Culture
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Birgit Lodes

Birgit Lodes explores how women inspired and performed, enabled and transformed Beethoven's music and legacy.

Beethoven dedicated printed works to sixty-three individuals––twenty-three of them women–– mostly from the high nobility or the “second society” that shaped Viennese musical life and patronage around 1800. Nearly all knew the composer personally and shared his enthusiasm for a refined ideal of music that functioned as social and symbolic capital in the Bourdieusian sense. Beethoven’s dedications thus can offer a window into the social conditions of composition, early performance practices, and the meanings attached to these works. The pieces Beethoven dedicated to women—chiefly songs and piano compositions—not only reflect the gendered norms of musical education and salon culture central to his professional life, but, as I will argue, were often specifically crafted to suit the individual tastes and abilities of these women. 

Several of these works might never have existed without the inspiration and engagement of these female patrons and performers. Shifting the focus from the composer’s public “heroic” oeuvre to works reflecting his artistic and social engagements within these circles reveals a different Beethoven: one deeply embedded in the musical, cultural, and sociological networks of his time. Reconsidering these contexts challenges long-standing nationalist and bourgeois-masculine narratives and highlights the active, formative role of aristocratic women as patrons, performers, and mediators of Beethoven’s art in Habsburg Vienna.


Birgit Lodes studied in Munich, at UCLA, and at Harvard University. Since 2004, she has been Professor of Historical Musicology at the University of Vienna and currently serves as Distinguished Visiting Austrian Chair at Stanford University. She is a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and editor-in-chief of the series Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich. Her research focuses on musical life in Central Europe around 1500 (https://musical-life.net/en), as well as on Beethoven, Schubert, and their circles.

Anna Grzymała-Busse
Anna Grzymała-Busse
Birgit Lodes, University of Vienna; Distinguished Visiting Austrian Chair at The Europe Center
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We are pleased to share the publication of a new volume, Cold War Refugees: Connected Histories of Displacement and Migration across Postcolonial Asia, edited by the Korea Program's Yumi Moon, associate professor in Stanford's Department of History.

The book, now available from Stanford University Press, revisits Cold War history by examining the identities, cultures, and agendas of the many refugees forced to flee their homes across East, Southeast, and South Asia due to the great power conflict between the US and the USSR. Moon's book draws on multilingual archival sources and presents these displaced peoples as historical actors in their own right, not mere subjects of government actions. Exploring the local, regional, and global contexts of displacement through five cases —Taiwan, Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, and Pakistan — this volume sheds new light on understudied aspects of Cold War history.

This book is an important new contribution to our understanding of population flows on the Korean Peninsula across decades.
Paul Chang
Deputy Director, Korea Program

The book's chapters — written by Phi-Vân Nguyen, Dominic Meng-Hsuan Yang, Yumi Moon, Ijlal Muzaffar, Robert D. Crews, Sabauon Nasseri, and Aishwary Kumar — explore Vietnam's 1954 partition, refugees displaced from Zhejiang to Taiwan, North Korean refugees in South Korea from 1945–50, the Cold War legacy in Karachi, and Afghan refugees.

Purchase Cold War Refugees at www.sup.org and receive 20% off with the code MOON20.

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Can the United States and Asia Commemorate the End of the Pacific War Together?

Within Asia, World War II memories and commemorations are not only different from those in the United States but also divided and contested, still shaping and affected by politics and nationalism. Only when U.S. and Asian leaders come together to mark the end of the Asia-Pacific war can they present a credible, collective vision for the peace and prosperity of this important region.
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Sociologist Gi-Wook Shin Illuminates How Strategic Human Resource Development Helped Build Asia-Pacific Economic Giants

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The new volume, edited by Stanford historian Yumi Moon, examines the experiences of Asian populations displaced by the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union.

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Distinguished Visiting Austrian Chair at The Europe Center, 2026
Professor of Philological and Cultural Studies, University of Vienna
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Birgit Lodes studied in Munich, at UCLA, and at Harvard University. She has been Full Professor at the University of Vienna since 2005, and a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences since 2008.  Her research focuses on Beethoven, Schubert, and on music around 1500.

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Visiting Scholar at APARC, 2025-2026
soo_chan_choi.jpg Ph.D.

Soo Chan Choi joins the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC) as a visiting scholar for the 2025-2026 academic year. He currently serves as Dean and Professor of the School of Social Welfare at Yonsei University. While at APARC, he will be conducting research on the adaptation of Korean workers to overseas environments, focusing on the Bay Area.

