2026 News and Events
The Rime of the Speechless Mariner: Islands and Islanders in Classical Japanese Poetry
with Dr. Jeffrey Neidermaier
Date/Time: March 12, 2026 @ 4:00pm
Location: Miller Hall 121
Dr. Jeffrey Niedermaier is the Mulberry Essence Assistant Professor of Japanese Literature in the Department of East Asian Studies and the Department of Comparative Literature at Brown University. A specialist of classical Japanese poetry, he is interested in how sinographic poetry (kanshi) and vernacular "song" (waka) furnished the classical Japanese court with an imagination of the wider world and its various "abroads."
17th Annual Distinguished Speaker of the Dept. of Global Humanities and Religions Presents:
Between Horses and Heavens
Steppe 'Religion' in the Age of the Xiongu
With Brian K. Miller
Friday, February 6, 2026
4:00 - 5:30pm
Fraser Hall 201 & on Zoom
Just as the ancient Xiongnu nomadic empire was an economically and politically sophisticated entity, so were religious beliefs equally complex. This talk engages the wealth of visual art, archaeological, and historical materials to elucidate the ways in which belief systems and ritual practices of Inner Asian communities during the Xiongnu dynasty elevated geographies and nonhuman animals of the steppe world in a matrix of beings linked to the Tenger heaven.
Scan poster QR code for Zoom link