Current News
Let’s learn/continue to learn Japanese at BU over the summer!
The BU Japanese Program offers LJ111 and LJ211 (Japanese 3) for the Summer Term I (May 20th – June 27th) and LJ112 for the Summer Term II (June 30th ~ August 8th).
There are some advantages to taking Japanese courses in the Summer Term:
- Since your schedule will be relaxed compared to the fall/spring semester, you can devote your time and energy to learning Japanese.
- Class sizes are small, so you can receive more individual attention from instructors in a relaxed atmosphere.
- There are no ‘Asynchronous Tuesdays’ during the Summer Term, so there will be less homework and more in-person practice.
- You don’t have to worry about retaining all summer what you have learned this semester.
- If you are taking Japanese courses for your requirements, you will need to take fewer classes (es) during the academic year.
- (If you are age 58 and up, you can audit these courses through the BU Evergreen Program (https://cpe.bu.edu/evergreen/) at a reasonable cost.)
Summer courses are fun! Join us!
Asian Pacific Fund
2025 Hsiao Memorial Social Sciences Scholarship
Deadline: Friday, May 2, 2025 by 11:59PM.
The Hsiao Memorial Social Sciences Scholarship was established in honor of Dr. Katharine and Dr. Liang-Lin Hsiao to support graduate students of Asian descent who are facing financial need. Dr. Katharine and Dr. Liang-Lin Hsiao, both former professors of economics at Indiana State University, dedicated the majority of their professional lives in academia.
As young graduate students from China, they struggled to obtain their education amid financial uncertainty. Despite these obstacles, they earned their PhDs from Columbia University and New York University, respectively. They devoted their entire careers to the academic field and committed to giving back to those in need, including lecturing in China upon their retirements to educate the post-Mao era of economists now leading the country.
Award Information
One recipient will be selected and awarded a one-time $1,000 scholarship.
Henry Lucy Foundation
The Luce Scholars Program
Deadline: September 15, 2025
(The online application portal is now open.)
“A Different Approach to Cultivating Global Leaders
Established in 1974, the Luce Scholars Program is a competitive leadership development fellowship that provides emerging leaders with immersive professional experiences in Asia. In partnership with The Asia Foundation, which has offices in each of the countries and regions where we place our Scholars, we aim to strengthen relationships across borders by offering Scholars opportunities to deepen their understanding of Asia’s countries, cultures, and people. Through this yearlong immersion, the Program equips scholars with knowledge and skills to address global leadership challenges and build a more interconnected world.” (From https://lucescholars.org/about-the-program/)
Please go to their website for more information.
The Infosys Prize endeavors to elevate the prestige of science and research in India and inspire young Indians to choose a vocation in research.
The award is given annually to honor outstanding achievements of contemporary researchers and scientists across six Prize Categories – Economics, Engineering & Computer Science, Humanities & Social Sciences, Life Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, and Physical Sciences.
Each prize carries a prize of a gold medal, a citation and a purse of USD 100,000 (or its equivalent in Rupees). The prize purse is tax free in the hands of winners in India.
For more information, please visit the website or email Serene Kasim at serene_kasim@infosys.com.
Watch video of Author & Translator Event: Kaori Fujino & Kendall Heitzman
Watch the video below from the Boston University event on April 22, filmed inside the Boston University Riverside Room, for a sense of the tour.
Afro-Asian Diaspora and the Eaton Sisters at the Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library
Who Are the Eaton Sisters?
Edith and Winnifred Eaton—or the “Eaton Sisters”—were born in the late nineteenth century to Chinese and English parents. In their writing, which transcended genres including poetry, short stories, journalistic articles, and travel nonfiction, the Eaton Sisters faced marginalization due to their mixed ethnic identities. Today, however, they are widely known as foundational figures in Asian American Studies, and their papers and writings are held made publicly available through institutions like the New York Public Library and the Winnifred Eaton Archive.
Though the Eaton sisters worked primarily in Western Chinatowns and Japan, their writing traverses and crosses into various spaces. In particular, their time in Jamaica and exposure to Blackness while there informed how they understood and performed their own ethnic identities—an understanding that is reflected in their later works. This essay provides a glimpse into their diasporic travel, publishing works, and textual networks in Jamaica, which have not been given much focus to date.
(From the Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library. Please see their website for the rest of the web publication.)
