Spotlight All

Spring 2026 Asia - Related Classes

Elizabeth Williams — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 16:23:41 +0000

Spring 2026 Asia - Related Classes Elizabeth Williams Tue, 10/21/2025 - 10:23

ASIA 2000 Gateway to Modern Asia: Exploring Regional Connections

T/Th 11am-12:15pm
Lauren Collins (Lauren.Collins@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 2852 Contemporary Southeast Asia: Environmental Politics

T/Th 12:30pm-1:45pm
Shae Frydenlund (shfr8297@colorado.edu)

Examines globally pressing questions of environmental sustainability, regional inequality and development in the dynamic and heterogeneous landscapes of contemporary Southeast Asia. Focuses on interactions between histories of uneven development and contemporary debates over energy and infrastructure, food security, governance and access to land, forest and water-based resources.

ASIA 4100 China's Space Dream: Long March to the Moon and Beyond

T/Th 3:30pm-4:45pm
Lauren Collins (Lauren.Collins@colorado.edu)

Examines globally pressing questions of environmental sustainability, regional inequality and development in the dynamic and heterogeneous landscapes of contemporary Southeast Asia. Focuses on interactions between histories of uneven development and contemporary debates over energy and infrastructure, food security, governance and access to land, forest and water-based resources.

ASIA 4650 Art and Science of Meditation

T/Th 9:30-10:45 and T/Th 11-12:15
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 contemplative techniques.

INDO1120
Beginning Indonesian 2

MWF 2:30-3:20pm
Alifia Moci Maritta (Alifia.Maritta@colorado.edu)

Classes are offered in person or remotely using the Directed Independent Language Study method. Classes will employ "flipped" task-based learning approaches. Coursework includes reading, listening, grammar, answering questions, and speaking practice. Grades are based on demonstrated proficiency of written and spoken Indonesian through in-class performance and examinations.

INDO 2120
Intermediate Indonesian 2

MWF 10:10am-11am
Alifia Moci Maritta (Alifia.Maritta@colorado.edu)

In the second year, students will be exposed to more active communication The structure, vocabulary and language features and the four language skills are embedded within various topics. Throughout the semester, students will be exposed to Indonesian vocabulary, structure, and culture.

TBTN 1120 Beginning Tibetan II - DILS

MWF 8am-8:50am Meets Remotely
Dan Hirshberg (dan.hirshberg@colorado.edu)

Continuation of TBTN 1110; provides a thorough introduction to the colloquial and literary Tibetan language, emphasizing speaking and listening in the Lhasa dialect. Trains students in basic conversations and the idiomatic and syntactical features of Tibetan through drills and dialogues.

ANTH 4760 Ethnography of Southeast Asia

T/Th 2-3:15pm
Carla Jones (carla.jones@colorado.edu)

This class introduces students to the vibrant cultural and political landscape of Southeast Asia, with a focus on urban and consumer culture, religion, and gender. Readings will situate phenomena like celebrity preachers, death, fashion, commodity subcultures, and state violence through the perspective of anthropological fieldwork conducted in Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

CHIN 3363 Women and the Supernatural in Chinese Literature

T/TH 12:30-1:45 PM
Antje Richter (antje.richter@colorado.edu)

In this course, we explore the relationship between the worlds of women and the supernatural as they are represented in Chinese literature and culture. We'll be discussing narratives about female ghosts, fox spirits, goddesses, women warriors, and human lovers.

GEOG 3832 Love & War Geographies: Imperialism, Militarism, and Development in South Asia

T/Th 12:30-1:45 pm
Taneesha Mohan (Taneesha.Mohan@colorado.edu)

Experience the diverse societies and cultures of India, Nepal, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and the Maldives. Learn about the different belief systems, cultural practices, and environments in this region and how international relations and politics in this region influence global trade/economics, politics, conflict, and security.

HIND 1011 Introduction to South Asian Civilization

MWF 2:30-3:20
Nidhi Arya (Nidhi.Arya@colorado.edu)

This course offers a dynamic and immersive introduction to South Asia’s rich and multifaceted civilization. Beyond a mere geographical definition, South Asia encompasses a vibrant tapestry of cultures, histories, and traditions.

