David Novak: "Creativity, Cocoroom, and the Cultural City of Kamagasaki"

When
5 to 6:30 p.m., Nov. 9, 2017
Where
San Pedro Room, Student Union

The Department of East Asian Studies welcomes Dr. David Novak of UC Santa Barbara

Abstract: This talk critically examines the role of cultural arts organizations in processes of gentrification in South Osaka. In the postindustrial centers of Japan, gentrification has taken a complex route through Japanese adaptions of “creative cities” policies, through which local neighborhood culture is instrumentalized in neoliberal narratives of revitalization and creativity. I focus on the role of arts organizations in a working-class district known as Kamagasaki, infamous as a longstanding day labor market bordering the city’s entertainment and red-light quarter. How could this neighborhood, whose elderly population rapidly diminishes with each passing year, become a context in which to imagine projects of independent arts, creativity, and community expression? In order to better understand this question, I describe the development of a non-profit café/infoship called CocoRoom, which has worked since 2001 to create contexts of interaction in this aging population. Following the changes in this organization and in the neighborhood over a decade of ethnographic study, I seek to provincialize gentrification by tracing the on-the-ground transformations of Japanese urban ecologies, and the ways in which cultural policy influences the arts of everyday life.

EAS Grad Students at the Second Language Research Forum 2017, Ohio State University

Oct. 19, 2017

The Department of East Asian Studies was well represented at the Second Language Research Forum 2017 at the Ohio State University, October 12-14. Several graduate students presented papers at the conference. The presentations received a lot of positive feedback; many researchers showed interest in the work done at Arizona. It was a great experience for the graduate students. They heard many talks, learned about research done at other schools and talked to people who shared their research interests. Everyone came back excited about their research. It was a big success.

 

Yali Feng and Tianxu Chen          

Contributions of Morphological Awareness at the Character Level to L2 Chinese Character Learning

 

Xin He               

The Acquisition of Transitivity by English-speaking Learners of Chinese: A Case of VO Construction

 

Yu Tian and Feng-hsi Liu                

Deductive and Inductive Methods in L2 Grammar Teaching: A Case of Acquiring Adverbials in Mandarin Chinese

 

Yi Wang and Feng-hsi Liu             

L1 or L2 Influence? Acquisition of Zero Anaphora by L1 Japanese Learners of L3 Chinese  

 

Photo: Yi Wang, Yali Feng, Xin He and Yu Tian at the Second Language Research Forum 2017

Chinese Language and Culture Day 2017

Sept. 30, 2017

The Chinese language program participated in the Sixth Chinese Language and Culture Proficiency Competition at the Tucson Chinese Culture Center, September 30, 2017. The event was hosted by the Confucius Institute of the University of Arizona. Participants competed in group drama and quizzes. The Chinese language program had a strong showing at the event. Students from Chinese 102 participated in the competition, EAS major Anthony Burtman served as an MC, and four faculty members (Dian Li, Feng-hsi Liu, Jiang Wu and Wenhao Diao) served as judges of the drama competition. In addition, student work from language classes, including Chinese writings and paintings, was showcased at the exhibiting hall. The skit ‘I Want a Chinese Friend’ performed by CHN 102 students Bret Izzo, Brendan Quigley, and Joseph Moullet won second place in the drama competition at the elementary level. The skit ‘The Liar’s Diary’ performed by Olivia Bowers, Kianny Calvo and Mathew Coles won third place at the elementary level.

Photo: Bret Izzo, Brendan Quigley, and Joseph Moullet performed the skit ‘I Want a Chinese Friend’ at the Sixth CIUA Chinese Language and Culture Day at the Tucson Chinese Culture Center, September 30, 2017.

Anna Shields, "From 'Literary' to 'Civil': Redefining Literature in the Biographies of the New Tang History"

When
4:30 to 5:30 p.m., Oct. 19, 2017
Where
Tubac Room, Student Union

The Department of East Asian Studies welcomes Dr. Anna Shields of Princeton University

Abstract: How does the literary legacy of the past get handed down for future readers? Who wrote the story of Chinese literature as it developed over the dynasties, and what stories did those historians of that literary past try to tell? As inheritors of the literary legacy of the Tang dynasty (618-907), scholars of the Northern Song (960-1127) actively collected, compiled and edited the works of Tang writers, and they wrote lengthy histories of Tang writers’ lives and works as models for their Song-era composition.

This talk examines the revised biographies of Tang writers found in the New Tang History of 1060, focusing on new definitions of literary writing that appear in the 11th-century text. Song Qi, the chief author of the biographies, advocated for literary composition centered on civil culture rather than literary craft, and he used diverse techniques to elaborate his argument across dozens of biographies. The emerging Northern Song view of wen as primarily a tool for public service has long been observed in other types of writing, but rarely considered in historiography. Rewriting Tang lives, I will show, gave Song Qi the chance to defend his new definitions of literature.

Dr. Wenhao Diao Awarded 2017 Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Grant

July 25, 2017

Dr. Wenhao Diao’s proposal for the 2017 Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad program, entitled “Education, Society, and Globalization in China: A Collaborative Teacher Training Program,” has been selected for funding by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and the U.S. Federal Department of Education. Supported by a Fulbright-Hays grant of $88,263 and organized with the UA’s Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language and Literacy (CERCLL), the project will enable local K-16 educators to spend four weeks in China in summer 2018 to gain insights into Chinese education and its aspirations for globalization, and discuss a range of issues related to gender, social justice, and globalization in both China and the U.S. The four-week in-country seminar will include language classes, field trips, lectures, small group workshops, as well as one-on-one exchange with Chinese K-16 educators. The goal is for these educators to effectively incorporate their first-hand experience from China into humanities and social sciences curricula in K-16 schools in Arizona. It will directly benefit educators at the Pima Community College, the Catalina Foothills School District, and the Tucson Unified School District. There will also be a few limited spots for our own EAS majors/minors who are committed to becoming K-16 educators. The program will be a great opportunity to bring Chinese language, culture, and perspectives to many children and adults in Arizona and prepare them for an increasingly globalized world. 

The proposal was developed by Dr. Diao in collaboration with Kate Mackay, Associate Director of CERCLL, a Title VI Language Resource Center at the University of Arizona. It received generous support from the Department of East Asian Studies and the College of Humanities. The program’s design was based on the successful experience from the Arizona-in-Shanghai program. It will be hosted by East China Normal University.

UA in Seoul for AAS-in-Asia

July 7, 2017

Drs. Sunyoung Yang and Nathaniel Smith organized a panel called "Cyberwars and Street Politics in Korea and Japan" for the AAS-in-Asia conference in Seoul, South Korea (June 24-27). UA Asian Collection librarian Ping Situ was also in attendance. Dr. Yang's paper was "Not a Human but a Worm: The Rise of Right-wing Internet Politics in South Korea." Dr. Smith presented on "Trolling for the Emperor?: Race, Empire, and Battles on the 'Multicultural' Right in Japan."

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