Thursday, September 22, 2005

Upcoming Talks: Mickey Mouse, China's Far West

As I had mentioned a couple of weeks back, there is going to be a very interesting talk this evening at the Hong Kong Museum of History Lecture Hall organized by the Hong Kong Anthropological Society. Entitled, "Mickey Mao: What the World's Newest Disneyland Tells Us About Globalization", it will talk about the meanings behind Hong Kong's new Disney theme park. The talk starts at 7pm. I highly recommend this talk, whose speaker is an Asian Wall Street Journal reporter with an impressive background in anthropology. Please come!

Another talk that will be coming up soon is a seminar entitled, "China and Central Asia", by graduate student Remi Castets. The talk is sponsored by the French Centre for Research on Contemporary China, whose offices are on Wyndham Street in Central (very convenient, no excuse for not coming!). I enclose the abstract about his talk, which sounds like a very interesting, and controversial, subject:
After the independence of the Central Asian Republics, a new geostrategical area bordering Chinese far West has emerged. The immediate reaction of the PRC has been guided by internal considerations, the stabilization of those new Turkic Muslim republics being vital for the stabilization of China's western regions.

We will see how through both bilateral and multilateral links, Beijing has been able in a few years to gain the support of Central Asian States in order to face common threats and defend China's vital interests in the region. Today, whereas Beijing is intenting to deepen the partnership through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, China and Russia struggle together to limit American growing influence in the region. At the same time, while the competition with US and India is on the rise, China's needs for oil supplies are deepening its interest in the region.

Also, the biography of the speaker:
Remi Castets is a Ph. D student at the Centre for Research in International Relations ( Institute of Political Studies, Paris) and the CEFC. He has a Master in Political science (2001) and graduated in Chinese language (2000). He has conducted several fieldworks in China and Central Asia. His research focuses on national identities structuration process, political Islam and geopolitics in China/Central Asia since 1998. His latest publications include "Nationalisme, Islam et Opposition politique", Les Etudes du CERI, octobre 2004, n0 110, 64 pages.

In 2004, Remi Castets received the Aguirre Basualdo award in Political science from the Chancellery of Universities of Paris.

To attend you must RSVP (must be because of the lovely wine and cheese the French sponsors put on for these events) Somvichit Nachampasack, whose e-mail: promotio@cefc.com.hk.

Hope to see you at both talks!

1 comment:

Simon said...

I can't make the talk although I'd love to attend. If you go please take some notes and post a report sometime.