Professor Sharon Zukin's talk will describe how, in cities across the world, the everyday spaces of local shopping streets are undergoing dramatic transformations. Globalization brings new products and people, while different types of gentrification reshape the street's aesthetics and atmosphere. How do we "read" these changes? Do they destroy the sense of the "local" to make every street, in every city, more alike?
Professor Zukin is the author of a number of books on cities, culture and consumer culture, and urban, cultural and economic change. She received the Lynd Award for Career Achievement in urban sociology from the American Sociological Association, and the C. Wright Mills Book Award for Landscapes of Power. You can learn more about her work here: http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/academics/faculty/faculty_profile.jsp?faculty=420
Presented by the Program on Urban Studies and co-sponsored by the Anthropology Department, Center for East Asian Studies, Center on Poverty and Inequality, The Europe Center, Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Sociology Department, Stanford in Government and Urban Beyond Measure.
Building 200 Room 002
Sharon Zukin
Professor of Sociology
Speaker
Brooklyn College, CUNY
Sponsored by the Korea Program and the Center for East Asian Studies, the Korean Studies Writing Prize recognizes and rewards outstanding examples of writing by Stanford students in an essay, term paper, or thesis produced during the current academic year in any discipline within the area of Korean studies, broadly defined. The competition is open to both undergraduate and graduate students.
Benjamin Lokshin, coterminal student in East Asian studies, has won the 3rd Annual Korean Studies Writing Prize with his paper titled "Speech levels in DPRK society." Benjamin completed his undergraduate degree at Stanford in linguistics, and will continue on this fall to complete his MA in East Asian Studies.
Providing an ethnographic account of the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) and its Youth Wing (Dewan Pemuda PAS), this book analyses the genesis and role of Islamic movements in terms of their engagement in mainstream politics. It explores the party’s changing approach towards popular culture and critically investigates whether the narrative of a post-Islamist turn can be applied to the PAS Youth.
The book shows that in contrast to the assumption that Islamic marketization and post-Islamism are reinforcing each other, the PAS Youth has strategically appropriated and integrated Islamic consumerism to pursue a decidedly Islamist – or ‘pop-Islamist’ – political agenda. The media-savvy PAS Youth elites, which are at the forefront of implementing new outreach strategies for the party, categorically oppose tendencies of political moderation among the senior party. Instead, they are most passionately calling for the establishment of a Syariah-based Islamic order for state and society, although these renewed calls are increasingly expressed through modern channels such as Facebook, YouTube, rock music, celebrity advertising, branded commodities and other market-driven forms of social movement mobilization.
A timely and significant contribution to the literature on Islam and politics in Malaysia and beyond, this book sheds new light on widespread assumptions or even hopes of "post-Islamism." It is of interest to students and scholars of Political Religion and Southeast Asian Politics.
Contents
Introduction
Conceptual Framework: Islamism, Post-Islamism or Pop-Islamism?
The Politics of Islam in Malaysia
The Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) and its youth wing
The Pop-Islamist reinvention of PAS: Anthropological observations
Conclusions
Dominik Müller was a visiting scholar at Shorenstein APARC in 2013. His anthropological research focuses on Muslim politics and popular culture in Southeast Asia. Müller is now a postdoctoral fellow at Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany.
Michelle Obama promoted study abroad programs during a speech at the Stanford Center at Peking University in Beijing on Saturday, then encouraged Stanford and local high school students sitting in Palo Alto to be "citizen diplomats" during a high-tech videoconference.
In her remarks before the conversation with students, the first lady said that study abroad is a "vital part of our foreign policy."
"Study abroad is about shaping the future of your countries and the world we all share," she said.
Studying in a different country gives students the chance to immerse themselves in another culture, she said.
"That's how you realize that we all have a stake in each other's success – that cures discovered here in Beijing could save lives in America," she said. "That clean energy technologies from Silicon Valley in California could improve the environment here in China; that the architecture of an ancient temple in Xi'an could inspire the design of new buildings in Dallas or Detroit."
Obama spoke before an audience of 170 students, scholars, and alumni at the Stanford Center at Peking University (SCPKU) in Beijing – her only scheduled public appearance during a trip to China with her daughters.
"Two great universities, two great countries. The symbolism behind this event is truly remarkable," said Xinkai Mao, MBA '14. "My wife went to PKU and I go to Stanford. What a connection!"
Mao attended the event with Stanford Graduate School of Business classmate Paul Chen, MBA '14. Both lead a China study trip for fellow students starting Sunday.
Max Baucus, Washington's ambassador to Beijing, and a graduate of Stanford and the university's law school, reinforced Obama's message of personal learning and diplomacy, recounting his own exchange studies in France.
"I am standing here because of my experience at a study abroad program," he said.
Thirty-five years after the normalization of relations with China, the U.S. is supporting more American students in China than in any other country in the world.
"We're sending high school, college and graduate students here to study Chinese," Obama said. "We're inviting teachers from China to teach Mandarin in American schools. We're providing free online advising for students in China who want to study in the U.S. and the U.S. China Fulbright program is still going strong with more than 3,000 alumni."
