Oscar Lee Symposium of Undergraduate East Asian Studies
The Oscar Lee Symposium of Undergraduate East Asian Studies was created by Columbia undergraduates to facilitate the study and interdisciplinary discussion of East and Southeast Asia. It is an annual conference first held in April 2008. It is named for Oscar Lee.
Mission Statement
The Oscar Lee Symposium of Undergraduate East Asian Studies is a half-day conference featuring original undergraduate research on East Asia. The primary goals of the Oscar Lee Symposium are as follows:
(1) to provide undergraduate researchers of East Asia a forum for discussion of their research findings and to receive constructive criticism
(2) to educate the greater Columbia community about historical and contemporary topics related to East Asia
(3) to create a community of young scholars studying topics pertaining to East Asia.
2008 Program
1:00 PM Introductory Remarks:
- Oscar Lee Symposium Representatives
- Mr. Norman Hanson, Symposium Sponsor
- Professor David Lurie, Director of Undergraduate Studies, EALAC Department
- Professor Myron Cohen, Director of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute
1:15 PM Youth & Sex in China: Literary and Cultural Perspectives
- Sam Ashworth, “Bad Fiction”
- Katherine Atwill, “Acting on the Illusion: Living and Dying in the Story of the Stone”
- Tedde Tsang, “The Choosy Sex: The Ideal Mate Selection Criteria of Urban Chinese Youth and the Female Penchant for Rationality”
2:10 PM Facing the Challenges of Development in East Asia
- Geoffrey Aung, “‘Now We Have a Lightbulb’: The Millennium Road and Development Discourse in Modern Mongolia”
- Pin-Quan Ng, “Transforming Corporate Japan for the Challenges of Global Capitalism”
- Andrew Scheineson,”From Laws to Levees: Methods of Water Control in the Qing Dynasty”
- Diana Xiaojie Zhou, “The Cycle of Inequality, Poverty and HIV/AIDS in Rural China”
3:20 PM Negotiating Minority Identities in Language and Film
- Benjamin Shaffer, “‘Happy Dancing Natives’: Minority Film, Han Nationalism, and Collective Memory”
- Grace Zhou, “Language Attitudes of Central Guizhou’s Gelao Population”
3:55 PM Closing Remarks:
- Oscar Lee Symposium Representative
2008 Symposium Videos
Introductory Remarks and "Young & Sexy in China: Literary and Cultural Perspectives"
"Facing the Challenges of Development in East Asia"
"Negotiating Minority Identities in Language and Film"
Affiliation
The Symposium is supported by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and the EALAC department. It is also closely linked to the Columbia East Asia Review.
