The Ricci Institute at the University of San Francisco Center for the Pacific Rim is pleased to announce the call for papers for “The Lotus & The Cross: East-West Cultural Exchange Along the Silk Road,” a one-day symposium to be held at the University of San Francisco on Friday, September 21, 2007. The symposium will be held in conjunction with the opening of “The Lotus and the Cross,” a photographic exhibition of early Christian art and artifacts from China and India on view at the Ricci Institute, Sept. 20 – Nov. 20, 2007 (Curator: Ken Parry, Ph.D., Macquarie University, Australia).

The aim of the symposium is to provide an interdisciplinary forum for the presentation of new research and the reexamination of traditional sources on East - West cultural exchange along the Silk Road and the maritime route to India from 600 to 1500 CE. Papers exploring links between cultures on these routes are particularly encouraged. Possible themes include: evidence of artistic exchange among communities; new aspects of religious syncretism and cultural fusion; new archaeological and material evidence of cross-cultural trade and mercantile practices; new research on language exchange and communication issues along the Silk Road.
The Ricci Institute welcomes proposals for individual papers on this early period of global contact from faculty, independent scholars, and doctoral candidates from the disciplines of history, art history, history of religions, material culture, anthropology, linguistics, and archaeology.

Deadline: Monday, April 2, 2007

Paper Proposal Guidelines:
Please submit a 250 word (maximum) abstract to:
Lauren Arnold
Research Associate
The Ricci Institute
University of San Francisco
2130 Fulton Street, LM 280
San Francisco, CA 94117-1080
Fax: (415) 422-2591
e-mail: laurenarnold@cs.com

The Ricci Institute at the USF Center for the Pacific Rim is an interdisciplinary research center that promotes the study of historical cross-cultural encounters and dialogues between China and the West. The Institute facilitates and engages in research on the history of Chinese-Western cultural exchange and the history of Christianity in China through scholarly research, programs, publications, conferences, and public events. For more information on the Ricci Institute, please visit our website at: www.ricci.usfca.edu