Job Opening: History of East Asia

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Paula

job opening - 5The Department of History at Knox College invites applications for a one-year replacement appointment at the rank of visiting assistant professor / instructor effective September 1, 2015, with specialization in the field of East Asian history, with a preference for Japan.  PhD expected, but ABDs will be considered.  Candidates should have experience in or commitment to working with diverse populations of students.  Review of applications will begin on April 15, 2015 and continue until the position is filled.

The successful candidate will teach introductory courses in East Asian civilizations, intermediate courses in Japanese and Chinese history, and possibly a 300-level research course based upon the candidate’s area of expertise.  Other teaching responsibilities will depend upon the candidate’s sub-specialties.

This position is part of the global approach to history that is a core principle of the department.  It also makes a vital contribution to our commitment to interdisciplinary cooperation, allowing the department to maintain connections with other campus programs and departments, particularly the programs in Asian Studies and International Studies.

Knox College, established in 1837, is an independent, highly selective liberal arts institution with a diverse student body and a strong commitment to undergraduate teaching.  In keeping with the college’s 178-year commitment to equal rights, Knox actively encourages women and members of other underrepresented groups to apply.  Interested applicants should apply electronically by submitting a PDF of their letter of application, C.V., evidence of teaching effectiveness, such as course evaluations, and two examples of syllabi to eastasianhistorysearch@knox.edu. Applicants should also have three letters of recommendation (or corresponding placement dossier) sent to the same address.  Those unable to send electronic versions may send printed copies to:

East Asian History Search
Attn. Emre Sencer
Knox College
2 East South St, K-108
Galesburg, IL 61401

 

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Call for Papers: Mid-Atlantic Region of the Association of Asian Studies Conference

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Paula

call for papers [150-2]Call for Papers
“Asia:  Conflict and Cooperation”
44th Annual Mid-Atlantic Region Association for Asian Studies Conference
October 9-11, 2015 University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
DEADLINE FOR PAPER SUBMISSIONS: MAY 1, 2015

The Asian Studies Center of the University of Pittsburgh and the Mid-Atlantic Region of the Association of Asian Studies announce the call for papers for the 44th annual regional conference.  The conference theme “Asia: Conflict and Cooperation” explores the tensions and collaborations found throughout Asia with regards to energy, environment, public health, territorial issues, migration, popular culture, gender, sexuality, religious practices, and many other issues.

We encourage proposals from any discipline.  We welcome participation from faculty, graduate students, undergraduate students, independent scholars, and professionals, and especially encourage panels with innovative combinations of individuals and fields.

Timothy Brook, AAS President and Professor, Department of History, University of British Columbia will deliver a keynote address.

To propose a panel or an individual paper, please send a completed proposal form along with a one-page abstract for each proposed paper by May 1, 2015 to Tina Phillips Johnson, the MAR/AAS 2015 Program Chair, as indicated below.  Inquiries are also welcome. Proposals may be submitted online, by mail, fax, or e-mail (as an attachment). Acceptance notices will be sent to you by June 1, 2015. Further details and online applications are available on the conference website, http://www.maraas.org (click on “Conferences”). Some travel assistance is available on a competitive basis for graduate students and international scholars.  Include your request for travel funding with your paper proposal.

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Resource: Memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Messages from Hibakusha

Posted on April 8, 2015 by Paula

Memories

A few years ago we did a resource post on the Hiroshima archive, which includes extensive digital resources for studying the bombing of Hiroshima. This week, we would also like to introduce the site “Memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Messages from Hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors)” that was made available by the Asahi Shimbun. Previously, this resource was only available in Japanese, but Asahi Shimbun took steps several years ago to ensure an English-language version was available as well. Their press release stated:

The Asahi Shimbun has launched the English version of its website “Memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Messages from Hibakusha.” This website currently contains first-hand accounts and messages from 200 A-bomb survivors as collected by the Asahi Shimbun. It will eventually contain a total of 370 testimonies. Over 350 volunteers worldwide have helped translate the testimonies into English.

We launched the Japanese version of this website in November 2010 in order to let the world know the reality of A-bomb radiation exposure and the survivors’ earnest hope for peace. The Japanese-language website contains accounts and messages from 1,651 A-bomb survivors. The contents are drawn from a survey of hibakusha conducted by the Asahi Shimbun in 2005 in cooperation with the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations and Hiroshima and Nagasaki Universities.

