Events of Interest to the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Talks:

Monday 19 January 2025

History and Memory in Seventeenth Century Chinese Drama
Date: 19 January 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Professor Wai-yee Li (Harvard University)
Venue: Dickson Poon Building, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
Venue Details: Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre (lower ground floor)
Organisers: Dr Mark Czeller (University of Oxford), Dr Cheuk Yee Wai (University of Oxford), Professor Tian Yuan Tan (University of Oxford), Dr Bo-jiun Jing (University of Oxford), Dr Zhe Wang (University of Oxford), Dr Evelyn Chan (University of Oxford), Professor Denise van der Kamp (University of Oxford)
Host: Professor Tian Yuan Tan (University of Oxford)

Wednesday 21 January 2025

Mobile manuscripts: Arabic learning across the Early Modern Western Indian Ocean
Date: 21 January 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Dr Christopher Bahl (University of Durham)
Venue: Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Marston Road OX3 0EE
Organiser: Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Thursday 22 January 2025

The Rise and Fall of the Konbini: Cold Chains, Retail Wars and Logistical Friction in Postwar Japan
Date: 22 January 2026, 17:00 - 19:00
Speaker : Paul Kreitman (Columbia University)
Venue: St Antony's College, 62 Woodstock Road OX2 6JF
Venue Details: Pavilion Room, 4th Floor Gateway Building
Organisers: Dr Yosuke Buchmeier (Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, University of Oxford), Professor Roger Goodman (St Antony's College, University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Timekeeping between art and science: integrated approaches to the history of Mamluk astronomy
Date: 22 January 2026, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker : Yusuf Tayara (Wolfson College, Oxford)
Venue Details: Lecture Room, Khalili Research Centre, 3 St John St, Oxford OX1 2LG
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Friday 23 January 2025

The Renewal of Islam
Date: 23 January 2026, 14:00 - 16:00
Speaker : Fitzroy Morrissey (Oxford)
Venue: Balliol College, Broad Street OX1 3BJ
Venue Details: Gillis Lecture Theatre
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Cooperating, Challenging, Communicating: Reflections on Five Years of Diplomacy in Beijing
Date: 23 January 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Dame Caroline Wilson
Venue: Dickson Poon Building, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
Venue Details: Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre (lower ground floor)
Organiser: Professor Todd Hall (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Monday 26 January 2025

Tifa as Discursive Infrastructure: Silkroadism and the Commercialisation of Authoritarian Governance
Date: 26 January 2026, 12:00 - 13:15
Speaker : Dr Giulia Sciorati (LSE)
Venue: Dickson Poon Building, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
Venue Details: Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre (lower ground floor)
Organiser: Professor Todd Hall (University of Oxford)
Host: Professor Todd Hall (University of Oxford)

Tuesday 27 January 2025

The Logic of Provocative Propaganda in the Shadow of Democratic Uprisings: Evidence from Hong Kong’s Anti-Extradition Movement
Date: 27 January 2026, 12:00 - 13:15
Speaker : Dr Eddy S. F. Yeung (University of Oxford)
Venue: Dickson Poon Building, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
Venue Details: Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre
Organiser: Professor Todd Hall (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Wednesday 28 January 2025

Islamophobia, antisemitism, and the struggle for recognition
Date: 28 January 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Professor Tariq Modood (University of Bristol)
Venue: Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Marston Road OX3 0EE
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Thursday 29 January 2025

