When East Meets West

The annual When East Meets West symposium considers a specific aspect of cultural and social exchange between eastern and western cultures. Each session consists of scholarly presentations followed by a discussion session with the audience about the topic under consideration.

Next Event

When East Meets West: K-Pop and American Music Culture. Learn More

Past Events

Knights and Samurai: Legends and Reality

Friday, September 27, 2019

Richard Kaueper, Professor of History, University of Rochester
A Similar Warrior Code in Medieval Europe and Japan?

Melinda Landeck, Assistant Professor of East Asian Studies, Austin College
Hired Swords, Nostalgic Bureaucrats, National Exemplars: Situating Bushido in Japanese History

Ken Mondschein, Visiting Lecturer, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Like a Poleax to the Head: The Myth and Reality of Knightly Combat

Morton Oxenboell, Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures
Swords, Arrows, and Other Sharp Sticks: Myth and Reality of Warriors in Medieval Japan

Health and Health Across Global Cultur

Friday, September 28, 2018

Dr. Carla Nappi, Mellon Professor of History, University of Pittsburgh
a feeling of if: Making Stories with Manchu Materia Medica

Dr. Maddalena Rumor, Visiting Assistant Professor, Case Western University
Herbal Knowledge East and West in the Ancient World

Dr. Roberto Padilla, Associate Professor, University of Toledo
Cholera and Colonialism: Intersections between Policy, Public Health and Medicine during the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895)

Matthew Davidson, University of Miami
Another Philippines Task': U.S. Imperial Health in Haiti, 1915-1934

Cultural Exchange along the Silk Road

Friday, September 29, 2017

Silk in Byzantium: From Justinian to Eirene the Athenian, Dr. K. Sandy Drakatos, Professor, Humanities Department, CSCC

Silk Roads, Real and Imagined: New Perspectives of Central Asian Commercial History, Dr. Scott Levi, Associate Professor, History Department, the Ohio State University

Stories Untold: Reconnecting East and West through a Dunhuang Diamond Sutra, Dr. Christina Burke Mathison, Lecturer, History of Art, The Ohio State University

Non-Being & Emptiness: An Introduction to Buddhist Doctrine & Meditative Practice, Conrad Robinson, Adjunct Instructor, Humanities Department, CSCC

Citizen and State

Friday, September 30, 2016

The first East Meets West symposium, held in 2016, focused on Great Thinkers in Ancient Civilizations and considered the writing of four ancient thinkers – Herodotus, Socrates, Sima Qian, and Confucius, and included presentations from four distinguished scholars and a lunchtime talk from the Honorable Kathleen Clyde from the Ohio House of Representatives-District 75.