One Size Doesn't Fit All: Why Western Democracy Won't Work in East Asia
Daniel Bell, Associate Professor, Public and Social Administration, City University of Hong Kong
January 23, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies
Three Rapes: The Status of Forces Agreement and Okinawa
Chalmers Johnson, President, Japan Policy Research Institute
January 29, 2004
Center for Japanese Studies, Institute of East Asian Studies
Reader provided upon request. Please contact: cjs@berkeley.edu.
Okinawa, Japan's most southerly prefecture and its poorest, has been the scene since 2001 of a particularly fierce confrontation between Washington, Tokyo, and Naha over the Japanese-American SOFA (Status Of Forces Agreement) and its use by American authorities to shield military felons from the application of Japanese law. To many Japanese and virtually all Okinawans, the SOFA represents a rebirth of the "unequal treaties" that Western imperialists imposed on Japan after Commodore Perry's armed incursion in 1853. On November 15, 2003, in talks with Japanese officials in Tokyo, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said that he planned "to press anew for the Japanese government to relent on a long-standing U.S. demand for fuller legal protections for members of its military force accused of crimes while serving in Japan." Most American press accounts avoided details about what this enigmatic comment might mean, including whether the American defense secretary was equally concerned about legal protections for Japanese citizens forced to live in close proximity to American soldiers and their weapons and warplanes.
— Extract from "Three Rapes: The Status of Forces Agreement and Okinawa," JPRI Working Paper No. 97, 1/04
Chalmers Johnson is president of the Japan Policy Research Institute, a non-profit research and public affairs organization devoted to public education concerning Japan and international relations in the Pacific. He taught for thirty years, 1962-1992, at the Berkeley and San Diego campuses of the University of California and held endowed chairs in Asian politics at both of them. At Berkeley he served as chairman of the Center for Chinese Studies and as chairman of the Department of Political Science. His B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in economics and political science are all from the University of California, Berkeley.
He first visited Japan in 1953 as a U.S. Navy officer and has lived and worked there with his wife, the anthropologist Sheila K. Johnson, virtually every year since 1961. Chalmers Johnson has been honored with fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, and the Guggenheim Foundation; and in 1976 he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has written numerous articles and reviews and some fifteen books, including Peasant Nationalism and Communist Power on the Chinese revolution, An Instance of Treason on Japan's most famous spy, Revolutionary Change on the theory of violent protest movements, and MITI and the Japanese Miracle on Japanese economic development. This last-named book laid the foundation for the "revisionist" school of writers on Japan, and because of it the Japanese press dubbed him the "Godfather of revisionism."
He was chairman of the academic advisory committee for the PBS television series "The Pacific Century," and he played a prominent role in the PBS "Frontline" documentary "Losing the War with Japan." Both won Emmy awards. His most recent books are, as editor and contributor, Okinawa: Cold War Island (Cardiff, Calif.: Japan Policy Research Institute, 1999); and Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire (New York: Holt Metropolitan Books, 2000). The latter won the 2001 American Book Award of the Before Columbus Foundation. His new book, The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic will be published by Metropolitan in late 2003.
Historical Thinking and Contemporary Chinese Humanistic Studies
January 30-31, 2004
Special Spring Conference
Center for Chinese Studies
The conference will be conducted in Chinese and English, with limited interpretion.
Agenda
Friday, January 30, 2004
8:00 — Coffee, continental breakfast, and registration
8:30 — Welcome and introduction — Wen-hsin Yeh
9:00 — Session 1
Li Zehou, "Sixiang shi de yiyi" [What is intellectual history?]
Zhu Weizheng, "Congye Zhongguo shi xueshi sishinian" [My four decades working in the field of Chinese historiography]
Geng Yunzhi, "Shijiehua yu gexing zhuyi: lishi zhuti de zai faxian" [Historical themes rediscovered: internationalization and individuation]
Discussants: Fred Wakeman and Wang Di
12:45 — Lunch
1:45 — Session 2
Wang Di, "Entering the Bottom of the City: Revisiting Chinese Urban History through Chengdu"
Susan Glosser, "'To Shed Blood, Not Tears': Thoughts on Writing a History of Women in the War of Resistance"
Discussant: Tim Cheek
4:30 — Adjourn
Saturday, January 31, 2004
8:00 — Coffee and continental breakfast
8:30 — Session 3
Ouyang Zhesheng, "The History of Thought as a Branch of Learning in 20th Century China"
Tim Cheek, "Studying Our Friends/Befriending our Studies: Western Scholarship on Chinese Intellectuals and the State in the PRC"
Discussant: Tim Weston
10:00 — Session 4
Rong Xinjian, "Zhongguo Dunhuang xue yu 'aiguo zhuyi'" [Dunhuang studies and "patriotism" in China]
Tim Weston, "Journalism as a Form of Knowledge"
Discussant: Susan Glosser
12:30 — Lunch
1:30 — Session 5
Luo Zhitian, "Geng jia duo yuan di ren shi jin dai Zhongguo de duo qi texing: er shi shiji houqi dalu Zhongguo jindaishi yanjiu de yige zouxiang" [Late 20th-century mainland Chinese trends in historical research of modern China: a pluralistic understanding of modern Chinese multiplicities]
Frederic Wakeman, "Continuities and Caesurae: `La Longue Transition' in Contemporary Chinese Historiography
Discussant: Wen-hsin Yeh
4:00 — Wrap-up session, Wen-hsin Yeh, chair
5:00 — Reception
Representing Nation and Gender on the Vernacular Korean Internet: The Case of Lee Kyung-sil
Roger L. Janelli, Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, Indiana University, Bloomington
Dawnhee Yim, Department of History, Dongguk University
January 30, 2004
Center for Korean Studies
Within the past few years, the Korean-language Internet has emerged as one of the foremost technological devices for public debate and political mobilization. Several online newspapers, hundreds of thousands of bulletin boards, and a variety of other Internet sites offer individuals opportunities to present views, concerns, and opinions, usually anonymously. As a result, diversity of thought is revealed more starkly than in newspapers, television, or other more established media. This presentation focuses on an incident of February of 2003 that captured major public attention and motivated well over a thousand internet postings. Lee Kyung-sil, a popular television personality, was brutally attacked with a baseball bat by her husband, and this instance of domestic violence soon became a focal point for debating gender roles, sexual morality, and many other aspects of contemporary life in South Korea. The posted commentaries offer an opportunity to understand better the extensive disparity of thinking about gender and national culture today.
Roger Janelli and Dawnhee Yim have co-authored Ancestor Worship and Korean Society (Stanford University Press, 1972), Making Capitalism: The Social and Cultural Construction of a South Korean Conglomerate (Stanford University Press, 1983), and numerous journal articles on social relationships, cultural practices, and folklore in Korea. Yim, Professor of History at Dongguk University (Seoul), now serves on the International Jury for the proclamation by UNESCO of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Janelli, Professor of Folklore and Ethnomusicology and of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Indiana University (Bloomington) is a member of the Committee on Korean Studies of the Association for Asian Studies. Their current research focuses on the vernacular Internet in Korea.
Shanghai: The Evolution of a City
January 30, 2004
Panel, Reception, Slide lecture, and Book signing
Institute of East Asian Studies, Graduate School of Journalism
Moderator: Orville Schell, Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism, is the author of many books and articles about China and Asia, most recently Virtual Tibet (2001).
Panelists:
Seymour Topping, who covered China's civil war from 1946-9, is San Paolo Professor Emeritus of International Journalism at Columbia University and author of Journey Between Two Chinas (1972) and The Peking Letter, a novel of the Chinese civil war (1999).
Joan Chen, a prominent film actress in Shanghai before she left China in 1981 at the age of 20, appeared in The Last Emperor (1987) and is the director of Autumn in New York (2000) and Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998) among other celebrated films.
Thomas B. Gold, Associate Professor of Sociology at U.C. Berkeley and author of many studies of social change, civil society, and private business in China, travels frequently to Shanghai where he spent 1979-80 as an exchange student at Fudan University.
Pamela Yatsko, who covered China as the Shanghai bureau chief for the Far Eastern Economic Review in the 1990s, is the author of New Shanghai (2000) and a freelance journalist.
This event is held in conjunction with an exhibition of photographs from the recently published Assignment Shanghai: Photographs on the Eve of Revolution (UC Press, 2003). The book features photographs by Jack Birns, a staff photographer for Life magazine covering China's civil war. Assignment Shanghai, edited by Carolyn Wakeman and Ken Light, collects Birns' startling images to offer a graphic vision of a great city, Shanghai, poised on the precipice of political revolution.
The reception will be followed by a slide lecture and book signing with Jack Birns: 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Exhibit on display from January 20 to March 19, 2004.
Tales and Texts: Tang Stories Reconsidered
Sarah Allen, Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Chinese Studies, UC Berkeley
February 6, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies
Pride and Prejudice: Public Memory and the U.S.-Japan Relations
Toru Suzuki, CJS Visiting Scholar, American Literature/Culture, Keio University
February 9, 2004
Center for Japanese Studies
Today both the United States and Japan are struggling with the problem of how to reinforce national pride without producing unnecessary prejudice against "others." One important factor in determining the fate of this struggle lies in the commitment of those two countries to the reconstruction of public memory. This lecture argues that the ways in which the United States and Japan attempt or decline to reshape the memories of their repressed past affect not only how they look at themselves but also the future relations of those two countries. Referring to such critical issues as the historical preservation of Manzanar, a Japanese relocation camp, the exhibition of the Enola Gay, and the anti-American sentiments reflected in a recently published history textbook in Japan, the speaker will discuss what we need to promote the reconstruction of public memory on both sides of the Pacific without sacrificing ties between the United States and Japan.
Red-Hot Sociality: Peasant Culture and Temple Festivals in Rural China
Adam Yuet Chau, Assistant Professor, Asian Studies, Skidmore College
February 11, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies
Different Roads, Same Destination: A Historical Background of Korea's Economic Growth in the 1950s
Tae-Gyun Park, Graduate School of International Studies, Seoul National University
February 11, 2004
Center for Korean Studies
Existing works stressed the colonial legacy as a crucial historical background of Korea's economic growth. However, it is important to examine the people's idea on economic development, as developmental economists in 1950s and 1960s emphasized. In 1950s, Korean people, in particular intellectuals had three different ideas on economic development; proponent of free market system, state-led capitalism, and social democratic system. Although three had different arguments, there were commons among three. And economic development plans in 1960s were influenced by the commons. Tae Jun Park received his Ph.D. in history from Seoul National University. He has authored two books, Research in Cho Bong Am and Four Great Assassinated Figures in 1945-1949. He served as adviser for the Presidential Transition Committee in January and February, 2003 and is currently assistant professor at the Graduate School of International Studies, Seoul National University.
The Archaeology of Salt Production in China: Some Notes from the Field
Lothar Von Falkenhausen, Professor, History of Art, UCLA
February 12, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies
The 11th Annual Bakai (バークレー大学研究大会)
February 13, 2004
Center for Japanese Studies
Schedule
1:00 — Buffet luncheon
2:00 — Welcome / Announcements
Andrew Barshay, Chair, Center for Japanese Studies
2:15 — "State Policing of Religion and Nationalism in Colonial Korea"
Michael Shapiro, Graduate Student, History, UCB
2:30 — "Taisho Moral Reformism and Its Social Implications"
Yosuke Nirei, Graduate Student, History, UCB
2:45 — "Music in Japan: A New Sort of Textbook"
Bonnie Wade, Professor, Music, UCB
3:00 — "Models of Cultural Diversity in Japan"
Nelson Graburn, Professor, Anthropology, UCB
3:15 — "Un-bare-able Bodies: Women Perform Uncanny Genders, Strange Angels, and 'Nostalgie'"
Katherine Mezur, Postdoctoral Scholar, Rhetoric/Film Studies, UCB
3:30 — "Japan's 'Comfort Women' Controversy"
Chunghee Sarah Soh, Associate Professor, Anthropology, SFSU
3:45 — Coffee break
4:00 — "Migration, Differential Access to Health Services and Civil Society's Reponses in Japan"
Keiko Yamanaka, Lecturer, Ethnic Studies/Institute for the Study of Social Change, UCB
4:15 — "Immigration Policy and Immigration Politics in Japan"
Ken Haig, Graduate Student, Political Science, UCB
4:30 — "Localization and Globalization of Multi-National Corporations"
Yasuyuki Motoyama, Graduate Student, City and Regional Planning, UCB
4:45 — "Keiretsu"
James Lincoln, Professor, Haas School of Business, UCB
5:00 — Further questions / Closing comments
This event is free and open to the public.
Public Diplomacy in Foreign Policy: Lessons from the Cold War
Harry Kendall, IEAS Research Associate, retired Foreign Service Officer
February 17, 2004
Brown-Bag Lunch and Book Signing
Institute of East Asian Studies
Author Harry Kendall, a retired Foreign Service Officer and research associate of the Institute of East Asian Studies, will discuss the role of public diplomacy in foreign policy, how it contributed to the downfall of the Soviet Union and lessons for today in combating terrorism. His recent book, A Farm Boy in the Foreign Service — Telling America's Story to the World, provides an intimate view of the United States Information Agency's highly successful public diplomacy program during the Cold War when communism, not terrorism, was America's chief concern. Mr. Kendall's account is the story of a Louisiana farm boy whose encounter with Chinese culture during World War II started him on a career of "telling America's story to the world."
IT Growth and E-Business in China
Linbo Jing, Assistant Director, Institute of Finance and Trade Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
February 18, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies
Children's Bodies, China's Future: Suzhi Jiaoyu [Education for "Quality"] and the Production of Post-Socialist Subjects
Terry Woronov, Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Chinese Studies, UC Berkeley
February 20, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies
From a Children's Colony on a Japanese Periphery: Postwar Counter-memories
Leslie Pincus, History, University of Michigan
February 23, 2004
Center for Japanese Studies
Part of a larger project on alternative and oppositional initiatives in Japan's contemporary history, this talk takes as its subject a highly unorthodox community and children's colony in the hinterlands of Japan's northernmost island, Hokkaido. Drawing on print and oral sources, on insights gained from participation and observation, I will explore the history of the community and the life stories of its founders along with the forms in which these stories are recollected and recounted. Through the concrete detail of thick description, I hope to suggest that these stories document a "counter-memory" of Japan's long postwar era-inseparable from a dominant national narrative shaped by cold-war exigencies and the rigors of economic growth, but critically disrupting it at points along the way.
This event is free and open to the public.
Drinks will be served.
For your ears only: Literary soul-mates and the marketplace in late Qing fiction
Paola Zamperini, Assistant Professor, Asian Languages and Civilizations, Amherst College
February 25, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies
Antigone and Wu Zixu, or the Birth of Tragedy in China
Dong Liu, Professor, Institute of Comparative Literature & Culture, Peking University
February 26, 2004
Lecture conducted in Chinese
Center for Chinese Studies
Modernism in Colonial Seoul
Jongyung Hwang, Department of Korean Literature, Dongguk University, Seoul
February 27, 2004
Center for Korean Studies
Seoul went through a profound change during the colonial period. The Japanese colonial government renamed the city Keijo and carried out some major projects of street reformation. The street reformation projects introduced grid-form streets into the city for the first time in its history, and transformed the time-honored capital of a Confucian kingdom into a modern city. The most flourishing of the commercial areas, Honmachi, even looked more modern than Japan to a Japanese who visited it in the 1920s. Colonial Seoul provided a place where people of different race, class, and localities encountered each other and new possibilities for social relationships could be imagined which made such human intersections their usual practice. Korean writers' experience of the city not only encouraged them in their attempts at political transformation, but also provided them inspiration for literary innovation. The members of Kuinhoe (The Club of Nine People) were acutely sensitive to the changes under way in the everyday life of the city. However, their literary modernism is not uniform. The particularity of colonial Seoul, its ambiguity and contradictions, drove the Kuinhoe writers' modernism in different directions. Such divergent modernist practices can be best exemplified by Yi T'aejun and Yi Sang.
Jongyon Hwang is a professor of modern Korean literature at Dongguk University (Seoul) and a founding member of the leading literary journal Munhakdongne. He is currently a visiting scholar at Columbia University, teaching a course titled "Korean, Japan, and Literary Modernity."
Parental Control of the "Personal Domain" and Adolescent Symptoms of Psychopathology
Yuki Hasebe, Educational Psychology, Western Illinois University
March 1, 2004
Center for Japanese Studies
In the context of Elliot Turiel's social domain theory (UCB) originated from Kohlberg's work on moral development, this cross-national study in the U.S. and Japan was conducted in collaboration with Larry Nucci, Professor at University of Illinois (Chicago campus). The talk also extends the discussion to the broader theoretical issues of autonomy and psychological health within cultural context. (Research was supported by the Center for Urban Education Research & Development, UIC and has been accepted for publication by the Journal of Child Development.)
Religion and the State: the PRC and Taiwan
Richard Madsen, Professor, Sociology, UC San Diego
March 2, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies
Male Clients in China's Urban Sex Industry
Tiantian Zheng, Assistant Professor, Sociology/Anthropology, State University of New York, Cortland
March 3, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies
22nd Annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
March 4-11, 2004
NAATA, selected films co-presented by the Institute of East Asian Studies
We are pleased to announce our involvement with the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. With more than 121 films and videos the 22nd San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF) unspools March 4-11 at the AMC Kabuki 8 Theatres and the Castro Theatre in San Francisco and at Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, and March 19-21 at the Camera 3 Cinemas in San Jose.
This year IEAS is co-presenting with the Festival a number of exciting films from China, Japan and Korea:
BEING NORMAL
Director: Choi Hyun-jung
South Korea 2002, 58 mins
SUN 03.07 | 1215PM Kabuki | BEIN07 |
MON 03.08 | 915PM Kabuki | BEIN08 |
WED 03.10 | 700PM PFA | BEIN10 |
BEING NORMAL follows J, a hermaphrodite, coming out to the director and classmates. Challenges specific to South Korea and intersexuality are presented along with the universal challenges of maintaining intimate friendships beyond one's college years. With short JUST A WOMAN.
BRIGHT FUTURE (AKARUI MIRAI)
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Japan 2003, 92 mins
SUN 03.07 | 730PM PFA | BRIG07 |
TUE 03.09 | 700PM Kabuki | BRIG09 |
Tadanobu Asano (GOHATTO, ICHI THE KILLER) stars in this eerie chiller of "no-future" Japanese youth. A young man hopes to unleash poisonous jellyfish into Tokyo's waterways. Part science fiction thriller, male bonding melodrama and youth rebellion film, with great outfits.
COME DRINK WITH ME (Special Screening of New Print)
Director: King Hu
Hong Kong 1965, 94 mins
SAT 03.06 | 915PM Castro | COME06 |
A special screening of this 1965 wuxia (martial chivalry) classic, considered one of the finest Hong Kong martial arts films ever made. Directed by Ang Lee's favorite filmmaker. A renowned swordswoman teams up with a town drunk to rescue her brother from a gang of toughs.
DOLLS
Director: Takeshi Kitano
Japan 2002, 113 mins
WED 03.10 | 700PM Kabuki | DOLL10 |
A tale of doomed lovers in a traditional Bunraku puppet play inspires three interwoven tales of human characters as unable to affect their own fate as puppets on a string. Takeshi Kitano offers up a bittersweet love story set against the stunning backdrop of Japan's four seasons.
DREAM CUISINE
Director: Li Ying
Japan 2003, 134 mins
SAT 03.06 | 100PM Kabuki | DREA06 |
MON 03.08 | 730PM Kabuki | DREA08 |
Hatsue and Koroku, husband and wife, are recognized as masters of Shandong cuisine. This is their love story, one neither too sweet nor too sorrowful, but full of dreams and difficult decisions. Their vows: no sugar, no lard, no MSG.
GOD OF COOKERY
Director: Li Lik-chi, Stephen Chow
HONG KONG 1997, 95 mins
MON 03.08 | 930PM Kabuki | GODO08 |
The crowning jewel of Chow's brilliant '94-96 run charts the fall and rise of a disgraced world-class chef cast out on the streets when his portly apprentice double-crosses him. Determined to recapture his past glory, he crafts a recipe for the world's greatest fishballs and confronts his betrayer in an over-the-top culinary showdown.
A GOOD LAWYER'S WIFE
Director: Im Sang-soo
South Korea 2003, 104 mins
SAT 03.06 | 700PM PFA | GOOD06 |
TUE 03.09 | 930PM Kabuki | GOOD09 |
Korean gender politics hit the blender when a husband's affair causes his wife to look for love anywhere, especially from the high-school boy next door. Moon So-ri (award-winning actress of OASIS) stars in this provocative Korean box-office success.
INVISIBLE LIGHT (GEU JIP AP)
Director: Gina Kim
South Korea 2003, 78 mins
FRI 03.05 | 700PM PFA | INVI05 |
SAT 03.06 | 930PM Kabuki | INVI06 |
A remarkable achievement of psychological cinema, this achingly beautiful film offers an unflinching gaze into two women's darkest hours. Lingering, meticulously framed shots expose the psychological extremes of an unfaithful wife and her husband's younger lover.
JUST ONE LOOK (YAT LUK CHE)
Director: Riley Ip
Hong Kong 2002, 97 mins
WED 03.10 | 930PM Kabuki | JUST10 |
SUN 03.21 | 530PM Camera | JUST21 |
A nostalgic, coming-of-age tale set in the heyday of 1970's Hong Kong cinema. Fan and best friend Fishball are only interested in movies until they meet two mysterious girls who show them the joys and heartaches of first love.
ON THE ROAD: A DOCUMENT
Director: Noriaki Tsuchimoto
Japan 1964, 54 mins
TUE 03.09 | 730PM PFA | ONTH09 |
Commissioned to produce a public relations film about traffic safety, the great postwar Japanese documentary filmmaker Noriaki Tsuchimoto instead created an exquisite, lyrical portrait of the people, traffic and sounds of Tokyo. With short AN ENGINEER'S ASSISTANT.
