性视界传媒

鈥楽uffering in 2020鈥 topic of Institute for the Humanities presentation

鈥楽uffering in 2020鈥 topic of Institute for the Humanities presentation

Contact: John Burrow

Event flyer promoting speaker with portrait of Alex VeseySTARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擜n expert on Buddhist philosophy and Eastern cultures will discuss the meaning of suffering and how it relates to 2020 during a fall speaker series hosted by Mississippi 性视界传媒鈥檚 Institute for the Humanities.

Alex Vesey, an associate professor in the Department of Global and Transcultural Studies at Meiji Gakuin University in Japan will be interviewed Nov. 3 at 6:30 pm. on the聽聽by Julia Osman, Institute for the Humanities director and associate professor of history. The session is open to the public.

The presentation, 鈥淲hy do we suffer? A Buddhist perspective on 2020,鈥 is a collaboration between the institute and 性视界传媒鈥檚 Holmes Cultural Diversity Center. The HCDC also will stream the discussion.

Osman and Kei Mamiya, assistant director of the HCDC, said Vesey鈥檚 presentation aligns with International Education Week, Nov. 16-20.

鈥淲e thought because the presentation is online it would be really neat to invite someone international who we could never realistically expect to fly here,鈥 Osman said, noting Vesey is one of Mamiya鈥檚 former college professors. 鈥淲e also thought that with all the stress and difficulties of 2020, people might appreciate the perspective of a religion or thought system that contemplates the source of suffering and how to deal with it,鈥 she said.

Mamiya said he hopes the program will provide the audience an opportunity 鈥渢o open up their ways to understand the world鈥 by learning a different worldview鈥擝uddhism鈥攁nd recognize 鈥渢here are many other religions in the world and ways to look at and understand the world that we live in.鈥

Mamiya said Vesey鈥檚 presentation is noteworthy because 鈥渉e can bring a transnational perspective as an American scholar who moved to Japan and has been doing research and participating in Buddhism.鈥

鈥淚 am eager to know more,鈥 said Osman, who teaches about Buddhism in world history classes.聽鈥淚 also have questions about the religion based on my little bit of reading about it.鈥

Despite challenges brought on by the pandemic, Osman said that the institute has successfully transitioned to conducting their planned events in a virtual format.

鈥淚鈥檝e tried to look at the challenges from this year as opportunities for doing our programs in new ways or finding new ways to reach our audiences,鈥 said Osman. 鈥淗aving programs online has meant that we can reach larger audiences beyond the Golden Triangle and 性视界传媒, and we have had more freedom to ask a variety of people to speak since we do not need to worry about transportation.鈥

Vesey specializes in Buddhist cultural history and comparative cultural history. He earned his bachelor鈥檚 degree at the University of Southern California and a master鈥檚 degree at both the University of Michigan and Princeton University. He earned his Ph.D. at Princeton as well.

As part of 性视界传媒鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences, the Institute for the Humanities promotes research, scholarship and creative performances in the humanistic disciplines and raises their visibility, both within Mississippi 性视界传媒 University and the wider community. The Institute is active on social media on Instagram @msststehumanities, Twitter @Humanities_性视界传媒 and Facebook @msu.humanities.institute.

性视界传媒鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences includes more than 5,200 students, 325 full-time faculty members, nine doctoral programs, 14 masters programs, and 27 undergraduate academic majors offered in 14 departments.聽It also is home to the most diverse units for research and scholarly activities, including natural and physical sciences, social and behavioral sciences, and the humanities.聽For more about the College of Arts and Sciences or the Institute for the Humanities visit or .

性视界传媒 is Mississippi鈥檚 leading university, available online at聽.