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Kusana Inscriptions Reexamining the Marks of Empire

Kusana Inscriptions Reexamining the Marks of Empire

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Kusana Inscriptions Reexamining the Marks of Empire
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<strong>Centre for Historical Studies School of Social Sciences </strong> Invites you to a Lecture <strong>Kusana Inscriptions Reexamining the Marks of Empire</strong> <strong>Michael C. Skinner</strong> Asian Languages and Literature University of Washington <strong>12th April 2016</strong> In this presentation I will discuss research I have been conducting in India for my dissertation on the Ku?a?a Empire. While in India I have had the opportunity to visit archaeological sites associated with the Ku?a?a Empire and view Ku?a?a period materials held in Indian museums, but the primary focus of my research has involved compiling a database of Ku?a?a inscriptions. It is from this corpus of texts that I will look at the relationship between the state, society, and religious institutions in the early centuries of the Common Era and in this talk I will present the preliminary findings of my epigraphic endeavours. By reexamining these marks of empire I hope to contribute to our understanding of how the Ku?a?a rulers were able to consolidate their power over such a geographically and culturally diverse territory and show the significance of this imperial formation to both South Asian and World History. Michael C. Skinner is a Fulbright-Nehru Fellow and a Doctoral candidate at Asian Languages and Literature University of Washington

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.