PURPLE BUTTERFLY (ZI HUDIE)
Director: Lou Ye
China/France 2003, 127 mins
FRI 03.05 | 915PM Castro | PURP05 |
The fates of a young Chinese woman and her Japanese ex-lover are entwined in the anti-Japanese resistance movement of 1930's China. Zhang Ziyi (CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON) stars in this passionate, sumptuous period piece from the director of SUZHOU RIVER.
SHAOLIN SOCCER
Director: Stephen Chow
Hong Kong 2001, 82 mins
MON 03.08 | 700PM Kabuki | SHAO08 |
A martial artist bent on revolutionizing life through kung fu applies his supernatural skills to winning the national football championship. Both Hong Kong's top box office success of 2001 and Best Picture winner at the Hong Kong Film Awards, this is also Chow's first film to receive American distribution.
Purchasing in advance is highly advised, as shows will sell out! Discounted group tickets are available, as well as our special CASTRO PASS: $50 for access to all 12 films showing at the Castro Theatre.
OPENING NIGHT
The festival opens with Zhang Yimou's highly anticipated swordplay film HERO, a breathtaking masterpiece. Its dazzling colors and epic setting will be celebrated decorously on Opening Night at the Asian Art Museum, hosting of the evening's Gala Party.
Social Withdrawal and Other Maladies: A New Paradigm for Understanding Japan's Contemporary Deadlock
Michael Zielenziger, Journalist, Business / Economics, Knight Ridder Newspapers
March 8, 2004
Center for Japanese Studies, Institute of East Asian Studies
Some 14 years after the Japanese "bubble economy" collapsed, the nation still searches for a means for economic revitalization and needed political reform. Conventional understandings of Japan's long deadlock have failed to account for the long period of stagnation, the halting progress towards reform, and the rising unhappiness in a prosperous, but increasingly pessimistic society.
By examining an unusual array of dysfunctional social behaviors now emerging in Japan, including falling birthrates, rising numbers of suicide and depression, and social withdrawal syndrome ("hikikomori") a new paradigm for understanding and diagnosing Japan's long malaise can be considered.
Michael Zielenziger was Tokyo bureau chief for Knight Ridder Newspapers for 7 years, until May 2002. He is now a visiting scholar in the Institute of East Asian Studies, UC Berkeley, while finishing a book to be published in 2005 by Nan A. Talese / Doubleday.
Discourse on Embroidery: Knowledge and Aesthetics from Female Hands in Late-Imperial China
Grace Fong, Associate Professor, East Asian Studies, McGill University
March 10, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies
John Nathan, Japan Unbound
March 10, 2004
Lecture and book signing
Institute of East Asian Studies, Japan Society of Northern California
John Nathan, the Takashima Professor of Japanese Cultural Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, will discuss his new book Japan Unbound: A Volatile Nation's Quest for Pride and Purpose (Houghton Mifflin, 2004). "Japan feels like a bewildered giant," writes Nathan describing Japan's struggle with a decade-long recession. Its schools, youth, families, and workforce are suffering a profound loss of stability. While the crisis in Japan is very real, the country's transformation isn't without its glimpses of promise. As Nathan writes, "Japan's economy is stalled, but the society is in motion." The country is throwing off the chains that have long since stifled entrepreneurship, women, artistic creativity, and effective democracy.
Please RSVP to ieas@berkeley.edu to receive a free admission pass. IEAS seating is limited.
You can also register with our co-sponsor, the Japan Society of Northern California. Please visit www.usajapan.org or send e-mail to programs@usajapan.org
Japan Society Members: $5, Non-members: $10, Students (with ID): free
This program is jointly sponsored by the Japan Society of Northern California and the Institute of East Asian Studies, UC Berkeley.
Other programs in the IEAS Book Series: New Perspectives on East Asia.
Northern Elite, Regional Identity, and Cultural Integration in Choson Korea
Sun Joo Kim, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University
March 12, 2004
Center for Korean Studies
It has only been recently that scholars have begun to invest a substantial amount of effort in the research of the history of the "forgotten" region of P'yongan Province in Korean historiography. Most of these studies start with the notion that there was no yangban aristocracy in P'yongan Province, a prevailing perception of late Choson literati, which in turn rationalized a social and political discrimination against the people from this region. One of the main goals of this paper is to challenge this perspective by investigating the formation of northern elite, their lifestyle, and their ideological orientation. In addition, this paper seeks the development of subjective expressions of regional belongings by insiders as well as the equally subjective expressions of regional stereotyping by outsiders. Tracing northern regional identities as constructed and negotiated in reaction to outsiders's view and locating such regional identities and politics in relation to the center will illuminate the bilateral relations between the center and periphery and the processes of political and ideological integration of Choson society.
Xinjiang: Central Asia or China?
March 13, 2004
Special Spring Conference
Center for Chinese Studies, Silk Road Working Group, Caucasus and Central Asia Program, Institute of Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies, Department of Near Eastern Studies
Conference Schedule
9:00-9:15 — Opening Remarks
Sanjyot Mehendale, Caucasus and Central Asia Program
9:15-10:00 — "Thinking Theoretically About Resistance in Xinjiang"
Gardner Bovingdon, Indiana University
10:00-10:45 — "Uyghur Separatism and Nationalism in Xinjiang"
Michael Dillon, Durham University, UK
10:45-11:00 — Coffee/Tea
11:00-11:45 — "Nomadology: Pastoralism and Nationalism among the Altai Mountain Kazakhs"
Dru Gladney, University of Hawaii, Manoa
11:45-12:15 — Discussion
Chair: Bruce Williams, East Asian Library, UC Berkeley
Discussant: Edward W. Walker, Berkeley Program in Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies
12:15-1:45 — Lunch Recess
1:45-2:30 — "Nationalities & Cultural Heritage of Central Asia"
Dolkun Kamberi, Radio Free Asia
2:30-3:15 — "A Biocultural Perspective on the Prehistory of the Tarim Basin"
Theodore Schurr, University of Pennsylvania
3:15-3:30 — Coffee/Tea
3:30-4:15 — "The Kazakhs in Xinjiang: Identity Through Music"
Alma Kunanbaeva, Visiting Professor, UC Berkeley
4:15-4:45 — Discussion
Chair: Pat Berger, Art History, UC Berkeley
Discussant: Sanjyot Mehendale, Caucasus and Central Asia Program
Closing Remarks
How the rebellion of the Catholics turned into factional warfares, 1946-1947
Thi Minh-Hoang Ngo, Research Fellow, Waseda University, Tokyo
March 17, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies
The Dilemma of Korean Conservatism
Jung In Kang, Department of Political Science, Sogang University
March 17, 2004
Center for Korean Studies
Most Korean scholars who have studied the conservatism in Korea, have begun or ended their research by saying "There is a conservative force in Korean politics, but no conservatism." If this observation is correct we are confronted with the question, why does Korean conservative force not have a viable conservative ideology to defend itself? However, the answer to this question has not been explored sufficiently so far. In this paper I would like to seek to answer this question.
To do this, I divide Western and Korean conservatism into "pristine" and "derivative" conservatism by stressing that the modernization experiences of Korea and the West were radically different each other in terms of the source, the agent and the nature of change, all of which were originally derived from their difference in historical timing of modernization. Second, in analyzing the evolution of the Western and Korean conservatism, I agree to and draw upon the point that the conservatism had dual nature, i.e., substantial and positional properties, unlike other modern ideologies such as liberalism and socialism.
On the basis of the distinction and the agreement, then, I identify five causes that have brought about the poverty and ambiguity of Korean conservatism: (1) the contradiction between political conservatism and philosophical conservatism in Korea; (2) the gap between world and Korean historical times; (3) indeterminacy of conservatism as a positional ideology; (4) the ambiguity of the status quo to defend in Korea; (5) anti-communism and developmentalism prevalent in Korea. Finally, I shall stress that in order to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century, the Korean conservatism has to explore a new direction by utilizing Korean tradition and modernization experiences over past one hundred years creatively.
22nd Annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
March 19-21, 2004
National Asian American Telecommunications Association (NAATA)
Greetings from the 22nd Annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival! If you missed the San Francisco and Berkeley screenings, there is still a chance to catch films March 19-21 in San Jose, including Chinese films JUST ONE LOOK, and CHINESE RESTAURANTS: SONG OF THE EXILE. Most shows sell out, so purchasing in advance is highly advised.
CHINESE FILMS INCLUDE:
JUST ONE LOOK
Director: Riley Ip
Hong Kong 2002, Running Time: 1:37:00
A charming coming-of-age tale set in the heyday of 1970's Hong Kong cinema, JUST ONE LOOK marks a triumph for the island's reviving film industry. The setting: Cheung Chau Island, mid-1970's, height of Bruce Lee mania. Seventeen-year-old Fan and best friend Fishball hang out all day at the local movie theater. Fishball is happy-go-lucky while Fan is quiet and introspective, still troubled by the death of his father, who killed himself in the same theater years ago.
Each day, the two watch awkwardly as girls go by and as new hand-painted movie posters arrive at the theater to announce the latest romance, western or—better yet—martial arts film. The theater is the heart of the island's community, where boys copy film synopses as love letters, others return to remember their youth, and where the films' plots permeate the lives of all around. Soon Fishball falls for Nam, the daughter of a kung-fu instructor, and Fan is drawn to Yew, a mysterious girl who holds a key to his family's dark past.
Riley Ip has created a marvelously detailed world where the power of movie-going can shape daily life itself. Filled with wonderful performances by its young cast and featuring several surprise cameos, JUST ONE LOOK is well worth a look, a truly magical cinematic experience.
3/21/2004 | 5:30 PM | Camera 3 Cinemas
CHINESE RESTAURANTS: SONG OF THE EXILE
Director: Cheuk C. Kwan
Canada 2003, Running Time: 1:19:00
A fascinating exploration of family Chinese restaurants in South Africa, Turkey and Israel. For each family, the restaurant is home, community and lifeline, though their lives have been irrevocably shaped by the dramatic histories of their adopted countries.
3/20/2004 | 12:15 PM | Camera 3 Cinemas
SHORTS PROGRAMS
In addition to our feature films, we have some phenomenal shorts programs:
MY NINJA FOR YOUR NUN
TRT 92 mins
SAT 03.20 | 730PM Camera
A ninja, a nun and something in between. These films give new meaning to love and the absurdity that life has to offer.
SHADOWS AND LIGHT
TRT 74 mins
SUN 03.21 | 1230PM Camera
How do we judge decisions made during times of turmoil, uncertainty and desperation? The nature of conflict—political, social and personal—is exposed through the lush, sweepingly beautifu backdrops of these films. These intimate stories explore the bonds that become challenged when rules — and loved ones — change beyond recognition.
Transformations of Experience: Interpreting the "Opening" of Japan
March 19, 2004
Joint Colloquium
Center for Japanese Studies, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Institute of East Asian Studies
Schedule
1:00 pm — Opening Remarks
1:15 pm — Keynote Lecture
"The Intellectual Impact and Legacy of Kaikoku"
Naoaki Hiraishi, University of Tokyo
2:15 pm — Presentations
"The Origin of Punctuality and the Evolution of Modern Japanese Society"
Takehiko Hashimoto, University of Tokyo
"How Did Modernity Alter the Japanese Sense of Embodiment?"
Shigehisa Kuriyama, International Research Center for Japanese Studies
"Religious Conversion Across the Tokugawa-Meiji Divide"
Yosuke Nirei, History, UC Berkeley
3:45 pm — Coffee Break
"Engendering National Strength: Transformations of Gender in the Post-Restoration Army"
Sabine Frühstück, UC Santa Barbara
"To Make Japan Scientific"
James Bartholomew, Ohio State University at Columbus
"Education in Mid-19th Century Japan: Did Change in America Bring Change to Japan?"
Akira Tachikawa, International Christian University, Japan
5:30 pm — Round Table Discussion
"Kaikoku in Comparative and Contemporary Perspective"
In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the opening of relations between Japan and the United States.
Jointly sponsored by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, San Francisco Office, Center for Japanese Studies, and the Institute of East Asian Studies, UC Berkeley.
Abstracts
The Intellectual Impact and Legacy of "Kaikoku"
Naoaki Hiraishi
Japan opened the country to the western world in the mid-19th century, giving up the previous policy of seclusion. This is called "kaikoku". But we can interpret "kaikoku" in a different and symbolic way, in which the word means a transition from "the closed society" to "the open society" in Karl Popper's sense, or a transformation of old society into new one through the contact with a different civilization. If we use "kaikoku" in this sense, we see that at least Japan has had three chances of "kaikoku" in its history: (1) the so-called Christian Ages from the mid-16th century to the mid-17th century, (2) "kaikoku" in the mid-19th century, and (3) the post-war periods in the mid-20th century when western ideas again poured into Japan after the end of the war. Comparing these three "kaikoku" with each other may give us suggestions of what intellectual problems we are facing with in the present world. In this lecture, I will examine this problem, using a 1959 article called "Kaikoku" written by Masao Maruyama (1914-1996), a leading Intellectual in Post-war Japan, as a main source of argument.
Born 1945. A.B., University of Tokyo, 1968. Research Associate, University of Tokyo, 1968-1974. Associate Professor, University of Chiba, 1974-1984. Associate Professor then Professor in the history of political thought in Japan, Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo, 1984-1990, 1990- respectively. Guest Professor, Delhi University, 1982-83, Center for Japanese Studies at Beijing, 1990, Berlin Humboldt University, 1997-98. Major publications include: Ogyu Sorai Nenpuko (A Biographical Study of Ogyu Sorai, 1984); Ten (A Historical Study of the idea of Tian, 1996); Nihon Seiji Shisoshi — Kinsei wo Chushin ni (A History of Political Thoughts in Tokugawa Japan, 1997, revised edition, 2001, textbook for the University of the Air).
The Origin of Punctuality and the Evolution of Modern Japanese Society
Takehiko Hashimoto
Japanese employed its own seasonal time system until 1872, when the Western Clock time system as well as Gregorian calendric system was introduced. Many foreign engineers, who arrived around that time of the Meiji Restoration, were frustrated with the Japanese unreliability on time schedule. Within the next hundred years or so, however, Japanese have succeeded in constructing punctual society and its infrastructure, as is symbolized in the on-time operation of the bullet train. The wide difference between the Japanese temporal discipline in the past and the present lead us to question on the origin and history of punctuality in Japanese society. The paper discusses and explores the struggle and confusion experienced in various sectors — schools, railroads, and factories — in that historical process before and after the Second World War.
Takehiko Hashimoto graduated the University of Tokyo, and received BA and MS in the history of science. He received his Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University on the history of technology. Since 1991, he has been a faculty member at the University of Tokyo, and currently professor at Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology of the same university. He organized a collaborative research on the origin of punctuality at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies, and consequently published a collection of papers, The Birth of Tardiness in 2001. His current research interest includes the social history of the clock and the history of media technology.
How did modernity alter the Japanese sense of embodiment?
Shigehisa Kuriyama
In the century and a half since Matthew Perry arrived in Edo Bay, the incorporation of Western medicine has dramatically transformed the Japanese sense of embodiment. Once utterly alien concepts such as nerves and muscles, stimulus (shigeki) and excitement (k_fun), now figure as compelling, natural realities, while traditional notions of flowing ki sound vaguely fanciful and exotic. Stress, a word that entered Japanese only half a century ago, today expresses an intimate, quasi-universal complaint, whereas the once ubiquitous Edo malady called shaku has mysteriously disappeared. Interestingly, however, the widespread persistence of the affliction called katakori — an affliction originally inspired by the belief in circulating energies — hints that below the surface of this grand transformation, beneath the apparent alienation from once intimate truths, certain visceral intuitions from the past survive, albeit in subtly altered form.
Shigehisa Kuriyama is Associate Professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto, where he pursues research on the comparative history of medicine. He received his Ph.D. in the History of Science from Harvard University. His book, The expressiveness of the body and the divergence of Greek and Chinese medicine (ZONE Books, 1999) received the William H. Welch Medal of the American Association for the History of Medicine in 2001. He is currently working on a study of the relationship between money and the body in Edo Japan.
Religious Conversion Across the Tokugawa-Meiji Divide
Yosuke Nirei
In the aftermath of the Meiji Restoration, a small number of ex-samurai youth converted to Christianity and led the subsequent development of the religion during the Meiji and Taisho periods. This paper discusses the provenance of Japanese Protestantism, the significance of the conversion of samurai youth, and the manner in which Japanese Protestant leaders interacted (and conflicted) with Western missionaries and collectively emerged as influential ideologues and critics of Japan's social progress and national/imperial development. The radical choice of their conversion, I argue, was not an isolated or idiosyncratic event in Japanese history or merely descriptive of their personal condition, but rather an important product of their times, closely related to the larger progressive, universalistic intellectual currents and reformist attitude of the bakumatsu and the early Meiji period, with which they resonated.
PhD candidate, History, University of California, Berkeley
MA, International Relations, Sophia University, Tokyo
BA, English Language, Sophia University, Tokyo
Dissertation: "The Ethics of Empire: Protestant Thought, Moral Culture, and Imperialism in Meiji Japan."
Publication: "Rôyama Masamichi no Tôa kyôdôtai ron: senji-ka jiyûshugi chishikijin no shisô" (Royama Masamichi's "East Asian community theory": a concept of a wartime Japanese liberal). Kokusaigaku ronshû (Journal of International Studies), Institute of International Relations, Sophia University, no. 32. (January 1994).
Engendering National Strength: Transformations of Gender in the Post-Restoration Army
Sabine Frühstück
After the opening of Japan, Japanese modernizers returned from visits to Europe and reported that there, military rules were strictly followed, whereas in Japan there was no discipline neither within nor outside the military. The imperial armed forces (1872-1945) were to serve as mediators of modernization and as pioneers of a new culture: Western food was first cooked in the military; young men interested in music joined the military to learn how to play a brass instrument; health and hygiene were first monitored at a grand scale within the armed forces; and large-scale population data were based on conscripts and soldiers. Thus, the institutionalization of military service contributed to the creation of new notions of modern manhood and masculinity that were to be achieved through military training.
Frühstück is an affiliate of the History Department and the Anthropology Department at UCSB and the director of the East Asia Center. She has been a visiting scholar at the University of Tokyo (1998-1999, 2001), at Berkeley and Stanford (2001-2002), and a visiting research professor at Kyoto University (2003). Her research interests within the study of modern and contemporary Japanese culture and society include problems of power and knowledge, sexualities and genders, and military-societal relations. Frühstück is currently completing a book on military-societal relations in modern and present-day Japan, Avant-garde: The Army of the Future.
To Make Japan Scientific
James Bartholomew
Whatever date one selects to mark the inception of modern Japanese science — 1720, 1775, 1868 — or any other, two facts about the issue stand in sharp tension with one another: First, that there were important developments in the Tokugawa period, related both to the impressive growth of medical knowledge and to the early importation of European work in the physical sciences. But secondly, that the foundations for post-1868 expansion in Japanese medicine not only facilitated a remarkable efflorescence in that field but in some ways came at the expense of a widely, better informed, international recognition of Japanese achievements in scientific work. Japan is best known today for its contributions to physics and chemistry; but in the 19th century until about 1935, it was medicine that carried Japan's reputation abroad. Japanese medical achievements in some degree antedated "kaikoku;" those in the physical sciences would have been inconceivable without it. On the international scene these legacies from the past continue to shape both foreign and domestic understandings of what Japan has actually contributed to science worldwide.
B.A., 1963; M.A., 1964; Ph.D., 1972, Stanford University.
Professor Bartholomew is a specialist in modern Japanese history, chiefly interested in the history of science, medicine, higher education, and business in Japan. In 1985-86, he held a research fellowship from the National Science Foundation. His 1989 book, The Formation of Science in Japan received the1992 Pfizer Award of the History of Science Society and was issued in paperback in February 1993. In March 2001, he was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship to write a book on Japan and the Nobel science prizes, 1901-1949.
Education in Mid-19th Century Japan: Did Change in America Bring Change to Japan?
Akira Tachikawa
It is absurd to assume that the dispositions and habits of thought among the Japanese underwent a drastic change simply with the arrival of the "Black Ships." It is true, however, that the 1850s marked a watershed of two periods from the perspective of ideas and practice of classroom education in Japan. As Tsujimoto has shown, in Tokugawa Japan, people typically conceived of education as imitation and mastery in which the teacher as the model and the pupil as the follower sat in tandem, as it were. The Meiji Japan envisaged education in terms of instruction and reception where the teacher opposed squarely to pupils to impart knowledge. As Emori has demonstrated, on the classroom level, the old Terakoya accommodated pupils at the sitting tables which were arranged rather irregularly. The teacher guided one pupil at a time while the others did their work on their own. In Meiji Japan, the ordinary class-room recitation has become the standardized setting where the teacher stood face to face with the entire class. As Manabu Sato has rightly argued, the new system reflected "colonialism" in education.
Akira Tachikawa is currently Professor and Chair of the Division of Education at the International Christian University. Educated in Japan up to his MA degree, he obtained his Ph.D. in the US at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a thesis on the early history of MIT. The most recent of his works published in English include: "Liberal and General Education for the Present Century." In Proceedings of the International Conference on The Challenges of Asian Christian Universities in the 21st Century. The Chinese Universities of Hong Kong, 2001; "Education and Democracy in Japan." In Philip Cam, ed. Philosophy, Democracy and Education. The Korean National Commission for UNESCO, 2003; "Cultural Tradition and War-time Scholarship in Japan." In Proceedings of the International Conference on Culture, Man and Human Resources at the Beginning of the 21st Century. Hanoi, Vietnam, 2003.
