Spotlight All

Fall 2026 Asia-Related Courses

Elizabeth Williams — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 14:40:00 +0000

Fall 2026 Asia-Related Courses Elizabeth Williams Fri, 04/03/2026 - 08:40

ASIA 2000 Gateway to Modern Asia

2 sections - T/Th 9:30-10:45 (honors) & 11:00-12:15pm
Lauren Collins (collinlk@colorado.edu)

Introduces main themes, intellectual approaches used in Asian Studies through a transdisciplinary perspective that focuses on interactions and links between geographic regions and national boundaries. Presents Asia as a concept, a powerful imaginary geography, and historically dynamic construct that has shaped/been shaped by global patterns of economic development, nation building, war and diplomacy, colonialism and aspirations for better lives.

ASIA/RLST 3300 Foundations of Buddhism

T/Th 2-3:15
Dan Hirshberg (dan.hirshberg@colorado.edu)

Traces the development of Buddhism in India before introducing its subsequent preservation and interpretation in Tibet. Foremost relies on many of the most celebrated Buddhist scriptures to introduce its diverse doctrines, practices, ethics, objectives, and their evolution over the history of Buddhisms. In addition to lectures, group discussions, and ample time for Q&A, classes rely on contemplative and interactive exercises to reflect on core content and delve into its relationship to human experience.

ASIA 4200 Memory Politics in Asia

T/Th 2:00-3:15
Lauren Collins (collinlk@colorado.edu)

Explores how memory and heritage shape contemporary politics in Asia. Examines how the past—historical events, heritage sites, and shared memories—continues to influence nationalist movements, diplomatic disputes, grassroots activism, nostalgic tourism, and popular media. Pays particular attention to the legacies of colonialism and conflict, highlighting how communities seek justice and reconciliation in the wake of historical trauma. Engages a wide range of materials, including films, graphic novels, public art, photography, museums, monuments, and archaeological sites.

ASIA 4650 Art and Science of Meditation

T/Th 9:30am and 11am (2 sections)
Dan Hirshberg (dan.hirshberg@colorado.edu)

Broadly interdisciplinary and skill-based, this course offers an in-depth theoretical, practical, and experiential exploration of meditation informed by cutting-edge scientific studies. Students read traditional contemplative masterworks in translation, survey current neuroscientific and psychological research on meditation, and employ critical subjectivity in the application of evidence-based meditation techniques.

ANTH 4525 Globalization and Islams

T/Th 11am-12:15pm
Carla Jones (carla.jones@colorado.edu)

Examines the historical formation of Islam in Indonesia and Southeast Asia so as to situate contemporary Islamic practices in a global context.

ARTH 3919 Art and Climate Justice in Southeast Asia

T/TH 12:30-1:45 pm
Brianne Cohen (brianne.cohen@colorado.edu)

This course investigates ecologically engaged contemporary artwork and visual culture in Southeast Asia, a region often understudied or neglected with relation to the Anthropocene. Through an interdisciplinary lens, the course will analyze a boom in recent artworks that address cascading effects of socio-environmental violence and the climate crisis in Southeast Asia from the 19th to the 21st centuries.

CHIN 1012 Introduction to Chinese Civilization

MWF 12:20-1:10 + 1 recitation T/W AM
Katherine Alexander (katherine.alexander@colorado.edu)

Introduction to Chinese Civilization covers Chinese history, philosophy, and literature from the ancient period to the present day. Students encounter firsthand voices from the past by reading a wide variety of short primary sources, which serve as case studies for broader narratives of Chinese cultural changes and continuities across time.

CHIN 4041 Introduction to Classical Chinese

MWF 11:15 am – 12:05 pm
Matthias L. Richter (mlr@colorado.edu)

Develops basic competence in the Classical Chinese, the language of early Chinese philosophical texts, such as Laozi and the Analects of Confucius. Classical Chinese forms the basis for the literary language used in China until the early 20th century.

CHIN 4391 Health and Wellbeing in Chinese Literature and Culture

11:00 a.m.–12:15 p.m.
Antje Richter (antje.richter@colorado.edu)

Questions we will discuss in this course are “what does it mean to be in good health?”, “how do societies judge illness and disability?”, “how do individuals deal with being sick and impaired?”, “how to achieve health and wellbeing?”, “how to write about one’s own health and illness or that of others?” To answer these questions, we will turn to Chinese medical, cultural, and literary history.

