"Imported" Feminism and "Indigenous" Queerness: From Backlash to Transphobic Feminism in Transnational Japanese Context (Lecture)
January 27, 2020
Colloquium
Speaker:
Akiko Shimizu, University of Tokyo
As is often the case with many countries in “the rest,” women’s and/or feminist movements in Japan have often been criticized for uncritically importing and transplanting ideas from “the West” that have no relevance to, and are sometimes even incompatible with, the “local” “indigenous” tradition, culture and society of whatever those critics imagine as “Japan.” Curiously enough, “Japan” has also been described, both by itself and by “the West,” to be somewhat inherently queer and unburdened with the weight of the homophobic religious tradition of Christianity. One may wonder: how is it possible for a society or a culture to be indigenously queer when it is also considered to be inherently incompatible with the idea of equal rights or one’s right to their own body and sexuality? And while the answer might seem, superficially considered, to be quite simple, it is not—unless one imagines said culture in a tired, old, orientalist style as never being “Western” enough to accommodate the notion of human rights and precisely for that reason appears exotic and sexy. If one considers the history of feminist/queer politics and struggles in Japan, especially since the turn of this century, one would find it difficult to dismiss this odd rhetoric of the “imported” and the “indigenous” that inform arguments such as these.
Tracing feminist/queer struggles in the last twenty years, specifically from severe backlash against feminist and women’s movements in the early oughts to a transphobic alliance of the online feminist culture with the Alt-right that we are currently witnessing, this talk intends to demonstrate how the imported and the indigenous, the transnational and the local, have become entwined with each other and are now shaping a distinctively local and inherently transnational form of politics of genders, sexualities and bodies in Japan.
Akiko Shimizu’s main field of research is feminist and queer theories, with a focus on bodies and (self-)representation, queer disability studies, and postcolonial feminist theories. She writes on topics such as queer past/future in relation to Japanese national politics, queer spatial politics in contemporary Japan, and the politics of exposed/vulnerable bodies. She is also a translator of Judith Butler’s and Sarah Ahmed’s works.
Co-Sponsors:
International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs
Program in Critical Theory
Center for the Study of Sexual Culture
With support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
"Imported" Feminism and "Indigenous" Queerness: From Backlash to Transphobic Feminism in Transnational Japanese Context (Seminar)
January 28, 2020
Seminar
Speaker:
Akiko Shimizu, University of Tokyo
As is often the case with many countries in “the rest,” women’s and/or feminist movements in Japan have often been criticized for uncritically importing and transplanting ideas from “the West” that have no relevance to, and are sometimes even incompatible with, the “local” “indigenous” tradition, culture and society of whatever those critics imagine as “Japan.” Curiously enough, “Japan” has also been described, both by itself and by “the West,” to be somewhat inherently queer and unburdened with the weight of the homophobic religious tradition of Christianity. One may wonder: how is it possible for a society or a culture to be indigenously queer when it is also considered to be inherently incompatible with the idea of equal rights or one’s right to their own body and sexuality? And while the answer might seem, superficially considered, to be quite simple, it is not—unless one imagines said culture in a tired, old, orientalist style as never being “Western” enough to accommodate the notion of human rights and precisely for that reason appears exotic and sexy. If one considers the history of feminist/queer politics and struggles in Japan, especially since the turn of this century, one would find it difficult to dismiss this odd rhetoric of the “imported” and the “indigenous” that inform arguments such as these.
Tracing feminist/queer struggles in the last twenty years, specifically from severe backlash against feminist and women’s movements in the early oughts to a transphobic alliance of the online feminist culture with the Alt-right that we are currently witnessing, this talk intends to demonstrate how the imported and the indigenous, the transnational and the local, have become entwined with each other and are now shaping a distinctively local and inherently transnational form of politics of genders, sexualities and bodies in Japan.
Akiko Shimizu’s main field of research is feminist and queer theories, with a focus on bodies and (self-)representation, queer disability studies, and postcolonial feminist theories. She writes on topics such as queer past/future in relation to Japanese national politics, queer spatial politics in contemporary Japan, and the politics of exposed/vulnerable bodies. She is also a translator of Judith Butler’s and Sarah Ahmed’s works.
