Throughout our Hindi classes students are not only exposed to the language and grammar of Hindi but also to the culture of Hindi speakers as well. Instead of creating American style cards this Valentine’s Day, our class was given a demonstration on Madhubani art by University of Delhi, Professor Priyanka Singh. Priyanka Singh teaches Hindi, and she also researches and practices different forms of Indian regional style art, including Madhubani art. Madhubani art is a style of painting practiced in the Mithila region… read more about Madhubani Art Class Demonstration - “The Fish is the queen of the water (मछली जल की रानी है)” »
You are never too old to listen to a story. Even the simplest ones can have the ability to communicate a unique perspective of our world, whether they be emotionally intense or just an extended joke. And last month, Hindi 102 and 204 each had the pleasure of attending a short story workshop with Anurag Sharma. We learned how to use our growing knowledge of the Hindi language to share our own stories. For his day job, Mr. Sharma works as an IT Project Manager in a bank. But he is also the founder, publisher, and Editor-in-… read more about Short Stories with Anurag Sharma »
The Hindi Festival this year was an amazing immersion into the Hindi language. Its goal is to celebrate the work of Hindi students at Duke and to connect us further into Indian culture. We also had a lamp lighting, a poem performance by Manju Mishra, and a recitation of the Saraswati Vandana Mantra by Alka Bhatnagar. The festival was virtual this year because of COVID, but Hindi professors Kusum Knapczyk and Satti Khanna still made it very enjoyable. The Elementary Hindi students all performed skits in Hindi for the… read more about Virtual Hindi Festival »
In Hindi 204, Kusum Ji made it her mission to expose us to various aspects of Indian culture, such as poetry, stories, and dance. She did this through inviting a few guests to the class, where we’d get the opportunity to put our normal work on pause for a day and interact in Hindi with an expert on their topic of expertise. For one of these classes, Kusum Ji invited Rohini Thakkar from the Duke India Initiative, a Bollywood dancer and native Hindi speaker. Kusum Ji had invited Rohini Ji to my Hindi 203 class last semester,… read more about Dance with a Smile »
This semester, we had the pleasure of welcoming Manju Mishra, a Hindi poet. Here is her poem blog https://manukavya.wordpress.com/ We’d previously had experience with Hindi poetry last semester, when Bollywood lyricist Dr. Sagar led a workshop for us. Now with a broader vocabulary and more knowledge of grammar construction, the pressure was on to top our performances. Regardless of the language—Hindi or English—writing poems is no easy task. I, and most of my class, approached the workshop with a little bit… read more about Finding our flow: An introduction to writing Hindi Poetry »
This semester, students in HINDI 204 participated in a workshop called “Exploring Disinformation from a Multilingual Perspective: Fact, Rumors, and Lies about the Texas Power Crisis.” We participated along with other students who were studying Chinese, French, Italian, French, and Spanish to evaluate the factual accuracy articles written in their respective languages of study concerning the power outages in Texas this year. The aims of this workshop centered around exploring how disinformation spreads across multiple… read more about Exploring Disinformation Across Various Languages »
On February 27 and March 6, those of us in Kusumji’s Hindi classes had the opportunity to meet with girls from the Delhi Young Artists Forum (DYAF) and their supervisor Sadre Alam. The girls’ ages spanned from 9th grade to PhD students, so we got to hear many different stories of life and lockdown in India. I and a lot of other Duke students really appreciated being able to get their perspectives, and the girls were very open in sharing their experiences. Gulafsha said that she missed a train and got stuck far from home for… read more about Speaking Globally »
This past Tuesday, students taking Dr. Kusum Knapczyk’s Hindi 102 course got to cook an Indian breakfast staple, upma. Upma is a thick porridge or patty traditionally made from semolina flour, diced vegetables, and a variety of other ingredients. While it has origins in South India, hundreds of variations are popular across the subcontinent — and students got to create their own version in class. Using roasted vermicelli noodles, chopped vegetables, and an assortment of herbs and spices, students worked from a one-pot,… read more about Indian Cooking with a Few Ingredients »