HIST 1628 Introduction to Modern Chinese History

M/W/F 2:30 - 3:20pm
Tim Weston (weston@colorado.edu)

Introduces students to modern Chinese history and culture, from the 17th century to the present. Considers the pertinent aspects of modern China, focusing on its social patterns, economic structure, intellectual trends and political developments.

HIST 2718 Japanese History through Cinema

M/W/F 12:20-1:10pm
Marcia Yonemoto (Yonemoto@colorado.edu)

Explores Japan’s modern history through the medium of film. All films by Japanese directors, subtitled in English, in a variety of genres from drama to comedy/satire to anime and horror.

HIST 4638 Contemporary China: Radicalism and Revolution, 1949 to the Present

M/W/F 10:10 - 11:00am
Tim Weston (weston@colorado.edu)

Examines the dramatic, often tragic, and globally transformative history of China under the Chinese Communist Party. Focuses on such topics as political, social, and cultural revolution, nationalism, Maoism, the Great Leap Forward, Red Guards and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, the Deng Xiaoping era, relations with Taiwan, the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre, and China's rise as a world power.

RLST 1620 Religious Dimensions of Human Experience

MWF 1:25pm-2:15pm
Aun Hasan Ali (aun.ali@colorado.edu)

Surveys different approaches to the study of religion. Students will grow familiar with key thinkers, texts, and movements that shape how we understand religious phenomena. Students will also examine critiques of how religion is studied. In the end, students will have gained insight into significant aspects of religious life, belief, and practice that will empower them to navigate a world in which religion is increasingly relevant.

RLST 2202 Islam

MWF 10:10-11:00
Aun Hasan Ali (aun.ali@colorado.edu)

Introduces students to foundational Islamic concepts, texts, core practices, historical narratives and intellectual, spiritual and literary traditions. Topics covered include: the figure of Muhammad; the Quran; the emergence of distinct Muslim identities; Hadith; Sharia; Islamic theology; Islamic philosophy; science in Islamic civilization; Islamic mysticism; the impact of colonialism and modernity on the Muslim world; gender and sexuality; and political Islam.

RLST 3750 Women in Buddhism

T/TH 11-12:15
Holly Gayley (gayley@colorado.edu)

This course explores diverse representations of the female in Buddhist literature as well as the social realities of actual women in different historical contexts. Through case studies that traverse Asia, we delve into the life stories of Buddhist women, monastic views of gender and the female body, idealized images of the feminine, philosophical discussions of gender, and contemporary issues such as the nun's revival moment.

RLST 4250 Buddhist Ethics

T 3:30-6
Holly Gayley (gayley@colorado.edu)

This seminar explores Buddhist ethics and the workings of karma in doctrinal and narrative texts. We begin by examining classical sources for Buddhist ethics in scriptures and commentarial literature. With this foundation, we spend the bulk of the semester looking at how Buddhist stories in South Asia portrays ethical ideals as well as conflicting moral imperatives.

SUMMER 2026 Courses:

ASIA 1000 Origins of Contemporary Southeast Asia

2 sections - Maymester - Meets Online
Augmester - Meets Online
Shae Frydenlund (shfr8297@colorado.edu)

Explores the dynamic present of Southeast Asia in light of its complex past. Introduces the shared historical experiences that have shaped diverse Southeast Asian societies, with a focus on the continuing effects of colonialism, nationalism, and globalization in the region. Examines key issues facing contemporary Southeast Asian communities, including current debates around gender, faith, human rights, democracy, development, etc. Engages with Southeast Asian literature, film, art, journalism, and museum collections from a transdisciplinary perspective. Recommended prerequisite: students may find some prior coursework in history, anthropology, or Asian Studies to be helpful, but this is not required.

ASIA 2000 Gateway to Modern Asia

2 sections - Summer Session A - Meets Online
Summer Session C - Meets Online
Lauren Collins (collinlk@colorado.edu)

Introduces main themes, intellectual approaches used in Asian Studies through a transdisciplinary perspective that focuses on interactions and links between geographic regions and national boundaries. Presents Asia as a concept, a powerful imaginary geography, and historically dynamic construct that has shaped/been shaped by global patterns of economic development, nation building, war and diplomacy, colonialism and aspirations for better lives.

