Schedule

Thursday, September 26, 2024
7 p.m. Reception
7:30–8:30 p.m. Discussion
8:15–8:30 p.m. Book Signing

Join an evening of insightful discussion with University of Houston professors Duy Lap Nguyen, Ph.D., and Melody Yunzi Li, Ph.D. as they explore the role of mass media and pop culture in Asian diaspora.

Duy Lap Nguyen, Ph.D., Associate Professor of World Cultures and Literatures and author of The Unimagined Community: Imperialism and Culture in South Vietnam, will examine the impacts of mass media — particularly the famous photograph of the Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc — in shaping both public perception and U.S. policy. Nguyen posits that a misleading impression of the political and military situation led to deeper American involvement in South Vietnam's destabilization, ultimately culminating in the Vietnam War.

In her book Transpacific Cartographies: Narrating the Contemporary Chinese Diaspora in the United States, Melody Yunzi Li, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in Chinese Studies and author of highlights cultural productions — including novels, authors, and TV shows  — from the Chinese diaspora from the 1990s to the present. Li points to how these stories' search for home in foreign lands create a psycho-geographical map that offer readers diverse paths to home from wherever they are in the world.

This discussion will be moderated by Assistant Professor Chang Xu Ph.D. of the Department of Transnational Asian Studies at Rice University. 

Registration is required for this free event. This event may also include sensitive content and imagery.

About the Authors

Duy Lap Nguyen, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of World Cultures and Literatures at the University of Houston. He is the author of The Unimagined Community: Imperialism and Culture in South Vietnam (Manchester University Press, 2020) and Walter Benjamin and the Critique of Political Economy (Bloomsbury, 2022)

Melody Yunzi Li , Ph.D. is currently an assistant professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Houston. She holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Washington University in St. Louis, an MPhil degree in Translation Studies at the University of Hong Kong, and a BA in English/Translation Studies from Sun Yat-sen University, China. Her research interests include Asian diaspora literature, modern Chinese literature and culture, migration studies, translation studies, cultural identities and performance studies. She is the author of Transpacific Cartographies: Narrating the Contemporary Chinese Diaspora in the U.S. (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2023) and the co-editor of Remapping the Homeland: Affective Geographies and Cultures of the Chinese Diaspora (London: Palgrave McMillan, 2022). She has published in various journals including Pacific Coast Philology, Telos, and others. Besides her specialty in Chinese literature, Li is also a Chinese dancer and translator

About the Moderator

Chang Xu works and teaches on early modern Chinese history. She is particularly interested in the global history of medicine, the history of military science and technologies, the interconnections between human and non-human bodies, and the interplay between individual bodily experience and governmental management. She is currently working on her first book, Medicine on the March: Military Institutions, Medical Networks, and the Qing Empire, 1644-–1800.

Education and Outreach programs at Asia Society Texas are presented by AARP. Major support comes from Nancy C. Allen, Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen, The Brown Foundation, Inc., The Freeman Foundation, Houston Endowment Inc., and The Truist Foundation. Generous funding also provided by Asia Chemical Corporation, the Susan Vaughan Foundation, and Johanna Brassert and Bill Stewart. Free Thursday exhibition admission presented by Regions Bank. Additional support is provided by Cathay Bank Foundation, the George and Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation, and the Friends of Asia Society, a dedicated group of individuals and organizations committed to bringing exceptional programming and exhibitions to Asia Society Texas.

Presenting Sponsor

Additional Support

About Asia Society Texas

Asia Society Texas believes in the strength and beauty of diverse perspectives and people. As an educational institution, we advance cultural exchange by celebrating the vibrant diversity of Asia, inspiring empathy, and fostering a better understanding of our interconnected world. Spanning the fields of arts, business, culture, education, and policy, our programming is rooted in the educational and cultural development of our community — trusting in the power of art, dialogue, and ideas to combat bias and build a more inclusive society.