February 2, 1998
“China: Changes and Challenges” Middlebury
College’s Fifth Annual Clifford Symposium
“China: Changes and Challenges” is the
topic of the 1998 Nicholas R. Clifford Symposium which will be
held at Middlebury College on February 12-14. The symposium will
feature lectures, films, and roundtable discussions. Participants
include scholars, students, leaders of research and human rights
organizations, journalists, and filmmakers.
The symposium begins with two sessions on Thursday,
Feb. 12 at 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The first session is a student
roundtable discussion on China sponsored by the International
Student Organization (ISO) in the Annex Lounge of Gifford Hall
on Hepburn Road, off College Street (Route 125). The 7:30 p.m.
session is a showing of a film, “Comrades: Almost a Love
Story,” in the Sunderland Language Center’s Dana Auditorium
on College Street (Route 125).
The keynote lecture will be delivered on Friday,
Feb. 13 at 4 p.m. by Martin King Whyte, professor of sociology
at George Washington University. His lecture titled “The
Human Rights Situation in China: Progress or Deterioration,”
will be held in the library of the Geonomics House on Hillcrest
Road, off College Street (Route 125). Other events scheduled for
Friday include a presentation at 8 p.m. by filmmaker Carma Hinton,
who will discuss the film “History in Images: Potential and
Limitations,” to be held in the Hemicycle in Warner Science
Hall at the corner of Old Chapel Road and College Street (Route
125); and a 9 p.m. coffee house in the Gamut Room in Gifford Hall
on Hepburn Road, off College Street (Route 125), sponsored by
the International Student Organization.
On Saturday, Feb. 14 at 10:15 a.m., a panel about
policy issues will be held in the Geonomics House Library. The
panel will be moderated by Ellen Oxfeld, Middlebury College department
of sociology/anthropology, with the following panelists and topics:
- Will Dobson ‘95, associate editor, Foreign Affairs
magazine, and Taylor Fravel ‘93, Bain & Company,
San Francisco, Cal., “China Looks at the World: Security
from a Chinese Perspective” - Christopher Flavin, senior vice president and
director of research, Worldwatch Institute, Washington, D.C.,
“Facing China’s Limits: What Can China Teach the World About
Environmental Sustainability in the 21st Century?” - Alice Hogan, program officer for China, National
Science Foundation, “Changes and Challenges in U.S.-China
Science and Technology Cooperation” - Elizabeth Knup ‘82 , National Committee on U.S.-China
Relations, “The Effects of the Asian Financial Crisis on
U.S.-China Relations”
At 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, a panel titled “State
and Society” to be moderated by Eric Davis, Middlebury College
professor of political science, will be held at the College’s
Geonomics House Library. Panelists include:
- Nicholas Clifford, history (emeritus), Middlebury
College, “Civil Society and Its Discontents: The Situation
in China Before 1949” - John Berninghausen, Chinese, Middlebury College,
“China Since Tienanmen in the Post-Socialist Era: Lessons
Learned and Challenges Ahead” - Shipeng Zheng, political science, University
of Vermont, “Chinese Politics in the Post-Deng Era: Changes
from Within” - Elizabeth Endicott-West, history, Middlebury
College, “China as a Multi-Ethnic Empire: The Problems of
Center and Periphery”
At 3:30 p.m., another panel will be held in the Geonomics
House Library titled “Culture and Society,” moderated
by Tom Moran of the Middlebury College department of Chinese.
Other panelists are:
- Howard Goldblatt, Chinese literature, University
of Colorado, “When Good Writing Isn’t Enough: Chinese Fiction
in the World” - Susan Brownell, anthropology, University of Missouri-St.
Louis, “Body Culture in China: From Communism to Consumerism” - Ellen Oxfeld, sociology/anthropology, Middlebury
College, “The Daughter Who Didn’t Cry at Her Father’s Funeral:
Remembering the Dead in Post-Mao Rural China” - Zhu Xiao Di, research analyst, Kennedy School
of Government, “Understanding China Through Chinese Eyes”
At 7 p.m. on Saturday, the symposium will end with
a Chinese New Year party in Ross Lounge, on campus on the northern
side of College Street (Route 125) in the dorm complex set back
from the blinking light. The event is sponsored by the International
Student Organization.
The Nicholas R. Clifford Symposium
was established by the Middlebury College Board of Trustees in
1993 to honor the distinguished career of Nicholas R. Clifford,
college professor emeritus of history. Clifford was a member of
the Middlebury College history department from 1966 through 1993,
and served as vice president for academic affairs on three occasions,
from 1979-1985, in 1989, and from 1991-1993.
The purpose of the symposium is to
provide an opportunity for Middlebury faculty and outside scholars
to assemble to discuss an academic topic that can be approached
from the perspective of a number of disciplines. Since Professor
Clifford’s field was Chinese history, this year’s topic is particularly
appropriate for the Clifford Symposium, and Professor Clifford
will participate in the symposium.
Symposium events are open to the public
and free of charge with the exception of the Chinese New Year
party, which requires a $3.00 admission.