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Mark Your Calendars: Malala Tickets Opening March 26th

Elizabeth Williams — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 20:52:57 +0000

Mark Your Calendars: Malala Tickets Opening March 26th Elizabeth Williams Mon, 03/23/2026 - 14:52

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Mark Your Calendars: Malala Tickets Opening March 26th
In partnership with the Conference on World Affairs and the Center for Leadership, we are excited to share that tickets for Malala Yousafzai will be released on March 26 at 10:45 AM.

Malala will join us as the closing speaker for the Conference on World Affairs 2026 on April 16 from 7:00–8:30 PM at Macky Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required to attend.

Important Notes:

Malala tickets are expected to sell out, so we encourage guests to secure their tickets as soon as they become available.
Macky Auditorium uses EventBrite for ticketing, which is separate from our primary CWA registration system. You will need to register for the Malala event using EventBrite.
Please be sure to mark your calendar for the morning of March 26th, and stay tuned for a followup message when Malala tickets go live.

Malala Yousafzai began her activism at age 11 by anonymously blogging about life under the Taliban in Pakistan’s Swat Valley and its ban on girls’ education. After surviving an assassination attempt at age 15, Malala founded the Malala Fund to champion education for all girls worldwide. In 2014, she became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize recipient in history. Malala graduated from Oxford University in 2020 with a degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics and is a best-selling author and investor in women's sports.

Students are invited to be part of the conversation with Malala by submitting a question for the opportunity to have it asked live on stage during the closing event with Malala Yousafzai at the Conference on World Affairs (CWA) 2026. Selected students will receive a reserved ticket to the event and a copy of Malala’s book Finding My Way.

Submit your Question

CWA Website

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Fukushima 15 years later

Elizabeth Williams — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 17:02:55 +0000

Fukushima 15 years later Elizabeth Williams Thu, 03/19/2026 - 11:02

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake struck off Japan's eastern coast near the Tohoku region. The six-minute quake caused damage, injuries, and loss of life, and was followed by a powerful and deadly tsunami that in turn triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant. As we reflect on the triple disaster fifteen years later, we are compelled to consider whether the world is any better prepared for such catastrophes.

With support from the Albert Smith Nuclear Age Fund, the Center for Asian Studies launched “A Tale of Two Asias: Living in and Beyond the Nuclear Age,” a project bringing together scholars to examine political, social, and environmental challenges associated with nuclear issues across Asia. The initiative began with a March 2021 workshop marking the ten-year anniversary of the disaster and will culminate in a forthcoming book co-edited by Geography professor and past CAS faculty director Tim Oakes and Anthropology associate professor Kathryn Goldfarb.

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Celebrating the 2026 Impact Award Recipients

Elizabeth Williams — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 17:27:04 +0000

Celebrating the 2026 Impact Award Recipients Elizabeth Williams Thu, 03/05/2026 - 10:27

On February 11, Campus Compact announced that TEA’s Teaching East Asia Through Picture Books program was one of five programs recognized for the 2026 Excellence in Civic & Community Engagement Programming Awards - an award highlighting programs that have utilized on-campus civic and community engagement in a way that makes deep and long-lasting positive change. Teaching East Asia Through Picture Books has been helping K-12 classrooms establish cross-cultural connections with Asia since its launch in 2024 and has reached classrooms across Colorado. By introducing students to East Asian topics through picture books on natural sciences, geography, biographies, and more, TEA has opened the opportunity for teachers and students alike to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of East Asia, and it strives to continue doing so for years to come.

The announcement can be read here.

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CAS and Buffs All In

Elizabeth Williams — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 22:46:36 +0000

CAS and Buffs All In Elizabeth Williams Mon, 03/02/2026 - 15:46

Buffs All In is ��ñ��’s annual giving campaign, taking place throughout March and uniting our community in support of students, research, and programs.

Gifts to the Center for Asian Studies advance teaching and research in Asian Studies. At a time when federal research funding for international studies has been cut, your contributions are more crucial than ever. Every gift counts.

