History in Images, History in Words: In Search of Facts in Documentary Filmmaking
History in Images, History in Words:
In Search of Facts
in Documentary Filmmaking
A lecture by Carma Hinton
Robinson Professor of Visual Culture and Chinese Studies at George Mason University
Monday April 10, 2017 from 4-7 pm
at the Photonics Center (9th fl.), 8 St. Mary’s Street, Boston University
My presentation will focus on the process of documentary filmmaking, especially the many challenges my team and I faced in trying to create engaging filmic narratives that are both factually accurate and encompass multiple perspectives. I will use excerpts from my films as well as out-takes to illustrate the difficulties in determining what information to include and exclude, assess the compromises involved in the choices, and explore the consequences of taking various possible paths. I will also address the different problems that a historian encounters when presenting history in images as opposed to in words: the potential and limitation of each medium and what information each might privilege or obscure. I believe that in this age of “alternative facts” and “parallel universes,” reflections on the challenges in obtaining authenticity and truth and the importance of relentlessly striving to reach this goal, take on particularly urgent meaning.
About the speaker:
Carma Hinton is an art historian and a filmmaker. She received her Ph.D. in Art History from Harvard University and is now Robinson Professor of Visual Culture and Chinese Studies at George Mason University. Together with Richard Gordon, Hinton has directed many documentary films, including Small Happiness, All Under Heaven, To Taste a Hundred Herbs, Abode of Illusion: The Life and Art of Chang Dai-chien, The Gate of Heavenly Peace, and Morning Sun. She has won two Peabody Awards, the American Historical Association’s John E. O’Connor Film Award, the International Critics Prize and the Best Social and Political Documentary at the Banff Television Festival, and a National News & Documentary Emmy, among others. Hinton is currently working on a book about Chinese scrolls depicting the theme of demon quelling. Carma Hinton was born in Beijing. Chinese is her first language and culture.
Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program 2024-25 Competition Awards to India, Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan, and Singapore now open (Application deadline Sept. 15, 2023)
The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program 2024-25 competition is open!
Fulbright U.S. Scholar Awards give opportunities to U.S. citizens to teach, research and carry out professional projects around the world. Through Fulbright awards, participants advance their professional and academic interests, promote mutual understanding, and collaborate with partners around the world. At a time when we face many global challenges, international engagement is more important than ever.
Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program 2024-25 Competition
Awards to India
The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program 2024-25 competition is open!
Fulbright U.S. Scholar Awards give opportunities to U.S. citizens to teach, research and carry out professional projects around the world. Through Fulbright awards, participants advance their professional and academic interests, promote mutual understanding, and collaborate with partners around the world. At a time when we face many global challenges, international engagement is more important than ever.
With that in mind, we wanted to bring Fulbright U.S. Scholar awards in India to your attention. The following opportunities are open in India in the 2024-25 competition:
Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellowship
Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Awards (All Disciplines)
Fulbright-Nehru International Education Administrators Program
Fulbright-Nehru Distinguished Scholar (All Disciplines)
Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program 2024-25 Competition
Awards to Japan
The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program 2024-25 competition is open!
Fulbright U.S. Scholar Awards give opportunities to U.S. citizens to teach, research and carry out professional projects around the world. Through Fulbright awards, participants advance their professional and academic interests, promote mutual understanding, and collaborate with partners around the world. At a time when we face many global challenges, international engagement is more important than ever.
With that in mind, we wanted to bring Fulbright U.S. Scholar awards in Japan to your attention. The following opportunities are open in Japan in the 2024-25 competition:
U.S.-Japan International Education Administrators Program
Journalism
Study of the United States (Teaching in Social Sciences and Humanities)
All Disciplines (Research)
All Disciplines (Teaching/Research)
Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program 2024-25 Competition
Awards to Indonesia
The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program 2024-25 competition is open!
