With grant funding from the Academy of Korean Studies, Sunyoung Yang is developing the University of Arizona’s Korean Studies program, focusing the curriculum on hands-on projects to attract and excite students. 

Yang, an assistant professor hired as the first tenure-track faculty member of Korean studies in the Department of East Asian Studies, says the popularity of hallyu, or “Korean wave” is drawing students to learn more about Korean culture.

The learning-by-doing component involves class projects like learning K-pop dance, drawing web-toons, making short films, and broadcasting Korean cooking shows on YouTube in addition to reading and writing about Korean pop culture. The projects for her students are similar to ones that Yang had previously collaborated on during her time as a founding member of the Seoul Youth Factory for Alternative Culture, collaborating with engineers and artists on digital storytelling projects.

“I aim to help my students learn by engaging in actual projects like these,” Yang says. “I’ve seen firsthand how effective these projects can be to educate youth in their teens and early 20s. These opportunities will enable students to learn more in depth and critically.”

The combination of hallyu popularity and hands-on learning form the core of new classes, including general education offerings like “K-pop, Webtoons, Ethnic Food, and More: Understanding Korean Popular Culture,” “Introduction to Korea through Films,” and “Class, Gender, and Family in Korea.”

“These courses are in demand for students from diverse social and cultural backgrounds,” Yang says. “Hands-on, project-based Korean popular culture courses will continue to encourage students to develop their creativity required for the knowledge economy.”

The department will continue to develop Korean Studies, which is now offered to students as a minor in either the language or cultural emphasis, in equal standing with Chinese and Japanese studies to create a more comprehensive East Asian Studies program.

“I intend to advance Korean studies at UA as a flagship Korean studies program in the U.S. Southwest,” Yang says.

The curriculum developments complement Yang’s research as a cultural anthropologist, studying on the development of the Internet and various online communities and cultures in Korea and East Asia.

Yang examined the dynamic between online lives and offline struggles in her book “Loser” Aesthetics: Online User Communities and Cultural Politics in South Korea, documenting the influence of new media and information and communication technologies on society with a focus on youth, labor, and gender issues.

A new project, also supported by a grant from the Academy of Korean Studies, will involve more in-depth research on conflicting new gender politics activated in online communities. Issues like the secret and non-consensual use of spy cameras for the filming and photographing of women, the #MeToo movement, misogynistic violence, and protests and demonstrations against the criminalization of abortion are all major concerns online.

“There’s a new phase of social movements demanding gender equity and feminism enhanced by the Internet. These issues have brought about a nationwide awakening,” she says. “Through this research project, I intend to conduct further field research and expand in-depth interviews to include the voices of more diverse actors engaged in these new phenomena, which will provide more meaningful and rich data.”

Grace Faerber, graduating with a double major in East Asian Studies and Global Studies, has been awarded the prestigious Boren Fellowship to fund her graduate study in China.

Faerber, the College of Humanities Outstanding Senior recipient for Spring 2020, will attend the Johns Hopkins University – Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies beginning in September.

The Boren Fellowship supports U.S. graduate students seeking overseas research and language study in world regions critical to U.S. national security interests. As a Boren Fellow, Faerber will receive $24,000 for her graduate program in China, a Master of Arts in International Studies with a concentration in International Politics dually-awarded by Johns Hopkins and Nanjing University. After graduating, as a Boren Award alumna, Faerber will be committed to a career in public service, working in U.S. federal government positions critical to national security.

Faerber has been practicing Mandarin Chinese for more than 10 years, beginning her studies as an International Baccalaureate student at Mesa Academy and Westwood High in Mesa, Arizona. She chose to attend the University of Arizona because of the Chinese language concentration offered through the East Asian Studies major. Additional courses on Chinese history and politics inspired her to add a second major of Global Studies, focusing on international relations.

“The interdisciplinary aspect of my education – studying language, humanities topics like East Asian religion and culture, as well as global politics and law – has provided me with a comprehensive, wholistic understanding of East Asia and international affairs,” she said. “My undergraduate education will provide a great foundation for me to build on throughout the rest of my academic career as I focus on U.S.-China Relations.”

Faerber studied abroad in Hangzhou, China the summer after her freshman year, calling it the most influential experience in her language studies.

“It provided me with my first opportunity to visit and live in the country I had been studying for so long and the ability to sharpen my language skills and understanding of Chinese culture,” she said. “This study abroad experience solidified my interest in a career related to China and my commitment to becoming fluent in Mandarin.”

The following summer, she studied international affairs at American University in Washington, D.C. while completing two internships, first at the office of U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, then at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). During her time at the University of Arizona, Faerber was also a College of Humanities Student Ambassador and worked at the Campus Recreation Center.

