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Weekly Wanderings: March 10, 2024
It’s a short one this week—just some recent book reviews from me—because I’ve been in full-tilt AAS 2024 Annual Conference preparation mode for the past seven days. My suitcases are on the living-room floor, half packed; dry cleaning will be ready for pickup tomorrow; there are several dozen table tent cards in my office that…
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Weekly Wanderings: March 3, 2024
Signs of spring have arrived in southeast Michigan: there’s a pile of asparagus in my kitchen waiting to be trimmed for dinner, I can hear birds chirping through the porch door that I’ve cracked open, and I’m wearing flip-flops instead of fluffy slippers. I’m sure we’re due for at least one more bout of bitterly…
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Weekly Wanderings: February 25, 2024
Yesterday marked two years since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I don’t have anything deep or profound to say about that, except: the reality of living through two years of fear, uncertainty, danger, death, loss, and struggle is something that I know I cannot understand from afar. I try—through reading and listening to the people…
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Weekly Wanderings: February 18, 2024
Recommendations The Death of Alexei Navalny Even behind bars Navalny was a real threat to Putin, because he was living proof that courage is possible, that truth exists, that Russia could be a different kind of country. For a dictator who survives thanks to lies and violence, that kind of challenge was intolerable. Now Putin…
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Weekly Wanderings: February 12, 2024
新年快乐 and 恭喜发财 to one and all as we kick off the Year of the Dragon. At the Association for Asian Studies #AsiaNow blog, I have two new interviews with authors to share: And at Goodreads, I reviewed The End of Drum-Time by Hanna Pylväinen, a compelling and beautifully written novel about the members of…
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Weekly Wanderings: February 4, 2024
Yesterday I got to attend a preview of a new exhibit at the Detroit Institute of Arts, “Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898-1971.” Previously on display at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, “Regeneration” is now in Detroit until late June, and I hope it will travel to museums elsewhere. Telling the many stories…
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Weekly Wanderings: January 29, 2024
I gazed at the sheet of paper in my hand, trying to convey intense fascination with the picture of a panda printed on it. I fought the urge to flick my eyes to the right, to acknowledge the presence of Chris, the cameraperson who hovered in my peripheral vision. Instead, I kept my sight trained…
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Weekly Wanderings: January 21, 2024
How is it still January?? This month has felt an eternity long, and yet I’m still getting emails that start out “Happy New Year!” Time seems to be moving slowly in 2024. Last week I wrote about “China’s Southern Paradise,” a special exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art that highlighted the artistic lineage of…
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Wanderings: China’s Southern Paradise
A long downward trajectory in U.S.-China relations, intensified by the Covid-19 pandemic, has resulted in less contact between the two countries. Fewer students are crossing the Pacific to study. Airlines have cut back their flight schedules. Multinational executives look elsewhere for business opportunities. “Engagement,” once the hallmark of the relationship, has withered amid mutual suspicion…
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Weekly Wanderings: January 14, 2024
On Friday I published a reading round-up previewing Taiwan’s presidential election, which took place yesterday. Lai Ching-te (William Lai), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate and current vice-president, came away as the winner, securing more than 40 percent of the vote. While the DPP will now hold the presidency for a third consecutive term, it lost…
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Maura Elizabeth Cunningham 