It is our pleasure to share the news that Yue Qiu, who was part of the first-ever graduating class at Duke Kunshan University in 2022, has made noteworthy strides within the realm of slavery studies. The seminal work of her undergraduate career, a DKU Signature Work thesis overseen by Prof. Titas Chakraborty, has earned the distinction of being published in Slavery and Abolition, a premier journal dedicated to the subject. Her thesis is entitled “‘Where Liberty is Not, There is My Country’: Nineteenth-Century American Abolitionist Writings on India and its Legacies,” and it is available for public reading on the following link: ‘Where Liberty is Not, There is My Country’: Nineteenth-Century American Abolitionist Writings on India and its Legacies: Slavery & Abolition: Vol 0, No 0 – Get Access (tandfonline.com)
Earlier the year, Yue Qiu’s research was featured in an article in the C.L.R. James Journal, a prominent publication dedicated to Caribbean philosophy. Under the guidance of Prof. Jesse Olsavsky at DKU’s Humanities Research Center, Yue Qiu embarked on a project known as “A Forgotten Revolutionary Solidarity: The Echoes of the Haitian Revolution in China.” This study explores the parallels Chinese scholars drew between the Haitian Revolution and their own revolutionary experiences. The article is available online here: A Forgotten Revolutionary Solidarity: The Echoes of the Haitian Revolution in China – Yue Qiu – The CLR James Journal (Philosophy Documentation Center) (pdcnet.org).
During her time as an undergraduate at DKU, Yue engaged in extensive study of South Asian languages with the American Institute of Indian Studies. She has since progressed to become a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where her research focuses on the academic interchange among India, East Pakistan (which is present-day Bangladesh), and China during the period of decolonization. Over the recent summer, her research took her to Dhaka, Bangladesh for fieldwork.