Human Rights Activist and Music Educator André de Quadros Recognized for Career Dedicated to Justice and the Arts
Chorus America has honored the BU music professor for his years teaching music to marginalized people and communities. Read JESSICA COLAROSSI's article and interview in the BU Brink
Now Open for Applications: Striving for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Asian Studies Grants (Association for Asian Studies)
The Association for Asian Studies has received a $1 million grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). This grant is awarded through the NEH’s Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan (SHARP) program, which supports humanities organizations, programs, and professionals at the local level, advancing economic recovery within a cultural sector devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our project, “Striving for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Asian Studies: Humanities Grants for Asian Studies Scholars,” will enable the AAS to make approximately 30 individual awards to provide relief from the coronavirus pandemic to Asian Studies professionals to conduct humanities research, teaching development, and multimedia projects. These constituents include... More
Call for submissions to the Georgetown Journal of Asian Affairs (submission deadline Jan. 31, 2022 for next issue)
Greetings from Georgetown to Boston University! We are the editorial board of the Georgetown Journal of Asian Affairs, an open-access peer reviewed journal and the flagship publication of the Asian Studies Program at Georgetown University. We are reaching out to you because the Georgetown Journal of Asian Affairs is currently accepting research manuscripts from students and scholars for Volume 8 (Spring 2022). We believe this is a great and unique opportunity for your students and would appreciate it if you could share our call for papers announcement with your department. We are very grateful that you shared our call for papers... More
Looking Close at the Fragile Beauty of Chinese Painting (Met Museum of Art, NY)
Some 60 celebrated landscapes are part of a rehang at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Don’t pass them by: They are demanding to the eye and mind alike. by Holland Carter https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/07/arts/design/chinese-painting-met-museum.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/07/arts/design/chinese-painting-met-museum.html
China Historical Christian Database Project wins NEH Digital Humanities Grant
The BU Center for Global Christianity and Mission (CGCM) was recently awarded a Digital Humanities Advancement grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for their project “China Historical Christian Database: Mapping the Spatial and Social Networks of Christianity in China, 1550-1950.” This peer-reviewed grant is one of only 20 Digital Humanities Advancement grants awarded nationally by the Endowment, which support “the implementation of innovative digital humanities projects that have successfully completed a start-up phase and demonstrated their value to the field.” The China Historical Christian Database (CHCD) quantifies and visualizes the spatial and social networks among Christians in modern China. Because Christian missions were the first to... More
Congratulations to Chris Su (COM) on winning the new East Asia Studies Career Development Professorship
In her announcement to the BU community on Sept. 20, 2021, Provost Jean Morrison announced the new 2021-2022 Career Development Professorship Awardees. We are delighted that Christopher Chao Su (Assistant Professor of Emerging Media Studies, College of Communication) has been awarded the East Asia Studies Career Development Professorship. The East Asia Studies Career Development Professorship, supported by a BU alumnus based in Taiwan, recognizes assistant professors in the College of Arts & Sciences, the Pardee School of Global Studies, the College of Communication, the College of Fine Arts, and the Questrom School of Business whose research is specific to East Asia, particularly... More
Luce/ACLS Program for China Studies: Now accepting applications for Early Career Fellowships in China Studies (Application deadline: Nov 1, 2021)
The Henry Luce Foundation/ACLS Early Career Fellowships in China Studies Now Accepting Applications For the 2021-22 Fellowship Competition The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) invites scholars seeking funds for research and writing to apply for the Henry Luce/ACLS Early Career Fellowships in China Studies. In cooperation with the Henry Luce Foundation, ACLS has embarked on a three-year bridging initiative to reassess and reconfigure the Luce/ACLS Program in China Studies. We will convene scholars at all ranks, higher education leaders, journalists, and other readers of research and writing on China to re-imagine and transform our program to meet the needs of China studies in... More
“South Asian Nationalisms” is the focus of the latest issue of Asian Ethnology
The editors of Asian Ethnology, Benjamin Dorman (Nanzan University) and Frank J. Korom (Boston University), are pleased to announce the publication of the latest issue of the journal which features essays focusing on aspects of nationalism in South Asia. Details and links to the articles can be found at https://asianethnology.org/volumes/145 ASIAN ETHNOLOGY 80 (1) Editors’ Note (80-1) Benjamin Dorman, Frank J. Korom Guest Editors’ Introduction : South Asian Nationalisms Frank J. Korom, Jan Magnusson What Transcends the Nation? Peter van der Veer A Specter Is Haunting Pakistan! : Nationalism in Pakistan’s Horror Pulp Fiction Jürgen Schaflechner Jellyfishing in the Postcolonial Nation State : Baltistan through the Zomia Lens Jan Magnusson Holy Cows... More
Chaya Bhuvaneswar (BUCSA Affiliated Fellow) publishes guest essay in the New York Times
"As a Doctor, I’ve Worked Tirelessly Through the Pandemic. That Hasn’t Stopped the Hate" Read the full essay by Dr. Chaya Bhuvaneswar in the New York Times, May 24, 2021
New book by April Hughes (REL), Worldly Saviors and Imperial Authority in Medieval Chinese Buddhism
We are pleased to draw your attention to Prof. April Hughes' new book, Worldly Saviors and Imperial Authority in Medieval Chinese Buddhism, published this month by the University of Hawaii Press. Congratulations April! About the Book: (from the publisher) Although scholars have long assumed that early Chinese political authority was rooted in Confucianism, rulership in the medieval period was not bound by a single dominant tradition. To acquire power, emperors deployed objects and figures derived from a range of traditions imbued with religious and political significance. Author April D. Hughes demonstrates how dynastic founders like Wu Zhao (Wu Zetian, r. 690–705), the... More