Lunch and Learn Series

Come to a free talk through CAPI's Lunch and Learn Series (formerly our "Brown Bag Lectures") and learn more about current issues in the Asia-Pacific region. Lunch and Learn talks usually take place from 12:30 to 1:30 pm throughout the academic year and are open to the public. Join us and expand your knowledge of the Asia-Pacific region!

Progress in Technology: Educational and Social Changes

Mar 28 2012 - 6:00pm - 8:00pm
, UVic
This symposium consists of three presentations looking at using traditional tools and new media technology in learning environments and associated socio-cultural changes. Presenters looked at how natural disasters and technological progress are shaping our educational scenario. Presenters along with the audience reflected and evaluated the functions of social media in building more enduring community by reconnecting with others who share their concerns.

1. Madhumita Bhattacharya: 危機= With crisis comes the opportunity: Unveiling knowledge using constructivist approaches to learning

2. Satoru Fujitani: Emerging changes in educational and social scenario in Japan

3. Kanji Akahori: Characteristics comparison of Paper, PCs and iPads as learning devices
Revolution in post-Red Bengal: Informal Workers Fight Back

Mar 19 2012 - 12:30pm - 1:30pm
, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC
Speaker: Supriya Routh, PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Law, University of Victoria.

Labour rights enjoy constitutional status in India. The Constitution of India provides for fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and freedom of association, and labour welfare goals such as right to work, provision for living wage, appropriate conditions of work, maternity benefit, old-age assistance etc. However, in absence of state initiative informal workers in India are deprived of constitutionally guaranteed rights.
Looking for Work in Post-Socialist China

Mar 6 2012 - 12:30pm - 1:30pm
, UVic
Feng Xu, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Victoria, recently published "Looking for Work in Post-Socialist China: Governance, Active Job Seekers and the New Chinese Labour Market". In this book she explores unemployment as one of the most politically explosive issues in China which gained further prominence as a result of the present global financial crisis. The novelty, urgency, and complexity of Chinese unemployment have compelled the government to experiment with policy initiatives that originate in the West.
You Say Goodbye, We Say Hello! Robots, Theatre and the Future of Humanity

Feb 28 2012 - 7:00pm - 9:00pm
, Victoria BC
Brazil-based electronics artist and robotics researcher Zaven Paré and UVic Japanese theatre specialist Cody Poulton will discuss recent collaborations between playwright Oriza Hirata and roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro in theatrical productions using robots and androids. One of Japan's leading dramatists and directors, Hirata is advisor to the Japanese cabinet on cultural and international affairs and recipient of the French Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Freedom in Entangled Worlds

Feb 20 2012 - 12:30pm - 1:30pm
, UVic, Victoria BC
Eben Kirksey first went to West Papua, the Indonesian-controlled half of New Guinea, in 1998 as an exchange student. His later study of West Papua's resistance to Indonesian occupiers and the forces of globalization morphed as he discovered that collaboration, rather than resistance, was the primary strategy of this dynamic social movement. Accompanying indigenous activists to Washington, London, and the offices of the oil giant BP, Kirksey saw the revolutionaries' knack for getting inside institutions of power and building coalitions with unlikely allies.
CANCELLED Managing an HIV/AIDS NGO in China CANCELLED

Feb 10 2012 - 12:30pm - 1:30pm
, UVic, Victoria BC
Due to sudden indisposition of the speaker this talk is cancelled. We are sorry for the short notice and hope to reschedule soon.

Dr. Wan Yanhai graduated from Shanghai Medical University School of Public Health in 1988. In 1994, he founded the Beijing Aizhi Action Project, an independent NGO working on issues around HIV/AIDS. This project subsequently became the Beijing Aizhixing Institute, which continues its work on HIV/AIDS, adds focus on health and human rights, as well as engages with marginalized groups that official programs often do not reach.
The Empress and Mrs. Conger: The Uncommon Friendship of Two Women and Two Worlds

Feb 8 2012 - 12:30pm - 1:30pm
, Victoria BC, UVic
In winter 1902 in the ruins of post-Boxer Uprising Beijing, two women from two different worlds joined hands, and made history- the former concubine and legendary tyrant Empress Dowager Cixi, and the Midwestborn, devoutly Christian Sarah Pike Conger.
Living with Hiroshima: My Memories of 66 Years

Jan 31 2012 - 7:30pm - 9:00pm
, Victoria BC, UVic
Koko Tanimoto Kondo, writer, speaker, and educator from Hiroshima, talks about the effects of the bomb on her life, and her ongoing work for peace. Koko, daughter of Rev. Kiyoshi Tanimoto and Chisa Tanimoto, was an 8-month old baby and was 1.1 km away from the hypocenter on August 6th, 1945 when the first atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima's people. Koko, who miraculously survived the bombing, grew up with victims who came to her father's church on a daily basis.
Malling over Japan: Perspectives on Shopping Centre Development and Management

Nov 3 2011 - 12:30pm - 1:30pm
, University of Victoria
Only over the last decade has Japan seen a rapid increase in the number of large, centrally-managed shopping centres and they have become important places for retailers to operate stores and for people to shop and spend time.
Fateful Complexity: Genesis of Unplanned Interconnectedness of Pakistan’s Tribal Areas to Talibanisation & Other Conflicts

Nov 1 2011 - 12:30pm - 1:30pm
, University of Victoria
Foreign media portray Pakistan as a terrorist hotbed and its northern peoples as colluders with the Taliban.