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Culture is all around us — but we take it for granted, says Michele Gelfand, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business.

“It’s often only until you get outside of your cultural context — your cultural bubble, we might call it — that you start realizing, wow, I’ve actually been socialized by my parents, by my teachers, by the institutions that reward or punish certain behaviors. I’ve been socialized my whole life to adopt a certain set of values and norms, to construct a self, so to speak, that fits into that cultural context,” she says.

Click here to read more and listen to the if/then podcast from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

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Culture is all around us — but we take it for granted, says Michele Gelfand, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business and an affiliated faculty member at CDDRL.

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On Tuesday, June 3, a largely student audience gathered for an urgent and moving conversation: Persisting in Hard Times, a panel highlighting the work and insights of four extraordinary practitioners who have spent their lives confronting injustice, responding to crises, and working every day toward a more equitable and humane society.

The conversation was co-organized by Hakeem Jefferson, assistant professor of political science and faculty director of the Program on Identity, Democracy, and Justice at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), and Gillian Slee, the 2024-25 Gerhard Casper Postdoctoral Fellow in Rule of Law at CDDRL and incoming assistant professor of sociology at the University of Georgia. It was co-moderated by Jefferson and Karina Kloos, Executive Director of the Democracy Hub and ePluribus Stanford.

In organizing the event, Slee framed it as follows:

What does it mean to persist in hard times? The country is wrestling with major questions right now — about rights and resources, belonging and expression, well-being and justice. How we proceed will shape our understanding of American democracy and have real consequences for daily life within this country.

You are all here today because you recognize we are living through hard times. Throughout the year, we have had conversations across campus about democratic norms, the rule of law, and the exercise or availability of rights and resources. Students in the room today are wrapping up a quarter of asking critical questions about the state and health of American democracy. These questions and their answers are urgent and consequential.

Still, we seek a different kind of conversation today. Our focus is on persisting through hard times. Our orientation is particular. Today’s panelists draw on unique expertise working in the trenches to respond to crises that imperil dignity, justice, and well-being. When they think about the major questions of our times, each panelist has the capacity to see the faces of clients, constituents, workers, immigrants, students, neighbors, and more. They know what it means to address urgent, immediate crises through on-the-ground daily action. They also know what it means to engage in work that is sometimes underfunded, lonely, and pursued with long odds.

Importantly, their work is fueled by a vision of a wildly promising future in which people, especially those from marginalized groups, have opportunities to thrive.


The panelists brought this vision to life. Professor Pam Karlan, a renowned constitutional scholar and professor at Stanford Law, reflected on the role of history, poetry, and truth in helping her persist. She recommended three poems that offer solace and clarity in this moment: Langston Hughes’ Let America Be America Again, Marge Piercy’s The Low Road, and Tennyson’s Ulysses, with its enduring call: “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”

DeCarol Davis, Director of the Community Legal Services Program at Legal Aid at Work, spoke powerfully about being shaped by a Black family with deep roots in the South — roots that helped prepare her for navigating systems marked by discrimination and inequality. She reminded us that persisting is not new, and that her work is animated by a long legacy of Black resilience and clarity of purpose.

Alison Kamhi, Legal Director of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, shared stories of the immigrants her work brings her into contact with — people for whom hard times are not new, but ongoing. She charted what has shifted — and what has not — in U.S. immigration policy and enforcement, and spoke to the emotional and moral weight of sustaining this work amid cruelty and complacency.

Poet, public servant, and Stanford PhD candidate Antonio López offered a stirring meditation on proximity to harm and the moral responsibility it demands. His poem, Opening Statement, anchored the room in both clarity and conviction. It was a poet who reminded us that we are all implicated — and that this implication opens up opportunities for all of us to act. López also pointed us to the many lessons embedded in Black liberation struggles and other freedom movements that offer enduring blueprints for persisting in this moment.

Throughout the conversation, Kloos invited panelists to reflect on where they find joy in the midst of struggle. Drawing from Ross Gay’s Inciting Joy, she asked what it means for joy to coexist with strain and uncertainty — a question that brought the panel back to the everyday practices that nourish courage and clarity.

The audience Q&A that followed surfaced difficult, generative questions: What can the law do — and what can it not do? What does solidarity require of us? And how do we ensure that the most vulnerable among us, including trans communities, are not forgotten in the push for change?

