APSI Annual Report 2024–2025

A message from the APSI Director

Prasenjit Duara

Oscar Tang Family Distinguished Professor, Department of History

This has been a memorable year for portentous developments across the world, the nation and, not least, the university.

APSI has navigated these changes with care, while maintaining its core activities such as the Speaker Series and AP Forum which play a crucial role in fostering academic dialogue and research exchanges between visiting scholars and APSI affiliates.

Our MA program has continued to attract a growing number of applicants, showcasing the increasing capabilities of our students. We have consistently supported both students and faculty in their academic pursuits, including conducting research and attending conferences.

APSI has also fostered collaborations with various departments and institutes at Duke, supporting workshops like “New Directions in China–Africa Studies” and hosting the ever-popular film screenings, often followed by informed discussions with experts.

Internationally, APSI joined Nichibunken’s Consortium for Global Japanese Studies. We also successfully launched the Environmental Futures in Asia Network (EFAN) in partnership with Jeju National University, South Korea, and Duke Kunshan University (DKU).

The second EFAN event at Duke included participants from DKU, Jeju, and NUS in Singapore, focusing on the vital topic of environmental pedagogy.

One of our notable events featured Emily Feng, an award-winning China correspondent for NPR and Duke alumna, who discussed her acclaimed new book on contemporary China with Prof Eileen Chow.

Finally, it is with a mixture of joy and sadness that we see our dearly valued postdoctoral associate, Dr. Jieun Cho, depart after two years of rich contributions to APSI. We wish her well as she begins her new chapter with a tenure-track career in Hong Kong.

APSI students
- Student Experiences
- Student funding
APSI faculty

Special Topics: Encountering Animals
APSI and the environment
Film screenings
Impact on & beyond campus

By the numbers

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Events highlight

Insights and impact from a career reporting in China

On March 20, APSI hosted Duke alumna Emily Feng, an award-winning journalist, to meet students for a special workshop and give a public talk about her new book, Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping's China.

Read about Emily's visit

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APSI students

APSI students engage East Asian politics, societies, history, and cultures, with particular strengths in literature; modern history; comparative history and culture; anthropology; film, media and visual studies; comparative studies of capitalism; and religious studies.

Our core program, the MA in East Asian Studies, provides rigorous interdisciplinary training for students seeking careers in academia or professional fields that require regional specialization. The program introduces key methodological approaches applicable to area studies while providing flexibility for students to specialize in specific modes of inquiry.

I Iove the close advising relationship between faculty and students – [this is] one of the best among EAS graduate programs across the country, for sure.

—Kenan Gu, MA in East Asian Studies ’25

Students enrolled in any of Duke’s graduate degree programs may document their specialization by earning a certificate in East Asian Studies, signaling their commitment to deepening their understanding of the region and applying this knowledge to their primary studies. Certificate students are integral members of our scholarly community.

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Student experiences

In February 2025, two APSI MA students, Daniel Zhang and Lilia Yan, traveled to Hawai‘i with funding from APSI to present their papers at the 24th East-West Center International Graduate Student Conference (ICSC). Their experience reflects the importance of forging connections—across disciplines, cultures, and oceans.

Read about their experiences

In summer 2024, Brandon Hays, a PhD student in ecology at the Nicholas School of the Environment, traveled to Thailand thanks to a scholarship grant from APSI. Hays was pursuing advanced language study as part of a long-term strategy to engage with ecological researchers and practitioners working in the country.

Learn about his project

May 9: Commencement

APSI hosted a special reception celebrating the achievements of students who will receive a Master of Arts in East Asian Studies and a graduate certificate in East Asian Studies in 2025.

Meet the graduates

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Funding for students

APSI offers multiple funding opportunities to support students engaged in collaborative as well as individual research, supplement travel expenses to present at conferences, and recognize merit through academic-year scholarships.

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APSI faculty

APSI faculty are interdisciplinary scholars who are experts in the fields of anthropology, cultural studies, history, art history, language, law, literature, performing arts, political science, policy, religion, and sociology. They teach graduate and undergraduate courses, engage in collaborative research, and mentor students in APSI’s MA in East Asian Studies program.

See all our faculty and librarians

Meet our newest faculty member

APSI annually offers grants to Duke faculty interested in organizing Asia-focused research clusters, developing new courses, advancing individual projects, presenting their findings, and hosting conferences at Duke.

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Specialized courses on timely topics

During her time as APSI’s postdoctoral associate in Asian climate and environmental studies, Dr. Jieun Cho developed and taught two EAS 590 special topics seminars.

In Spring 2025, Dr. Cho’s course, “Encountering Animals,” examined the intersections of animal life, social justice, and environmental ethics in a multispecies world by investigating the evolving relationships between animals, humans, and their environments. Although the coursework focused on Asia, several students completed final projects based on their own experiences with animals closer to home.

Encountering animals, in their own words

Students in “Critical Animal Studies,” a special East Asian Studies seminar taught by Dr. Jieun Cho in Spring 2025, produced a collection of essays exploring the significance of and roles played by non-human animals in today’s socioecological crises.

Visit the project page

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Advancing understanding of environmental issues in Asia

Environmental Futures in Asia Network

Supporting Duke’s Climate Commitment, APSI is working to support a growing network of scholars, professionals, and community organizers dedicated to understanding environmental and climate issues, especially their effects on people and places in Asia.

About EFAN

APSI launches environmental network with workshop in Jeju

Cosponsored and coorganized by Duke’s Asian/Pacific Studies Institute (APSI) and Jeju National University’s (JNU) Research Center on the Commons and Sustainable Society, the inaugural workshop on Jeju Island represented a major step toward achieving the network's ambitious goals.

About the Jeju workshop

EFAN grows with workshop in Durham

The underlying theme of the second workshop was pedagogy—defining the term in the broader sense of how we might teach, learn, and collaborate, in and beyond classrooms and communities, while highlighting the substantive ways Asia contributes to addressing environmental futures globally.

About the Durham workshop

Explore APSI's environmental engagement

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Film Screenings

Several times each semester, APSI sponsors (and co-sponsors) film screenings relevant to Asian studies—including popular cinematic movies and documentaries from the region—enabling members of our community to engage with faculty and subject matter experts as well as one another.

APSI faculty focus on “Invisible Nation”

On November 4, a panel of APSI faculty engaged members of the Duke and Triangle communities in a thoughtful and thought-provoking conversation about the 2024 documentary, Invisible Nation.

Learn about the panelists

Engaging beyond the screen

Films are typically introduced by members of the APSI faculty and periodically feature Q&A with individuals involved in making the film or professionals who provide additional context and insight. Screenings are frequently the product of collaborative efforts involving multiple campus departments and units.

This year, seven of our 16 film screenings included an opportunity to speak with the director or producers. Several of these conversations were held in the speaker's native tongue, facilitated by English translation, offering audience members the chance to utilize their language skills in a real-world setting.

All Static and Noise

Jewher Ilham & Janice Englehart, producers

The Last Breath of Sam Yan

Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal & Settanant Thanakitkoses, producers

Faces of Seoul

Gina Kim, director

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Impact on and beyond campus

Supported by APSI, Duke scholars impact students and communities both on and off campus. Explore some instances of their activities and collaborations that transcend boundaries.

Luo Zhou co-edits ACLS open database resource guide for China Studies

Explore faculty mentoring in action at APSI

Collaborating to share research on samurai warriors of feudal Japan

Bridging disciplines and distance in a world of mushrooms

APSI joins Nichibunken's Consortium for Global Japanese Studies

Read about Professor Allison's award

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