SEMINAR SPONSOR
The Illinois/Indiana (IL/IN) East Asia National Resource Center is a partnership between the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the East Asian Studies Center at Indiana University.

THE PROGRAM
The IL/IN East Asian Summer Seminars are designed to give graduate and advanced undergraduate students in the Midwest the opportunity to study intensively with some of IL/IN’s leading scholars and to create continuing networks for collaboration and exchange.

DATES
The seminar will begin in the afternoon on Monday, May 19th and will end at noon on Thursday, May 22nd.  Room reservations in an on-campus dormitory have been made for out-of-town participants for the nights of Monday, May 19th through Wednesday, May 21st so that participants can arrive Monday afternoon and leave Thursday after noon.

FACULTY
The seminar will be led by Ethan Michelson (Assistant Professor of Sociology and EALC, Indiana University), with assistance from Klaus Mühlhahn (Professor of History and EALC, Indiana University) and Tom Ginsburg (Professor of Law and Political Science, University of Illinois).

SEMINAR DESCRIPTION
Despite a burgeoning scholarly literature chronicling the reconstruction, expansion, and proliferation of laws, courts, and lawyers in China since 1979, scholars disagree about the significance and implications of these developments. Should the Chinese legal system be understood as ornamental “window dressing,” or does it offer meaningful redress to people with grievances? Does it do more to limit or to strengthen the power of the government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)? Does it do more to help people challenge or to prevent people from challenging the government and the CCP? In this interdisciplinary seminar we will explore and debate these questions by assessing the degree of change from and the degree of continuity with past patterns and practices of the Mao era (1949-1976). As part of this assessment, we will consider the complex relations between the legal system (including lawyers) and the state, we will examine the enduring significance of mass mobilization campaigns, and we will situate the formal legal system in the larger justice system containing multiple and overlapping means of civil and criminal “justice” (e.g., administrative litigation vs. petitioning the bureaucracy; criminal prosecution vs. CCP “discipline and inspection”; and criminal punishment vs. police “administrative punishment”).

FORMAT & TEXTS
The seminar will begin on the evening of May 19th, include two full days of lectures and roundtables, and conclude May 22nd.  Participants will receive reading materials and a syllabus four weeks in advance. 

ELIGIBILITY & APPLICATION
The seminar is open to twenty graduate students and advanced undergraduates (juniors and seniors) at colleges and universities in the Midwest. Download application form here. The deadline for submission is April 4, 2008.

COST
Out-of-town participants will receive three nights’ lodging and a travel stipend for partial coverage of travel costs.  Some meals will also be covered.  Participants will pay for travel costs in excess of the travel stipend and some meals. A $30 registration fee is required at the time of application.

CONTACT INFORMATION
For more information, please contact: Anne Prescott, Associate Director, Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, 217-244-4601; aprescot@uiuc.edu