The conversation closed with a powerful exchange about community, belonging, and the intertwined nature of our fates. Jefferson ended by noting that perhaps a key part of persisting in this moment, especially for those of us with so much privilege, is to remember — as Dr. King reminded us — that our fates are inextricably bound together, that unfreedom for our neighbors is unfreedom for us, and that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

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New Research Program Explores Intersection of Identity, Democracy, and Justice

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Hakeem Jefferson (L) and Jake Grumbach (R) moderate a panel with authors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt.
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Persisting in Hard Times panel
Hakeem Jefferson and Karina Kloos (L) moderated a panel discussion on June 3, 2025.
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A June 3 panel hosted by CDDRL’s Program on Identity, Democracy, and Justice brought together four leaders who shared their personal and professional insights on how to continue the work of justice when the road is long and the odds are steep.

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As part of its efforts to teach and train future leaders and policymakers, the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies sponsors four student-led initiatives that engage participants in international affairs and help develop their skills in foreign diplomacy. Through collaborations with universities abroad, FSI students have launched regionally-focused initiatives to build intellectual and cultural networks with scholars in other countries, gain leadership skills, and connect with a global cohort of like-minded students.

This year, students from the Stanford Japan Exchange Conference (SJEC), the Forum for American/Chinese Exchange at Stanford (FACES), and the Stanford Indo-Pak Dosti Forum (SIPDF) shared highlights of their respective programs. From classroom course design to annual summits and field trips, students collaborated with their peers in Japan and China, and promoted dialogue, mutual understanding, and cooperation to foster reconciliation between India and Pakistan. FSI offers several programs providing Stanford students with international opportunities to advance their personal, academic and professional objectives. Learn more on the FSI Student Programs website.
 

The Stanford Japan Exchange Conference

As members of the Stanford Japan Exchange Conference, Anais Sobrier and Jessie Kong hosted a week-long exchange program for visiting Japanese students. The Stanford students introduced their guests to campus life, the U.S. educational system, and local employers, while also learning about the visitors' political history, social structures, and cultural practices.

Jessie Kong: Every year, SJEC puts on a week-long, entirely student-run, exchange program for 20-25 visiting Japanese students from Keio, Doshisha, and Kyoto Universities. Through this programming, we strive to provide authentic insights into Stanford academics, extracurriculars, and lifestyle by having the Japanese students join our lives and develop bonding experiences. 

As one of the co-presidents of SJEC this year, my work has centered around coordinating the entire team of Stanford officers, delegating tasks between teams, communicating with and preparing the Japanese students, and facilitating activities during the conference.

Through leading SJEC this year, I have realized the importance of dedication and commitment when planning these activities. My previous years in SJEC leading the social team has also shown me how to plan events from start to finish in an efficient way that leverages the capabilities of everyone on the team while focusing on the experience for the Japanese students. I think being able to put the group's interest above my own was also a good skill I learned while in the co-president position.

Socially, I have been able to build connections both for myself and other Stanford students with the Japanese student community. Starting with SJEC, I was able to meet and take care of visiting Japanese students at Stanford, and this effort was reciprocated when I went to study abroad through the BOSP Kyoto program. Being able to feel the reciprocity of my efforts in SJEC only makes me more motivated to continue working in SJEC to create a good experience for more Japanese students who visit in the future.
 

The Forum for American-Chinese Exchange at Stanford

Yifei Cheng and Irene Zhang participated in organizing the annual summit for the Forum for American-Chinese Exchange at Stanford (FACES), facilitating dialogue and the exchange of geopolitical experiences between Chinese and American scholars. The students gained skills in logistics management, community building, and academic leadership by mentoring their peers in their research interests.

Yifei Cheng: The main event from our organization this year is the FACES annual summit that took place in January 2025. We invited 40 college students from Chinese and American universities to engage in dialogue about US-China relations on Stanford campus. As the president of FACES, I was involved in candidate selection and planning the summit schedule. I also took the initiative to organize the summit field trip at the Angel Island Immigration Facility. 

Through the lecture of Professor Gordon H. Chang on the persecution of Chinese scientists during the McCarthy Era, I learned about the repeated interlocks between politics and academia in the US, which has significant contemporary repercussions with the current administration's restrictions of student visas and immigration process. 