Co-Sponsors:
International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs
Program in Critical Theory
Center for the Study of Sexual Culture
With support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue
February 10, 2020
Film
Speaker:
Miki Dezaki, Director
Discussant:
Hannah Airriess, UC Berkeley
The “comfort women” issue is perhaps Japan’s most contentious present-day diplomatic quandary. Inside Japan, the issue is dividing the country across clear ideological lines. Supporters and detractors of “comfort women” are caught in a relentless battle over empirical evidence, the validity of oral testimony, the number of victims, the meaning of sexual slavery, and the definition of coercive recruitment. Credibility, legitimacy and influence serve as the rallying cry for all those involved in the battle. In addition, this largely domestic battleground has been shifted to the international arena, commanding the participation of various state and non-state actors and institutions from all over the world. This film delves deep into the most contentious debates and uncovers the hidden intentions of the supporters and detractors of comfort women. Most importantly it finds answers to some of the biggest questions for Japanese and Koreans: Were comfort women prostitutes or sex slaves? Were they coercively recruited? And, does Japan have a legal responsibility to apologize to the former comfort women?
Co-Sponsors:
Institute of East Asian Studies
Center for Korean Studies
Imagining Post 3.11 Futures and Living with Anthropogenic Change
February 14-15, 2020
Conference
The symposium brings together artists, activists and scholars for a series of conversations on the 3.11 disasters and the effects of anthropogenic change. The conversations will explore how people in northeastern Japan are living with the consequences of the 3.11 disasters and how different communities with varying livelihoods and vulnerabilities have responded to and invented tactics to survive them. While the works we discuss will provide attention to details that help contextualize the disasters and their aftermath within Japan, they will also reveal new contours for knowledge production and call forth forms of community existing in the commons of matter, survival and invention.
Symposium events are open and free to the public. No registration necessary.
For a full listing of speakers and sessions, please go to our conference archive: https://ieas.berkeley.edu/imagining-futures-post-311-japan
Co-Sponsors:
Institute of East Asian Studies
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
Rights Make Might: Global Human Rights and Minority Social Movements in Japan February 21, 2020
Colloquium
Speaker:
Kiyoteru Tsutsui, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Why have the three most salient minority groups in Japan - the politically dormant Ainu, the active but unsuccessful Koreans, and the former outcaste group of Burakumin - all expanded their activism since the late 1970s despite the unfavorable domestic political environment? My investigation into the history of activism by the three groups reveals that a key factor was the galvanizing effects of global human rights on local social movements. Drawing on interviews and archival data, I document the transformative impact of global human rights ideas and institutions on minority activists, which changed the prevalent understanding about their standing in Japanese society and propelled them to new international venues for political claim making. The global forces also changed the public perception and political calculus in Japan over time, catalyzing substantial gains for the minority movements. Having benefited from global human rights, all three groups repaid their debt by contributing to the consolidation and expansion of international human rights principles and instruments. The in-depth historical comparative analysis offers rare windows into local, micro-level impact of global human rights and contributes to our understanding of international norms and institutions, social movements, human rights, ethnoracial politics, and Japanese society.
New Frontiers in Digital Humanities for Japanese Culture and Arts: Activities of Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University as International Joint Digital Archiving Center for Japanese Art and Culture (ARC-iJAC)
February 25, 2020
Seminar
In fall 2019 the Art Research Center (ARC), Ritsumeikan University was selected by MEXT (Japanese Ministry of Education) as the International Joint Usage/ Research Center, and has been actively promoting International Joint Research between the humanities and cutting-edge information technology with a strong focus on digital archiving of Japanese Art and Cultural properties.
* Launching the collaborative research projects by the University of California, Berkeley and Ritsumeikan University
Yoko Matsubara, Vice Chancellor, Ritsumeikan University (RU)
* Introduction of Art Research Center at RU as International Joint Usage / Research Center
Koichi Hosoi, Director of Art Research Center (ARC); Professor, College of Image Arts and Sciences, RU
* Constructing "Real" Online Research Space for the Humanities: On iJAC’s Online Facilities
Ryo Akama, Deputy Director of ARC; Professor, College of Letters, RU
* The Integrated Portal Site of Japanese Old Maps for Historical GIS:
Using the Mitsui Collection Held by the C. V. Starr East Asian Library, University of California, Berkeley
Keiji Yano, Deputy Director of ARC; Professor, College of Letters, RU
*International Collaboration for Video Game Preservation: from Pac-Man and Mario to Pokemon GO
Koichi Hosoi, Director of ARC, Professor, College of Image Arts and Sciences, RU
*Further Frontiers in Digital Humanities
Keiko Suzuki, Deputy Director of ARC; Professor, Kinugasa Research Organization, RU
For further information on iJAC, please refer to:
https://www.arc.ritsumei.ac.jp/en/index.html
Co-Sponsors:
Art Research Center, Ritsumeikan University
C. V. Starr East Asian Library
In Search of Our Frontier: Japanese America and Settler Colonialism in the Construction of Japan’s Borderless Empire
February 25, 2020
Colloquium
Speaker:
Eiichiro Azuma, University of Pennsylvania
This talk explores the complex transnational history of Japanese immigrant settler colonialism, which linked Japanese America with Japan’s colonial empire through the exchange of migrant bodies, expansionist ideas, colonial expertise, and capital in the Asia-Pacific basin before World War II. The trajectories of Japanese transpacific migrants exemplified a prevalent national structure of thought and practice that not only functioned to shore up the backbone of Japan’s empire building but also promoted the borderless quest for Japanese overseas development. The talk will offer an explanation of key concepts and interpretative frames as well as some examples of transpacific migrant settler colonialism that entangled Japanese America and imperial Japan.