BOOK EXCERPT A forest has fallen silent in grief in Vinod Kumar Shukla’s eerie new novel in translation An excerpt from ‘A Silent Place’, Vinod Kumar Shukla, translated from the Hindi by AMES Prof Satti Khanna. Twitter blurb here. read more about New Book Translated by Satti Khanna »
Professor Omid Safi has some advice for Duke’s graduating seniors, or really any student who may be struggling to answer questions about what’s next. “It has been helpful for me to remember, as somebody who studies multiple religious traditions, that good old socialist, first-century Palestinian Jew – Jesus – doesn’t figure out that he’s the Christ until he’s 30. And that Indian prince, Siddhartha Gautama, doesn’t become the Buddha until he’s 35. And that Arabian mystic… read more about Safi Leads Student Discussion on Defining Success and Leadership in New Ways »
Getting Beyond the Problematic Ideas of "Success" and "Leadership," a conversation with Omid Safi, Professor in Asian & Middle Eastern Studies April 19 | 7:00 PM EDT Universities, particularly elite universities like Duke, brand ourselves as places where students learn to become “Leaders” and should strive for achieving “Success.” In this conversation, I would like for us to imagine something different: what if we were to think of success as a communal, not… read more about Exploring Self and Community in Dark Times, a Conversation with Omid Safi »
February 19, 10:00am - April 16, 12:00pm 6th Annual CAH Workshop The 6th Annual CAH Workshop will be held virtually in three sessions: 10AM EST Friday, February 19th-Zoom Meeting ID https://duke.zoom.us/j/97269890532 Benjamin Kindler presents "Our Friends in the South: Anti-Colonial Universalisms and Sino-Vietnamese Solidarity in the Global 1960s" Kindler Abstract 10AM EST Friday, March 12th-Zoom Meeting ID https… read more about 6th Annual CAH Workshop »
April 14, 8:00–9:30 PM EST Zoom workshop featuring: Lisa Rofel, UC Santa Cruz Petrus Liu, Boston University Cui Zi’en, film director, producer, film scholar, screenwriter, novelist, and LGBT activist Sponsored by the CCK Foundation Inter-University Center for Sinological Studies Registration required: https://duke.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYofuuvpjooEtSmEMjFordSbpKC9uep8… read more about Queering What Is Left of Queer:The Work of Cui Zi’en »
Six Duke Faculty who have published poetry collections are highlighted during the 25th anniversary of National Poetry Month. AMES Professor Erdağ Göknar is one of those highlighted among the university's faculty who have published collections of poetry. More info here. read more about AMES Faculty Poet »
When Egyptian writer Nawal el-Saadawi arrived at Duke University in January 1993, it was supposed to be a short-term residency. It ended up as a four-year visit that made for a series of memorable classes and lectures and lasting relationships between Saadawi and several Duke faculty and students. Her time at Duke may also have saved her life. Saadawi, who died March 21 and was praised in obituaries in the New York Times and elsewhere as one of the leading feminist voices in the Arab world in more than 50 books of fiction… read more about When Duke Gave Shelter to An Egyptian Intellectual »
Friday | April 9 | 5-6:30PM This presentation will give a brief introduction to the contemplative pedagogy (CP) and its application in higher ed. The presenter will then discuss why CP can and should be applied to designing courses of world languages. The majority of this presentation will be concrete examples of how CP was used in the presenter's first-year and third-year Chinese classes. Specific in-class activities and outside-class assignments will also be shared and discussed to show… read more about Contemplative Pedagogy and its Application to CFL Course Design (Fri, Apr 9, 5-6:30PM) »
Launched by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996, National Poetry Month reminds us of the integral role poets play in our culture. For the 25th anniversary of this annual celebration of poets and poetry, we highlight six poets among the university's faculty who have published collections of poetry. The works of these poets, along with many others, are available at Duke University Libraries, the Gothic Bookshop or the Regulator Bookshop. In addition, Duke University Press is offering a… read more about Celebrate National Poetry Month with Six Duke Faculty Poets »
A March 24 panel discussion in response to the increase of violence against people of Asian descent, including the mass shootings in Atlanta earlier this month, attracted more than 670 Duke faculty, staff and students. Moderated by Nayoung Aimee Kwon, the online event featured presentations on the historical context of anti-Asian violence from Susan Thananopavarn, Eileen Chow and Esther Kim Lee. Syllabus on Asian-American History and Culture In response to recent acts of violence against Asian Americans stemming from a… read more about The History of Violence Against Asian Americans »