Asia Pacific Studies in an Age of Global Modernity
Arif Dirlik, Professor, History/Anthropology, University of Oregon
March 19, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies, Center for Southeast Asia Studies
From Country to City: Urbanization in Contemporary Chinese Photography
Zheng Gu, Associate Professor, School of Journalism, Fudan University
March 31, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies
Bruce Cumings, North Korea: Another Country
April 1, 2004
Brown Bag Lunch, lecture and book signing
Institute of East Asian Studies
Bruce Cumings, the Norman and Edna Freehling Professor of History at the University of Chicago will discuss his new book North Korea: Another Country (New Press, 2003). Suffering no misconceptions regarding North Korea's dubious political tradition — from human-rights violations to token democracy — Cumings insists on a more nuanced understanding of US-North Korean relations. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of Korean history and declassified government reports Cumings shows that North Korea is as fascinating as it is repellent, as formidable as it is unique and idiosyncratic. Nicholas Kristof, of the New York Times Book Review, called Cuming's earlier book Korea's Place in the Sun "important . . . passionate, cantankerous, and fascinating."
Cookies and soft drinks will be provided.
Other programs in the IEAS Book Series: New Perspectives on East Asia.
After the Shipwreck: New Horizons for History-Writing
Carol Gluck, George Sansom Professor of Japanese History, Columbia University
April 1, 2004
Maruyama LectureCenter for Japanese Studies
The Maruyama Lectures are named in honor of the late Masao Maruyama (1914-1996), historian of East Asian political thought and one of the most influential political thinkers in twentieth-century Japan.
Carol Gluck is the George Sansom Professor of History at Columbia University. She holds the B.A. degree from Wellesley College, the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University. Professor Gluck's special field is the history of modern Japan from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, with writings in modern intellectual history, international relations, postwar Japanese history, historiography and public memory in Japan and the West. She is the author of the widely acclaimed Japan's Modern Myths: Ideology in the Late Meiji Period (Princeton, 1985). Her new book, Past Obsessions: War and Memory in the Twentieth Century will be published by Columbia University Press in 2005.
Her honors and awards include the Fulbright 50th Anniversary Distinguished Scholar Award (2002), the John King Fairbank Prize of the American Historical Association, the Lionel Trilling Award of Columbia University (both for Japan's Modern Myths); Member of the American Philosophical Society; Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; the Mark van Doren Award and Great Teacher Award for teaching, Columbia University. She was president of the Association for Asian Studies, 1996-97.
Maruyama and History
Carol Gluck, George Sansom Professor of Japanese History, Columbia University
April 2, 2004
Maruyama Seminar (reservation only)
Center for Japanese Studies
Traveling Words Across Japanese Studies
April 2, 2004
Center for Japanese Studies
"Traveling Words" is the final meeting of a multi-year workshop attended by scholars of Japan across the disciplines. The workshop has addressed questions of cultural and disciplinary translation. In this final meeting, each participant will reflect upon these questions by following the movement of one word through his or her discipline.
— Alan Tansman, East Asian Languages and Cultures, UCB
Program
1:15 p.m. — Opening Remarks
Alan Tansman
1:20-2:50 p.m.
Panel I — Presentations
Respondent:
Miryam Sas, Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley
bungaku (literature)
Dennis Washburn, Japanese & Comp. Literature, Dartmouth College
bunka (culture)
Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto, Asian Studies, NYU
shigaku (historiography)
Tom Kierstead, History, Indiana University, Bloomington
kioku/omoide (memory/remembrance)
Mariko Tamanoi, Anthropology, UCLA
3:00-4:30 p.m.
Panel II — Presentations
Respondent:
Robert Sharf, Buddhist Studies, UC Berkeley
shintai (body)
Mark Anderson, Literature, University of Minnesota
daraku (decadence)
James Dorsey, Japanese & Comp. Literature, Dartmouth College
zange (confession)
Christine Marran, East Asian Studies, Princeton University
suburaimu (sublime)
Alan Tansman, East Asian Languages & Cultures, UC Berkeley
4:40-5:50 p.m.
Panel III — Presentations
Respondent:
Carol Gluck, History, Columbia University
chûryû (middle class)
Jordan Sand, History, Georgetown University
gun (military)
Sheila Smith, Political Science, East-West Center, Hawaii
Interrmedia
Tom Looser, East Asian Studies, McGill University
6:00-7:00 p.m.
Open Discussion
This event is free and open to the public.
The Problem of (Public) Intellectuals
April 2-3, 2004
Annual Symposium
Center for Chinese Studies, Berkeley China Review
The Center for Chinese Studies at the University of California, Berkeley will hold a two-day conference on the role and function of (public) intellectuals in China — a convenient label for a diverse range of social practices and discourses. In the long history of Chinese tradition, the place of (public) intellectuals in society has always been interesting to observe. In order to form a conversation among concerned scholars we hope to address many facets of the (public) intellectual. What is supposed to be an intellectual in that particular cultural tradition? What is a public intellectual? What are the current intellectual concerns and debates in China? How has the intellectual life in today's China been affected by the vast growth of modern media and telecommunication? What is the relationship of the intellectual to the authorities of the State? What is the shifting ground of intellectual life in the global context of our time? And how have the global market forces affected the way in which intellectual debates are shaped and formed in the vast social space of (greater) China?
More specifically, three directions of questioning are to be pursued: First, as an empirical inquiry, what must be grasped is a genealogy of a particular tradition of intellectual life, say, in the twentieth century. What is the shape of the current intellectual landscape, and how is it to be understood historically? What are the reasons and logic, for example, for the feverish reception of Western social theories, including such as the recent postmodern debates, in today's China? Secondly, what kind of function do intellectuals perform today? In comparative or historical terms, how can we understand the part played by Chinese intellectuals in their society possibly as a way of understanding that vast social space in transformation? For example, in the context of Mainland China, how can we understand the relationship of intellectuals to global capitalist penetration? How have they responded to the transnational corporate interests increasingly becoming part of the everyday experience of the ordinary people? Thirdly, in more specific terms, what are the impacts of technological innovations, especially in the field of telecommunication and mass media, such as the internet and television, on the intellectual life of this particular tradition? What is the significance of being a public (or publicity) intellectual in such a context?
Schedule
Friday, April 2, 2004
8:45-9:15 — Coffee and Registration
9:15-9:45 — Opening Remarks
Christoph Harbsmeier, Chinese Studies, University of Oslo, and Fred Wakeman History, Berkeley
9:45-12:30 Panel I: Chinese Intellectuals: Historical Perspectives
Chair/Discussant: Fred Wakeman / Christoph Harbsmeier
Mark Graham, Religious Studies, College of Wooster — "The Cunning of History, Tu-Weiming, Diaspora Confucianism, and the Challenge of Transnational Public Intellectual Life"
Huaiyin Li, History, University of Missouri — "Local Literati in Transition: Discourse, Power, and the Educational Reform in Huailu County, 1900-37"
Haiyan Lee, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Colorado — "How to Organize a Beautiful Society: Zhang Jingsheng and the Aesthetic State"
Shuang Shen, English, Rutgers University — "The China Critic: The Local, the Cosmopolitan, and the Semi-Colonial Shanghai"
12:30-2:00 — Lunch Break
2:00-4:00
Panel II: 'Civil Society' and the Problem of Intellectuals (1)
Chair/Discussant: Li Zhang, Anthropology, Davis / Yingyi Qian, Economics, Berkeley
Guobin Yang, Sociology, University of Hawaii-Manoa — "Educated Youth as 'Young Intellectuals': An Archaeology of a Lost Intellectual History, 1968-1978"
Susan Perry, International Affairs, American University of Paris — "Intellectuals and Activism in China"
Zhidong Hao, Sociology, University of Macau — "Against the Reification of Intellectuals: Structures of Political Participation for China's Knowledge Workers"
4:00-4:30 — Coffee Break
4:30-6:30
Panel III: 'Civil Society' and the Problem of Intellectuals (2)
Chair/Discussant: Yingyi Qian / Li Zhang
Yunqiu Zhang, History, North Carolina A & T State University — "Intellectual Globalization and Chinese Historians in the Post-Mao Era"
Maurizio Marinelli, History, SUNY Fredonia — "The Problem of Language and the (Re)construction of Chinese Public Intellectuals"
Linbo Jing, Finance and Trade Economics, CASS — "The Current Concerns and Debates of Intellectuals in Mainland China"
Saturday, April 3rd
Today's discussion will be conducted in both English and Chinese.
9:00-9:30 — Snacks and Coffee
9:30-12:00
Panel IV: Intellectuals and the Problem of 'Public Sphere' (1)
Chair/Discussant: Ching Kwan Lee, Sociology, University of Michigan / Wen-hsin Yeh, History, Berkeley
Bingzhong Gao, Anthropology, Peking University — "Chinese Intellectuals and the Folk (Society): A Long Way from a Temple to a Museum"
Xinping Guan, Sociology, Nankai University — "Knowledge, Value and Application: Scholars' Roles in Social Policy-Making"
Liping Sun, Sociology, Tsinghua University — "Division and Conformity in Chinese Intellectual Circles Since the 1990's"
Xing Ying, Sociology, University of Politics and Law — "Who are Public Intellectuals?"
12:00-1:30 — Lunch Break
1:30-4:00
Panel V: Intellectuals and the Problem of 'Public Sphere' (2)
Chair/Discussant: Wen-hsin Yeh / Ching Kwan Lee
Zheng'ai Liu, Lecturer, Anthropology, Japan — "Chinese Intellectuals in Japanese Anthropological Circles"
Jingdong Qu, Sociology, CASS — "Intellectuals Without Tradition"
Meng Li, Sociology, Chicago — "University Reform and Scholastic Tradition: The Problem of Scholastic Independence and Modern Chinese Universities"
Yuan Shen, Sociology, Tsinghua University — "A Brief Discussion of Nativist Tendencies in Current Chinese Intellectual Circles"
4:00-4:30 — Coffee Break
4:30-5:30 — General Discussion
Chair: Xin Liu, Anthropology, Berkeley
On Chinese Cities
Ackbar Abbas, Professor of Comparative Literature and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Globalization and Culture, University of Hong Kong
April 5, 2004
"The City" Lecture Series
Institute of East Asian Studies, Center for South Asia Studies
Ian Johnson, Wild Grass: Three Stories of Change in Modern China
April 6, 2004
Lecture and book signing
Institute of East Asian Studies, Graduate School of Journalism
Ian Johnson, a Pulitzer Prize winner for his reporting on China for the Wall Street Journal, has found the small pockets of resistance that dot the vast landscape of Chinese society and may become the initial fissures that will someday bring down the seemingly indestructible façade of the Communist Party. In Wild Grass, he recounts the stories of three ordinary people who find themselves fighting oppression and government corruption, risking imprisonment and even death. A young architecture student, a bereaved daughter, and a peasant legal clerk are the unlikely heroes of these stories, private citizens cast by unexpected circumstances into surprising roles.
Other programs in the IEAS Book Series: New Perspectives on East Asia.
Death at City Hall: Power and Corruption in Late Meiji Tokyo
Peter Duus, Professor, Japanese History, Stanford University
April 8, 2004
Center for Japanese Studies
In the summer of 1901 Hoshi Toru, president of the Tokyo City Council, and one of the most powerful political leaders of his day, was cut down by an assassin in Tokyo City Hall. The bloody incident revealed the complex tensions generated by the rise of the growing influence of political parties, the de-bureaucratization of city politics, the emergence of an exuberant and untrammeled capitalist class, and the reconstruction of the urban infrastructure. The talk will discuss the historical background and implications of the incident.
Inter-Asian and U.S.-Asia Relations: Perspectives from the Region
April 9, 2004
Roundtable Discussion
Institute of East Asian Studies
Five visiting fellows from the Brookings Institution's Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies (CNAPS) will participate in a roundtable discussion on East Asian international relations and the US role in the region. Each fellow will give a brief presentation before the floor will be opened to general discussion. Established in 1998, CNAPS performs research, analysis, and outreach designed to enhance policy development and understanding on the pressing political, economic and security issues facing Northeast Asia.
Lunch will be provided. Please RSVP to ieas@berkeley.edu or 510.642.2809.
Participants:
Alexei Bogaturov
CNAPS Fellow, Russia
Professor of International Politics, Moscow State Institute of International Relations; Director, Academic Educational Forum on International Relations.
Sook-Jong Lee
CNAPS Fellow, South Korea
Senior Research Fellow, Sejong Institute, Seoul, South Korea.
Erich C.W. Shih
CNAPS Fellow, Taiwan
Washington correspondent, TVBS Channel, Taiwan; Reporter, Chinese Television Network, Hong Kong.
Hideki Yamaji
CNAPS Fellow, Japan
Chief, U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) Section, and Deputy Director, U.S.-Japan Security Treaty Division, North American Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan.
Peng Yuan
CNAPS Fellow, China
Deputy Director and Associate Professor, American Studies Center, China Institute of Contemporary International Relations; Adjunct Professor, University of International Relations.
Moderator:
Joyce Kallgren, Associate Director Emerita, Institute of East Asian Studies, UC Berkeley; Professor emerita, Department of Political Science, UC Davis.
The Political Ecology of Famine: The North Korean Catastrophe and Its Lessons
Meredith Woo-Cumings, Department of Political Science, University of Michigan
April 9, 2004
Center for Korean Studies
The North Korean famine of 1995-1998 was one of the most widely-publicized catastrophes of the 1990s, but it has largely escaped scholarly scrutiny. Professor Woo-Cumings reconstructs the etiology of the North Korean famine from documents of international aid agencies, and places the North Korean famine in comparative light. In the course of this effort, she provides an original and convincing account of why and how the North Korean agricultural regime collapsed in the 1990s. She will also argue that the famine in North Korea raises a number of questions that cannot be reconciled within existing frameworks for understanding and analyzing famine — in particular, Amartya Sen's — and shows how we might have to revise our current thinking about famine, in order to develop new policy mechanisms for dealing with its deadly effects.
Third Annual Graduate Symposium on Korean Studies
April 10, 2004
Annual Graduate Symposium
Center for Korean Studies, Graduate Working Group for Korean Studies
I. Morning Panel
Moderator: Professor Jiwon Shin, East Asian Languages and Cultures, UCB
8:45-9:15 — Continental Breakfast and Welcoming Remarks
9:15-9:30 — "The Roles of Cultural Technology in Fifteenth Century Korea and the Emergence of a State"
Seokyung Han, Philosophy, Interpretation, & Culture, SUNY Binghamton
9:30-9:50 — Discussion
Discussant: Seung-Joon Lee, History, UCB
9:50-10:05 — "Language, Modernity and the City in Korean Colonial Women's Magazine Yǒsǒng"
Jina Eleanor Kim, Asian Languages and Literature, University of Washington
10:05-10:25 — Discussion
Discussant: Professor Jiwon Shin
10:25-10:40 — "Christendom and Diaspora: Racial Formation of Korean Evangelicals in the United States"
Ju Hui Judy Han, Geography, UCB
10:40-11:00 — Discussion
Discussant: Taek-Jin Shin, Sociology, UCB
11:00-11:15 — Coffee Break
11:15-11:30 — "Riding the Korean Wave in the Age of Globalization: Hanryu and the South Korean Imaginary"
Yoon S. Choi, Humanities and Social Thought, NYU
11:30-11:50 — Discussion
Discussant: Kai Ma, Journalism/Asian Studies, UCB
11:50-12:05 — "Dialectics of Democratization: Korean Constitutional Politics, 1948-1987"
Myoung-Ae Jones, Political Science, UC Davis
12:05-12:25 — Discussion
Discussant: Chun Hee Lee, Asian Studies, UCB
12:25-1:45 — Catered Lunch
II. Afternoon Panel
Moderator: Professor Hong Yung Lee, Political Science, UCB
1:45-2:00 — "How a Divided Korea Divided the Left: The Korean Democratic Labor Party's Strategy for the 2004 National Elections"
Simone Chun, Political Science, UCSB
2:00-2:20 — Discussion
Discussant: Professor Hong Yung Lee
2:20-2:35 — "Public Dramas and the Politics of Justice: Comparison of New Union Struggles in South Korea and the United States"
Jennifer Jihye Chun, Sociology, UCB
2:35-2:55 — Discussion
Discussant: Steven Park, Asian Studies, UCB
2:55-3:10 — "The Second Nuclear Crisis, September 11 and U.S. Foreign Policy toward North Korea"
Jihwan Hwang, Political Science, University of Colorado at Boulder
3:10-3:30 — Discussion
Discussant: Professor Hong Yung Lee
3:30-3:45 — Coffee Break
3:45-4:00 — "A Tale of Two Chaebols: The Legacy of State-led Industrialization in South Korea"
Sun-il Kim, Political Science, UCB
4:00-4:20 — Discussion
Discussant: Kenji Kushida, Political Science, UCB
4:20-4:35 — "Lonely Bamboo?: The Island Dispute and Economic Interdependence between South Korea and Japan,"
Min Gyo Koo, Political Science, UCB
4:35-4:55 — Discussion
Discussant: Jung Whan Lee, Political Science, UCB
4:55-5:30 — Conclusion
Berkeley Graduate Working Group and the Center for Korean Studies of UC Berkeley acknowledge the generous support of the Korea Foundation.
"Soldier Zen" in WWII Japan: A Classic Case Study of "Holy War"
Brian Victoria, Buddhist Studies, University of Hawaii-Manoa
April 13, 2004
Center for Japanese Studies
In the aftermath of 9/11 there is a tendency to regard 'holy war' as a unique expression of Islamic fundamentalism. The reality, however, is that religious endorsed violence has existed, at one time or another, in all of the world's major religions. One relatively unknown example of this phenomenon is the fervent, if not fanatical, support given by leaders of the Zen school to Japanese militarism during WWII. By examining this support, it will be possible to gain a better understanding of the universal mechanisms making 'holy war' an enduring feature of contemporary religion and society.
Brian Daizen Victoria is a native of Omaha, Nebraska and a 1961 graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Nebraska. He also holds a M.A. in Buddhist Studies from Sôtô Zen sect-affiliated Komazawa University in Tokyo, and a Ph.D. from the Department of Religious Studies at Temple University. In addition to his new book, Zen War Stories (RoutledgeCurzon, 2003), Brian's major writings include the 1997 book Zen At War; an autobiographical work in Japanese entitled Gaijin de ari, Zen bozu de ari (As a Foreigner, As a Zen Priest), published by San-ichi Shobo in 1971; Zen Master Dôgen, coauthored with Prof. Yokoi Yûhô of Aichi-gakuin University (Weatherhill, 1976); and a translation of The Zen Life by Sato Koji (Weatherhill, 1972). Brian currently serves as the Yehan Numata Distinguished Visiting Professor Chair in Buddhist Studies at the University of Hawaii-Manoa. He is not affiliated with any particular Zen group.
Women as Mystics and Oracles in Tibet
Hildegard Diemberger, Senior Assistant in Research, Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge
April 14, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies
From Cellular Society to Open Society: The Expansion of the Moral Horizon in Contemporary China
William Jankowiak, Professor, Anthropology, University of Nevada
April 16, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies
A Divided Taiwan — Understanding the 2004 Presidential Election
April 19, 2004
Panel discussion
Institute of East Asian Studies
The 2004 Taiwan presidential elections took place amidst much turmoil, protests and even an attempted assassination. Now the results are disputed, since the first count gave incumbent Chen Shui-bian only a razor-thin victory over contender Lien Chan. Join us for an in-depth look at the events over the past weeks and an assessment of the domestic divisions that Taiwan leaders are likely to face, once the current dispute over the election results is resolved. How does Beijing evaluate the situation? What are the implications for US foreign policy in the region?
Panelists:
Richard Baum
Dr. Baum is Professor in the Political Science Department at UCLA and Director of UCLA’s Center for Chinese Studies. He is the author and editor of eight books and numerous articles on Chinese politics. Most recently his research has focused on elections and democracy in Greater China as well as US-China relations and the prospects for war and peace across the Taiwan Strait.
Thomas Gold
Professor Gold teaches in the Sociology Department at UC Berkeley and serves as Executive Director of the Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies at Tsinghua University. He has long been an observer of Taiwan politics. Recent publications include Institutions, Culture, and the Changing Nature of Guanxi as well as New Entrepreneurs of Europe and Asia: Patterns of Business Development in Russia, Eastern Europe and China. He is currently working on a book manuscript, Remaking Taiwan: Society and the State Since the End of Martial Law.
Lowell Dittmer
Dr. Dittmer is Professor in the Political Science Department at UC Berkeley and editor of the Asian Survey. His scholarly expertise is the study of contemporary China. He teaches courses on contemporary China, Northeast Asia, and the Pacific Rim. His current research interests include the China-Taiwan-US triangle in the context of East Asian regional politics.
Chair: Robert Scalapino
Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, UC Berkeley and former Director of the Institute of East Asian Studies.
A Fearful Symmetry: The Future of U.S.-North Korean Relations
John Feffer, author of North Korea, South Korea: U.S. Policy at a Time of Crisis
April 21, 2004
Center for Korean Studies
The Bush administration has been very clear about its goal of regime change in North Korea. Yet, in order to demonstrate that it is doing something about Pyongyang's nuclear programs, the administration is also sitting down to multilateral talks with a government that it has labeled 'evil.' What does the Bush administration hope to accomplish before the November elections, and what are its plans should the Republicans win in November? Do the Democrats offer a clear alternative? This presentation will look at the roots of Bush administration policy and outline the stakes for both the United States and Korea in the current negotiations. It will explore the feasibility of a new U.S. approach to Korea and how U.S. citizens can help bring this about.
John Feffer is the author of several books including North Korea, South Korea: U.S. Policy at a Time of Crisis (Seven Stories, 2003). He has worked closely with civil society groups in South Korea and has visited North Korea three times.
Changing World Views of the U.S.