Soeda and the Making of Modern Japan
Date: 29 January 2026, 17:00 - 19:00
Speaker : Professor Ian Neary (University of Oxford)
Venue: St Antony's College, 62 Woodstock Road OX2 6JF
Venue Details: Pavilion Room, 4th Floor Gateway Building
Organisers: Dr Yosuke Buchmeier (Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, University of Oxford), Professor Roger Goodman (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Immunity on Trial: Ethiopian Courts, Chinese Corporations, and Contestations over Sovereignty
Date: 29 January 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Dr Miriam Driessen (University of Oxford)
Venue: Dickson Poon Building, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
Venue Details: Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre (lower ground floor)
Organisers: Dr Mark Czeller (University of Oxford), Dr Cheuk Yee Wai (University of Oxford), Professor Tian Yuan Tan (University of Oxford), Dr Bo-jiun Jing (University of Oxford), Dr Zhe Wang (University of Oxford), Dr Evelyn Chan (University of Oxford), Professor Denise van der Kamp (University of Oxford)
Host: Professor Denise van der Kamp (University of Oxford)

Arts of Accommodation: Amit Chaudhuri and the Novel
Date: 29 January 2026, 17:15 - 18:45
Speaker : Professor William Ghosh (University of Oxford)
Venue Details: Room 10.424, English ‘hub’, Schwarzman building
Organisers: Pablo Mukherjee, Ankhi Mukherjee, Elleke Boehmer
Hosts: TBA

The hidden life of Kūfī scripts: practice-based insights and theories
Date: 29 January 2026, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker : Joumana Medlej (Independent Scholar)
Venue Details: Lecture Room, Khalili Research Centre, 3 St John St, Oxford OX1 2LG
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Friday 30 January 2025

Field, Archives, and Society: Reconstructing Rural Transformation in Shanxi during the Era of Collectivization （田野·档案·社会：集体化时代山西乡村变迁的多维重构）
Date: 30 January 2026, 12:00 - 13:15
Speaker : Professor Ma Weiqiang (Shanxi University)
Venue: Dickson Poon Building, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
Venue Details: Lucina Ho Seminar Room (first floor)
Organisers: Dr Yang Han (University of Oxford), Professor Todd Hall (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Towards a Supernatural History of the British Empire
Date: 30 January 2026, 14:00 - 16:00
Speaker : John Slight (Open University)
Venue: Balliol College, Broad Street OX1 3BJ
Venue Details: Gillis Lecture Theatre
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Monday 2 February 2025

Chinese Buddhist Ethics of Belief: An Introduction to Sanlun Philosophy
Date: 2 February 2026, 12:00 - 13:15
Speaker : Dr Rafal K. Stepien (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Venue: Dickson Poon Building, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
Venue Details: Ho Tim Seminar Room (first floor, turn left at top of stairs/coming out of lift)
Organiser: Professor Todd Hall (University of Oxford)
Host: Dr Jessica Frazier (University of Oxford)

Wednesday 4 February 2025

Worlds of Islam: a global history
Date: 4 February 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Professor James McDougall (University of Oxford)
Venue: Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Marston Road OX3 0EE
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Thursday 5 February 2025

After Nations: a discussion
Date: 5 February 2026, 12:30 - 14:00
Speaker : Rana Dasgupta (Independent)
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Moral responsibilities of the wealthy
Date: 5 February 2026, 14:00 - 15:30
Speaker : Professor Michael Sandel (Harvard University)
Venue: Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Marston Road OX3 0EE
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Anarchist Association: Knowledge, Language, and the History of the Modern World
Date: 5 February 2026, 17:00 - 19:00
Speaker : Dr Robert Kramm (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
Venue: St Antony's College, 62 Woodstock Road OX2 6JF
Venue Details: Pavilion Room, 4th Floor Gateway Building
Organisers: Dr Yosuke Buchmeier (Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, University of Oxford), Professor Roger Goodman (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

This is What we Must Transform First: Translation and Imperialism in Taiwan (1935-1947)
Date: 5 February 2026, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker : Dr Aoife Cantrill (University of Oxford)
Venue: Dickson Poon Building, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
Venue Details: Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre (lower ground floor)
Organisers: Dr Mark Czeller (University of Oxford), Dr Cheuk Yee Wai (University of Oxford), Professor Tian Yuan Tan (University of Oxford), Dr Bo-jiun Jing (University of Oxford), Dr Zhe Wang (University of Oxford), Dr Evelyn Chan (University of Oxford), Professor Denise van der Kamp (University of Oxford)
Host: Dr Mark Czeller (University of Oxford)

