The UCF History Department is proud to host the Annual Pauley Lecture Series on Global Affairs.
Dr. Thomas W. Burkman, Research Professor Emeritus of Asian Studies at the University at Buffalo - The State University of New York will present Can Nations Forgive? The Case of Japan and its Asian Neighbors.
Throughout the world we can observe numerous cases of prolonged animosity between nations. These conflicts often involve historical national enemies, who keep alive memories of some abuse in the past. It is not uncommon that later generations feel the anger more acutely than the people who initially were wronged. Professor Burkman, drawing on the field of peace research, will review the historical abuses that continue to divide Japan, China, and Korea, and recent efforts on all sides to bring resolution. The world has seen instances of international forgiveness, but it is usually an implicit process over a period of time. What steps can be taken to facilitate reconciliation among Japan and its neighbors?
Burkman is a 20th century Japanese historian. He did his doctoral work in modern Japanese history at the University of Michigan. His research centers on Japan's relationship to world order in the decades of the 1920s and 1930s. He has published a monograph and numerous scholarly articles on the subject of Japan and the League of Nations. Other research interests are the Allied Occupation of Japan which followed the Second World War and the bitter war and colonial memories that alienate China and Korea from Japan to this day. Dr. Burkman has been a Fulbright scholar and a visiting Research Professor at the University of Tokyo. He was also a fellow at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at Notre Dame University.
Dr. Burkman served for 14 years on the History faculty of Old Dominion University in Virginia, where he founded and directed an Institute of Asian Studies. He has also taught at Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan, Colby College, the University of California at Davis, Hamilton College, and Jinan University in China.
Guests are invited to have tea with History faculty beginning at 3:30pm. Award presentations and the lecture will begin at 4:00pm.
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