EVENT DETAILS

"Silk Road Journeys of the Eurasian Lute" A Talk by James A. Millward

Please join us on Tuesday, October 18, 2016 in UC Irvine's Humanities Gateway (HG) 1002, 2-3:30 PM for a talk titled "Silk Road Journeys of the Eurasian Lute" by Prof. James A. Millward.

What do we mean when we say something (an object, a technology, an idea) traveled along the silk road? There has been much scholarly and popular interest in cultural exchange over time across Eurasia, but seldom do we consider the complexity of "cultural exchange" itself.  As best we can tell from archaeological evidence and extent artifacts, the lute--as an object, technology and idea--began in or near by the Mesopotamian region by the 3rd millennium BCE, and from there spread elsewhere; it was not independently invented in multiple places, and is thus a quintessential silk road phenomenon.  Drawing on his current research, Prof. Millward will explore the trans-Eurasian (and global) spread of necked chordophones and consider what it tells us about how culture disseminated over the silk road.

James A. Millward is Professor of Inter-societal History at the Walsh School of Foreign Service and Department of History, Georgetown University.  A past president of the Central Eurasian Studies Society,  he is the author  Beyond the Pass:  Economy, Ethnicity and Empire in Qing Central Asia, 1759-1864 (Stanford, 1998), which has been translated into Chinese, and Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang (Columbia , 2008).  His most recent book, The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2013), is both an introduction to, and a provocative argument about, the nature and significance of trans-Eurasian exchanges in world history.  Jim is also an avid player of stringed instruments, and his current research concerns the spread of lutes east and west along the silk road, a process that culminated in the globalization of the guitar.

This talk is sponsered by The National Committee on US-China Relations, Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture, The Long US-China Institute, The Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies, and The Group for the Study of Early Cultures.

This event is free and open to the public.