Launched officially in 2010, the site contains testimonies collected from 2008 to 2014 thus far, and includes interviews, personal statements, and photographs of the survivors telling their stories. There are two columns in the Asahi Shimbun that run these stories. From the website:

The column “So tell me . . . about Hiroshima” started with the April 2008 issue of the Hiroshima Edition of The Asahi Shimbun. The reporters followed the lives of the victims and asked them their thoughts. …. Articles appear in the newspaper basically once a week and continue to be posted.

“Notes from Nagasaki” started with the August 2008 issue of the Nagasaki Edition of The Asahi Shimbun. The articles are short, about a page each, and run from a few to more than ten days successively while painting a picture of the lives of each person featured. There hasn’t been a day without an article being published and the series continues to this day.

Messages

There are also sections called “Messages from Hiroshima” and “Messages from Nagasaki” that recall first-hand accounts along with the distance the individuals were from the detonation hypocenter. This is an incredible and heart-wrenching resource for personal accounts of the bombings, and definitely worth your time as a casual reader or researcher. Be sure to check it out.

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Call for Papers: The 2nd East Asian Translation Studies Conference

Posted on April 7, 2015 by Paula

call for papers [150-2]The 2nd East Asian Translation Studies Conference (EATS 2)

9 and 10 July 2016

Tokyo, Japan

Keynote Speakers:

Prof Mona Baker (The University of Manchester, UK)
http://www.manchester.ac.uk/research/Mona.baker/

Prof Keijiro Suga (Meiji University, Japan)
http://www.meiji.ac.jp/cip/english/undergraduate/science/faculty.html

Call for Papers

Conference Theme: “Constructing/Deconstructing East Asia”

This Conference on East Asian Translation Studies (EATS) aims to provide a platform for translators and researchers working in the East Asian context (China, Korea and Japan in particular) to exchange ideas on issues related to translation.

The first East Asian Translation Studies Conference was held at the University of East Anglia, UK, on 19-20 June 2014, which was successfully concluded with fruitful discussions on history, practice, and theory of translation, as well as new trends in the field. The second conference is a continuation of those dialogues, bringing the focus on the concept and role of “East Asia” and its influence on translation studies (TS).

East Asia is generally defined as the region covering the geographically proximal countries: China, Korea and Japan. As the concept of East Asia can differ depending on the time and place from where it is seen, what then forms “East Asia”? More precisely, what insights can the concept of “East Asia” provide to TS? East Asia itself is changing dynamically. Developing TS in this fluid East Asian environment will bring new challenges and inspire vivid discussion.

The conference theme “Constructing/Deconstructing East Asia” aims for reviewing characteristics of East Asian translation and its scholarship from a wide range of perspectives. Translation practices in East Asia have flourished in different forms in different fields from the past to the present. By examining the dynamics and complexities of East Asian translation, the discussion will shed light on the conceptualization of “East Asia” and even give a critical examination of the underlying traditional assumptions.

The conference intends to provide participants an opportunity to share their views on East Asian translation and its scholarship and to seek the possibility to extend the concept and role of East Asia to further develop TS.

We invite papers on the following topics and beyond:

  • Translation and interpreting in East Asia;
  • East Asian traditions of literary translation;
  • Circulation and consumption of translation in East Asia;
  • Networks and collaborations among interpreters and translators;
  • Translation and interpreting for immigrant communities in East Asia;
  • Community interpreting in East Asia
  • Post-colonial approaches to translation;
  • Gender identities in the East Asian context;
  • Pedagogical approach to translation in East Asia;
  • Translation in popular culture, such as animation, comics, music, TV dramas, films;
  • Translation by amateurs, such as fansubs, scanlations and volunteer translation;
  • Machine translation, computer-aided translation and East Asian languages.

We also welcome proposals for cross-language panels on inspiring topics (either 3 or 6 speakers in one panel).

The conference language is English, but we welcome presentations of translated papers and can arrange interpreters for Q&A by request. Please note this in your abstract submission.

We plan to publish selected papers.