"The critical importance of Asia will only grow in the years to come. CAS is already fulfilling a strong need for faculty and students to understand and engage with Asian languages, cultures, geographies, ecologies, technologies, politics, and markets and has a strong vision for building on its many existing successes. CU-Boulder is already well positioned to be a leading institution in East, South, and Southeast Asian area studies due to the proven success of CAS in creating a vibrant intellectual and opportunity-driven community for more than 100 faculty and dozens of graduate and undergraduate students across the university." From the 2025 external review of CAS programs.

Be Buffs All In for the Center for Asian Studies

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CLAC Course Development Grants

Elizabeth Williams — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 20:30:33 +0000

CLAC Course Development Grants Elizabeth Williams Mon, 02/23/2026 - 13:30

Call for Proposals

Culture and Language Across the Curriculum (CLAC) is a national framework designed to promote the use of foreign languages to enhance the study of non-language subjects. The Center for Asian Studies invites ��ñ�� faculty who would like to add CLAC techniques to their teaching to apply for CLAC Fellow course development grants.

CLAC Co-Seminar Course Development Grants will offer a $1500 stipend for the development of a supplemental one-credit undergraduate co-seminar drawing students and content from an existing disciplinary course in any department. Faculty will be responsible for teaching this co-seminar using primary Asian language sources to enhance the content of the main course. CLAC co-seminars will be listed as ASIA 4001 (Arts & Humanities) or ASIA 4002 (Social Sciences).

Recipients who receive the summer stipend should offer the new course in AY 2026-27. All recipients will receive training and support through the CAS CLAC program and CLAC Consortium members. CLAC courses should utilize primary language and culture sources, including historical or contemporary materials and mass media.

Application Information:

Brief proposals should address the role that Asian language materials could play in supplementing the course, list examples of materials that could be used for CLAC, and outline selected topics from the main course that would lend themselves to CLAC techniques. Please include the existing course syllabus and a 2-3 page CV.

Applications are due to CAS on Monday, March 2, 2026 via email to cas@colorado.edu. Please enter “CLAC Course Development Grant” in the subject line.

CLAC Fellows should offer the new course in AY 2026-2027 if possible. Grants can be paid as summer salary or expense reimbursement. If paid as salary, grants will be subject to taxes and withholding. Award recipients will be asked to submit a brief report and syllabus for the new course during the Fall 2026 semester. Failure to do so will result in ineligibility for future CAS faculty awards.

For questions about the CLAC Course Development Grant, please contact Hannah Palustre, CLAC Coordinator, at hannah.palustre@colorado.edu

All awards are contingent upon continued funding from the Department of Education.

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Incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans holds lessons now

Elizabeth Williams — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 20:57:12 +0000

Incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans holds lessons now Elizabeth Williams Thu, 02/19/2026 - 13:57

Daryl Maeda

The Day of Remembrance, Feb. 19, should focus our attention on how a constitutional republic can shun its first principles

Today is the Day of Remembrance, marking the date that the United States officially marshalled the full force and power of the federal government against Americans whose only offense was being of Japanese descent. This day, which now lives in infamy, holds lessons for us now.

On Feb. 19, 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which led to one of the most notable mass violations of civil liberties in U.S. history: the imprisonment of 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent without due process. Each year, the Japanese American community commemorates this Day of Remembrance to reflect on the lessons of that episode and resolve to advocate for justice for all.

Dressed in his U.S. Navy uniform, World War I veteran Hikotaro Yamada enters the Santa Anita assembly center after being forced to leave his Torrance, California, home. (Photo: Clem Albers/U.S. Department of the Interior)

The attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 exacerbated decades of anti-Japanese racism. Japanese immigrants were disparaged from the 1890s onward as an invading “yellow peril” that brought crime and sexual deviance, stole jobs and threatened to impose a foreign culture.

Before 1941, the federal government barred them from becoming naturalized citizens and eventually prevented their migration. Many states prohibited them from marrying white people and buying land, a serious impediment for an ethnic group whose economy relied heavily on agriculture. Despite these barriers, the Japanese American community grew to include Nisei, children born in the United States who possessed natural-born citizenship.

After Dec. 7, government and military officials portrayed Japanese Americans as a monolithic threat to national security, alleging that they could not be differentiated individually and were thus all potential spies or saboteurs.

