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Each fall and spring semester, USI faculty members from the College of Liberal Arts present individual, free public lectures featuring their current research. See our current lineup of speakers for this semester below.

Take a look at past presentations, or visit our YouTube Channel to see the videos!

Colloquium Director

Upcoming Presentations - Spring 2024

From Khanfu (Guang[zhou]fu) to Baghdad: Traces of China in the Classical Islamic World

Dr. Anya King

3 P.M. | April 5 | Kleymeyer Hall

In the Global Middle Ages, words were on the move along with goods and ideas. This presentation investigates the connections between the Classical Islamic World (9th-11th Centuries CE) and East Asia. Merchants and missionaries from the Middle East went by land and sea to East Asia, bringing back information along with porcelain and silks. Arabic script sources include phonetic transcriptions of Middle Chinese names and words that are a valuable witness to the historical pronunciation of Chinese. These words also enrich the portrait of relations between the Islamic World and East Asia in medieval times.

Getting here

Kleymeyer Hall is located in the lower level of the Liberal Arts Center, next to the McCutchan Art Gallery, on the west side of the campus.