The Mid-Atlantic Association for Asian Studies, is a chapter of the Association for Asian Studies which was founded in 1941 with the goal of increasing understanding between the United States and Asia.
One of the speakers was Gyan Prakash, author of Mumbai Fables, a history of the city of Mumbai written in vignettes. I am currently enjoying the book and will write a review of it when I am done. Unfortunately, I missed his presentation due to classes but am told that it was excellent.
Some of the panels I attended were "Human Rights of Women in India," "A Philosophical Conversation on the Meaning of Life and Death," and "Comparative Philosophy of Religions." They were all very interesting and it was very enriching to be able to be part of the discussions. We saw presentations from two West Chester students about Eastern and Western philosophy that were very interesting. One explored the meditation traditions of Descartes and Shankara and the other arguments for the existence of God by Averroist philosophers. (Sitting in on the philosophy panel gave all of the history majors a bit of a chuckle just as if the philosophy majors sat in on some history ones.)
We spent a good deal of time when we weren't at the conference exploring the campus and town. The campus was very pretty especially with the fall leaves. We explored the local stores and hangouts and ate dinner together at Mediterra. We ate outside the restaurant and the setting was beautiful but I do have to admit that the food must have been above my palate. I thought the menu was scant and the food rather plain. We did have a great time, good company overshadows a lack of good food.
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| Us students and our professor. |
I am glad that I am back I have tons of schoolwork to complete and many mid-terms to study for.
That's so cool! And you and Kelly look so good too. :)
ReplyDeleteLooks like it was fun! I've never been to any of those East coast schools. The photos are lovely.
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