HIND 1020 Beginning Hindi 2

M-Th 10:10 am
Nidhi Arya
(Nidhi.Arya@colorado.edu)

Continuation of HIND 1010. Provides a thorough introduction to the modern Hindi language, emphasizing speaking, listening, reading and writing skills.

HIND 2120 Intermediate Hindi 2

M-Th 12:20-1:10 pm
Nidhi Arya
(Nidhi.Arya@colorado.edu)

Continuation of HIND 2110. Enhances students’ speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills and culturally appropriate language use.

HIST 4648 Inventing Chinese Modernity

T/Th 12:30-1:45
Tim Weston (weston@colorado.edu)

This course covers the continuous revolutionary change that China underwent from 1800 to the successful Communist Revolution of 1949.

JPNS 3331 Business Japanese

MW 3:35-4:50 PM
Yumiko Matsunaga (Yumiko.Matsunaga-1@colorado.edu)

Designed to teach Japanese with emphasis on using Japanese for professional purposes. The course aims to foster the skills and the knowledge of effective cross-cultural and interpersonal communication in Japanese and to develop intercultural competence in business contexts.

JPNS 3321 Japanese Sci-Fi and Speculative Fiction

T/Th 11:15 a.m.–12:05 p.m.
Daryl Maude (daryl.maude@colorado.edu)

Examines the genres of fantasy and sci-fi across Japanese media, including literature, film, anime, and manga. We will consider what the Japanese speculative imagination about different worlds can teach us, and consider subgenres of cyberpunk, space opera, mythological fantasy, cli-fi, and feminist speculation. Taught in English.

RLST 1810 Islamic Spain: Land of Three Religions

T/Th 930 - 10:45am
Brian Catlos (Brian.catlos@colorado.edu)

For nearly a thousand years Muslim Spain – al-Andalus – was the home to communities of Christians, Muslims and Jews who lived together in both cooperation and conflict. Explore the politics, culture and society of Islamic Spain and how it influenced the course of European history.

RLST 3550 [Death and Rebirth in] Tibetan Buddhism

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

Explores Tibetan Buddhist theories and practices of dying and death to survey its diverse contemplative techniques, philosophical principles, and ultimate objective of total liberation from suffering. With its elaborate descriptions of the experience of death, the so-called Tibetan Book of the Dead has been an object of Western fascination for a century–but we will survey its complete form, not only as a manual for dying but for living, while placing it within its historical, textual, and literary contexts as a religious scripture and ritual liturgy.

RLST 3801 Muslims, Christians, Jews & the Mediterranean Origins of the West

T/Th 1230 - 1:45pm
Brian Catlos (Brian.catlos@colorado.edu)

This course provides a historical foundation for the study of western Modernity, including the Anglo-European and Islamic worlds. It focuses on the Mediterranean region in the long Middle Ages (650-1650), emphasizing the role of Christian, Muslim and Jewish peoples and cultures, in Europe, Africa and West Asia in both conflict and collaboration.

RLST 4/5250 Buddhist Literature in Tibet.

W 3:35pm-6:05pm

Holly Gayley (gayley@colorado.edu)

Tibet has a vast literary heritage in which Buddhist texts hold a prominent place. In creating this literature, Tibetan authors adopted a number of literary models from India and also integrated Buddhist concerns into indigenous Tibetan oral styles. This course takes a thematic approach to the study of Buddhist literature in Tibet. This semester we pay special attention to the interplay between literary style and doctrinal content in texts related to devotion and the teacher-student relationship in Buddhist tantra. This will include devotional poetry, doctrinal texts on the three vows, ritual manuals and their commentaries, as well as contemporary fiction, allowing us to explore how literature and associated practices can shape, transform, and critique social worlds, associated worldviews, and embodied experience. Throughout the course, we think critically about rhetorical strategies, genre conventions, and ways of reading Buddhist literature in Tibet.

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2025 Meeting of the American Society for Premodern Asia (ASPA), Western Branch

Elizabeth Williams — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 18:06:13 +0000

2025 Meeting of the American Society for Premodern Asia (ASPA), Western Branch Elizabeth Williams Mon, 10/13/2025 - 12:06

October 16-18, 2025
Norlin Library, rooms M549 and N410

The Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations is hosting the 2025 Meeting of the American Society for Premodern Asia (ASPA), Western Branch, on October 16-18. The ASPA Western Branch meeting is the single most important annual conference in the field of premodern Chinese literature and culture in North America. We expect ca. 100 participants from North America and abroad. The meeting is supported by the Center for Asian Studies, the Center for Arts and Humanities, and Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations. For the program, see /alc/wbaspa2025.