Fulbright U.S. Scholar Awards give opportunities to U.S. citizens to teach, research and carry out professional projects around the world. Through Fulbright awards, participants advance their professional and academic interests, promote mutual understanding, and collaborate with partners around the world. At a time when we face many global challenges, international engagement is more important than ever.
With that in mind, we wanted to bring Fulbright U.S. Scholar awards in Indonesia to your attention. The following opportunities are open in Indonesia in the 2024-25 competition:
All Disciplines (Teaching)
All Disciplines (Research)
ASEAN Research Program
Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program 2024-25 Competition
Awards to Taiwan
The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program 2024-25 competition is open!
Fulbright U.S. Scholar Awards give opportunities to U.S. citizens to teach, research and carry out professional projects around the world. Through Fulbright awards, participants advance their professional and academic interests, promote mutual understanding, and collaborate with partners around the world. At a time when we face many global challenges, international engagement is more important than ever.
With that in mind, we wanted to bring Fulbright U.S. Scholar awards in Taiwan to your attention. The following opportunities are open in Taiwan in the 2024-25 competition:
U.S.-Taiwan International Education Administrators Seminar
Arts, Education, Humanities, Professional Fields and Social Sciences (Postdoctoral Scholar Award)
Arts, Education, Humanities, Professional Fields and Social Sciences
Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program 2024-25 Competition
Awards to Singapore
The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program 2024-25 competition is open!
Fulbright U.S. Scholar Awards give opportunities to U.S. citizens to teach, research and carry out professional projects around the world. Through Fulbright awards, participants advance their professional and academic interests, promote mutual understanding, and collaborate with partners around the world. At a time when we face many global challenges, international engagement is more important than ever.
With that in mind, we wanted to bring Fulbright U.S. Scholar awards in Singapore to your attention. The following opportunities are open in Singapore in the 2024-25 competition:
All Disciplines
ASEAN Research Program
Note that what is listed above is just part of what Fulbright has to offer: over 400 awards are available in more than 130 countries, many open to all disciplines. You can find a complete list of opportunities in the list of open awards, found here.
To learn more about Fulbright, please find the following resources on fulbrightscholars.org:
Getting Started (New to Fulbright? Start here!)
Open awards, which you can search by country, discipline, and other details
Office hours, a great way to get your questions answered live by IIE staff
Application Guidance and Instructions
Webinar Schedule and Archive
To receive news and updates about the competition, we invite you to register your interest. Know someone who could benefit from a Fulbright U.S. Scholar award? Refer a colleague!
We look forward to receiving your U.S. Scholar application by our deadline, September 15, 2023.
Best of luck on your Fulbright journey,
Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program
Institute of International Education
Email: scholars@iie.org
Recruiting Participants for the Mansfield-Luce Asia Scholars Network (Application Deadline: October 1, 2023)
The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation is pleased to announce the recruitment of the third group of scholars for the Mansfield-Luce Asia Scholars Network. The vast geographic size and diversity of East Asia have created unfortunate divides between Northeast and Southeast Asia specialists. Given the complex nature of the region and its growing integration, these divides serve as an obstacle to understanding the complexities of contemporary Asia as a whole. They also compromise efforts to create cohesive and sustainable U.S. policies to advance its vital national interests across a region that will decisively shape the 21st century. This initiative, supported by the Henry Luce Foundation, was launched with our first cohort in 2019 and continues this effort to inform Asia specialists in the United States about this growing regional integration in Asia, as well as foster the growth and connectivity of U.S. specialists to think holistically about the world’s most dynamic and strategically important region.
Purpose of the Program
The purpose of the Mansfield-Luce Asia Scholars Network is to identify and connect American scholars and practitioners specializing in Asia who demonstrate an interest in and extraordinary potential for becoming policy intellectuals. This program is designed for recent graduates of PhD or doctorate degree programs, junior faculty, or policy practitioners who have an interest in becoming policy intellectuals. We will support them in this effort in order to expand connections between scholars and practitioners, helping to reinvigorate policy-relevant scholarship on contemporary Asia with the ultimate goal of contributing to the formulation of a more cohesive and sustainable U.S. approach to the Indo-Pacific. These scholars will include regional specialists with diverse expertise and perspectives who can participate constructively in the policymaking process in the mid- and long-term and contribute to better understanding within U.S.-Asia relations by teaching and inspiring future generations.