April 22, 2004
International panel discussion
Graduate School of Journalism
Featuring:
Michael Naumann, Chief Editor and Publisher, Die Zeit (Germany)
Panelists:
Roberto Guareschi, Former Executive Editor of Clarin (Argentina)
Mariko Horikawa, Correspondent Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan)
Muzamil Jaleel, Chief of Bureau in Kashmir for The Indian Express (India)
Lili Sadeghi, Reporter who has worked with Reuters, ABC, CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post (Iran)
Francis Pisani, Correspondent for Reforma, El País, and Le Monde (France)
Co-sponsored by:
The World Affairs Council of Northern California,
Institute of East Asian Studies,
Institute of Government Studies
Why Modernization of the Legal System Failed in Late Qing Dynasty China: A Comparison Between China and Japan
Ai Yongming, Dean, Kenneth Wang School of Law, Soochow University, Suchou, China
April 27, 2004
Lecture conducted in Chinese, with interpretation
Institute of East Asian Studies
Introduction by Laura Young, Boalt School of Law
Why did legal reform along a western model succeed more in Japan than in China during the late mid 19th century and early 20th century? Dean Yongming Ai of the Kenneth Wang School of Law at Soochow University explores the various factors that led to the successful adoption of western legal institutions in Japan under the Meiji Restoration, and the failure on the part of the late Qing government to successfully incorporate and develop legal institutions in China. The lecture will explore these differing responses to meeting the challenges from the West.
Dean Ai Yongming holds a doctor of law and is Professor of Law and Dean of the Kenneth Wang School of Law at Soochow University, where he teaches and conducts research in the area of history of Chinese legal thought, ancient Chinese legal jurisprudence, and Chinese administrative law. He has published many books and articles on Chinese legal history. He also serves as Executive Director of the Chinese Legal History Society and the Research Society of Confucianism and Legal Culture.
Laura W. Young teaches a course in Chinese Law and Society at Boalt Hall's School of Jurisprudence and Social Policy. She is the Managing Partner of the law firm of Wang & Wang and advises American multinational companies protecting their intellectual property and investing in Taiwan and China. She is also a Professor of Law at the Kenneth Wang School of Law.
Light refreshments will be provided.
Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits
William Porter, author "Red Pine"
April 29, 2004
Institute of East Asian Studies, Group in Buddhist Studies, Stanford Center for Buddhist Studies
Bill Porter is an award-winning translator and cultural commentator on things Chinese. After leaving a PhD program in Anthropology at Columbia University in 1972, he lived in a Buddhist monastery in Taiwan for three years and later worked as the first National News Director of the island's most popular radio station, ICRT. Many people in Taiwan and Hong Kong still remember hearing his daily programs on his travels through China. His book Road to Heaven recounts his journey to find out whether China's hermit tradition had survived the Cultural Revolution. Under the pen name Red Pine, he has also published translations of Chinese poetry and Buddhist and Taoist texts. He currently lives with his wife and two children in Port Townsend, Washington.
The International Center for Chinese Studies: Its Significance and Activities
Kazumi Yamamoto, Professor, Modern Chinese Studies, Aichi University; Director-General of the COE Committee, International Center for Chinese Studies, Aichi University
Contemporary Chinese Economic Studies in Japan in Historical Perspective
Shinichi Kawai, Professor, Business Administration, Aichi University; Member of the COE Committee, International Center for Chinese Studies, Aichi University
April 30, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies
China's Digital Future: Advancing The Understanding of China's Information Revolution
April 30, and Saturday, May 1, 2004
Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California, Berkeley China Internet Project and New Media Program at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, Institute of East Asian Studies
Conference opens at 1 pm Friday at Sibley Auditorium, and closes with a reception at 5:15 pm at North Gate Hall Courtyard, Hearst at Euclid Avenue, Berkeley. On Saturday the conference resumes at 9:30 am and ends at 5:45 pm.
China is experiencing a digital revolution. ICTs are already altering the course of China's ongoing social and economic reforms. But the long-term impact of the Internet on the Chinese government, people, society and culture is not yet clear.
Over 78 million Chinese now utilize the communication power of the Internet, and over 257 million have wireless phones. How will China's rapidly expanding high tech industry and market affect global technological development and the world market? How does the Chinese government maintain a balance between control and growth of the Internet? How does the flexibility and pervasiveness of the new media alter the traditional information landscape? And what are the expansion, control and transformative effects of these technologies on China and its future?
Keynote Speaker: Lawrence Lessig, Stanford University Law School
Panelists include: Duncan Clark, BDA China Ltd.; Stella Xi Jin, Vantone International Group; AnnaLee Saxenian, UC Berkeley School of Information Management and Systems; Cindy Cohn, Electronic Frontier Foundation; John Gage, Sun Microsystems; Andrew McLaughlin, Google Inc.; Haibo Lu, Sohu.com; Chunyuan Liang, Sina.com; Xiao Qiang, UC Berkeley China Internet Project; Susan Shirk, UC San Diego's Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation; Andrew Lih, University of Hong Kong; Richard Baum, UC Los Angeles Center for Chinese Studies; Benjamin Liebman, Columbia University Law School; and Bu Wei, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
For more information on this event please visit the conference website:
http://journalism.berkeley.edu/ conf/ chinadf/
Co-sponsors: UC Berkeley Office of the Chancellor, Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, School of Information Management and Systems, Institute of East Asian Studies, Center for New Media and Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS); Michigan State University-DCL College of Law; Nanyang Technological University's School of Communication & Information, and Peking University's School of Journalism & Communication.
The Korean Diaspora
May 1, 2004
Regional Seminar
Center for Korean Studies
Agenda 10:00a-10:30a — Coffee
10:30a-12:00n — Session 1: The Korean Diaspora in the "Peripheries"
"The 'Foxes' Outfoxed: Contentions between Koreans and Jews in the South American Textile Industry"
Kyeyoung Park, Department of Anthropology, UCLA
"Diaspora, Christendom, and Empire: Locating Korean Evangelical Christians in the World"
Judy Han, Department of Geography, UC Berkeley
12:00n-1:30p — Lunch
1:30-3:00p — Session 2: The Korean Diaspora in the United States
"Our Place in Someone Else's House: Globalized/Localized 'Race' and Gender in Transnational Context"
Nadia Kim, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, UCSD
"Shifting the Spotlight: Exploring the Significance of Race and Culture in Korean-White Adoptive Families"
Jiannbin Shiao and Mia Tuan, Department of Sociology, University of Oregon
3:00-3:15p — Coffee
3:15-5:00p — Session 3: The Korean Diaspora and Its Global Trajectories
"Parhae Revisited: The Diaspora's Northern Tier"
David Wolff, Department of History, UC Berkeley
"(Korean) Diasporic Nationalism"
John Lie, Department of Sociology, UC Berkeley
Egocentric Japanese?: Nature/Nurture Influence on Spatial Cognition
Kyoko Inoue, Linguistics/Anthropology, Keio University
May 3, 2004
Center for Japanese Studies
"My east molar hurts" was a commonly used expression in a rural community in Japan. It may sound odd and unconceivable for those who are used to locating themselves by the "right/left" (egocentric) coordinate system, which turns out to be historically common among Indo-European language users. However, as recent studies on spatial cognition (Levinson 2003) revealed the other possibilities in describing (and conceiving) horizontal spatial directions that have long been available to peoples of the world, environment-centered spatial coordinate system is not outdated at all.
Based on the fieldwork conducted in a community in Kochi Prefecture in Shikoku Island where both "relative (egocentric)" and "absolute (environment-centered)" frames of reference are readily available for habitual use, this talk will discuss the motivation for spatial code switching among the population.
Yi T'aejun's Private Orient
Janet Poole, Department of East Asian Studies, New York University
May 7, 2004
Center for Korean Studies
Yi T'aejun's essays, published in a collection in 1941, reveal that he was living an intensely personal and deeply interiorized literary relationship with past times. An exploration of Yi T'aejun's encounter with the past and its spatialization in the notion of the Orient reveals how one Korean intellectual placed himself in the 1940s world order as an imperial subject.
Janet Poole teaches Korean literature in the Department of East Asian Studies at New York University. She is currently putting the final touches to her dissertation, which is a study of modernism in late colonial Korea. She is also a published literary translator and working on a project to translate a collection of essays and short stories written by the modernist aesthete Yi T'aejun during the early 1940s.
Underneath the Political Radar — Japan's Quiet Transformation
May 10, 2004
Panel discussion, please RSVP
Institute of East Asian Studies
On the surface, Japan appears to have carried out few political changes to cope with its longstanding economic problems. Yet, as our panelists will attest, the country has been going through a series of less visible but potentially more long-lasting changes in a host of social areas. Join us for a panel discussion on how this social transformation is being promoted by a broad and diverse array of organizations and groups from across the political spectrum.
Panelists:
Machiko Osawa is a Professor in the Economics Department at Japan Women's University. She has published widely on various aspects of Japan’s labor market and the repercussions of current demographic changes. She has served as an advisor to the Japanese government on many issues related to industrial and labor policy, gender equality as well as pension reform.
Kaori Kuroda is Co-Director of the Civil Society Organizations Network Japan (CSONJ). She is the author of numerous articles on Japanese NGOs and social change. An expert on civil society development, she has worked as a researcher and consultant for various governmental and nongovernmental organizations in Tokyo and London.
Chieko Numata is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Temple University Japan. Her research focuses on the Japanese electoral system. She previously taught Japanese politics at various US universities, including Bowdoin College and Colby College.
Jeffrey Kingston is Professor of History and Director of Asian Studies at Temple University Japan. He is the author of Japan's Quiet Transformation: Social Change and Civil Society in the 21st Century (forthcoming). He received his Ph.D. in History from Columbia University.
Chair:
T.J. Pempel, Professor, Department of Political Science and Director, Institute of East Asian Studies, UC Berkeley.
Lunch will be provided.
Please RSVP to ieas@berkeley.edu or 510.642.2809.
Aobakai "Japan" Conference
May 11, 2004
Center for Japanese Studies
Schedule
12:30
Reception — Refreshments will be served.
12:50
Opening Remarks
1:00
Anna Maria Bautista-Ejercito, or, Neema
Japanese Girls: From Moga to Contemporary
Graduate, Asia Pacific Studies, University of San Francisco
Professor Uldis Kruze: "History of Modernization of East Asia"
1:15
Tu Keaton Nguyen
Agency of Keitai
Graduate, Asia Pacific Studies, University of San Francisco
Professor John Nelson: "Society and Culture"
1:30
Kuniyoshi Minato
Taiikukai: Athlete Students in Japan
Senior, American Studies, UC Berkeley
Professor Nelson Graburn: "Anthropology of Japan"
1:45
John Leikauf
The Question of the Matsuis: Has Godzilla Left Japan For Good?
Junior, Anthropology, UC Berkeley
Professor Nelson Graburn: "Anthropology of Japan"
2:00
Audrey Choi
Hikikomori
Sophomore, intended MCB major, UC Berkeley
Professor Nelson Graburn: "Anthropology of Japan"
2:15
Nina HQ La
The Contribution of Japanese Culture on the Development of Enjo Kosai
Junior, Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley
Professor Nelson Graburn: "Anthropology of Japan"
2:30
Hikaru Ishida
Age-Defense and Age-Attack
Senior, Anthropology, UC Berkeley
Prof. Nelson Graburn: "Anthropology of Japan"
2:45 – 3:00
Break
3:00
Patrick Gary
Jidaigeki and Gender: A Comparison of Gender and Identity in Two Japanese Films
Junior, Anthropology, UC Berkeley
Professor Nelson Graburn: "Anthropology of Japan"
3:15
Nicholas Do
Consumerism and College Students' Activism since the 1960s
Junior, Integrative Biology and Anthropology, UC Berkeley
Professor Nelson Graburn: "Anthropology of Japan"
3:30
Motoko Furukawa
The Musha Incident (Aboriginal Taiwanese Uprising in Colonial Taiwan)
Senior, Modern Japanese History on Colonialism, UC Davis
Professor Kyu Hyun Kim: "Independent Historical Research"
3:45
Chu Huei-chu
Colonial modernity in Taiwanese Literature
Independent Researcher
4:00
Stephanie Skiles
Kawaii and Amae: A Study of Japanese Manga and Magazines
Junior, Anthropology, UC Berkeley
Professor Nelson Graburn: "Anthropology of Japan"
4:15
Ethan Jennings
Driving a Hard Bargain: An Empirical Examination of Two-Level Game Theoretic
and Exogenously-Driven Trade Relations Theories
Freshman, Public Policy and IAS, Master's candidate, UC Berkeley
Professor Steven Vogel: "Japan in World Affairs"
4:30 – 4:45
Break
4:45
Wei Ting Jen
Remembering War — The Community of Contrition 1945-55
Senior, Economics and Asian Studies, UC Berkeley
Prof. Andrew Barshay: "Twentieth-Century Japan"
5:00
Sungyun Lim
How "Sadness" Became Beauty in Colonial Korea — Yanagi Soetsu (1889-1961) and his early writings on Korea, 1919-1924
Graduate, Asian Studies, UC Berkeley
Prof. Andrew Barshay: "Religious Experience in Modern Japan"
5:15
Amy King
Manga and Anglophone Youth Literature: A Decal Facilitator's Field Report
Senior, Cognitive Science, UC Berkeley. Decal (democratic education at Cal
Instructor for, "Comparisons of Japanese and Western Youth Literature
Professor Alan Tansman
5:30
M. Scott Brooks
Segyehwa: Viability for Peace in the Northern Territories and on the Korean Peninsula
Graduate, Asia Pacific Studies, University of San Francisco
Professor John Nelson: "Society/Culture in East Asia"
5:45
Charles S. Costello III
Nuclear Nonproliferation: A Hidden but Contentious Issue in the U.S.-Japan Relationship During the Carter Administration
Graduate, Asia Pacific Studies, University of San Francisco
Professor Uldis Kruze: "History of East Asia"
6:00 – 7:10
Buffet Party
James Lilley, China Hands: Nine Decades of Adventure, Espionage, and Diplomacy in Asia
May 11, 2004
Lecture and book signing
Institute of East Asian Studies
In China Hands James Lilley reflects on his extraordinary life and career in espionage and diplomacy between America and Asia during and after the Cold War. Lilley served for twenty-five years in the CIA in Laos, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Taiwan before moving to the State Department in the early 1980s to begin a distinguished career as the top-ranking US diplomat in Taiwan, ambassador to South Korea, and finally ambassador to China. Lilley takes the reader inside the CIA, the White House, and other US government agencies, all around Asia, and illuminates a number of important historical events. From helping Laotian resistance insurgent forces assist the American efforts in Vietnam to his posting in Beijing during the Tiananmen Square crackdown, he was in a remarkable number of crucial places during challenging times as he spent his life tending to US interests in Asia.
Other programs in the IEAS Book Series: New Perspectives on East Asia.
Memory, Memorial and Commemoration: Chinese Texts of the Early Medieval Through Late Imperial Periods
May 14-15, 2004
Conference
Center for Chinese Studies
Schedule
Friday, May 14, 2004
4:00 pm — Panel One
Stephen West, UC Berkeley
"Creating Memory: Textual Layering in the (Caizi Mudan ting) Commentary on Xixiang ji"
Yuming He, Reed College
"The Culture of Play and the Play of Culture"
Haun Saussy, Stanford University, Discussant
Saturday, May 15, 2004
10:00 am — Panel Two
Joe Cutter, University of Wisconsin
"Saying Goodbye: the Transformation of the Dirge in Early Medieval China"
Anna Shields, University of Arizona
"In Mourning and Commemoration: The Offering Text (jiwen) for Yuan Zhen by Bai Juyi"
Robert Ashmore, UC Berkeley, Discussant
2:00 pm — Panel Three
Karin Myrhe, University of Georgia
"The Act and the Word, Roles and Remembrance in Drama"
Judith Zeitlin, University of Chicago
"Ghosts, Memory and Music in the Palace of Everlasting Life"
Sophie Volpp, UC Berkeley, Discussant
4:00 pm — Concluding Remarks
Wen-hsin Yeh, UC Berkeley
The U.S.-Hong Kong Relationship: Looking Forward
James Keith, U.S. Consul General in Hong Kong
May 24, 2004
Institute of East Asian Studies
Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 under an arrangement developed by Deng Xiaoping known as "One Country, Two Systems." Under this formula, Hong Kong still enjoys a high degree of autonomy and maintains its free market system. Over the past year, the Hong Kong people have been more outspoken in demanding faster progress toward a political system that allows them to directly elect their chief executive and legislators. The U.S. Consul General in Hong Kong, James Keith, will discuss these developments as they affect United States interests, U.S.-China relations, and the future of the Asia-Pacific region.
Korean Literature Today
May 24, 2004
Center for Korean Studies
"Korean Literature Today"
"Life and Poetry of our Times"
Kwang-Kyu Kim, poet
"The Korean War and Modern Reality"
Won-il Kim, novelist
"Korean Literature in the World: Prospects in Europe and the United States"
He Yong Chong, critic
Youngmin Kwon, Seoul National University
Moderator
(all presentations will be in Korean)
China's Role in the International War on Terrorism
Pan Guang, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences
June 3, 2004
Institute of East Asian Studies
China is an active member in the international anti-terror coalition, and plays a significant role in anti-terror efforts throughout Eurasia, on the South Asian subcontinent, in Northeast Asia, as well as the Middle East. Pan Guang will discuss the evolution of Chinese policies since 9/11 as well as future prospects for international cooperation.
Pan Guang is the Director of the Institute of Eurasian Studies at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. He also Director and Professor at the Center of SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) Studies in Shanghai and serves as Vice President of the Chinese Association for Middle East Studies.
The Korean Peninsula, East Asia, and the United States: The Search for Stability in a Time of Change
June 16, 2004
Panel discussions and luncheon, registration required
Asia Society Northern California
Schedule
8:30 am
Registration and continental breakfast
9:00 am – 10:15 am
Panel I
10:30 am – 11:45 am
Panel II
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Luncheon Keynote
$55 Members / $65 Non-Members / $35 Students: Panel discussions and Luncheon
$40 Members / $50 Non-Members: Luncheon only
$25 Panels Only
To register for this program, please call the Asia Society Northern California at 415.421.8707
Luncheon Keynote
Lee Hong-Koo, Chairman, Seoul Forum for International Affairs
William Perry, Nineteenth Secretary of Defense
Relations among the countries of Northeast Asia and the United States have changed significantly over the past year. In October 2002, the United States confronted North Korea with evidence of a clandestine nuclear program. Since then, there has been a verbal barrage among adversaries and allies alike. Relations are complicated by the election of a new Korean president, the complexities of six-party peace talks, evidence of anti-Americanism in South Korea, the possibility of U.S. troop realignment, the wars on terrorism and Iraq, and China's growing power.
The program will also address issues of relevance to the San Francisco business community, including Korea's sophisticated consumer marketplace; labor issues and other barriers to FDI; the impact of shifting international trade patterns on the domestic economy; Korea's potential as a regional business hub; Korea's long-term competitive edge; and Northeast Asia's future role in the global supply chain.
Panel I — Prospects for Engagement: Relations in Northeast Asia and the Issue of North Korea
Robert Scalapino, Robson Research Professor of Government Emeritus, UC Berkeley
Chae Jin Lee, BankAmerica Professor of Pacific Basin Studies, Claremont McKenna College
Norman Levin, Senior Policy Analyst, RAND
Daniel Pinkston, Senior Researcher, Center for Nonproliferation Studies, MIIS
Panel II — Korea and the Economic Future of Northeast Asia
Chong-Moon Lee, Founder and Chairman, Silicon Valley Venture Fund
Dan Carroll, Managing Director, Newbridge Capital LLC
Meredith Woo-Cumings, Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan
Hong Yung Lee, Professor of Political Science, UC Berkeley
Cosponsored by: Commonwealth Club of California, Korean American Chamber of Commerce, Korean American Bar Association, Institute of East Asian Studies, Korean American Coalition (KAC), Samsung Semiconductor
This program is generously supported by a grant from the Korea Foundation. Mr. Lee's travel graciously arranged with the assistance of United Airlines.
The Rise of a New Generation of Chinese Liberal Intellectuals
Yu Jie, writer
July 6, 2004
Talk and discussion, conducted in Chinese
UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, Institute of East Asian Studies
Please join us to meet Yu Jie, one of China's most independent and outspoken writers and cultural critics.
Yu Jie, a well-known Beijing-based writer and outspoken social critic, is the author of numerous books. His first collection of essays Huo Yu Bing ("Fire And Ice") quickly became a bestseller in mainland China in 1998. Other well-known books include Tiewu Zhong De Naihan ("Screams from the Iron House") and Shuo Haishi Bu Shuo ("To Speak Or Not To Speak"). In his most recent book, Jujue Huangyan ("Rejecting Lies"), Yu reflects on the role of China's intellectuals in the post-Tiananmen era. Yu has frequently intervened on behalf of mainland writers and activists calling on Chinese authorities to protect freedom of speech and to safeguard basic human rights. In an article that sparked much controversy earlier this year, Yu called for the removal of Mao Zedong's corpse from the Mao Mausoleum in Tiananmen Square.
The speaker will be introduced by Xiao Qiang, Director of the Berkeley China Internet Project. The talk and the following discussion will be conducted in Chinese.
Mongolia, Northeast Asia, and the United States
His Excellency Natsagiyn Bagabandi, President of Mongolia
July 20, 2004
The Asia Foundation
A reception will follow the program.
President Bagabandi's visit to San Francisco comes at the conclusion of his travels to the United States for working-level meetings in Washington, D.C. with President George W. Bush and senior administration officials. Natsagiyn Bagabandi was elected President of Mongolia in June of 1997, and re-elected in 2001. He was elected in 1992 as a member of the State Great Hural and served as its speaker. In 1996, he was re-elected as a member of the State Great Hural and served as chairman of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party.
