The seminar will be presented in English, supplemented with Cantonese.
Free admission. Please RSVP by emailing chk.library@utoronto.ca.
Synopsis
Published in June 2024, The Ruttonjees: Industry, Foresight & Charities talks about the family history of the Ruttonjee family in Hong Kong. Although always small in its headcount, the Parsee-Zoroastrian community in Hong Kong had made magnificent contributions to the establishment and development of the city in different aspects, including education and health care. Some of the well-known Parsees in Hong Kong include Sir Mody and J.H. Ruttonjee. In this talk the author would share how the original idea of the book established and developed, and some highlights of the contributions of the Ruttonjee family plus his experiences of working with the family and the Parsee community in Hong Kong.
Speaker Bio
Carl Shu-wai Lau obtained his BA from the University of Toronto (Innis, 2000) and his PhD from the Division of Humanities of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology under the supervision of Prof. Tik-sang Liu. His research interests include developments traditional social organizations in rural communities in Hong Kong, the history of Parsee-Zoroastrian community in Hong Kong and the global diaspora network of Parsee-Zoroastrians. He worked as a lecturer at the Department of Social Sciences at the Education University of Hong Kong before returning to Toronto. Currently he is working as a teacher at a public high school in Markham, Ontario.
Moderator Bio
Dr. Peter Lok is an independent scholar specializing in cultural studies and contemporary continental philosophy. He previously served as the head of Cultural Studies and Creative Industries at Hong Kong Baptist University.