Co-Sponsors:
Asian American & Asian Diaspora Studies 122
Asian American & Asian Diaspora Studies Program
Japanese American Studies Advisory Committee
Composition Colloquium: Ken Ueno
February 28, 2020
Colloquium
Speakers:
Ken Ueno, Department of Music
Instrumentalizing Architecture, Bespoke Vowels, and Anthropology as Composition
UC Berkeley Professor, Ken Ueno, a fuses composition, extended vocal practice, and installations into a new kind of hybrid work. Using a megaphone and shaping bespoke vowel shapes within his mouth, he articulates resonant frequencies of spaces, with the discovery that articulating the resonant frequencies of different locations in a space, which means that architecture, too, can be read as harmonic structure.
Having spent last year in Hong Kong, having participated and written about his experiences in the protests there (https://www.asianstudies.org/hong-kong-barricades-the-future-will-be-red...), Ueno has begun to shift his art practice towards a greater alignment with the thing itself, and will present recent examples: a site-specific work in spaces in Savannah, GA, which participated in the cotton exchange, and an installation performance in a crematorium pagoda in Taiwan, where installed sounds were derived from interviews with local sex workers, many of them being elderly.
Co-Sponsor:
Department of Music
Workshop on Tannishō Commentarial Materials
March 6-7, 2020
Workshop
The Centers for Japanese Studies and Buddhist Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, together with Ōtani University and Ryūkoku University in Kyoto announce a workshop under the supervision of Mark Blum that will focus on critically examining premodern and modern hermeneutics of the Tannishō, a core text of the Shin sect of Buddhism, and arguably the most well-read religious text in postwar Japan. 2020 will be the fourth year in this five-year project that meets twice each year: we will meet in Berkeley from March 6 to 8 and in Kyoto at Ryukoku University from June 26 to 28. Organized around close readings of the most influential materials produced in early modern, modern, and postmodern Japan, the workshop aims at producing a critical, annotated translation detailing the salient ways in which this text has been both inspirational and controversial, as well as a series of essays analyzing a wide spectrum of voices in Japanese scholarship and preaching that have spoken on this work. For the early modern or Edo period, the commentaries by Enchi (1662), Jukoku (1740), Jinrei (1808), and Ryōshō (1841) will be examined. For the modern period, works by Andō Shūichi (1909), Chikazumi Jōkan (1930), and Soga Ryōjin (1947) will be the major concern. And for the postwar/postmodern period, due to the sheer volume of publications (over 300 titles), reading choices will be selected at a later date in consultation with participants.
Co-Sponsors:
Center for Buddhist Studies
Otani University
Ryukoku University
BCA Center for Buddhist Education
Institute of Buddhist Studies
Shinshu Center of America
Architecture Lecture: Maki Onishi + Yuki Hyakuda
March 9, 2020
Colloquium
CREATING SPACES WITH DIVERSITY
Maki Onishi and Yuki Hyakuda, the Directors and Co-Founders of onishimaki+hyakudayuki architects, will discuss their philosophy and approach towards architecture through recent projects.
Co-Sponsor:
College of Environmental Design
PLEASE NOTE: The following events were planned for the Spring 2020 semester but were canceled due to COVID-19
Foundations for Buddhist Chaplaincy: Dialogues and Developments in Japan and North America connecting Teachings and Effective Service
March 13-15, 2020
Conference
Buddhist chaplaincy is developing rapidly in both North America and Japan. This international conference seeks to develop connections and conversations and discuss specific challenges and successes Buddhist chaplains experience on both sides of the Pacific.
