We invite you to join us on Friday, November 15th for a public symposium, Interdisciplinary Edo, New Perspectives on Early Modern Japan. This event brings together emerging scholars from across the United States, Japan, and the U.K. to think beyond conventional disciplinary boundaries toward an integrated approach to Japan’s early modern period. Our symposium is free and open to all, featuring presentations from historical, religious, literary, and art historical perspectives, as well as commentary by invited scholars and faculty from the UA East Asian Studies Department. We hope to create a productive forum for a new, transdisciplinary conversation on political formation, social interaction, and cultural proliferation under the Great Peace of the Tokugawa regime.
Schedule of Events:
10:00 Opening Remarks, Albert Welter, Department Head, East Asian Studies
10:30 – 12:00 Panel Session One: Narrative, Form, and Sino-Japanese Influence in Edo Print Culture
Mai Yamaguchi (Princeton University), Jingyi Li (University of Arizona), Shan Ren (University of Oregon)
12:30 – 1:00 Keynote Speaker, Katsuya Hirano, UCLA – The Predicament of Modernity and Histories of the Tokugawa ‘Enlightenment’
1:00 – 2:30 Panel Session Two: Ideas, Images, Objects on the Move – Adaptation Across Borders
Zhaokun Xin (Arizona State), Claire Cooper (Princeton University), Jinhui Wu (University of Arizona)
3:00 – 4:30 Panel Session Three: Public Spaces / Private Lives in Edo Japan
Meiyan Wang (SOAS), Alexander Evans (Kyushu University), Kristina Buhrman (Florida State)
The Interdisciplinary Edo workshop and symposium is generously sponsored by a University of Arizona College of Humanities Faculty Research Grant, the Departments of East Asian Studies and Religious Studies & Classics, The Center for Buddhist Studies, and the SFI Grant program.
We hope to see you there. No RSVP necessary, lunch provided for attendees. Please see our website, edojapan.arizona.edu, for a full schedule, list of speakers, and further details.