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̽��Ƶ cultural centers lose millions from federal funding cuts - Daily Camera Article

Elizabeth Williams — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 15:09:02 +0000

̽��Ƶ cultural centers lose millions from federal funding cuts - Daily Camera Article Elizabeth Williams Fri, 10/10/2025 - 09:09 Olivia Doak | odoak@prairiemountainmedia.com | Boulder Daily Camera

̽��Ƶ cultural centers lose millions from federal funding cuts
Asian, Latinx, multicultural centers seek help from community donations

The BUENO Center was notified in September that it will lose more than $3 million in federal funding for decades-old programs — a pattern of federal funding removal that’s disrupting the work of many academic and research centers at the University of Colorado Boulder.

The Bilinguals United for Education and New Opportunities Center for Multicultural Education aims to provide equitable education for diverse learners, and it relies heavily on federal funding to execute its programming. In September, the center received non-continuation notices for two grants, and the notices said the programs were not aligned with the Trump administration’s priorities.

The center lost $1.76 million from one grant, which was funding the College Assistance Migrant Program, a 35-year-old scholarship program to help Colorado seasonal farm workers pursue higher education. The center has also received federal funding to offer master’s programs to teachers in rural Colorado for 49 years, but that funding is now gone with the removal of its latest grant, a loss of $1.32 million. Both grants are from the Department of Education and part of a five-year cycle, and in each case the department stopped the funding partway through the five years.

̽��Ƶ leadership has provided funding to bridge the funding gap for now, BUENO Center Executive Director Tania Hogan said. But if the university had not stepped in, she said, the center would have had to initiate layoffs for nine staff and two consultants across the two programs.

“In the past, we have relied heavily on federal grants for all of our programming,” Hogan said, adding, “It feels frustrating to not be able to get something that we already applied for and were awarded.”

“(The programs) give education access to two communities that have historically been marginalized,” Hogan said. “It gives opportunities to students … wanting to access college and get the holistic and culturally responsive support that we know BUENO can provide. For the master’s program for the rural space, there’s a bilingual teacher shortage, and by being able to provide not only the master’s degree but also the endorsements, we will have more qualified educators in rural Colorado who are already making such important changes within their schools.”

Now, the center is relying on community support through foundations and donors to raise funds to keep the programs going.

Hogan said the BUENO center is not the only center on campus suffering from federal funding cuts.

“It’s right now impacting so many different centers and communities that it does become overwhelming,” she said.

As of Sept. 24, ̽��Ƶ had 57 federal grant terminations totaling nearly $30 million across campus. As of Oct. 2, ̽��Ƶ had 1,821 active federal awards it leads or is a subawardee on. When asked how many of those grants were regarding diversity or cultural programs, the university said federal funding impacts on the university continually fluctuate, so it cannot provide an accurate breakdown. There are more than 75 centers at ̽��Ƶ, which span a wide variety of academic fields and are organized around a specific theme or topic that conduct research, scholarship, creative work, education, outreach and service.

The Center for Asian Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder found out in September that it will lose $537,000 in federal funding it had planned to use for student fellowships, teacher salaries, Asia-related events and expanded programming for K-12 educators. The center focuses on the entire Asian continent, including East and West Asia.

The center was awarded two grants in August of 2022 that were supposed to continue through August of 2026. However, executive director Danielle Rocheleau Salaz got a letter from the Department of Education in September stating the center would not receive its final year of funding. The department said the programs do not advance American interests or values and that “the international and foreign language education grant programs are not a priority of the Administration,” according to the letter.

The grant funding allows the center to provide tuition and stipends for graduate students to study at ̽��Ƶ and for undergraduate students to complete summer programs domestically or abroad.

“We will not be able to make as many of those academic year awards as we had anticipated,” Salaz said.

The funding also helped the center provide information, lectures and workshops about Asia to anyone on campus and funded salaries for faculty who teach classes needed for students to obtain certificates in climate and society in Asia and Tibetan and Himalayan studies.

“Those positions are at risk after this academic year,” Salaz said.