Eligibility and Terms
All applicants must be American citizens or permanent U.S. residents and possess a PhD or equivalent degree/experience with expertise in Southeast or Northeast Asia studies. Candidates may include recently graduated PhDs, those pursuing a doctorate degree, Assistant Professor or Associate Professor-level academics, and policy practitioners.
Participants must be fully dedicated to the one-year program and able to participate in all scheduled meetings. Network participants will be expected to participate in:
• a two-day policy workshop in Washington, DC for select scholars (September or October 2023);
• a long weekend retreat in Montana (April or May 2024);
• a two-week study trip to Asia (June or July 2024); and
• a publication launch event in Washington, DC (October 2024).
Throughout the one-year program, participants will be expected to: develop their network of contacts; engage with other Network members and advisors; research and draft a concise policy paper on a topic of their choosing relevant to U.S.-Asia relations; optionally produce op-ed pieces, policy commentary, and podcasts on important policy issues in U.S.-Asia relations; engage others in the academic and policy fields with what they have learned; prepare for and actively participate in the program’s retreat and study trip; and participate in group activities and support the program’s larger goals and objectives. Policy papers will be submitted to the Foundation and edited into a publication for dissemination at the end of the one-year period, overlapping with the start of the next cohort. Financial support for those selected is limited to coverage of travel, accommodations, and meal expenses associated with participation in program meetings and study trips.
Applications and Selection
For an application and application instructions, please go to:
https://mansfieldfdn.org/asia-scholars-network-application
Application deadline has been extended to October 1, 2023 by 5:00 p.m. (ET) and can be submitted electronically to applications@mansfieldfdn.org. Applications will be reviewed by a selection committee and participants will be announced by the end of October 2023. The Mansfield Foundation will select up to twelve participants for this cohort.
For further information, please contact Ari Lee, Associate Director of Programs, The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation at alee@mansfieldfdn.org.
Projecting Connections: ‘Blurring the Color Line: Chinese in the Segregated South’ (Film screening, Emerson College, May 20, 2023)
ArtsEmerson presents:
Projecting Connections: ‘Blurring the Color Line: Chinese in the Segregated South’
Saturday May 20, 2023 @ 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm EDT
Blurring the Color Line follows director Crystal Kwok as she unpacks the history behind her grandmother’s family, who were neighborhood grocery store owners in the Black community of Augusta, Georgia, during the Jim Crow era. Stay for a post-screening discussion with Kwok.
Tickets available atArtsEmerson. Emerson students, faculty and staff can get one free ticket to any ArtsEmerson show on the day of the event, and can purchase up to two $10 theatre tickets in advance. VisitArtsEmerson for more information.
Crystal Kwok is an award winning filmmaker who established her career in Hong Kong as an actress, writer, director, and talk show host. She won the audience choice awards at the 2000 
Deauville Asian Film Festival for her debut feature length film, The Mistress. She was commissioned by Canal Plus to document “A Day in the Life of Jackie Chan” as part of the centennial celebration of international directors, She created and produced a bilingual edutainment video series for young children, “The Culture Cubs” and wrote and has staged several original plays about sensitive women’s issues. As a strong women’s advocate, her talk show, “Kwoktalk” broke boundaries in Hong Kong with conversations about women and sexuality. Having moved back to American soil after being overseas for a couple of decades, Kwok now embraces issues closer to home — that of her Asian-American heritage. Kwok is currently a PhD student at the University of Hawaii in Performance Studies and a recipient of the prestigious East West Center Scholar awards. She also hosts a radio talk show and podcast, “Kwoktalk” on KTUH 90.1fm, addressing racial and gender issues with a multicultural perspective.