“I am incredibly excited to advance my understanding of Mandarin, China, and U.S.-China relations at the distinguished Hopkins-Nanjing Center and will be always thankful for the University of Arizona and the College of Humanities for helping me get there,” she said.

Dear College of Humanities Students,

Despite the ever-changing challenges posed by the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), the College of Humanities remains focused on two priorities for students: your health and your academic progress toward graduation.

We are making every effort to help you succeed in your academic lives and beyond. Our faculty and staff are working, in coordination with University officials, to minimize any interruptions. Starting Wednesday, March 18, classes will be conducted online. Our priority is to ensure your academic progress is not disrupted and that you will finish the semester and graduate on time—whether that’s this term or in a term to come.

Our incredible advising team is available to support you with all of its usual services, but now in a virtual format. Advising can take place via email, phone, or Zoom—whichever works best for you. Please remember to check Trellis Advise for appointments. The advisors will be in touch soon with more detailed information about how they will be providing support.

If you have had to return suddenly from a Study Abroad program and anticipate any difficulty completing your coursework and earning credit for the semester, please contact Lyn Durán (laduran@email.arizona.edu ) as soon as possible so that she can explore with you how we might be able to help.

Individual faculty members will communicate to their students any necessary information about transitioning to online classes, as well as any updates to their syllabi for the remainder of the semester. This will enable all students to complete their courses and have valuable learning experiences. Fortunately, the College of Humanities is a leader in online learning and many faculty members have pursued innovative ways of teaching to increase student engagement, so we are well-prepared to make this adjustment and will extend additional help to students whenever possible. I am in touch with the COH undergraduate ASUA Senator Grace Sluga and Graduate and Professional Council Representative Jonathan Henao-Muñoz, both of whom will be helpful in communicating important messages between students and College and University leadership.

Any official campus updates will be posted to the University’s Coronavirus Information page. Information related to more specific student concerns is available at the Dean of Students Office and Guidance for Research Students and Postdocs. For other on-campus resources, please see information about University Libraries Changes and Support, the Disability Resource Center, and Housing & Residential Life.

Please follow all prescribed health and safety precautions, including social distancing, to minimize the spread of this disease and keep our campus and community safe. Campus Health remains open should you feel the need to seek medical attention.

We will convey additional information to students as necessary, and we appreciate your patience and flexibility as the College and University move forward through this difficult time.

With best wishes,
Dean Alain-Philippe Durand

P.S. On Monday morning via Facebook, University Provost Liesl Folks and Dean of Students Kendal Washington White presented a live video update to address questions. You can see a recording of this session here.

A New History of Medieval Japanese Theater, by Dr. Noel John Pinnington, was highlighted by Springer Nature, among a selection of the most popular articles and book chapters in 2019.

From the Author: 

“This book traces the history of noh and kyōgen, the first major Japanese theatrical arts. Going beyond P. G. O'Neill's Early Nō Drama of 1958, it covers the full period of noh's medieval development and includes a chapter dedicated to the comic art of kyōgen, which has often been left in noh's shadow. It is based on contemporary research in Japan, Asia, Europe and America, and embraces current ideas of theatre history, providing a richly contextualized account which looks closely at theatrical forms and genres as they arose.” 

“The masked drama of noh, with its ghosts, chanting and music, and its use in Japanese films, has been the object of modern international interest. However, audiences are often confused as to what noh actually is. This book attempts to answer where noh came from, what it was like in its day, and what it was for. To that end, it contains sections which discuss a number of prominent noh plays in their period and challenges established approaches. It also contains the first detailed study in English of the kyōgen repertoire of the sixteenth-century.”

Noel John Pinnington is a retired Associate Professor Emeritus of the University of Arizona, USA. He has held appointments at the Universities of Cambridge, Arizona, and Kyushu. His recent work includes 'The Early History of the Noh Play: Literacy, Authorship, and Scriptedness' in Monumenta Nipponica (2014) a collaboration on the film adaptation of the noh play Kinuta, set in Arizona, titled Wind Well (2017), and "Locating Zeami Motokiyo in the History of Noh,” in A Companion to World Literature, (2020) - Wiley Online Library.

    Albert Welter, Head of the Department of East Asian Studies and a core faculty of the Center for Buddhist Studies, was invited as the representative of the US scholars in the Buddhist studies to attend the 2019 China-US-Canada Buddhist Forum, held at UN headquarters in New York on October 12, 2019.

    The theme of this year’s forum is Enlightenment in the Human Realm: The Spirit and Practice of Chan Buddhism. The religious and spiritual leaders from China, US, and Canada, together with the academic representatives, call for world peace and discuss efforts to establish a human community of a shared future for humankind.

    Dr. Welter presented the New Perspectives in the Study of Chan Buddhism at the 2019 China-US-Canada Buddhist Forum.