The silk core, or lessons from medieval Iberian textile studies
Date: 5 February 2026, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker : Maria Judith Feliciano (CSIC, Madrid)
Venue Details: Lecture Room, Khalili Research Centre, 3 St John St, Oxford OX1 2LG
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Friday 6 February 2025

Bureaucracies of Violence: Asians leaving Uganda in 1972
Date: 6 February 2026, 14:00 - 16:00
Speaker : Ria Kapoor (QMUL)
Venue: Balliol College, Broad Street OX1 3BJ
Venue Details: Gillis Lecture Theatre
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Wednesday 11 February 2025

Playing in the open: Getting familiar with Creative Commons licences
Date: 11 February 2026, 9:30 - 11:00
Speaker s: Georgina Kiddy (Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford), Rachel Scanlon (Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford)
Venue: Radcliffe Science Library, off Parks Road OX1 3QP
Venue Details: Seminar Room
Organiser: Sarah Humphreys (Bodleian Libraries)
Hosts: TBA

Hajj and the Art of Pilgrimage
Date: 11 February 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Professor Sir Nasser Khalili (Khalili Foundation)
Venue: Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Marston Road OX3 0EE
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Thursday 12 February 2025

The Right-wing Shift towards Immigrant Exclusion in Japan and Beyond
Date: 12 February 2026, 17:00 - 18:00
Speaker : Professor Hideki Tarumoto (Waseda University)
Venue: St Antony's College, 62 Woodstock Road OX2 6JF
Venue Details: Pavilion Room, 4th Floor Gateway Building
Organisers: Dr Yosuke Buchmeier (Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, University of Oxford), Professor Roger Goodman (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Book Launch - Islamic Objects in Seventeenth-Century Italy: Ferdinando Cospi, the Bologna Collection and the Medici Court
Date: 12 February 2026, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker : Federica Gigante (Khalili Research Centre, Oxford)
Venue Details: Lecture Room, Khalili Research Centre, 3 St John St, Oxford OX1 2LG
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

New Granddaughters of Africa: the genealogical sagas of Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, Namwali Serpell and Yaa Gyasi
Date: 12 February 2026, 17:15 - 18:45
Speaker : Hannah Fagan (Mansfield College)
Venue Details: Room 10.424, English ‘hub’, Schwarzman building.
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Friday 13 February 2025

Italian Fascism, the Holy See and the Nationalist Government During the First Apostolic Delegation to China (1922-1933)
Date: 13 February 2026, 14:00 - 16:00
Speaker : Chiara D'Auria (UNISA)
Venue: Balliol College, Broad Street OX1 3BJ
Venue Details: Gillis Lecture Theatre
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Wednesday 18 February 2025

Imams and patrons: service provision by Islamic non-state actors
Date: 18 February 2026, 17:30 - 19:00
Speaker : Dr Tugba Bozcaga (KCL)
Venue: Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Marston Road OX3 0EE
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Thursday 19 February 2025

Japan's Spongy-Middle Revolution
Date: 19 February 2026, 17:00 - 19:00
Speaker : Professor David Howell (Harvard University)
Venue: St Antony's College, 62 Woodstock Road OX2 6JF
Venue Details: Pavilion Room, 4th Floor Gateway Building
Organisers: Dr Yosuke Buchmeier (Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, University of Oxford), Professor Roger Goodman (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Wall painting in the Islamic West and the aesthetic of naqsh
Date: 19 February 2026, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker : Umberto Bongianino (Khalili Research Centre, Oxford)
Venue Details: Lecture Room, Khalili Research Centre, 3 St John St, Oxford OX1 2LG
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Friday 20 February 2025