The FACES summit also enhanced my understanding of diplomacy on a personal level. This experience taught me that cultural exchange isn’t about reaching agreement—it’s about creating a shared space where different truths can coexist. I learned to listen across differences, become comfortable with discomfort, and see the value in ambiguity. These lessons have reshaped how I engage in conversations not only about geopolitics, but also about identity, equity, and belonging more broadly.

I gained concrete organizational skills with managing timelines, delegating tasks, and staying calm when things went wrong—like when the hotel rooming list gets wrong and messy. I also learned that leadership is less about control and more about creating the conditions for others to grow. I facilitated the daily reflection session during the summit. As the discussion facilitator, I found it rewarding to moderate discussions where sometimes disagreements arise. I think this is a valuable skill for my academic and professional development. 
 

The Stanford Indo-Pak Dosti Forum

Aimen Ejaz and Luv Jawahrani launched the new Stanford Indo-Pak Dosti Forum (SIPDF) this year and designed two courses to navigate the complexities of peacebuilding between India and Pakistan. From hosting distinguished diplomats and entrepreneurs to moderating student debates on potential diplomatic solutions to decades of conflict, the two undergraduate students cultivated a safe space for cross-generational dialogue. In the process, they also acquired hands-on experience in pedagogy, diplomacy, and leadership.

Aimen Ejaz and Luv Jawahrani: This year, in its inaugural term, the Stanford Indo-Pak Dosti Forum (SIPDF)achieved what many said was impossible: bringing together Indians and Pakistanis in the same room – voluntarily – twice a week.

In the fall, we launched INTNL REL 47SI: Bridging the Divide, a student-initiated course focused on the political and economic dimensions of India-Pakistan relations. The class brought together prominent individuals concerned about peace-building, ranging from former Indian and Pakistani ambassadors who’d been involved in negotiating peace to professors from the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB), to research fellows at the Hoover Institute and the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), and veteran journalists who have covered the subcontinent for decades.

In spring, we co-taught GLOBAL 47SI: Building Bridges—a course that spotlights cross-border entrepreneurship as a tool for soft diplomacy. We invited legendary South Asian entrepreneurs and venture capitalists from both sides of the border: Mamoon Hamid (Managing Director at Kleiner Perkins), Samir Kaul (Managing Director at Khosla Ventures), Amit Patel (Managing Director at Owl Ventures), Bilal Zuberi (Partner at Lux Capital), and Anand Swaminathan (Senior Partner at McKinsey), among others. The goal? To explore how venture-building, innovation, and chai-fueled resilience can outpace political gridlock.

Academically, co-leading our student-led initiative taught us more than any textbook ever could, mostly because we had to build the syllabus ourselves. And we didn’t just co-lead — we co-dreamed and co-hustled, getting the syllabi approved by multiple departments and cold-emailing, even chasing down, speakers from across the U.S.

In designing INTNL REL 47SI: Bridging the Divide, we dove headfirst into the complexities of India-Pakistan political and economic relations. But we didn’t stop at reading IR theory. We debated it with the very diplomats and policymakers who once shaped those theories in real time. Every week became a crash course in postcolonial statecraft, regional security, and the surprisingly human side of high diplomacy.

Then came GLOBAL 47SI: Building Bridges, where we shifted from conflict to collaboration, exploring how entrepreneurship can serve as a tool of soft power. Through case studies, guest lectures, and our own classroom debates, we began asking whether a startup pitch can accomplish  what politicians can't. What happens when innovation moves faster than diplomacy? And what does it mean when the biggest South Asian venture capitalist in the world funds a startup founded by someone from the "other" side?

More than anything, we learned how to turn theory into action. Whether it was teaching concepts like diaspora diplomacy or moderating discussions between venture capitalists and undergrads, we were constantly translating complex ideas into real-world conversations. We didn’t just learn. We taught, we built, and we questioned everything along the way.

Culturally and socially, our student-led initiative felt less like organizing a class and more like hosting weekly peace talks, with chai and biryani. We came in thinking we were building a curriculum; we ended up navigating generations of silence, suspicion, and identity.

We learned that Partition isn’t just a historical event–it’s a living memory passed down through stories and subconscious hesitation. It’s in the way some students avoid eye contact when the topic turns political, or how others lower their voices when mentioning where their family is really from. But we also learned that these barriers can soften when people feel safe enough to speak, and laugh, together.