This program is open to the public and free of charge. Reservations are required. Please RSVP no later than July 16 to The Asia Foundation at 415.743.3347 or via e-mail: rsvp@asiafound.org
For additional program information please contact Nicola Burt at 415.743.3346. For media inquiries please contact Debbie Felix at 415.743.3340.
Sponsored by: The Asia Foundation
In 2004, The Asia Foundation celebrates its 50th anniversary as a private, nonprofit grant-making institution committed to the development of a peaceful, prosperous, and open Asia-Pacific region. This special address by President Bagabandi is part of The Asia Foundation's 50th Anniversary lecture series.
Co-sponsored by: The Institute of East Asian Studies, UC Berkeley; The World Affairs Council of Northern California; The Commonwealth Club; and the University of San Francisco, Center for the Pacific Rim.
The Participatory Government's Role in Securing Greater Economic Cooperation between the Two Koreas
Jin-Pyo Kim, Member, National Assembly
August 24, 2004
Center for Korean Studies
North-South Korean relations took a huge leap forward following the ROK-DPRK Summit, and South Korea has worked to welcome North Korea into the international community. North Korea has also recently stepped forward for economic liberalization, giving greater autonomy to companies and abolishing the rationing system. There have been dramatic increases in private trade and investment between the two Koreas by undertaking many joint projects. Reforming and opening up of North Korea will bring both challenges and opportunities for the Korean peninsula. At this stage, we review the roles of Participatory Government of South Korea in inducing reform in the North Korean economy. Through several economic and communication channels South Korea has introduced various strategies to bring peace and prosperity to the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia.
The Hon. Kim, Jin Pyo is currently a member of National Assembly of the Republic of Korea. Mr. Kim has served the Korean government in many capacities, including Vice Chairman of the Presidential Transition Committee, Minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination, Senior Secretary to the President for Policy and Planning, Vice Minister for the Ministry of Finance and Economy, Deputy Minister for Tax and Customs, Director-General for Banking and Insurance, Secretary to Minister of Finance and Economy, Director-General for Economic Policies, and General-Director for the National Tax Tribunal. He graduated from Seoul National University's School of Law and earned a Master's degree in public administration at the University of Wisconsin.
Sponsored by a Grant from the Korea Foundation.
What Happened to Japanese Telecom: Stumbling into the 21st Century
Robert Cole, Professor Emeritus, Haas School of Business, UCB
September 2, 2004
Center for Japanese Studies
Japan was a major player in global telecommunication trade in the 1980s. By 2003, however, METI officials were convening committees to deal with the precipitous decline in the Japanese telecom industry. What happened? Was it simply the overall decline in telecommunications after the 1999 meltdown or were national factors at play? We examine these issues by looking at two major telecom sectors. The first is the emergent network communication equipment industry ushered in by the Internet, and the second is 2nd generation phones. We find that Japanese firms made a number of strategic errors that dramatically worsened their competitive situation on world markets.
This event is free and open to the public.
Shōsō-in Treasures: Reconstructing Musical Instruments
Music From Japan — Reigaku and Gagaku: A Living Tradition
September 12, 2004
Lecture-demonstration and concert
Lecture-demonstration: Institute of East Asian Studies, Department of Music; Concert: Cal Performances
1:00-2:00 p.m. — Shōsō-in Treasures: Reconstructing Musical Instruments
Lecture-demonstration by Professor Toshiro Kido and members of the Reigakusha Orchestra
Toshiro Kido, former Director of the National Theatre of Japan, spearheaded a project to reconstruct models of rare and forgotten instruments from the Shōsō-in Collection in Nara, Japan. While at the National Theatre, he also commissioned well-known composers to create new repertoire for both traditional gagaku instruments and the reconstructed instruments. This work led to the emergence of a new genre of music known as reigaku. Kido is currently a professor at the Kyoto University of Art and Design.
This event is free and open to the public.
The lecture will be conducted in Japanese. Simultaneous translation provided by Janice S. Kande.
3:00 p.m. — Music From Japan — Reigaku and Gagaku: A Living Tradition
featuring the Reigakusha Gagaku Orchestra
For more than 1,000 years, the Todai-ji monastery temple in Nara, Japan, has housed the treasured Shoso-in collection of musical instruments and artifacts that were transported to Japan from as far away as Persia along the famed Silk Road in the 8th century. Music From Japan's 30th Anniversary Project presents new music (reigaku) composed specifically for these rare ancient instruments, as well as traditional gagaku (Japan's Imperial court music), in a special U.S. concert appearance by Reigakusha, Japan's leading gagaku ensemble. Committed to bridging cultural differences through music's universal appeal and sharing the rich heritage of Japanese musical traditions, Music From Japan celebrates its 30th Anniversary as the leading producer/presenter of contemporary and traditional Japanese music in the United States.
For ticket information please visit the Cal Performances website.
Living on the Brink in Post-Bubble Japan
Edward Fowler, East Asian Languages and Literatures, UC Irvine
September 16, 2004
Center for Japanese Studies
Japan's day laborer quarters have changed immensely since Edward Fowler's research for "San'ya Blues" (Cornell, 1996). After the so-called economic bubble collapsed in the early 1990s, San'ya (Tokyo) and Kamagasaki (Osaka) have seen their function as sites for recruiting casual laborers become attenuated; and they have been largely transformed, along with certain public spaces (e.g. Ueno Park; Osaka Castle Park), into very visible sites of homelessness. What sorts of people occupy these sites? This talk will attempt an answer to this question, both through the text of a book the speaker is translating by a white-collar worker living in San'ya and through slides taken over the past decade in Tokyo and Osaka.
This event is free and open to the public.
Analyzing the Korean 'Comfort Women' Tragedy: Truth, Justice, and Structural Violence
Chunghee Sarah Soh, San Francisco State University
September 17, 2004
Center for Korean Studies
This study explores the contemporary South Korean struggles over historical injustice by paying special attention to the "comfort women" tragedy, which has become perhaps the most internationally sensationalized issue among multiple unsettling legacies of Korea's twentieth century history. Owing to the transnational human rights movement, comfort women are now represented as "military sex slaves" of wartime imperial Japan. Korean activists' definition of the comfort women issue as Japan's "war crime," however, touches on only one dimension of a multifaceted social problem: It does not unravel the complicated sociohistorical and political economic truths about violence against women. The Korean comfort women tragedy is a case of gendered "structural violence" in patriarchy under colonial capitalism, carried out through structural mechanisms of class and "race" exploitation, local collaboration, and common masculinist sexual cultural mores, so as to serve the imperialist war efforts.
Chunghee Sarah Soh is a sociocultural anthropologist who specializes in women's issues, gender/ sexuality, and social/cultural change. She is the author of The Chosen Women in Korean Politics: An Anthropological Study (Praeger, 1991) and Women in Korean Politics (Westview Press, 1993). Her current research, is concerned with the "comfort women" issue. Field research for this project has been carried out in Korea, Japan, The Netherlands, and the National Archives in Washington D.C. Dr. Soh is a graduate with highest honors of Sogang University in Seoul, and earned her Master's and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Hawaii.
Sponsored by a Grant from the Korea Foundation.
neo-eiga: New Japanese Cinema
September 17-19, 2004
Film festival
Pacific Film Archive, Consulate General of Japan, San Francisco; The Japan Foundation; NAATA; Institute of East Asian Studies; and Japan Society of Northern California
Join us for Bay Area premieres of diverse, award-winning works that illuminate the multiple realities of twenty-first-century Japan.
The fourth neo-eiga festival brings a new film by a major sixties New Wave director, Kiju (Yoshishige) Yoshida, together with works by exciting younger talents and an influential independent film producer-director. These recent films all explore contemporary characters and modern dilemmas, but represent varied relationships to the past; the perspective of history contrasts with the eternal present of the Internet.
Schedule of Films
For information on ticket sales, please call 510.642.1412 or visit http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/ pfa_programs/; for advance tickets (charge-by-phone), call 510.642.5249.
Friday, September 17, 2004
7:00 p.m.
Bokunchi — My House
Junji Sakamoto (Japan, 2002)
(Bokunchi). A high heel smashing through rotted wood, and the advice "live with it" uttered on a sinking ship, appropriately begin Junji Sakamoto's not-so-nostalgic look at small-town life and the children's dreams that live and drown in it. Little Nita is a hopelessly cute seven-year-old living in a backwater fishing village where incompetent glue-sniffing gangsters, scrap-gathering old men, and cat-collecting old women are the only role models around. Abandoned by his mother, Nita is cared for by his brother, who's busy working his way up the preteen yakuza ladder, and by his sex-worker elder sister. Sakamoto, whose debut Knock Out and recent films Face and KT mark his wide stylistic range, generates a nostalgia for childhood life as warm as it is crowd-pleasing. But Bokunchi's cute characters and sly observational humor also underline a bleaker reality, one that needs to be escaped rather than embraced. Like Nita says, "normal" is "a bowl of warm rice," but not much else.
— Jason Sanders
Written by Isamu Uno, based on the comic by Rieko Saibara. Photographed by Norimichi Kasamatsu. With Arisa Mizuki, Yuma Yamoto, Yuki Tanaka, Claude Maki. (116 mins, In Japanese with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, From Micott & Basara Inc.)
9:30 p.m.
Peep "TV" Show
Yutaka Tsuchiya (Japan, 2003)
Winner of the Rotterdam Film Festival's International Critic's Prize, Peep "TV" Show rages forth from Japan's dizzying Shibuya underground like a Dostoyevskian screed for the twenty-first century, where hidden webcams, lost youth, televisual violence, and girls dressed as goth Lolitas merge to embrace, or annihilate, the voyeurism of contemporary culture. Two street kids, the nihilistic Hasegawa (looking like a missing Ramone brother) and the suicidal Moe (looking like a punked-out Alice in Wonderland), set up an Internet site that begins by posting 9/11 footage, then branches out to include spy-cam shots, animal deaths, and necrophilia. Turning viewers into the viewed, and vice versa, their "peep TV" site becomes a mass movement, a space for those seeking "reality," or seeking to avoid it. "We have been robbed of our own reality," director Tsuchiya (whose A New God played in our 2002 neo-eiga series) writes. "Are you a spectator of the rerun, or are you a member of the cast? Or are you really here at all?"
— Jason Sanders
Written by Tsuchiya, Karin Amamiya. Photographed by Masaki Ninomiya. With Takayuki Hasegawa, Shiori Gechov, Akiko Ueda, Risako. (98 mins, In Japanese with English subtitles, Color, DV-Cam, From Yutaka Tsuchiya)
Saturday, September 18, 2004
5:00 p.m.
Shara
Naomi Kawase (Japan, 2003)
(Sharasoju). Director Naomi Kawase made a sensational debut when her film Suzaku won the Cannes Camera d'or in 1997. With Shara, she returns to Nara, the site of that film (and her hometown), to present a "love letter to the community," a work in which "joyful Japanese values shine brightly" (Variety). On the day of the Jizo Festival, a little boy disappears, leaving a family in shock. Five years later, his body is finally discovered, and the world slowly, hesitatingly moves forward, with new loves beginning, another festival arriving, and a new life starting. Like Aoyama's Eureka and Kore-eda's Distance, Shara examines personal loss and how individuals can overcome unfathomable grief, but unlike those films focuses on how friendships, neighbors, and family serve as a source of comfort and, finally, healing. To further the film's extraordinary feeling of realism and community, Kawase relocated her cast and crew to Nara months before the shoot, "to come to know the town...so as to better feel their role."
— Jason Sanders
Written by Kawase. Photographed by Yutaka Yamazaki. With Kohei Fukunaga, Yuka Hyoudo, Kawase, Katsuhisa Namase. (99 mins, In Japanese with English subtitles, 35mm, Color, From Pyramide International)
7:00 p.m.
Ramblers
Nobuhiro Yamashita (Japan, 2003)
(Riarizumu no yado). A road movie without a car, or a road, Ramblers continues director Nobuhiro Yamashita's (No One's Ark) series of deadpan comedies of youth trying to find a future, or at least a clue. Acclaimed as Japan's Jim Jarmusch, Yamashita makes films about his generation, but the characters contained therein — hapless people caught in dead-end towns, with dead-end jobs and no-end embarrassments — remain universally endearing. Two young slackers travel to a small tourist town to meet a mutual friend, but when the friend never arrives the two strangers find themselves stranded. Stuck on their own private lonely planets, too lazy to explore, they instead fantasize about movies they're never going to make, schemes they're never going to begin, and girls they're certainly never going to seduce. Hapless encounters with locals stress their comical inability to fit in; they are strangers in a strange land, with everywhere to go but nowhere to stay, dreaming of something better, too lost to find it.
— Jason Sanders
Written by Kosuke Mukai, Yamashita, based on a manga by Yoshiharu Tsuge. Photographed by Ryuta Kondo. With Keishi Nagatsuka, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Machiko Ono. (83 mins, In Japanese with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, From Bitters End Inc.)
8:50 p.m.
Akame 48 Waterfalls
Genjiro Arato (Japan, 2003)
(Akame shijuyataki shinjumisui). Worlds collide when an upper-class writer takes refuge among the denizens of a seedy flophouse in this directoral entry from Genjirou Arato, longtime producer for Seijun Suzuki and Junji Sakamoto. "Thru me you pass into the city of woe," reads the cheery blackboard welcome at Amagasaki Railway Station, and such is the case for recent arrival Yoichi Ikushima (Takijiro Onishi), who quickly lands a room in a boarding house filled with end-of-the-line prostitutes, the dying, and the walking dead. "You're a pretty thing," someone cackles through misshapen teeth at Ikushima and his obviously patrician cheekbones. But Ikushima wants nothing to do with anyone until he meets Aya (Shinobu Terajima, Vibrator), the mistress of a tattoo artist and a woman with a death wish as radiant as Ikushima's own. With gorgeous CinemaScope images capturing each slow-burning moment of its characters' doomed lives and loves, Akame is a tribute to classic melodrama, whether 1950s cinema or Edo-period plays.
— Jason Sanders
Written by Toya Suzuki, based on the novel by Chokitsu Kurumatani. Photographed by Norimichi Kasamatsu. With Takijiro Onishi, Shinobu Terajima, Michiyo Okusu, Yuya Uchida. (159 mins, In Japanese with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, 'Scope, From Tohokushinsha Film Corporation)
Sunday, September 19, 2004
2:00 p.m.
Red Persimmons
Shinsuke Ogawa, Peng Xiaolian (Japan, 2001)
(Manzan benigaki). Elegant as a print by Hokusai, Red Persimmons is the fruit of a posthumous collaboration between the late Shinsuke Ogawa and his Chinese disciple Peng Xiaolian, who combined footage shot in 1984–85 with her own additions some 15 years later. Their documentary is a study in local knowledge — the cultivation and harvest of persimmons in tiny Kaminoyama. Highly astringent when picked, these recalcitrant fruits are clipped, sorted, peeled, and left to dry, before being packaged as candy-sweet delicacies. Human industry and ingenuity is the film's true subject. One woman recounts with gratitude how, when she couldn't master her mother-in-law's peeling method, her late husband devised a special knife to save her thumb from being cut repeatedly. The fabrication of a mechanical peeler from bicycle gears forms a separate chapter, with different villagers taking credit for the innovation. The film is a moving revelation of a microcosm soon to vanish.
— Leslie Camhi, Village Voice
Photographed by Masaki Tamura, Jong Lin. (90 mins, In Japanese with English subtitles, Color, 16mm, From Planet Bibliothèque de Cinéma)
4:00 p.m.
Women in the Mirror
Kiju (Yoshishige) Yoshida (Japan, 2002)
Introduced by Daisuke Miyao
(Kagami no onnatachi). Two legends return in this meditative, moving work on the legacy of Hiroshima: director Kiju (Yoshishige) Yoshida, whose Eros + Massacre is a monument of the Japanese New Wave, and actress Mariko Okada, whose credits include the films of Naruse, Ozu, and Itami. Okada stars as Mrs. Kawase, an elderly woman haunted by memories both distant and present: of Hiroshima (she lost her husband there, and barely survived herself), and of her amnesiac missing daughter, who may have finally reappeared. The two women, accompanied by Kawase's granddaughter Natsuki and her modern concerns of overseas boyfriends and corporate jobs, return to Hiroshima, the site of their memories and forgettings. Melancholy and mysterious, as graceful in form as it is respectful in content, Women in the Mirror uses its silences to reflect on traumas both public and personal, and as a way for the audience to, as Yoshida says, "reconsider the Hiroshima they carry within them, and freely establish a dialogue in this communion with its victims."
— Jason Sanders
Written by Yoshida. Photographed by Masao Nakabori. With Mariko Okada, Yoshiko Tanaka, Sae Issiki, Hideo Moroto. (129 mins, In Japanese with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, From Gendai-sha)
7:00 p.m.
A Woman's Work
Kentaro Otani (Japan, 2002)
(Travail). A Woman's Work tackles the changing dynamics between men and women — and their jobs — with an improvised acting aesthetic, comic flair, and off-the-cuff shooting style more reminiscent of Mike Leigh than of anything in current Japanese cinema. Asami is a professional shogi player who's been on a losing streak since marrying Kazuya, a mousy but devoted salaryman. Her strong-willed sister Rina, meanwhile, is encountering problems of another kind in her relationship with long-haired, chronically unemployed boyfriend Hiroki. As the shogi tournament heats up, so do the mind-games at home, with each person planning emotional moves and counter-moves to maintain some form of equilibrium. Slyly underlining the connection between sexual dynamics and economic power, A Woman's Work is further strengthened by the extraordinary interplay, both comic and serious, of its cast (including cult director Shinya Tsukamoto [Tetsuo: Iron Man, Gemin] as Kazuya), and by an immediacy that feels more like eavesdropping on conversation than watching fiction.
— Jason Sanders
Written by Otani. Photographed by Kazuhiro Suzuki. With Asako Seto, Shinya Tsukamoto, Mikako Ichikawa, Jun Murakami. (118 mins, In Japanese with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, From Open Sesame Co., Ltd.)
Japanese Cinema Now
Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto, Professor of East Asian Studies at New York University
September 18, 2004
Institute of East Asian Studies
Presented in conjunction with "neo-eiga: New Japanese Cinema," a showcase of Japanese film at the Pacific Film Archive.
It is widely believed that Japanese cinema was reborn in the early 1990s after more than a decade of hiatus. Formal recognition and honors at international film festivals, a strong cult following among international audiences, and wide availability of new Japanese films as DVDs with English subtitles all confirm the vitality of Japanese cinema now. Yet, such understanding of contemporary Japanese cinema misses a fundamental historical break by directly linking the Japanese cinema of the 1990s and after to what used to be called Japanese cinema. Japanese cinema is now in a post-national state, consisting of complex and contradictory trends and developments which do not necessarily form a coherent image of Japan, traditional or otherwise. What is called for is therefore a new critical framework where contemporary Japanese cinema can be discussed as something other than a traditional national cinema or a subgenre of world cinema.
Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto is an Associate Professor of East Asian Studies at New York University. His research interests focus on contemporary Japanese film and media. He is the author of Kurosawa: Film Studies and Japanese Cinema and numerous articles on Japanese film and television, as well as Hollywood cinema.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
Is Taiwan Chinese? The Politics of National Identity
September 22, 2004
Panel Discussion
Institute of East Asian Studies
Join us for an in-depth look at the politics of national identity in Taiwan. Speakers will address the role played by economic, cultural and demographic change, migration, as well as domestic and international political influences in shaping perceptions of citizenship on the island. How do Han ethnic identity, Chinese national identity and a new Taiwanese identity forged in the 1990s play out in contemporary Taiwan? Do ethnic cleavages always translate into domestic political divisions? How have PRC policies and the international balance of power changed the views of Taiwan’s electorate?
Panelists
Melissa Brown
Dr. Brown teaches in the Department of Anthropological Sciences at Stanford University. Her research focuses on changing ethnic identities in Taiwan and China. She is the author of the new book Is Taiwan Chinese? The Impact of Culture, Power, and Migration on Changing Identities.
Lowell Dittmer
Dr. Dittmer is Professor in the Political Science Department at UC Berkeley. His scholarly expertise is the study of contemporary China. His current research interests include the China-Taiwan-US triangle. He is the editor of the Asian Survey. The journal's most recent issue is devoted to the Taiwan identity question.
Jing Huang
Dr. Huang is a Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution. The author of a book and numerous articles on PRC elite politics and the military, he is an expert on security issues in the Asian Pacific region, especially PRC policy towards Taiwan.
Anru Lee
Professor Lee teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York. Her research focuses on modern Taiwan society. She is the author of In the Name of Harmony and Prosperity: Labor and Gender Politics in Taiwan's Economic Restructuring.
Chair
Thomas Gold
Professor Gold teaches in the Sociology Department at UC Berkeley and serves as Executive Director of the Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies. He has long been an observer of Taiwan politics and is currently working on a book manuscript, Remaking Taiwan: Society and the State Since the End of Martial Law.
On the Vision and Voice in Modern Chinese Art
Xiaobing Tang, Associate Professor, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago
September 24, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies
Discussant: Andrew Jones, Associate Professor, East Asian Languages and Cultures, UC Berkeley
Free and open to the public.
Errant(d?) letters: Issues of Ownership and Place in Heian Period Nikki by Women
John Wallace, East Asian Languages and Cultures, UC Berkeley
September 27, 2004
Center for Japanese Studies
In the journals and memoirs (nikki) written by women during the Heian period, the time when memoirs were in their early stages as a genre, nothing is more frequently stolen or misplaced than letters and other compositions written by women. This talk explores how misdirected, misplaced, and stolen letters, or even words cut from letters, are entangled in issues of the status of the female voice, both as one of reduced authority and, contrarily, as finding strategic value in its marginalized position.