The center provides Asia programming for K-12 teachers and community college instructors to help them have a deeper grounding in Asian history, culture and geography so they have more context for what they might be teaching their students.

“All of those will be winding down more quickly, and we won’t have the same capacity to be able to offer those kinds of programs,” Salaz said.

The Center for Asian Studies is working with the university to figure out how to provide funding internally, but the center is also looking at private grants and foundations and working with donors and alumni.

“We need to ensure that our students are not the losers because these programs support the American economy, they support national security,” Salaz said. “We are living in a world where there are impacts felt worldwide for things that happen. We’re not in a situation where the U.S. can pull back from the rest of the world and handle things separately.”

The center aims to prepare students to enter a global workforce, for example, to have the skills they need to interact with foreign tourists or to lead an American company into a new international market.

“I have always felt like this is really important work that we do here because I think it helps make sure that America is in a position to continue to lead in the future globally,” Salaz said.

The Latin American and Latinx Studies Center was unable to apply for a two-year, $250,000 grant from the Department of Education after previously being awarded it in 2020 and 2022, after the grant program had essentially been shuttered, Faculty Director Joe Bryan said. The center was also awarded a $150,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities so the center could expand its programming in Latin American indigenous languages, but that award was rescinded in entirety in June.

“They’re not big awards in the grand scheme of what CU brings in in terms of federal (money) … so we’re small potatoes in that respect, but it was absolutely essential to us for offering courses for undergrads, especially,” Bryan said.

Students enrolled in the certificate program may find that classes they need to take aren’t available, and the center may not have access to the funding needed to develop research and curriculum. The center also plays a role in the university’s mission to serve all of Colorado by engaging with Latinx students, a demographic that makes up a significant portion of Colorado’s population.

“It threatens our core mission, which is to be an interdisciplinary home for Latin American and Latinx studies on the CU campus,” Bryan said. “In particular, it threatens the viability of our undergraduate certificate in Latin American and Latinx studies because we needed these grants to pay for the instructor who teaches those courses.”

Read Full Article on the Daily Camera Website.

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Friday: Sharing with the Devil: A story of an Indonesian plantation, 1830s - 2000s

Elizabeth Williams — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 17:36:02 +0000

Friday: Sharing with the Devil: A story of an Indonesian plantation, 1830s - 2000s Elizabeth Williams Mon, 10/06/2025 - 11:36

Friday, October 10 at 4pm
Hale Sciences, room 230

The plantation system, a colonial construct, has outlasted its creators. This talk presents research about a paradox in the 200-year history of an Indonesian coffee plantation. Despite appearing highly productive, plantations over the past century rarely turn a profit and are often plagued by significant internal theft. By conceptualizing plantations as dual spaces: arenas of production and sites of wealth distribution, Pujo Semedi examines the tension between plantation owners’ drive for accumulation and workers’ and managers’ demands for resource sharing. The plantation is therefore not just a site of production, it is also a battleground for the concentration and distribution of wealth. How can a business riddled with theft not only survive but prosper? Could it be that internal theft, rather than hindering the development of plantations, is a mechanism that keeps them alive?

With Pujo Semedi, Professor, Anthropology, Gadjah Mada University and Fulbright Scholar in Residence, University of Colorado.

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Expanding career horizons through classroom outreach

Elizabeth Williams — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 16:54:29 +0000

Expanding career horizons through classroom outreach Elizabeth Williams Wed, 10/01/2025 - 10:54 Christy Go

Senior Isaac Kou—a double major in computer science and ecology and evolutionary biology, minoring in dance—had not considered working in education or with K-12 students until hearing about the Program for Teaching East Asia’s classroom outreach program. Viewing it as an interesting opportunity to develop different skills and give back to the community, Kou applied. Apprehensive at first, Kou blossomed into a confident educator, excited to share about Japanese culture and engage with students.

̽��Ƶ the program

Now having completed its second successful year, the Program for Teaching East Asia’s (TEA) classroom outreach program focuses on ways K-12 educators can use picture books about East Asia to engage students in cross-curricular learning. The program was made possible through sponsorship from the Office of Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship and the National Consortium for Teaching ̽��Ƶ Asia. Participating CU students are each assigned a book set in East Asia then work with TEA staff to develop a lesson, practice reading delivery and ultimately present a storybook reading and mini-lesson to Colorado K-8 classrooms.