Campaigning and Counter-Insurgency in the Creole Archipelago: The British Struggle in the Revolutionary Caribbean
Date: 20 February 2026, 14:00 - 16:00
Speaker : David Lambert (Warwick)
Venue: Balliol College, Broad Street OX1 3BJ
Venue Details: Gillis Lecture Theatre
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Tuesday 24 February 2025

Emotions in the Politics of Water: China–India Tensions over Tibetan Rivers
Date: 24 February 2026, 12:00 - 13:15
Speaker : Dr Antonina Łuszczykiewicz-Mendis (Jagiellonian University)
Venue: Dickson Poon Building, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
Venue Details: Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre (lower ground floor)
Organiser: Professor Todd Hall (University of Oxford)
Host: Professor Todd Hall (University of Oxford)

'Steel is the most romantic thing in the world': Industrial party time-travel novels and the digital fantasy fiction boom
Date: 24 February 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Dr Jessica Imbach (University of Freiburg)
Venue: Dickson Poon Building, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
Venue Details: Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre (lower ground floor)
Organiser: Professor Margaret Hillenbrand (University of Oxford)
Host: Dr Bingbing Shi (University of Oxford)

Wednesday 25 February 2025

From divine sovereignty to national legitimacy: transformations in the theology of political Islam
Date: 25 February 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Professor Jocelyn Cesari (University of Birmingham)
Venue: Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Marston Road OX3 0EE
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Thursday 26 February 2025

Valedictory Lecture: Technology Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Governance: A Retrospective of 40 years
Date: 26 February 2026, 17:00 - 19:00
Speaker : Professor Hugh Whittaker (University of Oxford)
Venue: St Antony's College, 62 Woodstock Road OX2 6JF
Venue Details: Pavilion Room, 4th Floor Gateway Building
Organisers: Dr Yosuke Buchmeier (Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, University of Oxford), Professor Roger Goodman (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Collaborative creative practice in South African fiction
Date: 26 February 2026, 17:15 - 18:45
Speaker : Caitlin Stobie (Leeds University)
Venue Details: Room 10.424, English ‘hub’, Schwarzman building
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Debt in stone: architectures of finance in late Ottoman Istanbul
Date: 26 February 2026, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker : Eva Schreiner (Kunsthistorisches Institut, Florence)
Venue Details: Lecture Room, Khalili Research Centre, 3 St John St, Oxford OX1 2LG
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Friday 27 February 2025

Fascist India: Race, Caste and Hindutva [Book Talk]
Date: 27 February 2026, 14:00 - 16:00
Speaker : Luna Sabastian (Northeastern University London)
Venue: Balliol College, Broad Street OX1 3BJ
Venue Details: Gillis Lecture Theatre
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Wednesday 4 March 2025

Transnational ties of faith: Imdadullah’s letters and writings from the Hijaz during the late-19th century
Date: 4 March 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Dr Moin Ahmad Nizami (Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies)
Venue: Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Marston Road OX3 0EE
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Thursday 5 March 2025

Symposium: From Economic Security to Economic Statecraft: Insights from Japan, Europe, and the United States
Date: 5 March 2026, 9:30 - 18:30
Speaker Various Speakers
Venue: St Antony's College, 62 Woodstock Road OX2 6JF
Venue Details: Nissan Lecture Theatre
Organiser: Professor Kristi Govella (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

Ma mère as Journal intime and Sheng Cheng’s Journey of Self-Realization in France
Date: 5 March 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker
Venue: Dickson Poon Building, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
Venue Details: Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre (lower ground floor)
Organiser: Dr Mark Czeller (University of Oxford)
Host: Dr Mark Czeller (University of Oxford)

Picturing marvels, magic and monsters at the Ottoman court, 1574–1603
Date: 5 March 2026, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker : Günseli Gürel (Khalili Research Centre, Oxford)
Venue Details: Lecture Room, Khalili Research Centre, 3 St John St, Oxford OX1 2LG
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Planter's Pageantry and the Pedagogy of Gardening
Date: 5 March 2026, 17:15 - 18:45
Speaker : Julia Hori (University of Cambridge)
Venue: Wadham College, Parks Road OX1 3PN
Venue Details: Okinaga Room, Wadham College
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Friday 6 March 2025

