Japan Brown Bag hosted with the Center for East Asian Studies

A buffet lunch will be available to those who RSVP to Rakhi Patel at rpatel80@stanford.edu by Tuesday, May 5. Only recently have scholars begun to invest a substantial amount of effort in researching the history of the "forgotten" region of P'yóngan Province in Korean historiography. These works, which focus mostly on the period before the Hong Kyóngnae Rebellion of 1812, mainly investigate particular historical experiences of this region that culminated in the cross-class rebellion. These works are extremely valuable for a number of reasons. They represent the first comprehensive historical research on the northwestern region of the Korean peninsula, currently a part of the People's Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea). Most of these studies start with the notion that there was no yangban aristocracy in P'yóngan Province -- a prevailing perception of late Chosón literati, and one that rationalized social and political discrimination against people from this region. One of the main goals of this study is to challenge this perspective through a close reading of the writings of Paek Kyónghae (1765-1842), a literatus from P'yóngan Province, to illuminate his perceptions and responses to regional discrimination and his cultural identity as a man from a politically and socially condemned region. This discussion offers a microscopic examination of the bilateral relations between the center and the periphery through Paek's life experiences. Particularly because Paek Kyónghae lived as a yangban official through the major social and political disruption posed by the Hong Kyóngnae Rebellion -- to which regional discrimination against the people of P'yóngan Province in terms of political advancement by the central court provided an ideological justification -- his views and personal choices partly explain how the existing regime survived the rebellion.

Mr. Prakash will discuss the various challenges and issues that a company grapples with as it starts to plan a global sourcing initiative. He will present the different phases of such a life cycle and the nature of the work involved in each phase. His talk will highlight the stages and steps involved in a typical center buildout and work migration from "pitcher" country to "catcher" country. Anupam Prakash is the practice leader of Hewitt's Global Sourcing practice in the Asia-Pacific region. He has been leading Hewitt's efforts in this area with considerable success (including co-leading Hewitt's own, internal global sourcing initiatives two years ago). More recently, he has been instrumental in helping to develop Hewitt's external global sourcing offer, as well as supporting client work in "pitcher" countries, such as the United States and the European Union countries. He has consulted with a "who's who" of companies moving operations and talent to the Indian subcontinent. Current projects include work with major multinationals such as Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Thomson, Dell, Deloitte, Agere, and Gillette. In addition, Prakash consults with several state governments, trade bodies, third-party outsourcers and alliance partners on the "catcher" side. Prakash is currently involved in cross-border sales and projects with several Fortune 500 companies and Hewitt's global clients looking at sourcing work and talent worldwide.

A buffet lunch will be available to those who RSVP by 12:00 p.m. Monday, May 3 to Debbie Warren at dawarren@stanford.edu. Douglas H. Paal is the director of the American Institute in Taiwan, the unofficial instrument for U.S. relations with Taiwan. Previously, he was president of the Asia Pacific Policy Center (APPC), a nonprofit institution in Washington, DC, which advocated bipartisan policy in the promotion of trade and investment, as well as defense and security ties across the Pacific. Prior to forming the APPC, Mr. Paal was special assistant to President Bush for National Security Affairs and senior director for Asian Affairs on the National Security Council, where he also served in the Reagan Administration. Mr. Paal has worked in the State Department with the Policy Planning Staff and as a senior analyst for the CIA. He also served in the U.S. Embassies in Singapore and Beijing. He studied Asian history at Brown and Harvard Universities and the Japanese language in Tokyo. He has published frequently on Asian affairs and national security issues.

Hawke will investigate SOE restructuring issues in the context of attracting foreign investment, through the prism of IMC's experience attempting to buy into Chinese companies on the nonperforming loan lists. IMC Global is the world's largest producer of phosphate and potassium fertilizers, about to merge with the fertilizer assets of Cargill to form a new company.

Prior to joining IMC in 1997, Hawke was a director at Salomon Brothers responsible for investment banking in China and, before that, a vice president of Citibank and Citibank's chief representative in China.

Walter explores the transformation of China's state owned enterprises during the 1990s into corporations able to issue shares, raising billions of dollars internationally, and discusses the consequences of this policy reform. He is co-author of Privatizing China: The Stock Markets and their Role in Corporate Reform (John Wiley & Sons, 2003). Prior to leading JP Morgan?s Beijing office in 2001, he was managing director of China International Capital Corporation and chief representative of Credit Suisse First Boston.

Dr. Nasr's talk will focus on the implications of change of the balance of power between Shi'as and Sunnis for regional politics in Iraq and for the emerging trends in Sunni militancy in the region.

Vali Nasr is a specialist on contemporary Islam and its relations to politics in the Muslim world. His recent work is focused on emerging patterns in Islamism, in particular with regard to Shi'i-Sunni sectarianism. He is the author of The Islamic Leviathan: Islam and the Making of State Power (Oxford University Press, 2001); Mawdudi and the Making of Islamic Revivalism (Oxford University Press, 1996); an editor of Oxford Dictionary of Islam (Oxford University Press, 2003). His works on political Islam and comparative politics of South Asia and the Middle East has been published in a number of journals including, the New York Times, Comparative Politics, Asian Survey, Daedalus, Middle East Journal, and International Journal of Middle East Studies, as well as in numerous edited volumes on the Middle East, South Asia, political Islam and comparative politics. His work has been translated into Arabic, Indonesian, Chinese, and Urdu. Dr. Nasr has been the recipient of fellowship grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, and the Social Science Research Council.

Dr. Nasr earned his degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Ph.D., 1991), the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (MALD, 1984), and Tufts University (BA, 1983).

Part of the EAST House Spring Seminar Series ?Political and Social Ramifications of the Asian Financial Crisis?. Contact Alex Tuerpe at atuerpe@stanford.edu for more information.