Organizers:

Local organizer
Dr Mariko Naito (School of Information and Communication, Meiji University, Japan)
http://gyoseki1.mind.meiji.ac.jp/mjuhp/KgApp?kyoinId=ymdigbomggy

Steering Committee
Dr Gloria Lee (Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong)
http://www.tran.hkbu.edu.hk/PDF/cv_glorialee.pdf

Dr Nana Sato-Rossberg (SOAS, University of London, UK)

http://www.soas.ac.uk/staff/staff95058.php

[in alphabetical order]

Date:

9 and 10 July 2016

Venue:

Surugadai Campus, Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan
http://www.meiji.ac.jp/cip/english/about/campus/index.html

Registration Fee:

General: 15,000 JPY, Students (with ID): 5,000 JPY

Abstracts:

Please submit your abstract of no more than 300 words by 15 July 2015 to the following email address:

East-Asian-submission-2016@translationstudies.net

Successful applicants will be informed before 30 September 2015.

Email address for enquiry:
East-Asian-enquiry@translationstudies.net

Website:
http://www.translationstudies.net/EATS-2.pdf

Scientific Committee:

Prof Sungeun Cho (Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Korea)
Prof Theo Hermans (University College London, UK)
Prof Sharon Tzu-Yun Lai (National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan)
Dr Marcella Mariotti (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Italy)
Prof Robert Neather (Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong)
Dr Akiko Uchiyama (The University of Queensland, Australia)
Prof Judy Wakabayashi (Kent State University, USA)
Prof Kozo Watanabe (Ritsumeikan University, Japan)

[in alphabetical order]

With the kind support of Kansai Translation Studies Kenkyu-kai.

 

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Book Announcement: Labour market deregulation in Japan and Italy

Posted on April 5, 2015 by Paula

Labour MarketLabour market deregulation in Japan and Italy: Worker protection under neoliberal globalisation

By Hiroaki Richard Watanabe

Description:

Japan and Italy encountered severe economic problems in the early 1990s, and the governments had to deal with those issues effectively under the increasing neoliberal pressures of globalisation. In this context, labour market deregulation was considered an effective tool to cope with those economic problems. However, the forms and degrees of labour market deregulation in the two countries were quite different.

This book seeks to explain the differences in labour market deregulation policies between Japan and Italy, despite the fact that the two countries shared a number of similar political, social and labour market (if not cultural) characteristics. Uniquely, it takes a political, rather than economic or sociological perspective to provide a theoretical and empirical analysis of the processes of labour market deregulation in the two countries. The precarious working conditions of an increasing number of non-regular workers has become a prominent social issue in many industrialised countries including Japan and Italy, but the level of the protection for these workers depends on a country’s labour market policies, which are affected by the power resources of labour unions and labour policy-making structures. This book provides a useful perspective for understanding the root causes of this phenomenon, such as the diffusion of ‘neoliberal’ ideas aimed at promoting labour-market flexibility under globalisation, and demonstrates that there is still room for politics to decide the extent of deregulation and maintain worker protection from management offensives even in an era of globalisation.

Labour Market Deregulation in Japan and Italy: Worker Protection under Neoliberal Globalisation will appeal to students and scholars of Japanese politics, Italian politics, political economy and comparative politics.

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Fun Link Friday: Suntory’s 3-D printed ice cubes

Posted on April 3, 2015 by Paula

As we start printing food, internal organs, and other serious items with great technological promise and implications for the future, let’s not forget that it’s the little things that count, like having a frozen ice cube shaped like Godzilla in your whiskey.

TBWA\Hakuhodo recently launched advertising for Japan’s Suntory Whisky using 3-D printing technology to make some really incredible ice cubes. They include some amazingly complex designs, ranging from Godzilla and a high-heeled shoe to the Golden Pavilion and a leaping horse.

godzilla

Using a device called a CNC router to do inverse 3-D print designs, the router was brought down to -7 degrees Celsius (19 degrees F) to keep the ice from melting. You can see some of the Golden Pavilion’s creation in the video below, and see a ton of high-quality pictures at the original article, too.

Happy Friday!

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Job Opening: College Fellow in Pre-modern Japanese Humanities

Posted on April 2, 2015 by Paula

job opening - 5Institution: Harvard University
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Position: Fellow

Harvard’s Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations is seeking applications for a College Fellow in the study of pre-modern Japanese humanities.  The College Fellows Program at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences identifies exceptional scholars who have recently completed their doctoral work and have demonstrated excellence in teaching.