Gustin Smith is an American entertainment executive and producer. He started his career in 2009, working on set in physical production before transitioning to the creative side of the 
business as a development assistant for Shiny Penny Productions. He joined WME in 2017 and rose through the ranks before moving over to Endeavor Content. With a focus of illuminating diverse voices and elevated storytelling, he founded Village Woods Productions in 2022.
Motherland: A Photography Exhibition by Uyghur Photographer Ablikim Emet (at Harvard, CGIS South, 1730 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA through June 30, 2023)
The Harvard Asia Center, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, and Uyghur Academy Worldwide invite you to view an ongoing photography exhibition by Uhghur photographer Ablikim Emet
Chat & Chowder with Ryan Hass | U.S.-Taiwan Relations: Will China’s Challenge Lead to a Crisis? (WorldBoston, Tuesday May 23, 2023)
WorldBoston's CHAT & CHOWDER series presents
Chat & Chowder with Ryan Hass | U.S.-Taiwan Relations: Will China's Challenge Lead to a Crisis?
to
https://www.worldboston.org/calendar/2023/05/23/us-taiwan-relations
Join us for this installment of our popular Chat & Chowder series, featuring Ryan Hass, Senior Fellow of the Foreign Policy Program, the Thornton China Center, and the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, to discuss his new book, U.S.-Taiwan Relations: Will China's Challenge Lead to a Crisis?.
Chat & Chowder programs are an excellent opportunity to engage with expert speakers and to network with other globally-oriented participants in an informal environment. Each event features a presentation, audience Q&A, dedicated time for networking, and (of course!) a selection of chowders and beverages.
Never attended Chat & Chowder before? No prior knowledge is required, and your first program is FREE. Because there is a limited number of free tickets, we appreciate your commitment to attend this program once you have registered.
Advance registration is required. We cannot accommodate walk-ins for the in-person program.
Register to attend in person: click here
Register to attend virtually: click here
Ryan Hass is a senior fellow and the Michael H. Armacost Chair in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings, where he holds a joint appointment to the John L. Thornton China Center and the 
Center for East Asia Policy Studies. He is also the Chen-Fu and Cecilia Yen Koo Chair in Taiwan Studies. He was part of the inaugural class of David M. Rubenstein fellows at Brookings, and is a nonresident affiliated fellow in the Paul Tsai China Center at Yale Law School. Hass focuses his research and analysis on enhancing policy development on the pressing political, economic, and security challenges facing the United States in East Asia.
From 2013 to 2017, Hass served as the director for China, Taiwan and Mongolia at the National Security Council (NSC) staff. In that role, he advised President Obama and senior White House officials on all aspects of U.S. policy toward China, Taiwan, and Mongolia, and coordinated the implementation of U.S. policy toward this region among U.S. government departments and agencies. He joined President Obama’s state visit delegations in Beijing and Washington respectively in 2014 and 2015, and the president’s delegation to Hangzhou, China, for the G-20 in 2016, and to Lima, Peru, for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Meetings in 2016.
Prior to joining NSC, Hass served as a Foreign Service Officer in U.S. Embassy Beijing, where he earned the State Department Director General’s award for impact and originality in reporting, an award given annually to the officer whose reporting had the greatest impact on the formulation of U.S. foreign policy. Hass also served in Embassy Seoul and Embassy Ulaanbaatar, and domestically in the State Department Offices of Taiwan Coordination and Korean Affairs. Hass received multiple Superior Honor and Meritorious Honor commendations during his 15-year tenure in the Foreign Service.
Hass is the author of Stronger: Adapting America’s China Strategy in an Age of Competitive Interdependence (Yale University Press, 2021), a co-editor of Global China: Assessing China’s Growing Role in the World (Brookings Press, 2021), of the monograph The future of US policy toward China: Recommendations for the Biden administration (Brookings, 2020), and a co-author of U.S.-Taiwan Relations: Will China’s Challenge Lead to a Crisis? (Brookings Press, 2023). He also leads the Democracy in Asia project at the Brookings Institution and is co-chair of the international task force on Taiwan convened by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Hass was born and raised in Washington state. He graduated from the University of Washington and attended the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies prior to joining the State Department.