“I Cannot Write My Life: New Perspectives on the Life and Writings of Omar ibn Said" Dr. Lo’s project offers new perspectives on Omar Ibn Said’s life in North Carolina from 1808 through his death in 1863, and his Arabic writings that encompass 17 documents held in local and national repositories. It also examines Omar’s condensed references, omissions, quotations and Qur’anic verses to reflect a complex background in his West African and Islamicate culture. Over the course of the fellowship term, Dr. Lo will collaborate… read more about Mbaye Lo Announced as 2021 ACLS Fellow »
Dr. Yunchuan Chen, assistant professor of the practice at AMES, has been selected as the recipient of the 2021 Hamako Ito Chaplin Memorial Award for excellence in Japanese language teaching. This national award is administered through the Association for Asian Studies (AAS). read more about Faculty Receives National Language Teaching Award »
This workshop will ask you to consider your underlying assumptions regarding the value of games as a teaching tool. We will cover: what games exist, their affordances for language teaching, why you should consider teaching with them. James York is an Assistant Professor at Tokyo Denki University, Japan, where he conducts research on the use of games in language learning contexts. Sponsored by AMES, Duke Game Lab, Duke Language Central, Digital Humanities Initiative, Computational Media, Arts & Cultures and Information… read more about Ludic Language Pedagogy: What, How and Why to Teach with Games »
Folding pork and chive dumplings as she spoke with Duke students on March 22, Eileen Cheng-yin Chow lectured and led a discussion about how food connects to many facets of life – and how those relationships have heightened or changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Chow, a lecturing fellow in Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, walked undergraduates through the ways in which food is related to health and our bodies, the environment, gender, class and labor, and so much more. The… read more about Chow Leads Discussion on East Asian Food Cultures Against Backdrop of COVID-19 »
Join us and refresh your mind, body and soul at the Hindi Festival 2021! read more about Hindi Festival 2021 »
In this hands-on workshop you’ll discover how easy it is to learn the basics of coding with Twine, and you’ll create your own Twine adventure. Dr. Randall Sadler is an Associate Professor of Linguistics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Sponsored by AMES, Duke Game Lab, Duke Language Central, Digital Humanities Initiative, Computational Media, Arts & Cultures and Information Science + Studies Register: https://duke.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUucO-oqTkpGNPPDIlpGxjYWCoBumVkquWc read more about Twine: A workshop on how to put the “interactive” in Interactive Fiction and text-based games »
Distinguished Duke Computer Science Alumni Lecture Loftis will discuss her 25+ year journey as a game developer, including a bit of gaming history, trend observations, hard-knock lessons and suggestions for ways to get into the industry and make it yours. Game development is one of the most multi-functional industries in the world, and it’s growing more rapidly than any other form of consumer entertainment. From concept to sunset, any given game may require the skills of coders, artists, musicians, actors… read more about Observations and Tips from 25+ Years of Building Games »
Queer in Translation intervenes in queer studies’ separate, and in fact diagonally opposing approaches to neoliberalism and Islam by using the case of Turkey’s AKP governments for the past 16 years. I theorize “neoliberal Islam” as a unique regime that brings together economic and religious moralities that work to deploy marginality onto ever expanding populations instead of concentrating it in the lower echelons of society (as has been proposed for US neoliberalism, for instance). I suggest that sexual… read more about Queer in Translation (March 5) »
Cole Walker is a sophomore at Duke and is majoring in Public Policy and Chinese. Abstract: As an African American studying Chinese, I have always been drawn to how people in the Chinese-speaking world perceive black people. My 2017 high school exchange trip to China gave me a wonderful opportunity to make friends in China and to live with a host family, but this was only for two weeks. While I was stared at in public spaces and asked to take selfies with random people, most of this… read more about Chinese Circle- Racism Geared Toward Black People (March 4) »