This event is free and open to the public.
US Responsibilities as a World Leader: An Overview
Michael Nacht, Dean, Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley
September 28, 2004
Fall 2004 Study Group Series, registration required
World Affairs Council,Institute of East Asian Studies
"Foreign Policy Priorities for the Next President"
September 28 – November 17, 2004
Fall 2004 Study Group Series, registration required
World Affairs Council, Institute of East Asian Studies
This program series highlights the leadership responsibilities that will fall to the newly elected president of the United States, particularly following the 9/11 events and their consequences. Many of the issues raised by speakers in this series touch upon East Asia in profound ways, including the North Korean nuclear threat, mobilizing multilateral support to resolve the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, countering Mid-East instability and growing terrorism. At the same time, the newly elected president and Congress must deal with an increasingly globalized economy under the World Trade Organization, strengthen Asian security arrangements and aid developing nations in matters relating to health and poverty. Overshadowing all this is the need for leadership in confronting the threat of global warming. The speakers in this series will offer their views on these issues and suggest potential solutions to major problems.
Price:
World Affairs Council Members: Free
Nonmembers: $5
Students: Free
To reserve a ticket:
Call: 415.293.4600
E-mail: registration@wacsf.org
Or visit: http://www.itsyourworld.org/
Fall Series Programs
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
"US Responsibilities as a World Leader: An Overview"
Michael Nacht, Dean, Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley
Tuesday, October 5, 2004
"Relations with the Islamic World: Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East"
Glynn Wood, Professor of International Policy Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
"Countering Terrorism"
The Honorable Franklin P. Huddle, former US Ambassador to Tajikistan
Tuesday, October 20, 2004
"Dealing with a Globalized Economy"
Vinod K. Aggarwal, Professor of Political Science, Business and Public Policy, UC Berkeley
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
"NATO, The European Union and Russia"
Gail Lapidus, Senior Fellow, Center of International Security and Cooperation, Stanford Institute for International Studies
Tuesday, November 2, 2004
"China, Japan and the Two Koreas"
T.J. Pempel, Professor of Political Science and Director, Institute of East Asian Studies, UC Berkeley
Tuesday, November 9, 2004
"Environmentalism, Climate, and Energy"
Daniel M. Kammen, Professor of Energy and Society in the Energy and Resources Group and Professor in the Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley
Tuesday, November 17, 2004
"Foreign Policy Prospects under a Newly Elected President and Congress"
Marshall Windmiller, Professor Emeritus of International Relations, San Francisco State University
Religions and Democracy in Taiwan
Chengtian Kuo, Professor, Chinese Studies, National Chengchi University
September 29, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies
Rewriting the "Orient" in Post-Colonial South Korea
October 1, 2004
Panel Presentations and a Discussion
Center for Korean Studies
Moderator: Jiwon Shin, East Asian Languages and Cultures, U.C. Berkeley
"'The Satire of the Orient': How Kim Suyông Reverses the Dialectic of Empire"
Scott Swaner, University of Washington, Seattle
In keeping with Hegel's observation that "Art liberates the real import of appearances from the semblance and the deception of this bad and fleeting world, and imparts to phenomenal semblances a higher reality, born of mind," the poet Kim Suyông works strategically through metonym and parody to counter the deceptions of empire in post-war Korea. Put otherwise, he politicizes the aesthetic. Breaking new poetic ground through the 1950s and 1960s, all the while developing an (anti-)aesthetic Korean modernism based on local and contextual Korean concerns, Kim employs the master's tools in works such as 'Helicopter [Helik'ôp't'ô]" (1955) and "Huge Roots [Kôdaehan ppuri]" (1964) to reorient racist paradigms of oppression in postcolonial society. This essay explores how, by reorienting his philosophy of history, derived from his own subject position vis-à-vis the object of his desire — a Korea free from both imperial and dictatorial designs — Kim offers a poetic critique of Western Orientalism, firmly establishes a kind of Korean literary modernity through performative practice, and offers a tentative cognitive roadmap for moving into Korea's future.
"Collaboration, Assimilation, and Pan-Asianism in Ch'oe In-hun's The Tempest"
Theodore Hughes, Columbia University
Ch'oe In-hun's The Tempest (T'aep'ung, 1973) is an early postcolonial reading of Shakespeare's play — it is also the only full-length South Korean novel to address the late colonial period policy of assimilation and the mobilization of Koreans to fight as soldiers in the Japanese Imperial Army in Southeast Asia. In this paper, I consider the ways in which The Tempest offers a reworked pan-Asianism as a postcolonial alternative to Korean, Japanese, and Western history. The text's production of a non-aligned communality in Southeast Asia dismantles both Western and Japanese imperialisms and contests the trajectory of South Korea's statist modernization; The Tempest rejects both the assimilationism deployed by Japan in its war in Asia and the incorporation of South Korea, at the expense of Vietnam, into a U.S.-led developmental modernity. The Tempest follows Ch'oe's Voice of the Governor-General (Ch'ongdok ûi sori, published in four installments, one in 1967, two in 1968, and one much later in 1976), as an intervention in a South Korean discourse on collaboration that can be described, for the most part, as denunciatory, focusing on the individual acts and literary works of "pro-Japanese" writers. If Voice of the Governor-General delegitimizes the deployment of ethnonationalism in South Korea as reproducing earlier imperialist imaginings, The Tempest unpacks the structure of identification, questioning the ways in which postliberation collaboration narratives naturalize the ethnonational subject by figuring imperialization as performance (not performative). The rejection in The Tempest both of colonialism and a reactive, ethnonationalized space does not mean a dismissal of the issue of North/South reunification, Ch'oe In-hun's central concern throughout his work. It is the figuring of "Aisenodin" (Indonesia) as neutral space — a turn less to Césaire's Caliban or Shakespeare's Prospero than to Gonzalo's vision of an egalitarian commonwealth of natural abundance — that informs Ch'oe's alternative modernity, one in which proper nouns are scrambled, losing their authority to organize and enforce ethnonational identities. In The Tempest, the reunification of "Aerokû" (Korea) occurs as an effect of the text's imagining of this alternative, decolonized global history.
Sponsored by a Grant from the Korea Foundation
The Voyage of the Senzaimaru to Shanghai in 1862 and Its Representation in Wartime Japanese Cinema
Joshua Fogel, Comparative East Asian History, UC Santa Barbara
October 4, 2004
Center for Japanese Studies
The first modern Japan voyage to China took place in 1862. This trip carried 51 Japanese to Shanghai, the first legal touching down of Japanese on Chinese soil in well over two centuries. While the Japanese were present in the city, the Taiping rebels attacked in the outskirts of Shanghai. The experiences of their two months in Shanghai helped shape the course of subsequent Japanese history. Several years ago a joint venture film made in occupied Shanghai and directed by none other than Inagaki Hiroshi was discovered which portrays this mission and the principal actors in it. With eerie precision, the 1944 movie folds seamlessly into the narrative of the 1862 mission.
This event is free and open to the public.
Beauty and the Beast: Sexuality, Psychoanalysis, and Historical Epistemology
Haiyan Lee, Assistant Professor, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Colorado, Boulder
October 8, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies
Discussant: William Schaefer (Assistant Professor, East Asian Languages and Cultures, UC Berkeley
Free and open to the public.
The 12th Annual Bakai (バークレー大学研究大会)
October 11, 2004
Center for Japanese Studies
Schedule
1:30 — Buffet Luncheon
2:10 — Welcome / Announcements
2:15 — "'Bowling Together': Social Networks and Social Capital of a Nepali Migrant Community in Japan"
Keiko Yamanaka, Faculty, Ethnic Studies/Institute for the Study of Social Change, UCB
2:30 — "Human Resource Management in Japan and the U.S."
James Lincoln, Faculty, Haas School of Business, UCB
2:45 — "Localization and Globalization of Multi-National Corporations"
Yasuyuki Motoyama, Graduate Student, City and Regional Planning, UCB
3:00 — "Intrapreneurship: The Driving Force behind Japan's Innovative Economy"
Jordan Steinke, Graduate Student, Asia Pacific Studies, USF
3:15 — "Three Taiwanese Funerals in Japanese Fictions: Politics of Translation in 'Ethnographic Fictions' of Colonial Taiwan"
Huei-chu Chu, CJS Visiting Scholar, Social Science, UCB
3:30 — "English Language Education in Japan from an International School Perspective: A book for the Japanese general public"
Kenji Kushida, Graduate Student, Political Science, UCB
3:45 — Coffee Break
4:00 — "Soliloquy (monologue) in Polite Discourse in Japanese"
Yoko Hasegawa, Faculty, East Asian Languages, UCB
4:15 — "The Stakes of Aesthetics: Ernest Fenollosa's Theory of Art in Japan"
Namiko Kunimoto, Graduate Student, History of Art, UCB
4:30 — "Performing for Self/Performing for Others: Cultural Politics of a Vietnamese New Year's Festival in a Multiethnic Community of Osaka"
Yuko Okubo, Graduate Student, Anthropology, UCB
4:45 — "Teaching Responses to Hiroshima and the Holocaust"
Alan Tansman, Faculty, East Asian Lanauges, UCB
5:00 — "Humanism in the Gulag: Takasugi Ichirô's Memoir of Siberian Internment, 1945-1949"
Andrew Barshay, Faculty, History, UCB
5:15 — "Representation for Foreigners Or a Misrepresentation of 'Deliberative Democracy'? Consultative Bodies (shingikai) and Local-Level Political Incorporation of Foreign Residents in Japan."
Ken Haig, Graduate Student, Political Science, UCB
5:30 — "Representation of the Other: Japanese Perceptions of the Ainu as Exhibited in Ainu-e"
Sarah Sutton Weems, Graduate Student, Asian Studies, UCB
5:45 — "Engaged Theater and Film in Postwar Japan"
Miryam Sas, Faculty, Comparative Literature, UCB
6:00 — Further Questions / Closing Comments
Han Ong, The Disinherited
October 14, 200
Lecture and book signing
Institute of East Asian Studies, Center for Southeast Asia Studies
In his new novel Han Ong tells a provocative and resonant story about a quintessential American impulse — to do good — and its unintended consequences abroad. Forty-four-year-old Roger Caracera returns to the Philippines after nearly three decades in America. Back in Manila for the funeral of his estranged father the corrupt, charismatic head of the family sugar dynasty, he is forced to confront everything he put behind him. Roger, stunned to discover that he has been left a small fortune, decides to give his inheritance away. But whom among the millions of needy Filipinos is he to choose? Traversing high and low life, societies rank and respectable, The Disinherited examines the impulse to do good and the remarkable harm it can bring. Han Ong, has written more than three dozen plays and is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. His first novel, Fixer Chao was named a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year.
Other programs in the IEAS Book Series: New Perspectives on East Asia.
Expanded Visions — JPEX: Japanese Experimental Film and Video, 1955–Now
October 19, 2004
Film screening
Pacific Film Archive; Image Forum Archive; University of California, Irvine; University of Chicago; Center for Japanese Studies; Institute for East Asian Studies
The playful insistence and explosive subversion of Japanese experimental film traditions remain neglected terrain for North American audiences. In an effort to globalize what has often been a primarily Western understanding of postwar experimentalism, JPEX: Japanese Experimental Film and Video, 1955–Now, touring North America this autumn, documents the radical medium of postwar Japanese experimental film, video, and animation at its fiftieth anniversary. PFA is screening two programs from the JPEX series.
Prior to each screening, the JPEX curators will discuss the films from a historical and formal perspective. Full program information will be available at the screenings.
Schedule of Films
For information on ticket sales, please call 510.642.1412 or visit http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/ pfa_programs/; for advance tickets (charge-by-phone), call 510.642.5249.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
7:30 p.m.
Expanded Visions
Introduced by Jonathan M. Hall and Michelle Puetz
From pioneering artists like Takashi Ito to the powerful work of feminist filmmaker Mako Idemitsu and emerging contemporary artists, this evening of Japanese experimental film from the 1970s to the present is certain to broaden our (mostly Western) understanding of "expanded cinema."
The extraordinary canon of mid-century Japanese formal experimentation, comprising well-recognized experimentalists such as Takashi Ito, Toshio Matsumoto, Takashi Nakajima, Jun'ichi Okuyama, and Hiroshi Yamazaki, is expanded and enriched in the light of the powerful and pioneering work of feminist filmmaker Mako Idemitsu, animator Keiichi Tanaami, and contemporary contributors to formal play. Collectively, these filmmakers probe the possibilities of cinematic representation, perception, linear temporality, repetition, sensory overload, forgetfulness, and delusive madness. This program makes evident a rich international dialogue between Japanese and European and American filmmakers associated with the expanded cinema and structural film movements, a daring use of sound that questions the primacy of image, and a brilliance of imagination that transforms economic and technological scarcity into visual genius.
Shiki Zoku Ze Ku (Toshio Matsumoto, 1975, 8 mins, Color, 16mm). At Santa Monica 1 (Mako Idemitsu, 1974, 6 mins, Color, 16mm, From the artist). Le Cinema (Jun'ichi Okuyama, 1975, 5 mins, B&W, 16mm). Snarl-Up!!! (Akio Okamoto, 2001, 8 mins, Color, Video). Heliography (Hiroshi Yamazaki, 1979, 6 mins, Silent, Color, 16mm). Cessna (Takashi Nakajima, 1974, 20 mins, Silent, Color, 8mm on video). Atman (Toshio Matsumoto, 1975, 11 mins, Color, 16mm). At Yukigawa 2 (Mako Idemitsu, 1974, 10 mins, B&W, 16mm, From the artist). Spacy (Takashi Ito, 1981, 10 mins, Color/B&W, 16mm). Observation (Hiroshi Yamazaki, 1975, 10 mins, Silent, B&W, 16mm). My Movie Melodies (Jun'ichi Okuyama, 1980, 6 mins, B&W, 16mm). Why? Remix (Keiichi Tanaami, 2002, 10 mins, Color, Video).
(Total running time: 110 mins plus discussion, From Image Forum except as otherwise noted)
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
7:30 p.m.
Exploded States: War, Politics, and National Identity
Introduced by Jonathan M. Hall
Tonight's films exhibit a delightful irony and playful insubordination to state, collective, and perspectival authority. In works like Shuji Terayama's Emperor Tomato Ketchup, Japanese avant-garde cinema intersects with experimental theater and avant-garde performance.
The importance of political and social critique for postwar Japanese experimentation is made apparent in these works. Here, Japanese experimental film and video comes to its closest intersection with experimental theater and avant-garde performance. Viewed together, works by Eiko Hosoe, Nobuhiro Kawanaka, and Shuji Terayama, among others, exhibit a delightful irony and playful insubordination to state, collective, and perspectival authority. The importance of impromptu, yet highly theorized, performance for the camera, sometimes involving a camp surrealism, initiates a multimedia resistance to conventional representations. The films draw from and contribute to "happenings" staged by avant-gardists in the High-Red-Center group, an intercontinental Fluxus movement, and Tatsumi Hijikata's butoh dance.
God Bless America (Tadasu Takamine, 2002, 9 mins, Color, Video, From the artist). X (Batsu) (Shuntaro Tanikawa, Toru Takemitsu, 1960, 15 mins, Silent, B&W, 16mm). 8 (Eiko Hosoe, 1960, 12 mins, In Japanese with English subtitles, B&W, 16mm). White Hole (Toshio Matsumoto, 1976, 7 mins, Color, 16mm). Switchback (Nobuhiro Kawanaka, 1976, 9 mins, Color/B&W, 16mm). Yoshikei (Keiichi Tanaami, 1979, 12 mins, Color, 16mm). Emperor Tomato Ketchup (Shuji Terayama, 1970, 25 mins, In Japanese, Color/B&W, 16mm).
Curated/Notes by Jonathan M. Hall and Michelle Puetz
Jonathan M. Hall is assistant professor of comparative literature at UCIrvine, where he researches and teaches critical theories of East Asia, Japanese film and modern literature, and queer theory.
Michelle Puetz is a Ph.D. candidate in the Committee on Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago.
These programs have been made possible with the generous support of Image Forum Archive; University of California, Irvine; and University of Chicago. With thanks to Center for Japanese Studies and Institute of East Asian Studies at UC Berkeley, and to Miryam Sas.
Additional screening in San Francisco:
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
7:30 Sex Underground
Introduced by Jonathan M. Hall and Michelle Puetz. Sexual difference, queer subjectivity and gender performativity are subverted and reconfigured in this program of film, video and animation. The works, spanning four decades, open unexpected pathways for desire and its subjects.
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 710 Mission St.
Information: 415.552.1990, http://www.sfcinematheque.org
Dealing with a Globalized Economy
Vinod K. Aggarwal, Professor of Political Science, Business and Public Policy, UC Berkeley
October 20, 2004
Fall 2004 Study Group Series, registration required
World Affairs Council, Institute of East Asian Studies
Elizabeth Economy, The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China's Future
October 20, 2004
Lecture and book signing
Institute of East Asian Studies
Throughout the past two decades, China has pursued development at a blinding pace — often to the detriment of its natural environment. Rapid economic growth has depleted the country's resources; produced skyrocketing rates of pollution; and contributed to significant public health problems, mass migrations, economic losses and social unrest. The central government's inability to cope with this looming crisis has created space for non-governmental organizations, media outlets and ordinary citizens to take action. In Eastern Europe and elsewhere in Asia, such participation in environmental protection efforts has often preceded grassroots democracy movements. In The River Runs Black, Dr. Elizabeth Economy identifies China's intensifying environmental challenges and their impact on the development of civil society and the potential for genuine political reform.
Other programs in the IEAS Book Series: New Perspectives on East Asia.
Migrants, Markets and the State: The Formation and Transformation of the Lhasa Market
Xiaojiang Hu, Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Chinese Studies, UC Berkeley
October 22, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies
Discussant: Tom Gold, Associate Professor, Sociology, UC Berkeley
Free and open to the public.
Exploded States: War, Politics, and National Identity — JPEX: Japanese Experimental Film and Video, 1955–Now
October 26, 2004
Film screening
Pacific Film Archive; Image Forum Archive; University of California, Irvine; University of Chicago; Center for Japanese Studies; Institute for East Asian Studies
East Asia: Careers in the Non-Profit Sector
October 27, 2004
Panel
Institute for East Asian Studies, UCB Career Center
This event is organized in conjunction with the International Career Symposium 2004.
Panelists will provide hands-on information about career decision-making, job search strategies and opportunities for gaining professional experience in different areas, including general advocacy, environmental protection, and human rights.
Panelists:
Bruce Pickering is the Executive Director of the Asia Society, Northern California. Dr. Pickering has also served as Program Director of the World Affairs Council, and Executive Director of the US-Japan 21st Century Project. From 1981 to 1993 he served as a Foreign Service Officer with the US Department of State. He obtained his A.B. and Ph.D. degrees from UC Berkeley.
Xiao Qiang is the former Executive Director of Human Rights in China. The recipient of a McArthur Fellowship, he is the Tang Teaching Fellow and the Director of the Berkeley China Internet Project at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.
Conrad Asper is the Executive Director of the Oakland-based non-profit organization Japan-U.S. Community Education and Exchange (JUCEE). Prior to joining JUCEE he worked in Japan with the National YMCA's of Japan for nearly a decade. He has a B.A. from UC San Diego and an MBA from the John F. Kennedy School of Management.
Moderated by: Steven Vogel, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, UC Berkeley
Other programs in the East Asia Career Forum.
Resident Korean Literature in Occupied Japan, 1945-1952
Christopher D. Scott, Asian Languages, Stanford University
October 28, 2004
Center for Japanese Studies, Center for Korean Studies
As World War II ended and the Cold War began, Korean residents of Japan (and other former colonial subjects) quickly became personae non grata: they were perceived as threats to national security, public safety, and the objectives of the Allied Occupation (1945-1952) itself. This paper explores the cultural stigmatization of these Resident Koreans as subversive yet emasculated — invisible men, as it were — in the early fiction of Kim Tal-su (1919-1997). The author discusses how racial tensions and gender anxieties both underwrite and complicate Kim's status as the "father" of the genre now known as "Resident Korean literature" (zainichi Chôsenjin bungaku).
Christopher D. Scott is a Ph.D. candidate in modern Japanese literature at Stanford University. He is currently completing a dissertation entitled "Spies, Rapists, Ghosts, and Queers: Misrepresentations of Resident Korean Men in Postwar Japan."
This event is free and open to the public.
Indonesia-China after 1998: A Story of Unrequited Love?
Wibowo Wibisono, Director, Center for Chinese Studies, Jakarta, Indonesia
October 28, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies, Center for Southeast Asian Studies
Dr. Wibisono received his M.A. in Political Science from Marquette University and his Ph.D. in Chinese Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is currently Lecturer in the Faculty of Letters at the University of Indonesia where he teaches courses on Chinese politics. He is also the director of the Center for Chinese Studies in Jakarta. He has written numerous articles for the Indonesian press on China and Indonesia's relations with China. His recent books [in Indonesian] have examined Indonesia's perspective on China and explored the position of the Indonesian-Chinese in modern-day Indonesia. English-language articles he has written have appeared in Journal of Contemporary China, in briefing papers published by the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore, and in the book Damage Control: The Chinese Communist Party in the Jiang Zemin Era edited by Wang Gungwu and Zheng Yongnian.
Free and open to the public.
The Centennial of Korean Immigration to America: A Look Back at the Role of the United States and Japan in the Events of 1902-05
Wayne Patterson, Department of History, St. Norbert's College
October 29, 2004
Center for Korean Studies, Center for Japanese Studies
This lecture will examine the immigration process that began one hundred years ago reveals that American policy and actions toward late Choson Korea operated at two distinct levels that were at cross purposes with each other. It also suggests that the Japanese takeover of Korea was not only a matter of security but also involved considerations of national prestige.