Spirits: Tsherin Sherpa with Robert Beer (Exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum, on view Feb 4 to May 29, 2023)
The Peabody Essex Museum invites you to view the new exhibition
Spirits: Tsherin Sherpa with Robert Beer
On view February 4 to May 29, 2023
Tsherin Sherpa, Lost Spirits, 2014. Pale gold leaf, acrylic, and ink on cotton. Private Collection, Hong Kong.
Explore the captivating paintings of one of the most renowned Himalayan artists of our time. Tsherin Sherpa’s works are grounded in the traditional Buddhist art of his training but stretch, bend, reconfigure, and repurpose its forms to explore contemporary concerns. The exhibition’s paintings and sculptures trace the evolution of his Spirits series whose subjects resemble Tibetan Buddhist deities transformed by the modern world. Dislocated from their home — an experience familiar to the artist and communities all over the world — these figures move from grief and confusion, to courage and self-assurance, to triumph and wisdom.
This exhibition also features a selection of line drawings by British artist Robert Beer, lauded as the first Westerner to study thangka painting and one of the tradition’s greatest and most respected masters. The drawings reveal the forms, symbols and motifs from which Sherpa pulls inspiration, while Beer’s personal journey as a Westerner whose voyages to India and Nepal transformed his work and spirit convey an important counterpoint to Sherpa’s biography.
Spirits: Tsherin Sherpa with Robert Beer is organized by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, in partnership with the Peabody Essex Museum. The checklist of works in the exhibition was selected by Dr. John Henry Rice, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The exhibition at PEM is made possible by the generosity of Carolyn and Peter S. Lynch and The Lynch Foundation. Additional support was provided by individuals who support the Exhibition Innovation Fund: Jennifer and Andrew Borggaard, James B. and Mary Lou Hawkes, Kate and Ford O'Neil, and Henry and Callie Brauer. We also recognize the generosity of the East India Marine Associates of the Peabody Essex Museum.
Media partner: The Boston Globe
Follow along on social media using #SpiritsatPEM
Peabody Essex Museum, East India Square, 161 Essex Street, Salem, MA 01970 Tel. (978) 745-9500
Tree & Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India, 200 BCE–400 CE (at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, June 21- Nov. 13, 2023)
This is the story of the origins of Buddhist art. The religious landscape of ancient India was transformed by the teachings of the Buddha, which in turn inspired art devoted to expressing his message. Sublime imagery adorned the most ancient monumental religious structures in ancient India, known as stupas. The stupa not only housed the relics of the Buddha but also honored him through symbolic representations and visual storytelling. Original relics and reliquaries are at the heart of this exhibition, which culminates with the Buddha image itself.
Featuring more than 140 objects dating from 200 BCE to 400 CE, the exhibition presents a series of evocative and interlocking themes to reveal both the pre-Buddhist origins of figurative sculpture in India and the early narrative traditions that were central to this formative moment in early Indian art. With major loans from a dozen lenders across India, as well as from the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States, it transports visitors into the world of early Buddhist imagery that gave expression to this new religion as it grew from a core set of ethical teachings into one of the world’s great religions. Objects associated with Indo-Roman exchange reveal India’s place in early global trade. The exhibition showcases objects in various media, including limestone sculptures, gold, silver, bronze, rock crystal, and ivory. Highlights include spectacular sculptures from southern India—newly discovered and never before publicly exhibited masterpieces—that add to the world canon of early Buddhist art.
The exhibition is made possible by Reliance Industries Limited, The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Global, and the Fred Eychaner Fund.
