Boston University East Asia Conference

I attended a conference on East Asia today at Boston University. There was a wide range of topics that included economics, politics, anthropology, sociology, history, etc. The papers were mostly on Japan and China but there were presentations on Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, and Taiwan as well. Overall it was a really cool "branching out" experience. I was the only person there from MIT and quite possibly the only engineer as well. These people spoke with their own lingo and seemed to have read books and articles from the same famous people, none of which I was familiar with.

The venue was smaller than I expected. People came in and out all day and there were about 30 at the busiest times. The day consisted of 5 sets of panelists presenting papers that they had submitted for this conference. They all talk about their work, then the discussant would give comments, and then open the discussion to the audience. I arrived in the middle of the 2nd set of panelists because.. I didn't want to get up that early. The 2nd set of panelists were about politics and economics. I wasn't all that interested but I found out about ASEAN (pronounced ah-see-ahn, I mean, this just sounds Asian). I think I have a lot to learn about how the world works in general.

Lunch was catered by a noodle place. The organizers ordered a good variety of food which included fried rice, spring rolls, pad thai, and drunken noodles. There were all sorts of Asian snacks as well. I chatted with various people, none of whom had the slightest idea how a flyer managed to get to MIT. There were a good amount of undergrads at the conference as well.

I think the 3rd set of panelists had the most interesting topics by far. The first presentation was on Macao and explored people's sense of nostagia for the past and longing for development. The second one was about the development of railroads in China and how they were linked to imperialism instead of transport of goods. And the third one an ethnography of people who went to Cha Chaan Tengs (茶餐厅) in Chicago Chinatown. I thought the Cha Chaan Teng one was really awesome. Cha Chaan Tengs are those "Hong Kong style tea houses" or Chinese pastry shops that you can sit down to eat. The grad student who did this paper basically spent a summer at one of these tea houses in Chicago chinatown talking to the patrons and finding out why people go to these places. I thought this was a really cool example of anthropology fieldwork. I downloaded her paper and look forward to reading it. Maybe I'll get to work on something exciting like this for my anthropology class...

The 4th panel was on social conflicts in Southeast Asia and we heard presentation on Indonesia and the Philippines. The 5th panel consisted of historical and anthropological studies from Japan and China. The topics were: hot springs in Tokawaga and modern Japan, the concept of "Chinese food", Japanese super flat art, art and photography of Chinese migrant workers, and the use of honorifics in Japanese newspapers. The conference definitely had a wide range of very interesting topics. I really enjoyed all the presentations. They're all things that I don't think I would have ever encountered, especially with an undergrad curriculum in civil engineering. I think I'm going to try to make it to more of these talks this semester.

There was dinner and cultural performances after the talks. But I left before dinner because it was getting dark. And there were things I needed to take care of so couldn't really stay the whole time. If I'm in the area next year, I think I would definitely try to come again. And maybe I should really keep an eye out for conferences in other areas of study as well. Branch out... Architecture talks on Thursday nights. Civil MEng seminars Fridays at noon. East Asian studies Monday and Friday afternoons. Or at least browse some magazines one in a while.