Wayne Patterson is the author of numerous books and articles on Korean immigration including The Golden Mountain: The Autobiography of a Korean Immigrant, 1895-1960 by Easurk Emsen Charr. Second Edition. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1996; Korean-American Relations, 1866-1997. Albany: SUNY Press, 1999 (With Yur-Bok Lee); The Ilse: First-Generation Korean Immigrants in Hawaii, 1903-1973. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2000. (Nominated for the Kapalapala Po'okela Award and the Association for Asian American Studies Book Award); The Korean American Journey [Korian Amerikan ui Paljachwi]. New York: Canaan Printing Company, 2002. (With Daniel Eunsup Shim, Hesung Chun Koh, Edward Taehan Chang, Sang Joon Choi, and Robert Hyung-Chan Kim); The Koreans in Hawaii: A Pictorial History, 1903-2003. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2003. (With Roberta W. S. Chang).
Free and open to the public.
Sponsored by a grant from the Korea Foundation.
A First Reading of the Shanghai Museum Bamboo-Strip Manuscript of the Zhou Yi
Edward Shaughnessy, Professor, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago
October 29, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies
Seth Faison, South of the Clouds: Exploring the Hidden Realms of China
November 1, 2004
Lecture and book signing
Institute of East Asian Studies, Graduate School of Journalism
'South of the Clouds' tells the story of an American man who ventures into the hidden realms of China — romance, politics, the criminal underworld, and Tibet. As he matures from a wide-eyed student into a journalist and writer, he develops a passion for uncovering secrets. Seth Faison, former Shanghai Bureau Chief for the New York Times, navigates his way past forbidding walls to peek inside the dark corners of Chinese society, relying on a remarkable collection of friends and acquaintances who help guide the way: an embittered policeman in Xian; a gay professor in Shanghai; dancer and choreographer Jin Xing, China's first open transsexual; and a Buddhist monk in Tibet.
Other programs in the IEAS Book Series: New Perspectives on East Asia.
China, Japan and the Two Koreas
T.J. Pempel, Professor of Political Science and Director, Institute of East Asian Studies, UC Berkeley
November 2, 2004
Fall 2004 Study Group Series, registration required
World Affairs Council, Institute of East Asian Studies
The Politics of Postal Savings Reform in Japan
Jennifer Amyx, Political Science, University of Pennsylvania
November 4, 2004
Center for Japanese Studies
A hallmark of the Koizumi Administration has been the prime minister's attempt to privatize Japan's government-backed postal savings system. This talk will examine the political economy of postal savings reform in Japan, analyzing the factors enabling reform to move forward under the Koizumi Administration and the role of key actors involved in the reform battle. By comparing the Japanese path to reform with reform paths taken elsewhere, the talk will also highlight the peculiar challenges faced in reforming the postal savings system in Japan today and make the argument that privatization is not necessarily the optimal reform path for Japan.
This event is free and open to the public.
Blogging North Korea: One Journalist's Experiment with Participatory Media
Rebecca MacKinnon, Fellow, Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society
November 4, 2004
Institute of East Asian Studies, Graduate School of Journalism
Former TV journalist Rebecca MacKinnon on her new adventure with blogging and the future of international reporting.
A former CNN correspondent with 12 years of experience covering the Northeast Asian region, Rebecca MacKinnon served as CNN's Bureau Chief both in Tokyo and Beijing. She currently is a fellow at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society and runs a news weblog: North Korea Zone.
Asian Financial Politics: An ACTA Model
Chengtian Kuo, Professor, Chinese Studies, National Chengchi University
November 5, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies
Discussant: Lowell Dittmer, Professor, Department of Political Science, UC Berkeley
Free and open to the public.
Café Society in Japan, or Why Starbucks May Not Prevail
Merry White, Professor, Department of Anthropology, Boston University
November 8, 2004
Institute of East Asian Studies
Coffee has been a social beverage in Japan for over 130 years and Japan is now third in the ranks of coffee-importing countries. Coffee has developed into a connoisseur beverage rivaling tea and sake, and the public spaces it has created, the cafés and kissaten, have become significant locations for the performance of politics, fashion and identity. These "third spaces" (neither home nor work) have localized a globalized commodity in ways an international chain, however expensive and trend-setting, cannot.
Merry White teaches at Boston University. Her recent research has focused on food and food cultures. She is the author of Perfectly Japanese: Making Families in an Era of Upheaval and The Material Child: Coming of Age in Japan and America.
In Search of Korean-American Identity for a New Century
Woon-Ha Kim, Chairman, Korean Foundation of Central California and former editor and publisher, New Korea
November 12, 2004
Center for Korean Studies
What kind of identity do Korean-Americans have now? It may not be that easy for Korean-Americans to say exactly. Over the past five years I have carefully studied "Korean Schools" in sixteen states. I was surprised that they haven't any specific purposes, goals, exact policies, or philosophies, not only in their teachings of Korean letters "Hangul" but also in the education about Korea itself. Moreover, almost nothing was being taught about "identity." Before and immediately after the Second World War, ancestors of Korean-Americans demonstrated the spirits and ideas of "the New Korea," "Pure Koreanism," "New Jerusalem nation," or "Social and progressive society." Why have these traditions neither succeeded nor developed? Why is present Korean-American identity so vague? If first and second generation Korean-American were to continue living together under the present mind frame, would they not become "Korean without Korean spirit" or "Korean without Korean face"? Therefore, I will try to lay down the resolution for our brilliant new century in the United States.
A graduate of Lotus University America Buddhist College (2000), Woon-Ha Kim has enjoyed a remarkably creative and eclectic career as a journalist, author, editor and publisher, social activist, and musician. Among his other accomplishments he is an ordained Buddhist reverend; has been editor and publisher for the New Korea (Los Angeles), 1974-98, publisher of U.S.-Korea News (1991-2), editor-in-chief for the Dong-A Daily, U.S.A. (Los Angeles), 1973; he is the author of History of the Korean Patriotic Women's League in the United States and a collection of poetry, My Sweetheart's Tears; has chaired numerous Korean social organizations for over twenty years; was the founder for the Seoul Family Chorus, and has given vocal recitals worldwide (e.g., Vienna, 1981; Helsinki, 1982; and Pyongyang 1960).
Free and open to the public.
Sponsored by a grant from the Korea Foundation.
Taisho "Modernity" or Japanese Civil War?: Political and Cultural Conflict in the Shadow of the Great War, 1919-1931
Frederick Dickinson, History, University of Pennsylvania
November 18, 2004
Center for Japanese Studies
Long neglected as the step-child of modern Japanese history, the "Taisho" period has attracted increasing scholarly attention in recent years, particularly for its record of dramatic social and cultural change. Although commonly described as a crisis of "modernity," this change may more profitably be viewed in a context familiar to students of modern Europe and the United States: the profound impact of the First World War. This talk will offer a glimpse of the shadow of war in interwar Japan and its pivotal effect upon the renewed drive for power in the 1930s.
This event is free and open to the public.
The Society for East Asian Anthropology Mini-Conference
November 18-20, 2004
Society for East Asian Anthropology
The following panels were originally scheduled to be held during the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association in San Francisco. The meeting has been moved to Atlanta. Open to the public. No registration required.
Schedule
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Session 1: The Cultural Anthropology of Resources: Innovation and Manipulation in Japan and Beyond
2:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Place: Gifford Room, 212 Kroeber Hall
Participants:
Shinji Yamashita, "Culture as a Resource"
Gordon Mathews, "State, Market and Self in the Construction and Contestation of Cultural Resources"
Daisuke Tanaka, "Making Death 'Good': The Funeral Industry in Japan"
Megumi Doshita, "Nature as a Cultural Resource: Ecotourism in Japan"
John Ertl, "Hometown of the Rice Belt: Archeological Narratives and the Promotion of Local Culture in Japan"
Theodore Bestor, "Give and Take: Japanese Fishing, Foreign Sushi, and the Mutual Construction of Cultural Resources"
Katsuo Nawa, "Language as a Cultural Resource: A Case from Byans, Western Nepal"
Hibi Watanabe, "Ethnic Education and Social Resources of Knowledge: Contextualization and Contradiction in Southern Siberia"
Sachiko Kubota, "Indigenous People and the Nation-State: The Mutual Construction of Cultural Resources in Northern Australia"
Chair: Shinji Yamashita
Friday November 19, 2004
Session 2: Imagining, Performing, and Negotiating Desires: Masculinity, Femininity, and Interracial/Ethnic Sexualities in Contemporary Japan
8:45 am to 10:15 am
Place: Institute of East Asian Studies Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street [intersection of Kittredge & Fulton Streets]
Participants:
Youngmi Lim, "When Invisible Race Disappears: Korean-Japanese Intermarriages and Contested Practices of Ethnicity"
Nobue Suzuki, "Return Trips and (Trans)national Voyages: Illusions and Disillusions of Filipina-Japanese Marriages"
Taku Suzuki, "'We Are Wild and Crazy Latinos': Performing Masculinity by Okinawan-Bolivian Dekasegi Male Laborers"
Ayako Mizumura, "Crossing Racial, National and Sexual Boundaries: Gendered, Racialized, and Sexualized Experiences of Japanese Brides of U.S. Military Servicemen"
Chair: Taku Suzuki
Session 3: Negotiating Identities and Meanings in East Asian Contexts 10:30 am to 11:45 pm
Place: Institute of East Asian Studies Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street [intersection of Kittredge & Fulton Streets]
Participants:
Paul Festa, "Patrimonial Value and the Postmodern Hunt in Urban Taiwan: Nation, Nature, Cross-Dressing, and the Gift Society"
Maranatha Ivanova, "The Constitive Practices and Contested Meanings of 'Yaogun' — Chinese Rock n' Roll as a Shifting Sign Delimiting Authenticity in the Beijing Underground"
Jonathan Reed, "Corporate, Culture and Color: Selfhood and Other Identity among Japanese and Black Business Professionals in Tokyo Office Settings"
Dawn-Elissa Fischer, "Kobushi Agero! (Raise Your Fist): Race and Politics in Japanese Hiphop"
Chair: Maranatha Ivanova
Event: Meeting
11:30 am to 12:45 pm
Place: Hua-Hin Thai Restaurant, 2190 Bancroft Way, Berkeley
Session: Executive Board Meeting
Participants: SEAA Executive Board (elected and appointed members)
Session 4: Everyday Forms of Violence in Contemporary Japan
1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Place: Institute of East Asian Studies Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street [intersection of Kittredge & Fulton Streets]
Participants:
Satsuki Kawano, "Violence, Disorder and Conflict on a Japanese Commuter Train"
Glenda Roberts, "Power Harassment as Workplace Violence"
Sawa Kurotani, "Middle-Aged, Male, and Suicidal: Preliminary Thoughts on Life and Death in the Post-Bubble Japan"
Linda Isako Angst, "The Making and Unmaking of Okinawa: Everyday Forms of Violence"
Thomas Gill, "Violence Involving Homeless People in Contemporary Japan"
Susan Long, "Family Care, Dependency, and Vulnerability in Japanese Elder Care"
Ichiro Numazaki, "Re-representing Violence as Violence: Cultural Struggle Against Wife Battering Japan Today"
Discussant: William Kelly, Virtual Discussant
Chair: Glenda Roberts
Session 5: An informal session on "Contemporary Research on Tourism in China"
4:15 pm to 6:30 pm
Place: Gifford Room, 212 Kroeber Hall
Participants: [subject to change]
Wang Yu, "UNESCO in China: Retrospective (the Naxi of Lijiang) and Prospective on World Heritage Sites (Yuanyang and its Hani people)"
Nelson Graburn, "Guizhou's Strategic Tourism Development Plan and the Miao Minority Experiment along the BaLa River"
Cindy Huang,"Tourism and Development in Xinjiang.
Discussants: Zhang Li and Peggy Swain
Chair: Nelson Graburn
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Session 6: East Asian Cultural and Religious Models
9:00 am to 10:30 am
Place: Institute of East Asian Studies Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street [intersection of Kittredge & Fulton Streets]
Participants:
Joe Bosco, "Magic Masks and Digital Thermometers: Science, Religion and Magic in the SARS Crisis in Hong Kong"
Fuji Lozado, "Rethinking Models of Science and Religion: Science as Religion in Contemporary China"
Scott Schnell, "Spirits Generous and Vengeful: Mixing Metaphors of the Forested Mountains in Japan"
Andrew Kipnis,"Homo Hierarchicus or Homo Neo-Liberalis? Suzhi Discourse in the People's Republic of China"
Carolyn Hsu, "Cadres," "Getihu," and "Good Businesspeople": The Social Construction of Entrepreneurs in a Early Post-Socialist China"
Chair: Fuji Lozado
Event: Film Screening and Discussion, Preaching from Pictures: A Japanese Mandala
10:45 am to 12:00
Place: Institute of East Asian Studies Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street [intersection of Kittredge & Fulton Streets]
Participants: David Plath
Session 7: Asian Cultural Expressions and Manifestations
9:00 am to 12:15 pm
Place: Dwinelle Hall 370
Participants:
Zhifang Song, "Exchange Marriage and Cultural Revolution: Changes in Marriage Customs in a North China Village"
Jeremy Wallach, "Playful Identifications and Hybridic Performativity at Urban Indonesian Acara"
Tami Blumenfield,"Educating the Na, or Educating the Tourist? Desiring Schooling Trans-nationally"
Jung-Sun Park, "Trans-Pacific Cultural Flows and Transnational (Im)migrant Youths"
Byung-Ho, "Depoliticizing the Politics of North Korean Refugees"
Break: 10:30 to 10:45
Tamara Jacka, "Finding a Place: Negotiations of Modernization and Globalization among Rural Migrant Women in Beijing"
Christine Yano and Jonathan Okamura,"Whose Past Repast? Nostalgia and Japanese American Delicatessens in Hawai`i"
Bonnie Adrian, "The Complexities of Giving, Getting, and Globalizing in International Service Learning: The University of Denver Program in Taiwan"
Shannon May, "The Peasant and Revolution: Status, Practice, and Discourse"
Laura Miller, "Yabapuri: Obnoxious Graffiti Photos from Japanese Girls' Culture"
Co-Chairs: Tami Blumenfield and Brian McVeigh
Session 8: Making East Asian Identities at Home and Abroad 1:30 pm to 2:45 pm
Place: Dwinelle Hall 370
Participants:
Banseng Hoe, "Chinese Laundry in Canada"
Lorne Holyoak, "Ethnicity and Responsibility: How Agricultural Reform in China Fosters Manzu Ethnic Identity"
Brian McVeigh, "Exchange Dramatics: Dramatizing One's Self-Worth in Japan's Examocracy'"
June Hee Kwon, "The Appropriating of 'Citizenship' and the Faking of Identities: The Experience of Female Korean Chinese Immigrant Workers in Korea"
Chair: Banseng Hoe
Event: Film Screening and Discussion.
1:00 pm to 3:15 pm
Place: Institute of East Asian Studies Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street [intersection of Kittredge & Fulton Streets]
Event: The Secret of the Stone: Segmentary Lineage Organization in a North China Village, & Song Family Village Takes a Bride
Participants: Zhifang Song and Gary Seaman
Session 9: Performing at the Borders: Japan and its Others
3:30 pm to 5:00 pm
Place: Institute of East Asian Studies Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street [intersection of Kittredge & Fulton Streets]
Participants:
Yuko Okubo, "Performing for Self/Performing for Others: Cultural Politics of a Vietnamese New Year's Festival in a Multiethnic Community of Osaka"
Haeng-ja Chung, "Club as Theater: Korean Nightclub Hostesses in Japan"
Wei Wang, "Festivals of Dancing Dragons and Lions: Performance in Japan's Chinatowns"
Jeffry Hester,"Choreographing Resistance and Belonging: The Cultural Politics of 'Performing Korean' in Japan"
Discussant: Christine Yano
Chair: Jeffry Hester
Session 10: Building a Sustainable Rural Livelihood in Highland Northern Thailand: Chinese Diasporas and Their Cultural Adaptation
3:00 pm to 4:30 pm
Place: Dwinelle Hall 370
Participants:
Pong-In Rakariyatham, "Changing Geomorphological and Land Use Patterns in Banmain Nongbua: 1980-2000"
Mattiga Panomtaranichigul, "The Impacts of Sloping Land Usages on Soil and Water Quality in Banmai Nongbua"
Shu-min Huang, "The Articulation of Culture, Agriculture, and the Environment in Banmai Nongbua: A Sustainable Rural Livelihood?"
Ying Duan, "From Wondering Soldiers to Ethnic Chinese: Changing Ethnic Identity of Yunnanese Soldiers and their Descendants"
Discussant: Ann Maxwell-Hill
Chair: Shu-min Huang
Event: Meeting and Reception
5:30 pm to 7:00 pm
Place: Institute of East Asian Studies Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street [intersection of Kittredge & Fulton Streets]
Session: SEAA Business Meeting; University of California Press cosponsored Reception, Book exhibit; announcements for the Hsu Book Prize, the Plath Media Award, and the Bestor Best Student Paper Prize.
Participants: Everyone!!
Chair: SEAA President Laura Miller
Other Events of Interest
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
A session sponsored by CAE: Global Schooling and the Production of Global Citizens: Cases from Asia and the Pacific Rim
6 pm to 9:45 pm
Place: BW Canterbury Hotel Union Square in San Francisco, 750 Sutter Street
Participants: So Jin Park & Nancy Abelmann, Brinton S. Ramsey, Neriko Musha Doerr, Takae Ichimoto, Jennifer Creamer, Debra Occhi, Junko Kawai, Dawn Grimes-MacLellan, Philip MacLellan
Discussants: Thomas Rohlen, Cameron McCarthy
Friday, November 19, 2004
A session sponsored by SLA: The Leaky Boundaries of Language Ideologies: Code-Switching Among Speakers of East Asian Languages
10:30 am to 12:15 pm
Place: Dwinelle Hall, Room 3335, Berkeley campus
Participants: Wai Fong Chiang, Elaine Chun, Adrienne Lo, Tetsuya Sato, Chiho Sunakawa
Discussant: Risako Ide
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Event: Performances
5:30 pm to 9:00 pm
Place: Oakland Museum of California, James Moore Theatre, 1000 Oak Street, Oakland (One block from Lake Merritt BART station) Phone: (415)421-8707
Cost: $10 members; $15 nonmembers; $5 students with ID.
Event: The Asia Society is sponsoring "Asian American Arts Across Generations: Migration and the Politics of Identity," an evening with artists and performers as they explore questions of migration and Asian American identity through spoken word, musical, and theatrical performances, followed by a conversation with the artists.
Friday, November 19, 2004
Event: Gallery Visit and Dinner in the City
5:30 pm
Place: Meet at the Frey Norris Gallery, 456 Geary Street, San Francisco
(415) 346-7812, located just off Union Square, accessible by BART
We will eat at one of the restaurants in the area after the gallery visit
Event: An extraordinary "Asian Invitational" exhibit http://www.freynorris.com
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Event: Museum Visit
10:00 am
Place: The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
One of the largest museums in the Western world devoted exclusively to Asian art
http://www.asianart.org/
Event: SEAA can get a Group Discount and if enough people are interested, perhaps a tour of the collection by a Museum staff member. Please contact Shannon May ASAP if you definitely want to do this: shannon.k.may@gmail.com
Migrants' Tales: Life in China's Boomtowns
Peter Hessler, China Correspondent, The New Yorker
November 19, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies, Institute of East Asian Studies, School of Journalism
Peter Hessler, China correspondent for the New Yorker and author of River Town will speak from his new book manuscript. Join us as he follows some of his former students who have migrated from River Town to eastern China. He chronicles their journey from village life in rural Sichuan to the country's coastal boomtowns. Drawing from letters and diaries of young migrants, he shows how they negotiate their new environment and examines the changes in their attitudes resulting from the experience of migration. He also provides a glimpse of the villages that are left behind. While the boomtowns may be overwhelming, the nation's tremendous changes may be even more apparent in the dying villages.
Free and open to the public.
Other programs in the IEAS Book Series: New Perspectives on East Asia.
Gillian Tett, Saving the Sun: How Wall Street Mavericks Shook Up Japan's Financial World and Made Billions
November 22, 2004
Lecture and book signing
Institute of East Asian Studies
Saving the Sun tells the story of one of the world's most profitable private equity deals where American investors made billions of dollars rehabilitating Shinsei, a failed Japanese bank. Within that business saga is the story of the Japanese who made their country's economic miracle come to life, and their struggle to resolve the economic failure in the 1990s. The talk will highlight some of the main themes from this book and discuss the lessons for Japan, China andAmerica today, as Japan embarks on fitful recovery, after more than a decade of stagnation. Gillian Tett worked in Tokyo for the Financial Times between 1997 and 2002, latterly as Bureau Chief. She is now Deputy Head of the paper's Lex column. She has a PhD in Social Anthropology from Cambridge University.
Other programs in the IEAS Book Series: New Perspectives on East Asia.
Strategies for Korean Business in a Rapidly Changing World Economy
Young Shin Chang, Chairperson, Aekyung Group
November 30, 2004
Center for Korean Studies
How is a woman to succeed as business leader in a male-centered and highly competitive economic environment? What business strategy should such a leader adopt for coping with the ever challenging world economy? What is the most appropriate future direction for Korean business in the global context? Dr. Young Shin Chang will address these and related questions from her unique perspective as the foremost woman business leader in Korea.