The practice of Buddhist chaplaincy is sustained and guided by the Buddhist teachings or Buddhadharma. At this conference, we are interested in exploring how the dharma can form the foundation for Buddhist chaplaincy, how chaplaincy programs educate students in the connection between the dharma and effective service, and how we support and guide them in serving others.
Scholars and chaplains from both the United States and Japan will present their ongoing research and work in this developing field.
Co-Sponsors:
Institute of Buddhist Studies
BDK America
Japanese American Women Alumnae: 30th Annual Scholarship Awards Luncheon
March 14, 2020
Special Event
Please join us as we honor the legacy of Japanese American women at UC Berkeley.
Our keynote speaker, Dr. Satsuki Ina, will focus her remarks on her ground-breaking research on the intergenerational impact of the incarceration experiences of Japanese Americans during World War II, as well as her advocacy efforts to raise greater national and international awareness about contemporary immigration policies and practices in the U.S. that are hauntingly reminiscent of this historical period.
We will recognize the accomplishments of our undergraduate and graduate scholarship recipients -- Olivia Canak, Juliette Franzman, Nicole Inaba, Areyon Jolivette, Maya Lemmon-Kishi, and Gemma Vanover – and our Outstanding Alumna of the year, Betty Furuta.
All are welcome! Please join us! The cost of the luncheon is $45 for regular guests and $15 for students. The reservation deadline is March 1, 2020.
Registration opens at 10:30 AM with the luncheon and program running from 11:00 AM to 2:30 PM.
For tickets and additional event information, please refer to our website at: http://www.jawaucb.org/ or the Japanese American Women Alumnae of UC Berkeley on Facebook.
Co-Sponsors:
Cal Alumni Association
Japanese American Women Alumnae of UC Berkeley
Daigoji Temple and Shingon Contributions to Japan’s Religious Culture
April 10, 2020
Conference
Speakers:
Yasurō Abe, Professor, Nagoya University
Mika Abe, Nagoya University
Matthew McMullen, Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture
Aaron P. Proffitt, University at Albany, SUNY
Eric Haruki Swanson, Loyola Marymount University
Discussants:
Mark Blum, UC Berkeley
Richard Payne, Institute of Buddhist Studies
Recent work has established the importance of Daigoji as a site that has preserved medieval religious culture, both in its impressive architectural structures and as a literal "treasure house" of art, ritual implements, and manuscripts. Beyond this recognition of Daigoji as a monument to Japan’s cultural and religious heritage, however, still relatively little work has been done in explaining how Daigoji was so successful in becoming a site that amassed this rich Buddhist culture and how it functioned as an important political institution deeply involved in court politics. While Daigoji was closely involved with the court, it also played an important role in the history of Buddhism in Japan. The symposium attempts to clarify how these various factors contributed in constructing the institution that is known today as a great cultural and historical storehouse of Buddhist ritual and textual culture.
Co-Sponsor:
Institute of Buddhist Studies
Chinese Economic Size Overtaking Japan (2008-2014) and the United States (from 2014 to 2030?)
Colloquium
Speaker:
Ezra Vogel, Harvard University
Before 1895, in the bilateral relationship between Japan and China, China was in the top position. From 1895-2008, Japan was in the top position. Between 2008-2014 as the size of the Chinese economy surpassed that of Japan, it had profound implications for the nature of their relationship. From 2014 until 2030, as the size of the Chinese economy surpasses that of the United States, it is having profound implications for the nature of their relationship.
Co-Sponsors:
Institute of East Asian Studies
Center for Chinese Studies
Myth-making in Verse: Banquet Poetry and the Creation of a Japanese Origin Story
April 17, 2020
Colloquium
Speaker:
Matthieu Felt, University of Florida
Discussant: Bonnie McClure, UC Berkeley
At the conclusion of court-sponsored readings of the historical chronicle Nihon shoki, Japanese aristocrats celebrated at banquets where they drank wine and composed poetry about the legendary gods and sovereigns from the text. However, their compositions often differed in tone and content from the original text. In this talk, I identify the thematic and rhetorical strategies of these variations and argue that they served to transform Nihon shoki from a dynastic history into a broader origin story for the tenth-century court and capital. By extension, I suggest that verse has several unique possibilities as a vehicle for expanding the scope of canonical texts.