Speaker
Kuan-Chi WANG | Associate Research Fellow, Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, Academia Sinica; HYI Visiting Scholar, 2025-26
Chair/Discussant
Victor Seow | John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences, Harvard University
This talk examines how agricultural practices, food crops, and related knowledge have influenced food regimes operated in Asia throughout periods of imperialism, the Cold War, and globalization. Three interventions are highlighted. First, the case of Ponlai rice (蓬萊米) demonstrates how farmers and agronomists navigated innovation in both colonial and postwar contexts. Second, the edamame case explores contemporary regional trade regimes and changing development agendas, while also reflecting agricultural legacies from the era of empire and the Cold War. Finally, a new emphasis on the geopolitical knowledge regime (地政學) of Japanese colonialism reveals how colonial geographical knowledge was adapted and transformed in envisioning the territorial expansion of the empire. Together, these perspectives advance our understanding of Asian food regimes as dynamic histories intertwined with science, knowledge, and power.
Upcoming Events
Visiting Scholar Talks
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Visiting Scholar Talks
Appropriation or Dialogue—and Why It Matters: The Poetics and Politics of Cross-Cultural AdaptationWednesday, October 15, 2025
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Food, Memories, and Agri-Science in Action: Reconsidering Food Regimes in AsiaFriday, October 17, 2025