We watched students from India and Pakistan, often meeting for the first time, begin to open up. Conversations that started stiffly turned into long debates, jokes, shared Desi Spotify playlists, and sometimes even plans to visit each other’s cities, if our countries ever allow it. We learned that vulnerability—especially in a region taught to fear it—is a radical act. And that our generation is more ready than we think to rewrite the script we inherited.

There were moments when we questioned whether this initiative was worth it. When we received backlash online for platforming certain voices. When a class discussion got tense and uncomfortable. When friends warned us that this was “too political,” “too idealistic,” “too risky.” And we didn’t always have the perfect response.

But leadership, we realized, isn’t about always being right. It’s about being rooted in a vision that peace isn’t naïve — it’s necessary. That bridging divides isn’t weakness—it’s the only strength that can outlast hate. And when things fell apart — when a high-profile speaker pulled out at the last minute, or a student pushed back hard in class — we didn’t pivot away from our mission. We dug deeper. We turned cancellations into teachable moments. We turned criticism into conversation. Most importantly, we learned to trust ourselves and to trust that our generation doesn’t have to inherit the silence, the suspicion, and the separation.

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Students from Gordian Knot Center classes at the White House with NSC Senior Director for Technology and National Security Tarun Chhabra in Washington D.C.
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AI-augmented Class Tackles National Security Challenges of the Future

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A collage of group photo from the capstone internship projects from the Ford Dorsey Master's in International Policy Class of 2025.
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Globe Trotting MIP Students Aim for Policy Impact

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With funding from the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, students at Stanford University are making connections, learning, and listening to their counterparts in Japan, China, India, and Pakistan.

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Flyer for the panel discussion "Behind the Spotlight: How K-Pop Talent Is Discovered and Made" with speaker headshots. In the background: a photo of audience members during a k-pop concert.

The K-pop industry has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years. Shifting market demands, increased global attention, and evolving media platforms have redefined how talent is discovered and cultivated. This panel spotlights the behind-the-scenes world of trainee recruitment, a dynamic and evolving part of how K-pop groups come to life. Featuring two current Stanford students with firsthand experience in the audition process and an industry insider actively involved in talent scouting, the event offers a closer look at the inner workings of this fast-changing global industry. 

Speakers:

Portrait of Mina Woo

Mina Woo is CEO of Flowing Academy, which specializes in preparing prospective K-pop trainees for auditions. She also works as a vocal trainer for major entertainment companies that contribute to the Hallyu wave. With direct experience in managing and advocating for trainees, Woo brings her perspective on training and recruiting processes.

portrait of Michael Wu

Michael Wu is a senior at Stanford University, double majoring in Communication and Film & Media Studies. Born in Poland and raised in Canada, Michael developed a passion for dance at an early age. With 5 years of ballet and contemporary training and 11 years of competitive hip-hop experience, he was a semi-finalist on the show NBC's World of Dance, a Finalist on Canada's Got Talent 2021, and a Silver Medalist at the Hip Hop International Dance Championships. At Stanford, he has continued his love for hip-hop as one of three directors of Alliance Dance, one of Stanford's largest hip-hop teams.

Prior to his time as a trainee on Starlight Boys, Michael had no experience as a trainee. He applied himself and interviewed over FaceTime in study rooms on campus, and he was eventually selected as a contestant and flown out to Korea. Michael's journey is one of passion, perseverance, and unexpected opportunities. He hopes to continue inspiring and entertaining others through his personality, story, and craft.  

Luis Oyson

Luis Oyson is a sophomore at Stanford University from the Philippines, majoring in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. He brings real-world experience in the K-pop industry. His journey started in 2022 when he flew to South Korea and auditioned for top entertainment companies. After a series of competitive evaluations, he was selected as a trainee and spent over two years fully immersed in the demanding world of idol training. During that time, Luis was named main vocalist and earned a spot on the debut team of a new idol group in development. In 2024, he coveted a spot on JTBC’s global idol survival show Project 7, standing out among thousands of applicants from around the world.

Luis’ background is a testament to years of discipline, performance training, and persistence in one of the world’s most competitive entertainment industries. You can catch him at Stanford, where he continues to sing, dance, and create—sharing his musical passion and industry experiences both in person and on social media (@its.luisoyson).

Moderator:

Portrait of Irene Kyoung

Irene Kyoung is currently a Research Associate for the Korea Program and Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab (SNAPL) at the Shorenstein APARC where she supports research projects regarding Korean politics and society, and US-China relations. Irene received her MA in Political Science from Columbia University and graduated with honors in Government and Legal Studies from Bowdoin College. 