Hobbes the Egyptian: The Leviathan as Anti-Bible
Date: 6 March 2026, 14:00 - 16:00
Speaker : Robert Yelle (LMU Munich)
Venue: Balliol College, Broad Street OX1 3BJ
Venue Details: Gillis Lecture Theatre
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Wednesday 11 March 2025

Leviathan's health: state capacity and epidemics from the Black Death to Covid
Date: 11 March 2026, 17:00 - 18:30
Speaker : Professor Sheilagh Ogilvie (University of Oxford)
Venue: Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Marston Road OX3 0EE
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Thursday 12 March 2025

Reluctant Warriors No More? Japan and Germany Before and After Ukraine
Date: 12 March 2026, 17:00 - 19:00
Speaker : Professor Ellis Krauss (University of California San Diego)
Venue: St Antony's College, 62 Woodstock Road OX2 6JF
Venue Details: Pavilion Room, 4th Floor Gateway Building
Organisers: Dr Yosuke Buchmeier (Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies, University of Oxford), Professor Roger Goodman (University of Oxford)
Hosts: TBA

A Greek-Orthodox monastery in the desert: Mount Sinai and the material culture of its Arabic (and Islamic) manuscripts
Date: 12 March 2026, 17:15 - 18:15
Speaker : Johannes Niehoff-Panagiotidis (Freie Universität, Berlin)
Venue Details: Lecture Room, Khalili Research Centre, 3 St John St, Oxford OX1 2LG
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

Friday 13 March 2025

Students Against Apartheid: Collective Emotions and the Making of a Global Movement
Date: 13 March 2026, 14:00 - 16:00
Speaker : Daniel Manulak (Toronto & Oxford)
Venue: Balliol College, Broad Street OX1 3BJ
Venue Details: Gillis Lecture Theatre
Organisers: TBA
Hosts: TBA

This list contains talks from the following series:
9th Ratanbai Katrak Lectures
After Rome and Further East Seminar
China Centre talks
China Studies Seminar series
George Rousseau Lectures
Global and Imperial History Research Seminar
Greco-Roman and East-Asian Classics events (Janus Project)
Grinfield Lectures on The Septuagint 2024 | SÉBASTIEN MORLET - “The Plurality of the Biblical Text - Past and Present”
Indian Ocean in the Age of Empire
Interreligious Interactions in South Asia (Virtual Colloquium)
Islamicate Intellectual History Seminar Series
Magic, Maths, Mamluks, and Mongols: History of Islamic Science at the Boundaries
Mandarin Forum
Middle East Centre Friday Seminar Series
Middle East Centre Seminar Series
Modern Jewish Thought Seminar
Modern South Asian Studies Seminar Series
New Testament Seminar
Nissan Institute Seminar in Japanese Studies
Nissan Institute Seminar in Japanese Studies
Open Scholarship
Oxford Byzantine Graduate Seminar
Oxford Byzantine Graduate Seminar
Oxford Centre for Global History events
Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies - Events
Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Seminars
Oxford China Reading Group (OxCRG)
Postcolonial and World Literatures Seminar
Refugee Studies Centre Special Seminars & Lectures
RSC Trinity Term Public Seminar Series
Science, Technology, Environment and Muslim Societies (STEMS)
SEMINAR ON JEWISH HISTORY AND LITERATURE IN THE GRAECO-ROMAN PERIOD
Silence and Visuality Seminar Series in Armenian Art and History
South Asian Intellectual History Seminar
The 54th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies: Material Religion in Byzantium & Beyond
TOSCCA/ONGC Seminar series
TOSCCA/ONGC Seminar series on the Caucasus and Central Asia
Transnational & Global History Seminar
Visual Culture in Modern and Contemporary China