As chairperson of the Aekyung Group, she presides over a conglomerate of sixteen companies ranging from cosmetics to petrochemical producers. Under her leadership her businesses have expanded internationally to the United States, China, Japan, and Europe. She has served as first chair of the Korean Women Entrepreneurs Association and vice chair of the Federation of Korean Industries and has received numerous awards recognizing her business achievements and leadership, among them the Order of National Service Merit (Silver Tower) bestowed by the President of the Republic of Korea (1995). Among many other significant posts, she has served as Member of the National Assembly, the National Advisory Counsel for Budget Policy, the Planning and Budget Commission, Regulatory Reform Committee, the Presidential Commission on Small and Medium Business, and the Presidential Commission for New Education Community. Dr. Chang has been committed to education and to improving the status of women in business through generous financial support for Korean educational and women’s foundations. She is the author of an autobiography, In a Spirit of Planting a Seed (Dong-A Daily News, 1994).
AIDS in China: Sex Work, Drug Use, and Health Care Reform
December 1, 2004
Panel discussion, coinciding with World AIDS Day
Center for Chinese Studies, Institute of East Asian Studies
Panelists
Kyung-Hee Choi, Associate Professor, Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, UCSF
Kathleen Erwin, Research Specialist, Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, UCSF
Sandra Hyde, Assistant Professor, Anthropology, McGill University
Humphrey Wou, Activist, AIDS Relief Fund for China
Moderated by: Tom Gold, Associate Professor, Sociology, UCB
China is currently experiencing a serious HIV/AIDS epidemic among injection drug users, sex workers, and recipients of blood and blood products. Though not reflected in official statistics HIV/AIDS increasingly presents a threat to the general population. The well-known illegal market for blood in rural China that flourished through the 1990s first spawned a devastating HIV/AIDS crisis among the country's poorest and most vulnerable citizens. More recently, an exponential increase in the sexual transmission of HIV/AIDS within the heterosexual population has become a side-effect of China's own burgeoning "sexual revolution," sex tourism and failed public policies. Join us for a discussion with a panel of experts who have first-hand experience in confronting China's emerging HIV/AIDS crisis.
Global Production Networks in East Asia: Taiwan's High-Tech Industry in Transition
December 3, 2004
Institute of East Asian Studies
Taiwan’s economic success has long been based on a close integration with world markets. Over the course of the past decade, however, the role played by other economies in the region, perhaps most importantly mainland China has increased considerably. Join is for a conversation with two experts on Taiwan’s high-tech sector to evaluate recent developments. Are shifting global production networks enhancing the island’s role as a regional center for innovation and technological upgrading? Or are they undermining Taiwan’s leadership in two key industries, semiconductors and personal computers?
Introduction: T.J. Pempel, Director, Institute of East Asian Studies
Speakers
Professor Jenn-hwan Wang, Institute of East Asian Studies, Fulbright Scholar Department of Sociology, Tunghai University, Republic of China, Taiwan
"Transitional Co-Evolution of Technology and Institutions: The Development of Taiwan's PC Industry"
The features of transnational co-evolution between technology and institutions are overlooked in the recent studies on technology upgrading in East Asia. By using the development of Taiwan’s PC industry as an example, this paper argues that Taiwan’s success in the PC industry on the one hand has been benefited from the affinity of the technological trajectory the PC industry with the SME-based economic institutions. On the other hand, it is also due to Taiwanese firms’ close linkage and co-evolution with the global market leaders by the OEM/ODM approach through which they become the major suppliers of the global production networks.
Chih-Chen Yi, IEAS Fellow, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China, Taiwan
"The Global Migration of the Semiconductor Industry and It's Impact on Taiwan"
The semiconductor industry is among the so called "global industries", which has experienced phenomenal cross-border growth on a global basis within the past four decades. I will review the process of its evolution in general, then describe Taiwan's role in the world's silicon foundry field as well as the government of Taiwan's policy regarding the conditional lifting of the semiconductor investment ban and the exodus of this industry to China.
Democracy, History, and Migrant Labor in South Korea: Korean Chinese, North Koreans, and Guest Workers
Hyun Ok Park, New York University
December 3, 2004
Center for Korean Studies
This paper concerns the paradox of democratization in South Korea, whose progression has been entwined with neoliberal capitalism beginning in the 1990s. A particular form of democratization addressed in this paper is not electoral state politics but the broad-reaching initiatives to transform the relationship between the state and society and rewrite colonial and cold-war history. I draw implications for democracy and historical consciousness from fragmentary mappings of three migrant groups — Korean Chinese as "returnees," North Koreans as "defectors," and other guest workers as "migrant workers" — and legal politics of civil society movements representing these migrant laborers.
An Evening With Novelist Lee Ho-Chul
December 9, 2004
Lecture and book reading
Center for Korean Studies
Born in 1932 in Wônsan, Kangwôn Province (now North Korea), Lee Ho-Chul made his literary debut in 1955 with the short story, "Far from Home." In 1961 he received the Modern Literature Prize for "Panmunjom", in 1962 the Tongin Literature Prize for "Wasting Away." He was active in "Citizens for the Defense of Democracy," a dissident group protesting authoritarian rule in South Korea; in 1973 he participated in the movement to oppose Park Chung Hee's adoption of the repressive Yusin Constitution and served as one of thirty sponsors of the "One Million Person Petition to Revise the Constitution." Accused of violating the National Security Law; he was incarcerated during much of 1974 and in 1980 was arrested along with others by Chun Doo Hwan's military junta; in 1985 he was appointed director of the "Writer's Alliance for the Promotion of Freedom" and in 1992 a lifetime member of the Korean National Academy of Arts. Awarded the Korean National Academy of Arts Prize in 1998, he is also the recipient of the Republic of Korea Ûngwan Cultural Achievement Medal. Several of his books translated have been published in such countries as Germany, Poland, France and Japan. South Wind, North Wind translated into Japanese and included in Modern Korean Literature. His two books, Southerners, Northerners (translated by Andrew Killick and Cho Sukyeon), and Panmunjom (translated by Theodore Hughes) have been published by East Bridge, Connecticut.
Program
4:00p — Coffee / Book Display
4:10p — Welcome
Chair Clare You
Introduction
Professor Youngmin Kwon, Seoul National University
4:15p — The Literary Works of Lee Ho-Chul
Professor Yoon Sik Kim, Seoul National University
4:20p — Video
Lee Ho-Chul's life
4:35p — Lecture by Lee Ho-chul
"Division of Korea and Literature: Impact of Division on Korean People's Life and Strategy of Unification."
5:30p — Book Reading (In Korean/in English)
Southerners, Northerners and Panmunjom
5:40p — Question & Answer
6:00p — Reception
Southerners, Northerners: A Novel of the Korean War
Lee Ho-Chul
Translated by Andrew Peter Killick and Sukyeon Cho
Shortly after the outbreak of the Korean War, when he was eighteen, Lee Ho-Chul was drafted into the North Korean army. Southerners, Northerners (Namnyǒk saram pungnyǒk saram) is a fictionalized account of his inglorious yet dramatic experiences as a raw recruit and, soon afterward, as a prisoner of war. Beginning with some fascinating vignettes of North Korean high school life and ending with a narrow escape from death, the story offers a unique perspective on the early phases of the war and its everyday realities, from the tragic to the farcical.
But Southerners, Northerners is far more than a war memoir. The author's encounters with men from South Korea, first as volunteers in the North Korean army and later as military police and guards, provoke a searching examination of the difference in ethos that had already emerged between the two Koreas. Moreover, the events of the story constantly spark flashbacks and foreshadowings that stretch from the author's childhood in what was then a Japanese colony to his later years as a dissident in South Korea. This gives the novel a rich texture of association in which the wartime story becomes a focal point for a broad vision of North and South Korea through half a century of history. Ultimately, one man's experience becomes a prism through which are refracted the international forces that have made the Korean peninsula today almost the last outpost of the Cold War.
Andrew Peter Killick and Sukyeon Cho
Panmunjom and Other Stories by Lee Ho-Chul
Lee Ho-Chul
Translated by Theodore Hughes (two stories translated by Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton)
It is no accident that Lee Ho-Chul, one of South Korea's most prominent writers (he is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Modern Literature Prize, the Tongin Literary Prize, the Republic of Korea Literary Prize, and the Daesan Literary Prize), has spent much of his nearly fifty-year literary career portraying the calamity of national division. Born in 1932 in Wǒnsan, South Hamgyǒng province, in what is now North Korea, Lee was mobilized at the age of eighteen to serve in the North Korean Army following the outbreak of the Korean War. He was captured by UN forces and then released, making his way by boat to South Korea in December 1950. Following his arrival in the South, Lee worked at the docks in Pusan and later as a security guard at a U.S. Army base.
Almost all of the short stories by Lee Ho-Chul that appear in Panmunjom and Other Stories by Lee Ho-Chul concern themselves, in one way or another, with the devastating effects of North/South division on everyday life, particularly on the lives of separated families (isan'gajok), those who left the North for the South in the tumultuous period following the 1945 liberation of Korea from Japanese rule and during the subsequent Korean War (1950-1953). The fact that both the earliest story included in this collection, "Far from Home" (1955), and the latest, "Separated Family, Divided Nation — A Lamentation" (1999), explore the trauma experienced by these families itself attests to a tragedy that extends well beyond the three-year Korean War. To read Lee Ho-Chul is to begin to understand the extent of the suffering felt by those separated from family members — sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers — for over half a century. For them, the war continues — every day.
At the same time, there is a way in which "division" in Lee's work comes to mean something more than national division. Lee explores how lines are drawn between people, often without their knowing it, as they go about their daily lives. Lee frequently locates the source of these lines both in the rapid industrialization and urbanization of South Korea in the 1960s and 1970s under the authoritarian regime of Park Chung Hee. In "The Deputy Mayor Does Not Go to Take Up His Appointment" (1965), for example, Lee probes the depths of the psychological terror pervading South Korea under the repressive Park regime, unmasking the absurdity, and the violence, of Park's attempt to legitimize his 1961 military takeover as "revolution." Lee frequently critiques the complacency, apathy, and selfishness of the newly emerged South Korean middle class of the 1970s as creating yet another form of division: self-alienation. "Birthday Party" (1976) contrasts the decadence and tedium of upper-middle-class life in mid-1970s Seoul with a memory of confronting oneself as one is, on the threshold of death during the Korean War.
Lee rejects a strictly political solution to the problem of national division. Reunification, Lee seems to say, will occur not by way of summit talks between the leaders of nation-states but by a recovery of community and by achieving understanding, as well as forgiveness, at a more immediate level. This may very well be a solution a younger generation of Koreans born after the fall of the military dictators and now coming of age in the new millennium will increasingly turn to as they continue the struggle to achieve a peaceful, reunified Korean peninsula.
Theodore Hughes
Columbia University
About the Author, Lee Ho-Chul
1932: Born in Wônsan, Kangwôn Province, in what is now North Korea.
1950: Came to South Korea in December, following the outbreak of the Korean War. Wandered in search of employment; held a variety of jobs, including dockworker in Pusan, cook in a noodle factory, security guard at a U.S. Army base.
1955: Made his literary debut with the short story, "Far from Home."
1961: Received the Modern Literature Prize for "Panmunjom."
1962: Received the Tongin Literature Prize for "Wasting Away."
1971: Active in the "Citizens for the Defense of Democracy," a dissident group protesting authoritarian rule in South Korea.
1973: Participated in the movement to oppose Park Chung Hee's adoption of the repressive Yusin Constitution; served as one of thirty sponsors of the "One Million Person Petition to Revise the Constitution."
1974: Accused of violating the National Security Law; incarcerated from January 14-October 31.
1980: Arrested along with others following trumped up charges made by the military junta led by Chun Doo Hwan against Kim Dae Jung for "plotting to cause social disruption"; jailed from May 17-November 4.
1985: Appointed Director of the "Writer's Alliance for the Promotion of Freedom."
1988: Japanese translation of "Wasting Away" included in Anthology of Korean Short Story Masterpieces published by Iwanami Press.
1992: Appointed lifetime member of the Korean National Academy of Arts. South Wind, North Wind translated into Japanese and included in Modern Korean Literature.
1995: "Wasting Away" translated into Russian and included in Seven Korean Short Story Writers.
1998: Visited North Korea from August 27-September 5 under the sponsorship of the Tonga Daily. Awarded the Korean National Academy of Arts Prize.
1999: Northerners, Southerners translated into Polish. The Petite Bourgeoisie translated into Spanish and published in Mexico.
2000: Japanese translation of Southerners, Northerners published by Shinjosa.
2001: Participated in readings of The Petite Bourgeoisie in Mexico.
2002: German translation of Southerners, Northerners published. Participant in the Symposium on World Literature held in Frankfurt. Recipient of the Republic of Korea Ûngwan Cultural Achievement Medal.
2003: French and Chinese translations of Southerners, Northerners published. Served as Korean Representative to the World Literature Festival held in Berlin.
2004: Conducted a series of lectures in cities throughout the former East Germany; Awarded the Schiller Medal at the University of Jena. English translations of Northerners and Southerners and Panmunjom and Other Stories published by EastBridge Press. Chinese, Japanese and Spanish translations of short story collections completed; English translation of "Far from Home" to appear in the forthcoming Columbia Anthology of Modern Korean Literature (2005).
Excerpts of Reviews on Lee Ho-Chul's Works Appearing in the World Press
"More than anything else, Lee Ho-Chul's works tell us what it means to be human." Chosôn News, September 13, 2003
"Lee Ho-Chul is more than a writer of prominence in South Korea; as a leading dissident in the struggle for freedom, democracy and reunification, he opposed successive authoritarian regimes in South Korea." Shanghai Literary Review, January 15, 2004
"Southerners, Northerners offers a vivid description of life as experienced by a variety of intriguing characters under the two opposed social systems of North and South Korea." Wenhui Literary Review, July 17, 2004
A Voice Calling for Reunification of the Korean Peninsula Emerges from the Darkness: The Literary Works of Lee Ho-Chul
Now in the sixth decade of what has been a rich and prolific literary career, Lee Ho-Chul tells us, "It is my belief that in the final analysis all writers produce works commensurate with the struggles they have undergone in their own lives." Certainly Lee Ho-Chul is no exception to this rule. Debuting on the South Korean literary scene in 1955 with "Far from Home," a short story set during the Korean War that describes the psychological torment felt by refugees in South Korea as they begin to understand that they will not be able to return to their hometown in the North, Lee embarked on a literary career that includes numerous novels, short stories, newspaper columns, articles and essays. At the heart of all of his work is the pain of separation, the suffering felt by refugees in the South unable to return home. Over the years, Lee's works have increasing explored the depths of the tragedy brought to bear on the lives of ordinary people by the division of the Korean peninsula. Lee explains his views on reunification:
"The issue of North/South division can only be resolved by showing the true nature of the political power making up the regimes of both Koreas. Think of this political power as a piece of firewood that must be split asunder into ever narrower fragments in order to fit it into the fireplace — only when this is done will its true character manifest itself. . . . Reunification can only occur when both regimes step down from their positions on high and return to the everyday, to a respect for the ways in which people live and interact on a daily basis. . . . The task facing us today is far more difficult than that which confronted those who achieved the reunification of Germany. In 1945, both sides, North and South, did nothing but blindly rush to form authoritarian regimes; this led to a disastrous war and, in the end, to the tense situation on the peninsula we have been living with for the past half century."
In the 1970s, Lee Ho-Chul became a leading dissident in the pro-democracy movement. Incarcerated twice in 1974 and 1980, Lee suffered greatly at the hands of the military regimes. Lee's opposition to the authoritarian state should be seen as part of his extended effort to achieve North/South reunification. Regarding developments in Korea over the past twenty years, Lee offers the following analysis:
"It was in the late 1980s that the political structure in the South began to achieve a degree of normalcy, to return to an understanding of ordinary people and their concerns. The upshot of this was an astonishingly rapid recovery of a sense of community, a feeling of 'living together'; the entire country seemed set on the road toward prosperity. What is more, it was the return of politics to the people that led to President Kim Dae Jung's visit to Pyongyang and the North/South summit meeting of August 2000. . . . The decisive factor in returning government to the level of the people and their sense of 'living together' was none other than the dissident pro-democracy movement in South Korea. It is for this reason that I feel that the time I spent in jail and the efforts I made in my literary works to grapple with the issue of reunification were not wasted — they were part of a movement that bore fruit."
For half a century Lee Ho-Chul has devoted himself to Korean literature: he has written literature, and he has lived it. His achievement was honored in 1992, when he received the highest award given to artists in South Korea, appointment to the National Academy of Arts. Lee Ho-Chul received both the Daesan Literature Prize and the National Academy of Arts Prize for his 1996 Southerners, Northerners. Translated into Polish, Japanese, German, French and Chinese, Southerners, Northerners has been warmly received by a global readership. English translations of Southerners, Northerners and Panmunjom and Other Stories will be published by EastBridge Press in October 2004.
Southerners, Northerners centers on the account of a young high school student in 1950 North Korea who was mobilized to serve in the North Korean Army and later captured by South Korean forces. The author has stated that many of the important scenes and characters in the text are fictional; at the same time, Southerners, Northerners offers a narrative that coincides with Lee Ho-Chul's own life. Southerners, Northerners, then, presents us with much more than a series of vignettes on life at the time. This is a text that contains a powerful message, one obtained through lived experience and expressed by an author who has wrestled with the issue of North/South division for over fifty years. The core of this message lies in the author's view that reunification cannot be achieved by making the all-too-frequent turn to competing ideological frameworks. Lee's emphasis is on the task of living together as human beings. Lee expresses this view in this manner:
"If we complicate matters by agonizing over all the particulars of how to achieve reunification, the problem becomes incredibly complex and difficult; but if we decide to cut to the chase and consider the issue in the simplest manner possible, nothing could be easier. People from North and South must meet frequently, become acquainted, build mutual trust, understanding and affection; gradually a feeling of commonality will emerge, a sense of 'sharing the same rice pot as one household.' If we go through this process, don't you think we'll find one day that without our even knowing it reunification will have arrived right beside us? Indeed, it won't be that reunification is beside us, but that we'll have entered ever so naturally into this thing called reunification, we'll be sitting down together in the midst of it."
Lee Ho-Chul tells us that regardless of time or place, when people work to accomplish something out of self-interest, they are bound to fail — their efforts lead to nothing but further greed and desire. Lee critiques the numerous grandiose schemes that have been offered as solutions to the issue of national division over the past fifty years as having accomplished little; such schemes become lost in the grandiosity of their own words, incapable of achieving any real effect. Why is this the case? Lee points to a fundamental lack of the human that renders these schemes hollow at their very core.
Panmunjom and Other Stories by Lee Ho-Chul is composed of thirteen stories selected by the author himself from his more than one hundred short stories and novellas written over the past fifty years; along with Southerners, Northerners, the stories in this collection offer considerable insight into the emphasis Lee places throughout his work on a return to what it means to be human. Reviews by the world press on works by Lee Ho-Chul that have been translated into numerous languages demonstrate that Lee's concern is shared by a global audience. A South Korean literary critic has written of Southerners, Northerners that "A voice calling for reunification of the Korean peninsula emerges from the darkness." It is our hope that a U.S. readership will join with the world to encounter this voice.
Translation and Modernity in Korea
December 10-11, 2004
International Conference
Center for Korean Studies, Korea Research Foundation, Korea Literature Translation Institute, Korea Foundation
List of Presentations
Friday, December 10, 2004
"Modern Korean Literature in Translation" (Session I)
Kwon Youngmin, SNU): Keynote Address
Kim Yoon Shik, SNU): "Two Kinds of 'Space' in Modern Korean Literature"
Kim Seong Kon, SNU): "East and West: The Taiwan Shall Never Meet?"
Mitsuo Yoshida, U Tokyo): "Korean Studies in Japan"
Bruce Fulton, UBC): "A Comparative Study of Short Fiction by Hwang Sun-won and Ibuse Masuji"
John Duncan, UCLA): "Historical Memories of Koguryo in Koryo and Choson"
Yang Seung Gook, SNU): "Issues of translation in Modern Korean Drama"
Jiwon Shin, UC Berkeley): "Translating Emotions in Modern Korean Literature"
Park Sung Chang, SNU): "Issues of Translation in Modern Korean Literature"
Wayne de Fremery, Harvard): "Crafting Poetic Soul: Kim So-Wol and a Notion of the Sublime"
"Modern Korean Literature in Translation" (Session II)
Woo Han Yong, SNU): "Problems in the English Translation of Chae Man Sik's Novels"
Bang Min Ho, SNU): "Lee Tae Jun's Novels and Japanese Autobiographical Novels"
Youn Jeong Heun, Kyungil U): "A Study on Don'o Kim's Novels"
Lee So Hee, Hanyang Women's U): "The Cultural Translation and Hybridity in Nora Okja Keller's Writing"
Saturday, December 11, 2004
"Culture and Translation" (Session III)
Park Jinim, U Pyongtaek): "Spring in the Shadow of My Stepmother: a Post-colonial Approach to Modern Korean Sijo Poems"
Lee Hae Nyeon, Dongseo U): "Diasporic Narratives and Post-Colonialism in Modern Korean Literature"
Lee Seung Myong, Silla U): "The Structure of [N+eopt] in Korean"
Lee Do Heum, Hanyang): "A Possibility of Hwajaeng Semiotic as Intertextuality Theory"
"In Search for the 'Origin' of Korean Modernity" (Session IV)
Hyung Gu Lynn, UBC): "Colonial Modernity from the Cultural Aspect"
Park Sang Jin, Pusan): "Porous Modernity: Illuminating the Other Face of Modernity from the Korean Perspective"
Michael Kim, Harvard): "Publication and Distribution in Choson and Colonial Period"
Chong Bum Kim, Harvard): "Protestant Christianity in Korean Modernity"
Park Tae Gyun, SNU): "Westernization or Localization?"
Free and open to the public.
Agrarian Sovereignty vs. Coastal Economy: The Mystery of the Wenzhou Model
Mayfair Yang, Professor, Anthropology, UC Santa Barbara
December 10, 2004
Center for Chinese Studies
Discussant: You-tien Hsing, Associate Professor, Geography, UC Berkeley
Free and open to the public.