Scholars in the following fields are encouraged to apply: history before 1600; Edo or pre-Heian literature; or the archaeology of the Kofun through Nara periods; applications from scholars whose research puts Japan into regional perspective are particularly welcome. Teaching duties will include two undergraduate courses and a graduate seminar. Twenty-five percent of the appointment is reserved for the Fellow’s own research.  The Fellow may also advise and evaluate senior theses.  Candidates are required to have a Ph.D. or an equivalent terminal degree by the expected start date.  The appointment is for one year, with the possibility of renewal for a second year.  Complete applications, including a current CV, research and teaching statements, teaching materials, syllabus drafts for the above-mentioned courses, plus three letters of reference, must be submitted by April 15, 2015.  Detailed information and a link to the online application are available at www.fas.harvard.edu/~facaff/cfp/

Harvard is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

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Call for Papers: Language, Power and Identity in Asia

Posted on March 31, 2015 by Paula

call for papers [150-2]Language, Power and Identity in Asia – Creating and Crossing Language Boundaries

Organised by the International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden, The Netherlands, in collaboration with LeidenGlobal and the Language Museum (Leiden).

Conference dates: 14-16 March 2016

Venue: National Museum of Antiquities, Leiden, The Netherlands

The International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), Leiden, The Netherlands, is hosting an international conference to explore the interrelations between language, power and identity in Asia. Participants are invited to submit a paper to address aspects of this topic, with a particular emphasis on Asia, but papers that illustrate the subject from other parts of the world are also welcome.

The conference explores how linguistic differences, practices, texts and performances are of critical importance to political, social and intellectual power structures among communities in the past and in the present, especially through processes of identity formation. How do (and how did) languages shape borders – social, ethnic, religious, or “national”? Likewise, how do languages and linguistic communities move across these limits?  In what ways do processes of hybridisation and multilingualism affect the formation of transnational or translocal identities, and how have they done so in the past? How have policies of language standardisation impacted on the political and intellectual spheres? What is the power of orality and performance vis-à-vis a variety of textual productions, through manuscript culture, epigraphical practices, print media, and the Internet?

Submission details
The organisers invite proposals for individual presentations of twenty minutes in length (excluding discussion), or panel discussions of three to four speakers, totalling ninety minutes. Proposals should be submitted before 16 May 2015. For individual presentations, abstracts of 300 words maximum and a short author biography (including institutional affiliation) are required. Proposals for full panel discussions should be accompanied by a brief introduction to the topic of the panel (max. 300 words) and the names and backgrounds of three to four speakers. An academic committee will select and group the individual proposals into separate panels. Those who submit an individual or panel proposal will hear by 16 July at the latest whether their proposal has been accepted.

To submit an individual or panel proposal, please use the form available on our website http://www.iias.nl/language

About the conference
Asia today, as in the past, is home to a great linguistic diversity. Language continues to be a powerful factor in both solidifying and challenging cultural, religious, social, and political boundaries – whether through the building or deconstructing of political affiliations, systems of standardisation, the dissemination of inscribed texts, printed media, or oral performances. The conference aims to explore language policies that impact related speech communities separated by national borders – such as the Pashtun and Malay – and the role of policies and legislation in identity formation, and relates this back to lived realities of modern multilingual states, such as India, Indonesia and China. The conference will also address the position of small-scale linguistic communities within the large empires of the past and nation-states of the present, and within a rapidly globalising world. The conference will explore the role of modern, global languages such as English and Mandarin, and of high-status literary and liturgical languages such as Sanskrit and (standard) Arabic in innovative and interconnected ways.

Participants in this interdisciplinary conference are invited to address these and other subjects pertaining to the interrelations between language, power, and identity in pre-modern and contemporary Western, Central, South, Southeast and East Asia. Academics working from a wide range of disciplines, including philology and literary studies, linguistics, cultural and media studies, history, anthropology, archaeology, epigraphy, and sociology are encouraged to submit abstracts.

