2018-2019
IAAS Lectures in 2018-19 Series:
October 3, 2018, 1:15 pm Wisdom of Royal Glory(Kutadgu Bilig) and the Persian Connection: The Sources of a Turko-Islamic Mirror for Princes Prof. Robert Dankoff, University of ChicagoTuesday, October 9, 2018,4:00 pm Recent Developments in Xinjiang Dr. Adrian Zenz, European School of Culture and Theology Moderated by Prof. Mark Elliott, Harvard University Co-sponsored by the Fairbank Center, the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program, and the East Asian Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School.
November 7, 2018, 1:15 pm Precious Pills and the Politics of Tibetan Learning in Qing China Prof. Stacey Van Vleet,Indiana University, and Harvard EALC Fellow 2018-19 December 5, 2018, 5:00 pm Joseph Fletcher Memorial Lecture From Turco-Mongolian Dual Kingship to Power Sharing: Questions of Theory and Practice Prof. İsenbike Togan (AM' 69, PhD '73), Boğaziçi University, Turkey February 6, 2019, 1:15 pm Looting and Climate Change Threaten Mongolia's Achaeology and Cultural Heritage Dr. Julia Clark, NOMAD Science; and American Center for Mongolian Studies, Ulaanbaatar Abstract and speaker bio here
February 20, 2019, 1:15 pm Marks of Faith: Observation on Christian Iconography of the Sogdian Coins Dr. Barakatullo Ashurov, Visiting Scholar in NELC, Harvard University
March 6, 2019, 1:15 pm From Warriors to Violence: Gender Based Violence in Mongolia Mrs. Bayartsetseg Jigmiddash (LLM '08) Fellow, Yale University; Former Secretary of State for the Ministry of Justice, Mongolia (2012-2016). Speaker bio. April 3, 2019, 1:15 pm A Colonial Muslim History of Qing Central Asia: Revisiting Sayrāmī'sTārīkh-i Ḥamīdī Prof. Eric Schluessel (PhD '16), University of Montana Abstract and speaker bio here
IAAS Lecture Series Academic Year 2017-2018
2017-2018 IAAS Lecture Series
Lectures are held on Wednesdays at 1:00 pm
October 4, 2017 Prof. Robert Mayer, Oxford University Rethinking the Tibetan Treasure Tradition 1730 Cambridge Street, CGIS South Building, Room S153November 1, 2017 Dr. Berthe Jansen, Leiden University The Legal Role of the Monastery in Pre-modern Tibet 1730 Cambridge Street, CGIS South Building, Room S153 December 6, 2017 Prof. Christopher Atwood, University of Pennsylvania The Manuscript Mong. 75 and Mongolian Apocalyptic Writings in the Fourteenth Century Crisis 1730 Cambridge Street, CGIS South Building, Room S250 January 31, 2018 Prof. Kirill SoloninRenmin University of China How Tanguts Understood Themselves: Evidence from Native Texts 1730 Cambridge Street, CGIS South Building, Room S250
February 7, 2018 Prof. Beatrice Manz, Tufts University Tribes, Armies and Empires: Reflections on the Social Morphology of Pastoral Nomads 1730 Cambridge Street, CGIS South Building, Room S250 March 7, 2018 Prof. Imre Hamar, Eötvös LorándUniversity The Influence of the Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra in Central Asia 1730 Cambridge Street, CGIS South Building, Room S250 Co-sponsored with the Department of South Asian Studies April 4, 2018 Prof. Tansen Sen, NYU Shanghai The Mongols and the Changing Patterns of Indian Ocean Interactions 1730 Cambridge Street, CGIS South Building, Room S250
April 18, 2018 Prof. Minoru Inaba, University of Kyoto Did the Hindu Kush Really Kill Indians? Geography and Historical Routes Across Afghanistan 1730 Cambridge Street, CGIS South Building, Room S250
IAAS Co-sponsored Events
IAAS Co-Sponsored Events 2022-23
IAAS Co-Sponsored Events 2020-21
IAAS Co-sponsored Events 2019-20
Exhibit: Elegy To A Uyghur Dreamscape
Photography exhibition depicting everyday life in Xinjiang, China’s westernmost region. The photographs, taken by Lisa Ross, depict beds and their occupants outside in the open air. Sleeping outdoors is a traditional means to keep cool in the hot desert climate for many Uyghurs, Xinjiang’s Muslim-majority ethnic group. This way of life, however, is rapidly disappearing under the Chinese government’s mass detentions of many of the region’s residents.
Read the Fairbank Center’s introduction to the exhibition, accompanied by translations in Uyghur and Chinese.
The exhibit is co-sponsored by the Harvard University Committee on Inner Asian and Altaic Studies, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, and the Harvard Asia Center Arts Initiative; with support from the Provostial Fund Committee, Office of the Dean of Arts and Humanities
February 25 - March 29, 2020, CGIS South Building Concourse, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge MA.
View the exhibit online on the Harvard Asia Center website
A discussion with Sophie Richardson, China Director at Human Rights Watch, and Rayhan Asat (HLS LLM ’16) international lawyer. Moderated by Professor William Alford, Director of East Asian Legal Studies at Harvard Law School.
Hosted by Harvard Law School Advocates for Human Rights, East Asian Legal Studies at HLS, and the Program of Law and Society in the Muslim World.
Co-sponsored by the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, the Harvard Committee on Inner Asian and Altaic Studies, and the Harvard Muslim Law Students Association.
Monday, March 9, 2020, 12pm to 1pm Harvard Law School, WCC 2009 Classroom
Read a summary of the March 9 discussion written by the Human Rights Program at HLS
IAAS Co-sponsored Events 2018-19
Exhibit: Three Uyghur Poets
February 14 - March 29, 2019
An exhibit of work by three contemporary Uyghur poets, with translations by Ph.D. Candidate Joshua Freeman, Committee on Inner Asian and Altaic Studies.
On display in the Asian Centers' Lounge, CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge from February 14 - March 29, 2019.
Co-sponsored by the Committee on Inner Asian and Altaic Studies, the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, and the Harvard University Asia Center.
IAAS Co-sponsored Events 2016-17
Co-Sponsored Talk:
"The historical geographic background of the Silk Road"
Prof. Ge Jianxiong, Institute of Historical Geography, Fudan University
November 21, 2016 5-6 pm, Fong Auditorium, Boylston Hall 110
Co-sponsored by the Committee on Inner Asian and Altaic Studies and the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies
Film screening:
"The Eagle Huntress" by Otto Bell
Film screening co-sponsored by the Inner Asian and Altaic Studies Lecture Series and the Harvard Art Museums
March 23, 2017 6:00 pm, Harvard Art Museums, 0505 - Menschel Hall
IAAS Co-sponsored Events 2014-15
Film screening: "The Land of Many Palaces"
Film screening followed by discussion with directors Adam Smith and Song Ting.
Inner Asian and Altaic Studies Lecture Series co-sponsored with the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies
January 30, 2015 7:30pm
CGIS Belfer Case Study Room (S020), South Building 1730 Cambridge Street
IAAS Co-sponsored Events 2012-13
Dr. Ablet Kamalov, Turan University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
March 26, 2013, 4-5pm CGIS Knafel North Building, Room K262, 1737 Cambridge Street
Inner Asian and Altaic Studies Lecture Series event co-sponsored by the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program, the Harvard University Asia Center, and the Davis Center for Eurasian and Russian Studies