Spring 2024 Endowed Lecture Series
The Center for Asian Studies is committed to providing opportunities for the University community to engage in Asian and Asian American cultures. We offer a variety of expert-led lectures throughout the semester such as, The Anlin Ku Lecture on Chinese Culture, Carmen R. & Joseph G. Schneidler Lecture on Pan-Asian Culture, Charlie’s TechTalks and more. See our upcoming and past lectures below.
Spring 2024
No-No Boy Concert
March 6, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.
Jonsson Performance Hall (JO 2.604), JO 2.604
No-No Boy is an immersive concert experience that illuminates hidden Asian American histories through folk songs, sound pieces, live projections, and storytelling. NPR Music has hailed it as “one of the most insurgent pieces of music you’ll ever hear which re-examines americana with devastating effect… An act of revisionist subversion” Taking inspiration from his own family’s history living through the Vietnam War as well as many other stories of Asian American experience, Nashville-born songwriter and scholar Julian Saporiti has transformed his years of doctoral study into an innovative project that bridges a divide between art and scholarship. This performance will celebrate No-No Boy’s third full-length LP EMPIRE ELECTRIC released by the Smithsonian Folkways label.
Sounds contain histories and prophecies. If you listen closely, there are winding tales to be found in a string brushed by a handmade bow, worlds to be uncovered in the trill of a bird about to take flight, and truths to be reckoned with in the grain of an unknown voice. This is the revelation at the core of Empire Electric, the third album by No-No Boy, and its songs that examine narratives of imperialism, identity, and spirituality. It tells stories rooted in years of research and relationship-building, made vibrant and profound through a rich congregation of instrumental, environmental, and electronically manipulated sounds from Asia and America. Every single sound, from the gracious swell of a pedal steel to the warbling pluck of a koto, becomes a part of the poetic recasting of shared post-colonial trauma and the startling joys that can be wrung out of that hardship.
This concert is a free event co-sponsored with the Hobson Wildenthal Honors College, the Harry W. Bass Jr, School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology, the Crow Museum of Asian Art, the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies, and the Japan-America Society of DFW.
Dr. Julian Saporiti was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. He enjoys making music, encountering the arts, and exploring the outdoors. He currently lives in Portland, OR with his wife and collaborator Emilia Halvorsen Saporiti.
Parking & Directions
Non-affiliated UTD visitors may download and print this parking permit to display on your dashboard when parking. The permit is valid for any orange outlined space on campus, as well as any gold or green space if all orange spaces are unavailable. Parking Structure 3 (PS3) will be the closest parking area to the JO building:
2830 Rutford Ave Richardson, TX 75080
The JO building is about a 5-to-10 minute walk southeast from Parking Structure 3 (PS3), and a Comet Cab will be available from 6:30 – 10 p.m. to help those with physical disabilities or limitations (including wheelchair users) get to and from the venue. The Comet Cab (similar to a golf cart) will be stationed on the 2nd floor of PS3, and take visitors directly to the Jonsson Performance Hall. For those who choose to walk:
When you walk out of PS3, head down the walkway (going away from the street) towards the heart of campus. As you approach the Science Building (SCI) on your right (modern building with thin rectangular windows and an outdoor area), the JO building (older building) will be to your left. Upon entering the JO building:
- Walk down the hall and towards the elevators
- Right before the elevators, there will be two corner doors on your left
- Jonsson Performance Hall (JO 2.604) will be through the doors and down the stairs
“Walking Together, Walking Alone: Timeless Models of Independence” featuring Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Thursday, January 18 at 7:30 to 9 p.m.
Jonsson Performance Hall (JO 2.604), JO 2.604
Jonsson Performance Hall is on the north mall inside Erik Jonsson Academic Center.
You and your guest(s) are cordially invited to the Inaugural Carmen R. and Joseph G. Schneidler Lecture on Asian Studies featuring Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.
Among the most-admired Asian American writers of the 21st century, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is the Betty and Gene McDavid Professor of Writing at the University of Houston. Her novels and short stories address profound issues ranging from the experience of South Asian immigrants to India’s turbulent struggle for independence. She is known for portraying the challenge of balancing the desire for independence with societal obligations facing women – as in the charismatic women of her current novel Independence, and in her bold retellings of the foundational Indian epics Mahabharata and Ramayana from the perspective of Draupadi and Sita.
In partnership with:
- Crow Museum of Asian Art of The University of Texas at Dallas
- Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology
- Hobson Wildenthal Honors College at UTD
- U.S. India Chamber of Commerce DFW
- Dallas Literary Society
Exhibition: Dragon Eye by Thomas Riccio
January 26 – March 2, 2024
SP/N Gallery
A new multi-channel exhibition by artist-scholar Thomas Riccio, “Dragon Eye” is based on his 20 years of ethnographic documentation of the Miao people living in southwest China. Riccio’s work spans video, installation, social practice, and performance.
View the article covering the exhibition
“Dragon Eye” is sponsored by the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities, and Technology and the Center for Asian Studies.