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.
"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
Lecture title: “Popular Religion in American Democracy”
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"
"A Tale of Three Cities: Valmiki's Ramayana and the Foundations of the Culture, Society and Religion in Early India"
"Buddhism and Human Rights: From 19th Century Reformers to Contemporary Advocates"
"The Muslim Discovery of Printing: A Moment in Global History"
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?"
"Sibling Rivalries: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam"
Previous Department Sponsored Speakers
"Culinary Rage: Feast, Famine, and Gender Subjectivity"
Dr. K.S. Balasubramanian Award-winning international scholar, author, and professor.
Deputy Director of the Kuppuswamy Sastri Research Institute in Chennai, India.