This year’s program, “Teaching Geography Through East Asian Picture Books,” engaged elementary and middle school students in classrooms from Greeley and the Denver metro area all the way to Grand Junction. These students explored urban and rural settings in East Asia and participated in activities that included listening to the sounds of the city of Tokyo to identifying different types of rice, including finding the “imposter.”

Running from February to May, the program successfully concluded with several CU student facilitators participating in reading to multiple classes during a celebratory day at a local elementary school. In total, the program reached 49 classrooms in eight school districts.

The CU outreach students hailed from different specializations, not necessarily aiming for careers in education. However, all the participants expressed how teaching impacted them and became so much more than just presenting material to young children. CU students reported that organizing a clear presentation adapted for different audiences, practicing projection and enunciation through readings, and answering questions and clarifying points on the fly helped them improve their public speaking and professionalism—useful skills that can be transferred to future career settings.

Lily Elliott

Lily Elliott, a senior double majoring in ecology and evolutionary biology and Asian studies, challenged herself by preparing lessons for two books. Elliott was able to leverage her expertise in the sciences for the book “Rice,” about growing and harvesting rice in southern China, but she also stepped out of her comfort zone in preparing the second book, “The Ocean Calls,” about haenyeo, traditional Korean female divers. Working with a topic she wasn’t as familiar with prompted Elliott to engage in a different kind of reflection after each lesson and consider organization and delivery of the material in a more critical way.

Kyrie MacArthur

Sophomore history and education major Kyrie MacArthur, who also prepared for the book “The Ocean Calls,” relished the opportunity to prepare and execute her own lesson and reported the experience as great practice for her work as an educator. The experience confirmed her love for teaching; the program gave her the opportunity to work with elementary grades, expanding her thoughts about which grade levels could be her specialization. MacArthur's experience made her consider teaching upper elementary, as well as middle school, which could broaden future career opportunities.

Read the full article here.

The Program for Teaching East Asia at the Center for Asian Studies at ̽��Ƶ is a member of the National Consortium for Teaching ̽��Ƶ Asia and works to provide teachers with robust professional development about East Asia for application in K-12 classrooms nationwide.

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Frydenlund Awarded RIO New Frontiers Grant

Elizabeth Williams — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 18:00:51 +0000

Frydenlund Awarded RIO New Frontiers Grant Elizabeth Williams Thu, 09/25/2025 - 12:00

CAS Climate and Society assistant teaching professor Shae Frydenlund won a $50,000 RIO New Frontiers Grant to fund the Planning Phase of her interdisciplinary project on geothermal development, entitled: New Frontiers in the Renewable Energy Transition: Mapping Technological and Social Dimensions of Geothermal Development in Colorado. Together with Engineering Professor Bri-Mathias Hodge, she will investigate intersecting social, economic, and technological dimensions of geothermal development in Colorado and beyond. The project emerged from the CAS Climate and Society in Asia workshop in Fall 2024, which convened faculty from Arts and Sciences and Engineering to discuss intersecting interests in climate science and social and historical factors in Asia with the aim of generating new connections and collaborations. The workshop brought together Dr. Frydenlund’s experience working with Indigenous anti-geothermal activists in Indonesia and Dr. Hodge’s experience in the simulation of power and energy systems, with an emphasis on the integration of renewable energy. This unique collaboration highlights CAS contributions to advancing high-impact research at ̽��Ƶ. The project aims to position ̽��Ƶ as a leader in geoenergy research by establishing a first-of-its-kind interdisciplinary geothermal research center.

Frydenlund and Hodge ask: despite its potential, why does geothermal energy remain virtually untapped in Colorado? As evidenced by community resistance to geothermal projects and technological limitations, there are significant, yet poorly understood, barriers towards increased deployment. There is an urgent need to identify, map, and analyze barriers from multiple scientific and humanistic perspectives to support the timely and just development of geoenergy resources in Colorado. The project pairs quantitative and qualitative methods to model and map technological and social impediments to geothermal energy infrastructure development. By incorporating multiple technical, spatial, and qualitative methods, the project will generate high-impact data on impediments to Colorado energy independence. During the fall semester, Shae is supervising applied mathematics graduate student Jonathan Shaw to develop quantitative research methods and conduct a literature review. The team will also plan campus-wide town hall meetings to connect with ̽��Ƶ geothermal experts for team building and to identify industry and community partners. During the spring of 2026, Shae will conduct qualitative fieldwork in Chaffee, Pitkin, and Gunnison counties, including semi-structured interviews and surveys of geothermal development stakeholders. Following the Planning Phase activities, the team plans to apply for the $200,000 New Frontiers Launch Phase grant to establish the research center, fund postdoctoral researchers, and build capacity to apply for other major grants.