Major support is provided by the Estate of Brooke Astor, the Florence and Herbert Irving Fund for Asian Art Exhibitions, and the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.
The symposium is made possible by the Fred Eychaner Fund.
The catalogue is made possible by the Florence and Herbert Irving Fund for Asian Art Publications.
Additional support is provided by Albion Art Co., Ltd.
[This information is taken from the Met's website, https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/tree-and-serpent]
Hokusai: Inspiration and Influence (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, March 26-July 26, 2023)
Taking a new approach to the work of the ever-popular Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), this major exhibition explores in detail his impact on other artists—both during his lifetime and beyond. Throughout a career of more than 70 years, Hokusai experimented with a wide range of styles and subjects, producing landscapes such as the instantly recognizable Great Wave and Red Fuji (both about 1830–31), nature studies known as “bird-and-flower pictures,” and depictions of women, heroes, and monsters. The exhibition brings together more than 100 woodblock prints, paintings, and illustrated books by Hokusai with more than 200 works by his teachers, students, rivals, and admirers. These unique juxtapositions demonstrate Hokusai’s influence through time and space—seen in works by, among others, his daughter Katsushika Ōi, his contemporaries Utagawa Hiroshige and Utagawa Kuniyoshi, the 19th-century French Japonistes, and modern and contemporary artists including Loïs Mailou Jones, John Cederquist, and Yoshitomo Nara.
See It with a Timed Ticket
Everyone needs a timed-entry ticket (general admission included) to visit this exhibition, including members.
Members can reserve their tickets now! Tickets go on sale to the public February 14.
In addition to getting early ticket access, members are invited to a special exhibition preview before it opens to the public, and can enjoy members-only hours on Sunday mornings during the run of the show. Join today!
BU Alumni Dinner Event in Hong Kong (Saturday June 24, 2023)
Boston University Alumni & Friends cordially invites you to attend a very special BU alumni dinner event at the historical Zetland Hall Freemason Lodge in Hong Kong. The dinner will be held in the Banquet Hall, where you will have the opportunity to experience some special Masonic traditions that are not typically seen outside of Freemason Hong Kong.
In addition to the unique dining experience, the alumni networks in Hong Kong have secured a rare and special permission for female guests to visit the secretive Freemason Temple on the upper floor of the Lodge. This area is typically inaccessible to non-Masonic members, so it's a truly exclusive opportunity. Female guests who are accompanied by Freemason members will have the chance to learn about the traditions and values of Freemasonry and witness the beauty of the temple's interior.
The event marks the end of an era for the current Chairperson of Alumni Networks, Mr. Lincoln Chan, and the beginning of a new chapter with the newly appointed Chairperson, Mr. Jonathan Ho.
We warmly invite you to join us on this exclusive dining experience and look forward to seeing you at the event.
Ticket Price: HK$500 per person
Please note local time is 7:00 PM -9:00 PM
Registration Deadline: June 10
Click here for additional information and the REGISTRATION LINK
“Global China and India in a Post-Liberal World” Post-Doctoral Fellowship opportunity (ICI The New School, applications due May 15, 2023)
The India China Institute (ICI) of The New School
seeks applications for a one-year position in 2023-24 as
Postdoctoral Fellow in our “Global China and India in a Post-Liberal World” research cluster.
This theme of the 2023-24 postdoctoral fellowship is motivated by global challenges to the Western-led liberal order and the influence that India and China have in bringing changes to existing regimes or creating alternatives to the liberal world order. ICI welcomes applications from those whose research focuses on emerging alternative orders in geopolitics; authoritarian governance domestically and regionally; climate change and energy security; digital governance; science, technology and infrastructure; populism and ethno-nationalism; migration and citizenship; public health and social policy; higher education and knowledge production; and South-South cooperation. The empirical scope of the research should focus on China or India, or engage with China-India comparisons and connections, or global flows that India or China are prominently part of. Applications are welcome from all social science and humanities disciplines, including interdisciplinary PhD programs. Apply Here.