Directions and Parking > 

Irene Kyoung, Research Associate at Shorenstein APARC, Stanford University

Philippines Conference Room (C330)
Encina Hall, 3rd Floor
616 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, CA 94305

Mina Woo, CEO of Flowing Academy in South Korea
Luis Oyson, Sophomore at Stanford University
Michael Wu, Senior at Stanford University
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Flyer for the conference "Taiwan Forward." Image: aerial view of Taipei.

We have reached capacity for this event and registration has closed.


Organized by the Taiwan Program at Stanford University’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC)
Co-sponsored by National Taiwan University's Office of International Affairs

As Taiwan looks to develop comprehensive strategies to promote national interests, it faces challenges shared by other advanced economies. How can Taiwan leverage AI innovation and its semiconductor prowess to drive resilience and continued growth while promoting entrepreneurship and forging advantages in emerging industries? What regulatory and policy measures are needed to scale Taiwan’s role as a global leader in biomedical and healthcare advancements while ensuring patient trust and safety? How can it address the gaps posed by rapid family changes and population aging? And how do its historical and linguistic legacies shape present narratives and identities, within Taiwan and among the Taiwanese diaspora?

Join us for a conference that explores these questions and more, featuring panel discussions with scholars from Stanford University, National Taiwan University, and other universities in Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and Singapore, alongside Taiwanese industry leaders. We will examine Taiwan’s strategies for navigating modernization in a shifting global landscape — bridging technology, industry, culture, and society through interdisciplinary and comparative perspectives.

 

8:45 - 9:10 a.m.
Opening Session

Welcome Remarks

Shih-Torng Ding
Executive Vice President, National Taiwan University

Gi-Wook Shin
Director, Shorenstein APARC and the Taiwan Program, Stanford University

Congratulatory Remarks

Chia-Lung Lin
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Taiwan

Raymond Greene
Director, American Institute in Taiwan 


9:10-10:40 a.m.
Panel 1 — Advancing Health and Healthcare: Technology and Policy Perspectives     
    
Panelists 

Kuan-Ming Chen
Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, National Taiwan University

Lynia Huang
Founder and CEO, Bamboo Technology Ltd.

Ming-Jen Lin
Distinguished Professor, Department of Economics, National Taiwan University

Siyan Yi
Associate Professor, School of Public Health, National University of Singapore

Moderator
Karen Eggleston
Director, Asia Health Policy Program, Shorenstein APARC, Stanford University


10:40-10:50 a.m.
Coffee and Tea Break


10:50 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Panel 2 — Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Technology Leadership

Panelists 

Steve Chen
Co-founder, YouTube and Taiwan Gold Card Holder #1

Matthew Liu
Co-founder, Origin Protocol

Huey-Jen Jenny Su
Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and Former President, National Cheng Kung University

Yaoting Wang
Founding Partner, Darwin Ventures, Taiwan

Moderator
H.-S. Philip Wong
Willard R. and Inez Kerr Bell Professor in the School of Engineering, Stanford University


12:30-1 p.m.

Perspectives from Stanford and NTU Students

Tiffany Chang
BS Student in Engineering Management & Human-Centered Design, Stanford University

Liang-Yu Ko
MA Student in Sociology, National Taiwan University


1-2 p.m. 
Lunch Break


2-3:30 p.m.  
Panel 3 — Interwoven Identities: Exploring Chinese Languages, Taiwanese-american Narratives, and Japanese Colonial Legacies in Taiwan

Panelists 

Carissa Cheng
BA Student in International Relations, Stanford University

Yi-Ting Chung
PhD Candidate in History, Stanford University

Jeffrey Weng
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, National Taiwan University

Moderator
Ruo-Fan Liu
Taiwan Program Postdoctoral Fellow, Shorenstein APARC, Stanford University


3:30-3:45 p.m. 
Coffee and Tea Break


3:45-5:15 p.m.    
Panel 4 —  The Demographic Transformation: Lessons from Taiwan and Comparative Cases

Panelists

Yen-Hsin Alice Cheng
Professor, Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica

Youngtae Cho
Professor of Demography and Director, Population Policy Research Center, Seoul National University

Setsuya Fukuda
Senior Researcher, National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, Japan

