Owen Lattimore Conference

The ACMS, International Association for Mongol Studies, and the National University of Mongolia are organizing a conference on August 20th and 21st with the theme/title of "Owen Lattimore: the Past, Present, and Future of Inner Asian Studies." The conference is intended to be partly academic and partly an opportunity for Mongolian government officials, diplomats, and private citizens to reminisce on Mongolian foreign relations during the 20th century from the perspective of Owen Lattimore and his legacy. Many of the Mongolians who interacted with Owen Lattimore on a personal or professional level are slowly disappearing, and this conference will provide an opportunity to record an oral history of some of the smaller and not widely known events that occurred during the early years of the Socialist Revolution, the Cold War, and the post-1990 democratic transition.

The conference will be free and open to the public, and it will include two special film presentations of documentaries made in 1974-75 by a British film team and Owen Lattimore as commentator on life in Socialist Mongolia. These films were the first foreign documentaries sanctioned by the Mongolian government during the Socialist Era. These presentations will be offered as part of the ACMS's ongoing film series seminar program, which examines cinema related to Mongolia and Inner Asia and offers participants an opportunity to delve deeper into the films via guided discussions and activities. More information about this program is on the ACMS website at the Film Series Seminars page.

The ACMS library is also organizing an exhibit of Owen Lattimore's works which will be on display near the conference venue. The library has collected most of Owen Lattimore's written works for inclusion in the ACMS library, and it is currently working to acquire photographs as well. More information about the ACMS Library is at www.mongoliacenter.org/library.

The tentative conference schedule and description is now online at the Conference Schedule page. An updated schedule will be available in mid-July, and ACMS members will receive periodic updates about the schedule and events leading up to the conference dates. To become an ACMS member visit the Become a Member page on the ACMS website.