New Histories of Catholicism and Empire

DISTINGUISHED LECTURE

You are invited to a distinguished lecture “New Histories of Catholicism and Empire” by Prof Charles Keith (Michigan State University). Prof Keith will graciously serve as the distinguished speaker for the 2026 lecture organized by the GL Louis Religious Pluralism Research Cluster at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Programme

7:00pm Registration

7:30pm Welcome Remarks by Associate Professor Jack Meng-Tat Chia, FASS Assistant Dean of Research and Co-Chair of the GL Louis Religious Pluralism Cluster (NUS Department of History)

7:35pm Opening Remarks by Associate Professor Nur Amali Ibrahim, Co-Chair Designate of GL Louis Religious Pluralism Research Cluster (NUS Department of Sociology and Anthropology)

7:40pm Lecture by Distinguished Speaker, Professor Charles Keith (Michigan State University)

8:30pm Q & A and Discussion

9:00pm Refreshments

9:30pm End of Event

Abstract

The contemporary Catholic Church is, in fundamental ways, the product of imperial conquest and colonial encounters. However, the intersections between Catholicism and empire during the 19th and 20th centuries have only recently received sustained and robust scholarly attention. This talk surveys roughly two decades of transformative scholarship on the global Catholic Church to explore and reflect on the core question underlying this work: how did empire shape the Catholic Church, and how did the Catholic Church shape empire?

Speaker Bio

Charles Keith received his Ph.D. from Yale in 2008 and is Professor of History at Michigan State University. He is the author of Catholic Vietnam: A Church From Empire to Nation (University of California Press, 2012), which received the 2015 Harry J. Benda Book Prize (Association for Asian Studies), the 2013 Alf Andrew Heggoy Book Prize (French Colonial Historical Society), and the 2013 John Gilmary Shea Book Prize (American Catholic Historical Association). He is also the author of Subjects and Sojourners (University of California Press, 2024), which received Honorable Mention for the 2025 Alf Andrew Heggoy Book Prize (French Colonial Historical Society). Dr. Keith served as co-editor in chief of the Journal of Vietnamese Studies from 2018-2022.

About the Organiser

The GL Louis Religious Pluralism Research Cluster, funded by an endowment established via a generous gift to honor Mr. Gnanapragasam Louis’ memory, aims to foster the academic study of religious pluralism and diverse religious traditions in Asia and beyond.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher FASS Research Division, NUS