The Asian Studies Initiative
The Asian Studies Initiative at Beloit College began in 2002 with a grant from the Freeman Foundation to integrate teaching about Asia into undergraduate education. The College's effectiveness in fulfilling grant objections led to a second grant from the Foundation in 2007/08 with a matching grant coming from the bequest of Beloit College life trustee William Keefer.
Over the course of the initiative, faculty members in Asian Studies have created dozens of new courses. As significantly, faculty outside of Asian Studies have incorporated Asia into their teaching, truly making Asia a part of the wider college curriculum.
Perhaps the most significant achievement under the initiative, however, does not lie in the numbers of courses or course units created, but capacity building. That is, building capacity at the institutional level to build partnerships with Asian institutions based on mutual trust and collaboration, capacity among the faculty to understand and teach about aspects of Asia, and capacity among students to not only begin to understand Asia but to engage with it in meaningful ways.
As we look forward to academic year 2012/13 and beyond, we hope to build well on the lessons from our 10 year engagement with the initiative to continue to find creative and productive ways to further teaching and learning about and from Asia.
"Has the Great Game returned to Central Asia after 9/11?". Lecture by Dr. Baktybek Beshimov, Harvard University Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian States, April 11, 2012 at 7:30pm in the Porter Brown Auditorium, Science Center 150.
The lecture: "Has the Great Game returned to Central Asia after 9/11?"
Post-Soviet Central Asia is the world’s only region where the interests of great powers such as the U.S, Russia, and China are so tightly and permanently intertwined. The powers' conflicting goals and strategies, however, mean that Central Asian states lack dynamic market economies and strong, secular systems of government. Indeed, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan have found themselves on the brink of failure and under the looming threat of Muslim radicalism. Washington primarily has been interested in supporting the sovereignty and independence of Central Asian states and securing its military presence. Russia prefers to contain and control Central Asia as its “zone of privileged interests, while China is setting its sights on further expansion in the region and sees the region as a potential security zone and key energy hub. The leaders and predatory elites of Central Asian states have used the rivalry between these powerful actors for their own gains.
Information on Baktybek Beshimov
Baktybek Beshimov is a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies and an expert on democracy, liberty, and human rights in Central Asia. A former Provost of American University - Central Asia and President of Osh State University, both in Kyrgzstan, Dr. Beshimov served as a member of parliament of Kyrgyzstan from 2007-2010, as the Krgyz Ambassador to India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal from 2000-2005, as a member of the parliament of the Kyrgyz Republic from 1998-2000. In the latter position, he played an influential role in shaping Krygyzstan's security strategy, and as a UN program representative, worked on border and economic integration issues in the Ferghana Valley. He comes to Beloit College through the Scholars at Risk Network.
Dr. Beshimov will be accompanied by his wife, Fatima Mendikulova. Currently serving as an intern and program assistant to the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation Program at Harvard University's Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, from 2006-2009 Ms. Mendikulova was the Founder/Director from of “Initiatives for Development” Public Fund (NGO), Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, a NGO created to tackle issues of unlawful utility shut-offs and to increase knowledge of consumer's right. She also founded and directed, from 1996 to 2000, the "Center for Support of Women's Initiatives in Osh Oblast, Kyrgyzstan to provide training and job development services to women. This work drew on Ms. Mendikulova's expertise in management and human resources.
__________________________________________________________________________________ American Japonisme: A New Perspective 
Curated by UW-M graduate student Angela Christine Lowther
October 27 - December 2, 2011, Wright Museum of Art, North Gallery
This exhibition critically examined the relationship between the Far East and West, revealing the implications this contact would have on the visual arts primarily during the years 1850-1930. Curated by graduate student Angela Lowther, the show offered a fresh look at the contributions of American artists, especially female printmakers Helen Hyde, Bertha Lum, and Bertha Jaques.
____________________________________________________________________________
Transcultural Asia: Pedagogies of Borrowing & Trading in Undergraduate Education
Asian Studies Teaching Colloquium
September 23-24, 2011
Beloit College
Since September 2009, Beloit College, with the support of a grant from the Freeman Foundation, has hosted colloquia on teaching Asian Studies. The goal of the colloquia has been to assemble a repertoire of strategies and techniques for teaching Asian Studies at the undergraduate level.
In recent years, scholarship in both the humanities and social sciences has promoted an increasingly sophisticated view of a transnational and transcultural Asia. However, this destabilized conception of Asia has proven extremely challenging to teach to undergraduates.The September 2011 colloquium, therefore, focused on "Transcultural Asia: Pedagogies of Borrowing & Trading in Undergraduate Education."
The keynote address, "Gifted Relations: A Short, Selective, and Opinionated History of Euro-Afro-Asian Exchange," was given by Don Wyatt (Middlebury College), Friday, September 24, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. in the Porter Brown Auditorium, Science Center 150.
______________________________________________________________________________________
An exhibit, Imaging Others, curated by Lenore Metrick-Chen, Drake University, will be held in the Wright Museum of Art at Beloit College in conjunction with the colloquium.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Other Events:
Wednesday, September 28: Concert with Vidya Dengle and Manpreet Singh. 7:00 p.m., Hendricks Center 204.
Vidya Dengle is a performing musician, painter, sculptor, and published author of short stories for children. She studied violin in the Hindustani classical tradition with the late Ustad Zahoor Ahmed Khan of the Delhi Gharana and with Dr. Ashok Ranade in Mumbai. Familiar with American audiences, she has twice before conducted tours of American colleges and universities. She resides in Pune, Maharashtra.
For more information on Asian Studies at Beloit College, please see the Asian Studies minor