UB to host conference on ‘Medicine, the Body, and the Senses: Asian Perspectives’

“Medicine, the Body, and the Senses: Asian Perspectives” is the title of a conference being presented April 11-12 by the Asia Research Institute (ARI).

The conference, which takes place in the Buffalo Room, 10 Capen Hall, will feature a keynote address by Judith Farquhar, Max Palevsky Professor Emerita of Anthropology and of Social Sciences at the University of Chicago, and 22 paper presentations by international scholars in many different fields.

More information and a full schedule is available on the ARI website.

The theme for the conference was developed by Yan Liu, UB associate professor of history and an ARI-affiliated faculty member, and Genie Yoo, postdoctoral fellow at Dumbarton Oaks and an incoming assistant professor of history at UB.

“We are grateful to Yan Liu and Genie Yoo for proposing this very important and timely topic for ARI’s 2025 annual conference,” says Nojin Kwak, vice provost for international education. “The conference will put a spotlight on the important work of UB professors related to medicine, culture and society in Asia, and lay the groundwork for significant future research and publication opportunities for UB faculty and conference participants.”

Participants will address how understandings of the body and its various senses in premodern and modern contexts shape healing outcomes, religious experiences, gender relations and sociopolitical processes. The conference will also explore social, political, religious and cultural contexts that frame perceptions of sensorial experience and embodied practice.

Taking a multidisciplinary approach and drawing attention to local features and transregional knowledge exchange, organizers say the conference will foster fruitful conversations that advance crucial Asian perspectives on the body and the senses, and offer fresh insights on the particular Asian societies under study.

“We are excited to organize a conference that gathers a stellar group of scholars by invitation and from the overwhelming response to our call for papers,” says Liu. “We appreciate ARI’s generous support, which will foster a stimulating conversation on Asian medicine across time, space and disciplines.”

Adds Yoo: “We were absolutely delighted to organize this interdisciplinary conference for ARI, which attracted more than 100 applicants from across North America, Asia and Europe. It is unique in its sensorial approach to the study of medicine and in its engagement with every region of Asia.

“We’re grateful for the opportunity to bring such incredible scholars together at UB and for the support and encouragement provided by ARI and the other sponsors.”

“Medicine, the Body, and the Senses: Asian Perspectives” is the second in an ARI annual conference series that draws on UB faculty expertise to convene international scholars who present new research on critical topics in the study of Asia and Asian diasporas.

The annual conference series, along with other ARI programs that promote faculty scholarship and cutting-edge research, strengthen UB’s position as a regional hub for Asia-focused research and teaching.

In addition to ARI, the conference is co-sponsored by the Office of International Education; the departments of History and Anthropology, and Asian Studies Program, College of Arts and Sciences; the Office of Global Health Initiatives, School of Public Health and Health Professions; and the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.