Moderator
Paul Y. Chang
Tong Yang, Korea Foundation, and Korea Stanford Alumni Association Senior Fellow, Shorenstein APARC, Stanford University


5:15-5:30 p.m.    
Closing Remarks

Gi-Wook Shin
Director, Shorenstein APARC and the Taiwan Program, Stanford University

THIS CONFERENCE IS HELD IN TAIPEI, TAIWAN, ON SUNDAY, MARCH 23, 2025, FROM 8:45 AM TO 5:30 PM, TAIPEI TIME

International Conference Hall, Tsai Lecture Hall
College of Law
National Taiwan University

No.1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road
Taipei City, 10617
Taiwan

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Cover of the working paper "Korean Cuisine Gone Global," showing a bowl of noodles.

To understand the transformation of Korean food from an “ethnic curiosity” into one of the world’s hottest cuisines, the Korea Program at Shorenstein APARC brought together culinary experts and  academics at the conference “Korean Cuisine Gone Global.” Held on April 11, 2024, the scholars offered insights into the transformation of Korean cuisine, the role of race and place in its success story, and new directions in studying food and Korean culture. Their papers are collected in this volume.

The conference also featured celebrity chef Judy Joo, a renowned television star, an international restaurateur, and owner of the famed Seoul Bird, and Ryu Soo-young, an acclaimed actor turned culinary maestro. 

About the Contributors

Rebecca Jo Kinney is an interdisciplinary teacher and scholar of American Studies and Ethnic Studies, and an associate professor at the School of Cultural Studies at Bowling Green State University. Kinney’s award-winning first book, Beautiful Wasteland: The Rise of Detroit as America’s Postindustrial Frontier (University of Minnesota Press, 2016), argues that contemporary stories told about Detroit’s potential for rise enable the erasure of white supremacist systems. Her research has appeared in American Quarterly, Food, Culture & Society, Verge: Studies in Global Asia, Radical History Review, and Race&Class, among other journals. Her second book, Mapping AsiaTown Cleveland: Race and Redevelopment in the Rust Belt, is forthcoming from Temple University Press in 2025. She is working on a third book, Making Home in Korea: The Transnational Lives of Adult Korean Adoptees, based on research undertaken while a Fulbright Scholar in South Korea. 

Robert Ji-Song Ku is an associate professor of Asian and Asian American Studies at Binghamton University (SUNY) and the managing editor of Foundations and Futures: Asian American and Pacific Islander Multimedia Textbook of the Asian American Studies Center at UCLA. His teaching and research interests include Asian American studies, food studies, and transnational and diasporic Korean popular culture. Prior to Binghamton, he taught at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and Hunter College (CUNY). He is the author of Dubious Gastronomy: Eating Asian in the USA (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2014) and co-editor of Eating More Asian America: A Food Studies Reader (NYU Press, forthcoming 2025), the sequel to Eating Asian America (NYU Press, 2013). He is also co-editor of Pop Empires: Transnational and Diasporic Flows of India and Korea (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2019) and Future Yet to Come: Sociotechnical Imaginaries in Modern Korea (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2021), as well as the Food in Asia and the Pacific series for the University of Hawai‘i Press. Born in Korea, he grew up in Hawai‘i and currently lives in Culver City, California. 

Jooyeon Rhee is an associate professor of Asian Studies and Comparative Literature and director of the Penn State Institute for Korean Studies. She specializes in modern Korean literature and culture. Her main research concerns Korean popular literature, with particular emphasis on transnational literary exchanges and interactions. Currently, she is writing her second book on cultural imaginations of crime and deviance manifested in late colonial Korean detective fiction. Her other research interests include diasporic art and literature and food studies. 

Dafna Zur (editor) is an associate professor of Korean literature and culture in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and director of the Center for East Asian Studies at Stanford. Her first book, Figuring Korean Futures: Children’s Literature in Modern Korea (2017), interrogates the contradictory political visions made possible by children’s literature in colonial and postcolonial Korea. Her second project explores sound, science, and space in the children’s literature of North and South Korea. She has published articles on North Korean popular science and science fiction, translations in North Korean literature, the Korean War in children’s literature, childhood in cinema, children’s poetry and music, and popular culture. Zur’s translations of Korean fiction have appeared in wordwithoutborders.org, Modern Korean Fiction : An Anthology, and the Asia Literary Review

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Working Papers
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Papers from Shorenstein APARC’s Korea Program Conference

Authors
Dafna Zur
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