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Celebrating Undergraduate Research: Introducing the 12th Issue of CJAS

Elizabeth Williams — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 18:23:54 +0000

Celebrating Undergraduate Research: Introducing the 12th Issue of CJAS Elizabeth Williams Tue, 09/02/2025 - 12:23

Welcome to the twelfth edition of the Colorado Journal of Asian Studies (CJAS), published by the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. Since its founding, CJAS has celebrated the creativity and insight of undergraduate scholars by providing a platform for original research on Asia. This year’s issue continues that tradition, bringing together a diverse collection of essays, photo projects, and long-form studies that span regions from Iran to Japan and topics from religion and politics to translation, visual culture, and food.

Short Form Academic Essays

Gender and Power: Manifestations of Women’s Status in the Discourse of Reform — Abigail Ellis, University of Colorado Boulder
Post-1987 Education Reform & the Search for National Identity in Taiwan — Shelby Glenn, University of Colorado Boulder
The Sinicization of Manchu Women in the Qing Dynasty: Evaluating from Marriage Custom, Chaste Widow, and Manchu Clothing — Jiaheng Lyu, University of Texas
Local Deities, Lamas, and Festivals: Experiencing the Sentient Beings of Manang Valley, Nepal — Luke Stumpfl, University of Colorado Boulder
Orphan of Taiwan: The Importance of Identity and Upbringing in the Mid-20th Century — Hayden Fox, University of Colorado Boulder

Photo Essays

Focusing People Not Objects: Photography and Selective Narratives in Colonial India — Spandan Koirala, University of Colorado Boulder
The Female Gaze: The Aurangabad Photo Budget No. 7 as a Lens for Exploring Missionary Women and Their Work in Local Communities — Joy Mellott, University of Colorado Boulder
Understanding the East Malaysian Perspective of Local History — Samantha Choe, University of Colorado Boulder

Long-Form Academic Essays

ADHD in Translation: The English to Chinese Translation Distinctions — Chloe Nowak, University of Colorado Boulder
Farmers in Modernity: Local Responses to Agricultural Policy in Bhutan — Lorelei Smillie, Colorado College
Inventing an Empire: The Role of Migration in the Fabrication of Curry in Colonial India and Legacies of Food Colonization — Marguerite Laplant, University of Denver
The Legacies of State Shinto and Aum Shinrikyo on Japanese Religious Politics as seen Through the Unification Church — L.H. Scheppy, University of Colorado Boulder

We are grateful to the undergraduate scholars whose contributions make this issue possible. Their work reflects the creativity, rigor, and intellectual curiosity that define Asian Studies as a field and highlight the value of undergraduate research as a vital part of academic inquiry.

Now in its twelfth edition, CJAS builds on more than a decade of publishing student scholarship. This tradition underscores the journal’s role as a space where undergraduates can share their voices, challenge assumptions, and broaden our collective understanding of Asia.

We invite you to read the full 12th edition of CJAS and engage with the wide-ranging perspectives it offers.

Looking ahead, we welcome submissions for the 13th edition. Students interested in contributing can find submission guidelines here: https://journals.colorado.edu/index.php/coasianstudies/about/submissions

Sincerely,
The Editorial Team
Colorado Journal of Asian Studies
Center for Asian Studies

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How Asian American became a racial grouping – and why many with Asian roots don’t identify with the term these days

Elizabeth Williams — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 19:48:20 +0000

How Asian American became a racial grouping – and why many with Asian roots don’t identify with the term these days Elizabeth Williams Mon, 08/25/2025 - 13:48

For the first time, in 1990, May was officially designated as a month honoring Asian American and Pacific Islander heritage. Though the current U.S. administration recently withdrew federal recognition, the month continues to be celebrated by a wide array of people from diverse cultural backgrounds.

People from the Pacific Islands have their own distinct histories and issues, delineated in part by a specific geography. Yet when we refer to the even broader category of Asian Americans, a concept with a deep yet often unknown history, who exactly are we referring to?