The largest group of foreign students enrolled at Stanford today are Chinese – 860 students, up from about 600 two years ago.
"You can't learn what the First Lady is talking about only through books," said Chien Lee, BSMS '75, MBA '79, a former Stanford trustee and SCPKU's lead donor. "You have to have an in-person experience. That's what helps you appreciate the subtleties and differences. The center provides a place for people to have that exchange."
Milestone for SCPKU
The first lady's visit came the day after the second anniversary of SCPKU's opening. The center made Stanford the first American university to construct a building for its own use on a major Chinese university campus.
Obama's conversation with students sitting at Stanford's campus showcased the "highly immersive classrooms" at SCPKU and the Graduate School of Business. The rooms are identical, and use high-definition video technology to give participants in both locations the feeling that they are in the same room. The rooms will be used to conduct seminars between scholars at Stanford and PKU, and will also be used by the business school to expand the reach of its faculty.
Michelle Obama with Stanford students at the Stanford Center at Peking University in Beijing.
Michelle Obama with Stanford students at the Stanford Center at Peking University in Beijing. Photo Credit: Stanford University
The classroom features a curved wall of video screens and allows seamless conversation and real-time data sharing with participants on different continents.
"Through the wonders of modern technology, our world is more connected than ever before," Obama said. "Ideas can cross oceans with the click of a button. You don't need to get on a plane to be a citizen diplomat. If you have an Internet connection in your home, school or library, within seconds you can be transported anywhere in the world and meet people on every continent."
Sitting in the immersive classroom at SCPKU, Obama encouraged students to use all the resources at their disposal to become well-informed global citizens and decision makers, and to enrich the relationship between the U.S. and China.
"The creation of a global citizen is a critical mission of the great universities in modern times," said alumnus David Chao, MBA '93, who manages a global venture capital firm and attended Obama's speech. "When you have a global citizen with empathy, someone pushing the nuclear button is highly unlikely. It's especially relevant, when you see what's going on in Ukraine right now with people refusing to talk."
From neurology to energy and art
Stanford and Peking University have a long and growing collaboration that began with scholarly exchanges in the 1970s and student exchanges thereafter.
In remarks welcoming the first lady, Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, the Stanley Morrison Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and Director of Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, spoke of SCPKU's mission and its relationship to China's elite Peking University, also known as Beida.
"Stanford scholars – like their counterparts at Beida – are constantly seeking a deeper appreciation of different societies and their histories," Cuéllar said. "That leads to stronger relationships –geographically, politically and culturally. We are striving for a world that is ever more capable of transcending its differences. Stanford's special relationship with Beida is a shining example of these ideals."
Nine Stanford teaching and research programs, including the School of Medicine's Asian Liver Center, the Bing Overseas Studies Program, and the Graduate School of Business, have located operations at SCPKU. Seventeen faculty fellows from departments as diverse as neurology, art, bioengineering and music, have conducted research at the center. SCPKU has also hosted 32 workshops or seminars on topics as varied as "Leveraging PCs to Advance Learning in China's Rural Schools," "Energy in China," and "New Urban Formations: Comparative Urbanization."
The first cohort of 20 Stanford undergraduates to study at the center will arrive for their 10-week program March 31. The center already has been home to a meeting of U.S.-China officials discussing North Korea's nuclear program and a conference of electrical engineers reviewing Technology Standardization. China 2.0, a forum on venture capital and entrepreneurship organized by the Graduate School of Business, will be held at the center April 11.
The future
Looking ahead, SCPKU aspires to tackle intellectual questions that address not just the political economy and culture of China, but also the challenges that arise as China engages other parts of the world in trade. China's geopolitical interests and actions in Latin America, Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia are all important questions that Stanford faculty want to address. "The center can and should be a research destination for Stanford faculty whose work touches on China but is not necessarily solely focused on the country or region," said Jean Oi, professor of political science, director of SCPKU, and a driving force behind the center's creation.
As SCPKU activity and scholarship continues to evolve, technology also will allow its intellectual content to reach a wider audience beyond the Beijing campus.
Barbara Buell is the communications director for Stanford's Graduate School of Business.
Mr. Rudd served as Australia’s 26th Prime Minister from 2007 to 2010, then as Foreign Minister from 2010 to 2012, before returning to the Prime Ministership in 2013. As Prime Minister, Mr. Rudd led Australia’s response during the Global Financial Crisis. Australia's fiscal response to the crisis was reviewed by the IMF as the most effective stimulus strategy of all member states. Australia was the only major advanced economy not to go into recession. Mr. Rudd is also internationally recognized as one of the founders of the G20 which drove the global response to the crisis, and which in 2009 helped prevent the crisis from spiraling into a second global depression.
As Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Mr. Rudd was active in global and regional foreign policy leadership. He was a driving force in expanding the East Asia Summit to include both the US and Russia in 2010. He also initiated the concept of transforming the EAS into a wider Asia Pacific Community to help manage deep-routed tensions in Asia by building over time the institutions and culture of common security in Asia. On climate change, Mr. Rudd ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 2007 and legislated in 2008 for a 20% mandatory renewable energy target for Australia. Mr. Rudd launched Australia's challenge in the International Court of Justice with the object of stopping Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean. Mr Rudd drove Australia’s successful bid for its current non-permanent seat on the United Nation’s Security Council and the near doubling of Australia's foreign aid budget.
Mr. Rudd remains engaged in a range of international challenges including global economic management, the rise of China, climate change and sustainable development. He is on the International Advisory Panel of Chatham House. He is a proficient speaker of Mandarin Chinese, a Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University and funded the establishment of the Australian Centre on China in the World at the Australian National University. He was a co-author of the recent report of the UN Secretary General's High Level Panel on Global Sustainability – “Resilient People, Resilient Planet" and chairs the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Fragile States. He also remains actively engaged in indigenous reconciliation.
Bechtel Conference Center
Kevin Rudd
26th Prime Minister of Australia
Speaker
The third annual Hana-Stanford Conference on Korea for U.S. Secondary School Teachers takes place this summer, from July 28 to 30, at Stanford. It will bring together secondary school educators from across the United States as well as a cadre of educators from Korea for intensive and lively sessions on a wide assortment of Korean studies-related topics ranging from U.S.-Korea relations to history, and religion to popular culture. In addition to scholarly lectures, the teachers will take part in curriculum workshops and receive numerous classroom resources developed by Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE).
During the conference, the Sejong Korean Scholars Program (SKSP), a distance-learning program on Korea, will also honor high school students for their exceptional performance in the SKSP program. The finalists will be chosen based on their final research papers, and their overall participation and performance in the online course. The SKSP honorees will be presenting their research essays at the conference. The SKSP program is generously supported by the Korea Foundation.
For details of the application procedures for the teachers, please visit the SPICE website.
By any measure, China’s economy and defense budget are second only to those of the United States. Yet tremendous uncertainties persist concerning China’s military development and national trajectory, and areas with greater information available often conflated misleadingly. Fortunately, larger dynamics elucidate both areas. Particularly since the 1995-96 Taiwan Strait Crisis, China has made rapid progress in aerospace and maritime development, greatly facilitating its military modernization. The weapons and systems that China is developing and deploying fit well with Beijing’s geostrategic priorities. Here, distance matters greatly: after domestic stability and border control, Beijing worries most about its immediate periphery, where its unresolved disputes with neighbors and outstanding claims lie primarily in the maritime direction. Accordingly, while it would vastly prefer pressuring concessions to waging war, China is already capable of threatening potential opponents’ military forces should they intervene in crises over islands and maritime claims in the Yellow, East, and South China Seas and the waterspace and airspace around them. Far from mainland China, by contrast, it remains ill-prepared to protect its own forces from robust attack. Fortunately for Beijing, the non-traditional security focus of its distant operations makes conflict unlikely; remedying their vulnerabilities would be difficult and expensive. Despite these larger patterns, critical unknowns remain concerning China’s economic development, societal priorities, industrial efficiency, and innovation capability. Dr. Erickson will examine these and related issues to probe China’s development trajectory and future place in the international system.
The views expressed by Dr. Erickson are his alone, and do not represent the policies or estimates of any organization with which he is affiliated.
Dr. Andrew S. Erickson is an Associate Professor in the Strategic Research Department at the U.S. Naval War College and a core founding member of the department’s China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI). He is an Associate in Research at Harvard University’s John King Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies (2008-). Erickson also serves as an expert contributor to the Wall Street Journal’s China Real Time Report (中国实时报), for which he has authored or coauthored 25 articles. In spring 2013, he deployed in the Pacific as a Regional Security Education Program scholar aboard USS Nimitz (CVN68), Carrier Strike Group 11.
Erickson received his Ph.D. and M.A. in international relations and comparative politics from Princeton University and graduated magna cum laude from Amherst College with a B.A. in history and political science. He has studied Mandarin in the Princeton in Beijing program at Beijing Normal University’s College of Chinese Language and Culture and Japanese language, politics, and economics in the year-long Associated Kyoto Program at Doshisha University.
Erickson’s research, which focuses on Asia-Pacific defense, international relations, technology, and resource issues, has been published widely in English- and Chinese-language edited volumes and in such peer-reviewed journals as China Quarterly, Asian Security, Journal of Strategic Studies, Orbis, Asia Policy (forthcoming January 2014), and China Security; as well as in ForeignAffairs,The National Interest, The American Interest, Foreign Policy, Joint Force Quarterly, China International Strategy Review (published in Chinese-language edition, forthcoming in English-language edition January 2014), and International and Strategic Studies Report (Center for International and Strategic Studies, Peking University). Erickson has also published annotated translations of several Chinese articles on maritime strategy. His publications are available at <www.andrewerickson.com> and <www.chinasignpost.com>.
Michelle Obama with Stanford students at the Stanford Center at Peking University in Beijing.
