Upcoming Events

02-13-2026 The Once and Future World Order: Why Global Civilization will Survive the Decline of the West with Amitav Acharya

Friday, February 13, 12:30 PM - 2 PM
121 Bay State Road, Boston MA

Please register here.

Join us at the Pardee School of Global Studies on Friday, February 13, for a book talk by Amitav Acharya, UNESCO Chair in Transnational Challenges and Governance and Distinguished Professor at the School of International Service, American University. Moderated by Min Ye, Professor of International Relations & Interim Director, Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, Boston University.

In his book, The Once and Future World Order: Why Global Civilization Will Survive the Decline of the West, Prof. Acharya shows how the West has never had a monopoly on order and that its decline could be a good thing for the world.

Surveying five thousand years of global history, Acharya reveals that world order existed long before the rise of the West. Moving from ancient Sumer, India, Greece, and Mesoamerica, through medieval caliphates and Eurasian empires into the present, he shows that humanitarian values, economic interdependence, and rules of inter-state conduct emerged across the globe over millennia. History suggests order will endure even as the West retreats. In fact, the end of Western dominance offers us the opportunity to build a better world, where non-Western nations find more voice, power, and prosperity. Instead of fearing the future, Acharya argues that the West should learn from history and cooperate with the Rest to forge a more equitable order.  

Read more here.

02-19-2026 Ten Weeks by Ship Along the China Coast with Grant Rhode

Thursday, February 19, 4 PM - 5:30 PM
121 Bay State Road, Boston MA

Please register here.

Grant Rhode, BU maritime historian and China analyst, will share his experiences while lecturing along the China coast, visiting ten of the world's largest ports. He will also discuss his research agenda at Beijing Language and Culture University from 2026 to 2028.

Grant Rhode teaches and researches at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University where he is Senior Fellow in the International History Institute and Research Affiliate of the Center for the Study of Asia. He is also Associate in Research at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University. Concurrently, he is Wutong Chair Professor at the College of Sinology and China Studies of Beijing Language and Culture University, responsible for teaching and research in China during fall semesters 2025-2028. He was formerly Adjunct Professor at the U.S. Naval War College and Visiting Scholar at the National Taiwan University.

Dr. Rhode’s current research focuses on China’s role in contemporary and historical Eurasian maritime affairs. On the contemporary front, his forthcoming book with Pardee School co-editors is Investigating the Belt and Road: The World According to China and China According to the World (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2026). Since 2019, he has directed Boston University’s program Assessing China’s Belt and Road Initiative. On the historical front, his recent book is Great Power Clashes Along the Maritime Silk Road: Lessons from History to Shape Current Strategy (Annapolis: U.S. Naval Institute Press, 2023). Other recent publications include “Shi Lang’s Amphibious Conquest of Taiwan in 1683” (2024), “Tasting Gall: Chiang Kai-Shek and China’s War with Japan” (2022), “China’s Emergence as a Power in the Mediterranean: Port Diplomacy and Active Engagement” (2021), “China, Global History, and the Sea” (2020), “Mongol Invasions of Northeast Asia: Korea and Japan” (2020), and “By Land and By Sea: China’s Belt and Road in Europe” (2019).

In addition to his academic career, Dr. Rhode had a career in business entrepreneurship in which he was founder and CEO of three firms in the construction industry. As a public lecturer, he is Viking Resident Historian aboard Viking Ocean Cruise ships in the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Coral, and China Seas.

Recent teaching at the Pardee School:

Diplomacy & Statecraft
The Sea in International Relations
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific Region

04-01-2026 Converging Voices: How Faith Nourished Taiwanese Music—From Sacred to Secular with Kuan Yun Huang & Chen Lin Ma

Wednesday, April 1
5 PM - 6:30 PM
225 Bay State Road, Boston (The Castle)

Open and free to the public with limited seats.
Please register here.

Kuan Yun Huang is a Taiwan Fulbright Grantee, violinist, and researcher whose work focuses on one-string instruments and world music, with particular interests in Taiwanese Indigenous music and Vietnamese musical traditions. Trained in Western classical music, he engages in cross-cultural performance, research, and education that explore how sound, history, and identity intersect. His work bridges academic inquiry and artistic practice through performance, fieldwork, and international collaboration.

04-16-2026 The Migration Workshop, Author-Meets-Critics Book Panel with Prema A. Kurien

Thursday, April 16
5 PM - 6:30 PM
121 Bay State Road, Boston MA

Join us for a discussion with Prema Kurien, author of Claiming Citizenship: Race, Religion, and Political Mobilization Among New Americans
(Oxford University Press 2025)

Panelists:
Prema Kurien, Syracuse University
Jyoti Puri, Boston University
Natasha Warikoo, Tufts University
Peggy Levitt, Wellesley College

Moderator:
Nazli Kibria, Boston University