There are nearly 25 million people of Asian descent who live in the United States, but the term Asian American remains shrouded by cultural misunderstanding and contested as a term among Asians themselves.

As a professor of Asian American studies, I believe it is important to understand how the label came into being.

Read the full article here.

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The Center for Asian Studies welcomes beginning and returning students!

Elizabeth Williams — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 17:36:38 +0000

The Center for Asian Studies welcomes beginning and returning students! Elizabeth Williams Mon, 08/18/2025 - 11:36

Welcome to the 2025-26 academic year!

We hope as you get settled in to the Fall semester, you take a minute to get to know who we are, and you look for CAS events that might interest you.

Our Mission:

The Mission for the Center for Asian Studies is to provide a physical space where Asia-related interests intersect and find a whole greater than the sum of their parts, and where student and community-driven initiatives to embrace different world views have a home. The Center seeks to build a space where core projects of the university’s ‘academic futures’ are experimented with, explored, and realized, including student-centered learning, interdisciplinary teaching and research, and building an international culture on our campus and beyond. Recognizing that there has never been a more pressing time to understand this complex and diverse region, whether one lives within or far beyond its borders, CAS strives to facilitate active engagements with and within Asia, while making Asia as accessible as possible to the whole of the ̽��Ƶ community.

The Center for Asian Studies strives to be a space of community, curiosity and respectful engagement with Asia. We view the area studies endeavor as a necessary yet distinct complement to disciplinary knowledge, and recognize the historic and geographic centrality that Asia has and continues to play in the human venture. Rather than treating Asia as an object of knowledge, however, we aspire to learn from Asia through self-critical intellectual inquiry, realizing a broader, more grounded, and more nuanced understanding of the human experience.

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Colorado educators explore windows to Asia's lesser-known nations

Elizabeth Williams — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 15:00:47 +0000

Colorado educators explore windows to Asia's lesser-known nations Elizabeth Williams Thu, 08/14/2025 - 09:00

This article originally appeared in ̽��Ƶ Today.

While nearly every nation has a checkered past, reducing a country to a single chapter risks overlooking the richness of its history and culture.

Through a series of professional development workshops over the 2024–25 academic year, the South, Southeast, and West Asia Outreach Program (SSEWA) of the Center for Asian Studies (CAS) at ̽��Ƶ helped teachers gain a more nuanced perspective on three conflict-affected countries—Afghanistan, Cambodia and Vietnam—and helped reshape how some Colorado educators approach global education.

“SSEWA workshops help ̽��Ƶ scholarship and research expand and deepen Colorado educators’ knowledge of underrepresented regions in Asia,” said SSEWA Outreach Coordinator Hannah Palustre.

CAS ran the SSEWA program from 2006 to 2014 and relaunched it in 2022, through a $2.2 million National Resource Center (NRC) and Foreign Language and Area Studies grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Additional funding from the CU Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship and Partnerships for International Strategies in Asia allowed SSEWA to offer workshops at no cost to teachers, expanding access and impact.

“I recently learned that ‘sewa’ means ‘service’ in Nepali, which seems fitting because the SSEWA outreach program serves teachers,” Palustre said. “Almost three years after our relaunch, we’re seeing a growing number of repeat participants—educators who continue to seek global perspectives for their classrooms.”

Read full article here.

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Spotlight All

Spring 2026 Asia - Related Classes

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2025 Meeting of the American Society for Premodern Asia (ASPA), Western Branch

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̽����Ƶ cultural centers lose millions from federal funding cuts - Daily Camera Article

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Friday: Sharing with the Devil: A story of an Indonesian plantation, 1830s - 2000s

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Expanding career horizons through classroom outreach

̽����Ƶ the program

Lily Elliott

Kyrie MacArthur

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Frydenlund Awarded RIO New Frontiers Grant

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Celebrating Undergraduate Research: Introducing the 12th Issue of CJAS

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How Asian American became a racial grouping – and why many with Asian roots don’t identify with the term these days

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The Center for Asian Studies welcomes beginning and returning students!

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Colorado educators explore windows to Asia's lesser-known nations

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̽��Ƶ cultural centers lose millions from federal funding cuts - Daily Camera Article

̽��Ƶ the program