Monday, April 22
4:00 – 5:00pm
Hollander Hall 241
Dr. Wu Xiaoxin, Director of Research, Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History, Boston College, will deliver a guest lecture on his research.
From 1921 to 1955, a group of American Passionist missionaries were based in western Hunan province, China. This was a period of natural calamities, warlords, rebellions, and cataclysm of wars. In this talk, Dr. Wu will introduce the Passionist China Collection housed at the Ricci Institute, Boston College. Examination of this archival collection reveals closely intersecting relationships between peoples, regions, and societies, connecting times, spaces, politics, and events that are far outside an immediate missionary enterprise circle. These archival materials shed new light on the roles that missionaries played in the local, regional, national, and international arenas during this tumultuous period in modern Chinese history, reinterpreting in multiple dimensions the “connected histories” through their lived experiences.
Co-sponsored by the Department of Asian Languages, Literatures, and Cultures; Program of Asian Studies; Department of History; Program in Global Studies; Class of ’46 World War II Memorial Fund; the Lecture Committee of Williams College.