Panda Diplomacy–Its Past, Present, and Potential

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The USF Center for Asia Pacific Studies welcomes E. Elena Songster to campus to present a lecture on panda diplomacy. Almost exactly a year ago, the people of the United States bid farewell to the giant pandas living in the National Zoo. The San Diego pandas and Memphis pandas had already returned to China and the Atlanta pandas were scheduled to return in 2024. At that time, anxiety spread across the United States–what did this reflect about the relations between the United States and China? Would the US be without pandas? If so, for how long?  Now with the recent return of giant pandas to the San Diego Zoo and the much anticipated arrival of pandas to San Francisco, we much less anxiously ask, what does this mean? Elena Songster will trace the history of panda exchanges and their impact on the wild panda population and foreign relations to better understand the power of panda diplomacy. 

Elena Songster is currently a professor of History at Saint Mary’s College. Her research focuses on the environmental history of modern China.  Her first book, Panda Nation: The Construction and Conservation of China’s Modern Icon with Oxford University Press, 2018, examines the emergence of the giant panda as a national symbol, a catalyst for nature protection policy, and a tool for global diplomacy, and a reflection for the historical rise of the People’s Republic of China. Dr. Songster has also published on the history of snow leopard conservation, forestry history, and is currently researching the relationship between medicinals from nature and the environment. 

Community Partners: Asian Studies, Chinese Studies, Department of History, BA in International Studies, and MA in International Studies