In his new book, Takashi Miura, Assistant Professor in the Department of East Asian Studies, analyzes a category of Japanese divinities known as “yonaoshi gods” and their place in early modern Japan.

The expression yonaoshi is often translated as “world renewal,” and starting in the late 18^th century, deified humans and supernatural entities came to be worshipped as “gods of world renewal” in Japanese society. These yonaoshi gods were invested with religious authority to rectify a variety of economic injustices in local communities, including exorbitant taxes, high prices of goods, and wealth inequality.

Miura’s book, Agents of World Renewal: The Rise of Yonaoshi Gods in Japan, published by the University of Hawai'i Press, offers a unique perspective in the study of Japanese religion in that it does not rely on institutional categories such as Buddhism and Shinto but rather delivers a focused analysis on the reality of religious practices “on the ground.”

“This study does not prioritize the perspective of religious institutions and seeks to shed light on localized religious practices,” Miura says. “I look at different instances in early modern Japan in which people used the concept of world renewal in pursuit of economic justice.”

Miura presents a series of discrete case studies spanning from the 1780s to 1920s, including a samurai who sacrificed his life in order to kill a corrupt ruler, disgruntled peasants who demanded that the government repeal unfair taxation, and a giant catfish believed to live beneath the Japanese archipelago and to cause earthquakes to punish the hoarding rich.

“These are not transcendental gods high above, but those who would intervene in people’s lives. This complicates our notion of what the divine is,” Miura says. “These gods are right there with you, able to address immediate economic imperatives.”

Traditionally, historians have approached the subject of yonaoshi more in line with explanations about Japan’s transformation from a feudal society to a modern nation state in the mid-nineteenth century, connecting the concept of “world renewal” to Japan’s transition, usually in Marxist terms about class struggle.

“Scholars have co-opted the world renewal deities to fit their overarching narrative of Japan moving from a closed and feudal society to one industrializing and open to the Western world,” Miura says. “Actually, the documents don’t support that. I argue that perspective alone is not enough and this book takes the concept of world renewal on its own terms.”

Nathaniel Smith, assistant professor of East Asian Studies, has received competitive grant funding from the Japan Foundation to spend a year in Tokyo researching the transforming Kabukicho neighborhood.

Smith is one of only five U.S. scholars to receive the long-term research fellowship for 2019-2020.

He will be based at Waseda University, where he will research Tokyo’s most infamous postwar red-light district, Kabukicho in Shinjuku Ward. The project will focus on multiculturalism, marginality, and urban renewal in Tokyo as the Japanese capital prepares to host the 2020 Summer Olympics.

“What’s fascinating about this neighborhood is it’s at the crux of so many different constituencies,” Smith says. “It’s long been a place where immigrants can get a foothold, but also a place that was considered dangerous, even to the extent that it’s the setting for the Sega  Yakuza video game series. For decades after WWII, Kabukicho was symbolic of how the ‘other half’ lives and what it’s like to struggle in the under-belly of Tokyo. But now, at a moment of changing equilibrium between a future of gentrification and a past of marginality, there are efforts to reflect on Kabukicho’s diverse culture and unique characteristics.”

Kabukicho is a vibrant and diverse neighborhood home to bohemian hangouts, nightlife, new immigrant populations, an active sex industry, organized crime groups, and an array of political activism. Located in Shinjuku Ward, the most diverse district of Tokyo, Kabukicho is in many ways at the heart of Tokyo but it is maligned in others. In the early 2000s, the Tokyo government embarked on an aggressive and controversial “clean up” campaign, installing surveillance cameras and cracking down on a wide range of enterprises.

Smith’s prior research on far-right activism in Japan brought him to Kabukicho often, both as it became a political target as well as a place to relax and drink for activists. During his first visit, as an undergraduate exchange student to Sophia University in Tokyo in the late 1990s, foreign visitors were encouraged to avoid the area altogether. Now, two decades later, with Japan experiencing a boom in tourism, Kabukicho has become the site of large hotels, tourist attractions, and restaurants with menus in English, Chinese and Korean translations.

“Japan is at a turning point demographically but also rapidly opening up to tourist interest from around the world,” Smith says. “Kabukicho has always been seen as a wilder place within the city, but in fact Kabukicho and Shinjuku more generally can serve as an excellent model for other wards in the city and Japan itself for how to integrate different ethnic populations and ways of life into the fabric of society.”

An anthropologist by training, Smith’s research will center on mixed-method ethnographic data collection, including archival research, media analysis, interviews, and long-term participant-observation fieldwork with residents, business owners, policy makers, and visitors to the area. The work will culminate in his second book project, Kabukicho Renaissance: Multiculturalism, Marginality, and Urban Renewal in Tokyo.

“I’m very glad to be able to return to Tokyo at such an important juncture, generously supported by the Japan Foundation,” Smith says. “I look forward to engaging UA students about these issues and others when I return.”