As the historian Jacobus vanBroek reported, Mississippi Congressman John Rankin told the House of Representatives: “I'm for catching every Japanese in America, Alaska and Hawaii now and putting them in concentration camps and shipping them back to Asia as soon as possible ... This is a race war, as far as the Pacific side of the conflict is concerned ... The White man's civilization has come into conflict with Japanese barbarism ... One of them must be destroyed ... Damn them! Let's get rid of them now!”

New Deal liberals like Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson declared, “Their racial characteristics are such that we cannot understand or trust even the citizen Japanese.”

General John L. DeWitt, military commander of the West Coast, said, “In the war in which we are now engaged, racial affinities are not severed by migration. The Japanese race is an enemy race and while many second and third generation Japanese born on United States soil, possessed of United States citizenship, have become ‘Americanized,’ the racial strains are undiluted ... It therefore follows that along the vital Pacific Coast over 112,000 potential enemies of Japanese extraction are at large today.”

Read full article here.

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Asian Area Studies Curriculum Course Development Grants

Elizabeth Williams — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 21:50:39 +0000

Asian Area Studies Curriculum Course Development Grants Elizabeth Williams Mon, 02/16/2026 - 14:50

We are pleased to offer a final round of Asian Area Studies Curriculum Course Development Grants funded by our National Resource Center grant for summer 2026. This funding is available for ��ñ�� faculty members who would like to develop Asia-related curricula for new or existing courses.

CAS will offer up to five faculty awards for the creation or significant revision of an undergraduate course on any region of Asia in any discipline or college. At least one of these awards will be reserved for an Asian studies course that includes material on climate change or environmental issues and/or a course on climate change/environment that includes material on Asia.

This opportunity is offered as part of our National Resource Center for Asian Studies grant from the US Department of Education, which was discontinued in the fall of 2025. Funding will be provided for faculty to develop new courses with Asian content or revise existing courses to add Asian content, in order to enhance the area studies curriculum. Asian content should include at least two class sessions that are focused on Asia. We will give priority to classes with more substantial Asian content. Classes addressing environmental issues in Asia may also be included in our new Climate and Society in Asia undergraduate certificate (in final approval stages).

All grants will be made in the amount of $2000 to support faculty engaged in curriculum research and development. Awards will be paid as summer salary (subject to taxes and withholding), or as reimbursement for travel or related expenses. Award period will be Summer 2026.

Applications are due to CAS on Monday, March 2, 2026.

Find application information here.

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Malala Yousafzai to speak at Conference on World Affairs in April

Elizabeth Williams — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 17:13:40 +0000

Malala Yousafzai to speak at Conference on World Affairs in April Elizabeth Williams Thu, 02/12/2026 - 10:13

In partnership with the Center for Leadership and the Center for Asian Studies, we’re honored to announce Malala Yousafzai as the closing speaker for the Conference on World Affairs.

From speaking out for girls’ education at just 11 years old to becoming the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Yousafzai’s courage has helped shape a global movement for education, equality and human rights. Her story—and her ongoing work through Malala Fund—continues to demonstrate the power of one voice to drive meaningful change.

Yousafzai will close the Conference on World Affairs with a powerful conversation centered on hope, resilience and impact. The university is proud to support this moment and invites our community to engage with an extraordinary global leader as she concludes an inspiring week of dialogue and ideas.

Ticket information coming soon! Get early access to CWA.

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Event Wednesday: Lunar New Year at MSU Denver

Elizabeth Williams — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 20:46:49 +0000

Event Wednesday: Lunar New Year at MSU Denver Elizabeth Williams Mon, 02/09/2026 - 13:46

Wednesday, February 11, 2026 11:30am to 1:30pm MST
Tivoli Turnhalle, Tivoli Student Union, Auraria Campus, Denver

Ring in the Lunar New Year with a vibrant celebration of culture, tradition, and community! Join us for an exciting event filled with live performances, delicious food, and hands-on crafts. Enjoy traditional music and dance, savor flavorful dishes from various Asian cultures, and get creative with crafts that celebrate the season. Whether you're honoring the traditions or simply enjoying the festivities, this event is the perfect way to celebrate the start of a new year with family, friends, and the MSU Denver community!

Free and open to the public.

Co-Sponsored by the Center for Multicultural Engagement and Inclusion (CMEI), Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the ��ñ�� Center for Asian Studies.

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