Distinguished Speakers Series

17th Annual Distinguished Guest Speaker

Professor Bryan K. Miller

Bryan K. Miller, University of Michigan, is Assistant Professor of Central Asian Art & Archaeology in History of Art and Assistant Curator of Asian Archaeology at the Museum of Anthropological Archaeology. His work investigates the politics of visual culture and the intersections art and ecology in early Eurasia. His recent book on the Xiongnu: The World's First Nomadic Empire challenges normative constructs of nomadic societies so as to reasses the sophisticated arts, institutions, and polities they create.

BKM in Darkhad Mongolia

"Between Horses and Heavens: steppe 'religion' in the age of the Xiongnu"

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 heavens.

Event Information

Date: Friday, February 6th

Time: 4pm

Where: Fraser Hall 201

Questions and Accommodations

Maureen Christman is the coordinator for the Distinguished Speaker Series.

Feel free to email GHR@wwu.edu if you have any questions or comments.

Previous Distinguished Speakers

Professor of English and Medieval Studies at the University of Connecticut

"Exacting Consent: Silent Consent and Public Voice from Chaucer to the Twenty-first Century"

Professor of Sanskrit in the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley

"A Tale of Three Cities: Valmiki's Ramayana and the Foundations of the Culture, Society and Religion in Early India"

Associate Professor of South Asia Studies and Comparative Religion, University of Washington

"Stretching Religion: Yoga in Philosophy, Temple Architecture, and Gandhi's India"

Professor of German Studies, McGill University

"Representations of Terrorism and Mass-Media"

Republic of China Chair, Department of History and Institute of Asian Research, University of British Columbia

"Dutch Art in the Seventeenth Century: A China Connection?"

Previous Department Sponsored Speakers

Dr. K.S. Balasubramanian Award-winning international scholar, author, and professor.
Deputy Director of the Kuppuswamy Sastri Research Institute in Chennai, India.

Yoga Sutra Lecture Series