We encourage the submission of panels and papers that address a specific theme, as well as ones that cut across thematic boundaries. Proposals that seek to draw comparisons across world regions (Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East or Latin America), are also welcome. Projects that promise to open new methodological approaches to the study of language by cross-disciplinary foci such as language policies and the nation-state, endangered languages and communal cultural identity, and the spread and impact of (minority) languages worldwide are particularly welcome.

This conference is also open to postgraduate research students.

Conference organisation
The three-day conference will include plenary and parallel thematic sessions. Keynote speakers will address the terms of the conference in plenary sessions, and introduce specific themes that will be further discussed in parallel sessions. Paper presenters will have twenty minutes for their presentation, followed by discussion.

Fees
The registration fee includes coffee breaks, lunches, a dinner on 14 March and a conference package.

Early bird (1 December 2015): € 100; Regular (15 February 2016): € 125; On-site: € 150

(PhD) students:
Early bird (1 December 2015): € 50; Regular (15 February 2016): € 75; On-site: € 100

Financial support
Participants are expected to pay their own travel and accommodation expenses. Very limited financial support may be made available to specific scholars residing in Asia and to some junior or low-income scholars in other parts of the world. If you would like to be considered for a grant, please include your motivation for the request in the grant application field on the proposal form. Requests for funding received after 16 May will not be taken into consideration.

Organising team
Dr Tom Hoogervorst (Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, Leiden); Prof. Maarten Mous (Leiden University Centre for Linguistics), Dr Philippe Peycam (director IIAS), Dr Dick Smakman (Leiden University Centre for Linguistics); Prof. Mark Turin (First Nations and Endangered Languages Program, University of British Columbia), and Dr Willem Vogelsang (IIAS).

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Book Announcement: From White to Yellow: The Japanese in European Racial Thought, 1300-1735

Posted on March 29, 2015 by Paula

From White to YellowFrom White to Yellow: The Japanese in European Racial Thought, 1300-1735

(McGill-Queen’s University Press, December 2014).

“This magisterial work fills an important gap in contemporary scholarship about racial history and European perceptions of the Japanese during the age of maritime explorations, beginning with the voyages of Marco Polo. The author approaches a delicate and complex topic with a breadth of knowledge and erudition based on the careful analysis of primary documents from a wide variety of both printed and manuscript sources in numerous languages.” M. Antoni J. Ucerler, S.J. Director, Ricci Institute, University of San Francisco

“Rotem Kowner has written an extraordinary book which will be must-reading for anyone interested in Western perceptions of the Japanese from the beginning (Marco Polo’s account) to the 18th century, and to anyone interested in the history of the very concept of ‘race.’” Gary Leupp, Department of History, Tufts University

“Erudite, comprehensive, and clearly-written, From White to Yellow offers the reader a panorama of the Euro-Japanese encounter in the pre-modern period that is unsurpassed in previous scholarship.” Ronnie Hsia, Department of History, Pennsylvania State University

For more information see: http://www.mqup.ca/from-white-to-yellow-products-9780773544550.php

Amazon sites:

http://www.amazon.ca/White-Yellow-Japanese-European-1300-1735/dp/0773544550/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-1&qid=1418745991

or

http://www.amazon.com/White-Yellow-Japanese-European-1300-1735/dp/0773544550/ref=la_B001HPYIKK_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418745737&sr=1-1

 

 

Those interested in questions of race, racism, and ethnicity in and with regard to Japan, China and Korea, may also look at the following publication (now in paperback edition!)

Race and Racism in Modern East Asia: Western and Eastern Constructions (Brill, September 2014).

Rotem Kowner and Walter Demel (editors)

For more information see: http://www.brill.com/products/book/race-and-racism-modern-east-asia

 

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Call for Papers: 26th Annual EAJRS conference

Posted on March 28, 2015 by Paula

call for papers [150-2]The 26th annual conference of the European Association of Japanese Resource Specialists (EAJRS) will be held this year at Leiden University, The Netherlands, 16-19 September 2015.

This year the main theme is “Breaking barriers: unlocking Japanese resources to the world”. But, as always, the conference will cover all subjects related to libraries, archives, museums and other collections related to Japanese studies.

We are now accepting registrations and proposals for presentations. The registration deadline is set for 29 May 2015.

More information is available at: http://eajrs.net/
or from me directly: eajrs.secretary@gmail.com

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