Book Announcements: Japanese Visual Culture

Posted on June 1, 2014 by Paula

Painting Nature for the NationRosina Buckland (National Museum of Scotland) and John Szostak (University of Hawaii at Manoa) would would like to announce publication of their books on modern Japanese painting, also part of Brill’s “Japanese Visual Culture” series.

Rosina Buckland, *Painting Nature for the Nation: Taki Katei and the Challenges to Sinophile Culture in Meiji Japan*
http://www.brill.com/painting-nature-nation

“Buckland offers an account of the career of the painter Taki Katei (1830–1901). Drawing on a large body of previously unpublished paintings, collaborative works and book illustrations by this highly successful, yet neglected, figure, Buckland traces how Katei transformed his art and practice based in modes derived from China in order to fulfill the needs of the modern nation-state at large-scale exhibitions and at the imperial court. She provides a rare examination of the vibrant world of Chinese-inspired culture during the 1880s, and the hostility which it faced in the following decade.”

Painting CirclesJohn D. Szostak, *Painting Circles: Tsuchida Bakusen and Nihonga Collectives in Early Twentieth Century Japan*
http://www.brill.com/painting-circles-tsuchida-bakusen-and-nihonga-collectives-early-twentieth-century-japan

“Painting Circles addresses the changing professional milieu of artists in early 20th century Japan, particularly the development of new social roles and networks, and how these factors informed the development of artistic identity. The focus of the study is the Nihonga painter Tsuchida Bakusen (1887-1936), who in 1918 founded an exhibition collective, the Kokuga Society, in response to increasing dissatisfaction with the nation’s government-sponsored exhibition salon. The study examines efforts by Bakusen and company to establish an independent position vis-à-vis the arts establishment by demonstrating their reflexive knowledge of Western modernist art movements on the one hand, and on the other, by showing their deep commitment to preserving traditional Japanese painting themes, media and techniques into the 20th century.”

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Fun Link Friday: Three Videos on Language & Ethnicity

Posted on May 30, 2014 by Travis

P. Kerim Friedman, associate professor in the Department of Ethnic Relations and Cultures at National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan, recently posted some funny videos on Savage Minds (one of the most prominent anthropology blogs out there, it would seem, highly ranked/praised by the journals American Anthropologist and Nature), pointing to disjunctures between language, ethnicity, and cultural contexts.

I think my favorite of the three is this one, about a young Chinese man who studies up on language in preparation for a trip:

As for the other two, one has recently made its rounds on Facebook, at least among my friends. How many of us have spent time in Japan (or elsewhere), and had it assumed that we didn’t speak the language? Or, for those of us who are Asian-American, having it assumed that we did speak the language, just based on our appearance?

The other, a clip from a British comedy show, pokes a little fun at the way people often behave in “ethnic” restaurants serving a cuisine quite different from their own ethnic/cultural background.

I don’t want to reproduce the whole post here, so for these two, mosey on over to Savage Minds.

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Job Opening: Education Abroad Coordinator, Georgia Institute of Technology

Posted on May 27, 2014 by LM

job opening - 5Institution: Georgia Institute of Technology
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posted: 05/20/2014
Type: Full Time
Education: BA

Description:

Job Purpose: Coordinate and deliver administrative and operational support for Education Abroad programs and staff.

Major Responsibilities:

  • Coordinate events and meetings for Education Abroad to include scheduling, reservations, arrangements, and logistics.
  • Support the transient application process through response to prospective inquires and maintaining applicant records.
  • Advise GT students interested in participating in non-GT study abroad programs.
  • Assist with marketing efforts including social media outreach and coordination of communications through appropriate media outlets.
  • Coordinate hiring of faculty and staff working for affiliated faculty-led study abroad programs.
  • Compile, organize and analyze data for use in reports and maintain associated databases.
  • Provide administrative support services for Education Abroad staff and office as needed.
  • Perform other related duties as assigned.

Basic Qualifications:
Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Education or related field
Work Experience: Two to three years job related experience

Skills: International work or life experience, strong written and verbal communication skills along with the ability to communicate effectively with internal and external audiences, flexibility, and strong problem-solving skills

Preferred Skills: Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, be able to multi-task, feel comfortable working independently, and maintain a highly motivated and organized work ethic, and present a professional presence at all times.
Additional Tasks May Include: Interact with high level senior executives and international travel abroad to Asia, Latin America, Mexico and Europe, must be flexible to travel 2-3 weeks at a time as needed to complete distance learning residences; must be able to secure and hold a passport and meet visa entry requirements for countries in the above mentioned geographies. Serve as a liaison with overseas institutions and speakers regarding program planning, serve as information source regarding program content, requirements, and admission & registration process, and provide ongoing advice to students regarding various aspects of program participation.

Impact & Influence: This position will interact on a regular basis with: faculty, staff, students, and parents. This position typically will advise and counsel: students. This position will supervise: NA.

Department Description:

The EMIL-SCS Program is a unique 18-month masters program designed to fit the busy work schedules of executives, allowing the company to keep key employees on the job while they participate in five (5) two-week residences. The academic curriculum is designed to cover the extended supply chain and regional differences across Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the United States. EMIL-SCS provides participants with the analytical skills and intellectual framework needed to succeed in designing and implementing creative supply chain strategies and global logistics solutions necessary to compete in today’s global markets.

For full application details, see HigherEdJobs.com.

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Book Announcement: A Reading of The Tale of Genji

Posted on May 25, 2014 by Paula

A Reading of The Tale of GenjiDescription: This is a lightly edited and more accurately proofread version of The Disaster of the Third Princess: Essays on The Tale of Genji. The new title better conveys the book’s content. Disaster can be downloaded free in pdf format, but many prefer not to read much on-screen; and the POD book is undistinguished. As a physical book, A Reading is superior in design and quality. It is also available for Kindle.

POD Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1494852586/

Kindle Edition: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HQ57S52

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Job Opening Teaching Fellow University of Edinburgh

Posted on May 24, 2014 by Paula

job opening - 5The Department of Asian Studies of the University of Edinburgh seeks to appoint an outstanding candidate to a fixed term Teaching Fellow post to supplement teaching provisions on the undergraduate and postgraduate level in the field of East Asian relations and politics with a special focus on Japan and/or Korea. The department welcomes applications from candidates with demonstrable expertise in

Korea or Japan or, ideally, Korean-Japanese relations and politics (also in their historical dimenstion).

This post is available for a fixed term period of 2 years from September 1st, 2014 and is full time.

For further information see:
https://www.vacancies.ed.ac.uk/pls/corehrrecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.jobspec?p_id=029550

Closing date for application is 27 May 2014

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No Fun Link Friday today

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Paula

No IMG_0327Fun Link Friday today, folks– recovering from some major jetlag getting in from Sendai and Narita last night. Have more great things coming very soon, though! Including some stuff related to my trip! Teaser to the left…

Happy Friday!

 

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Job Opening: Program Associate, Corporate Programs, Japan Society [NY]

Posted on May 22, 2014 by LM

job opening - 5Institution: Japan Society
Location: New York, NY
Education: BA
Posted May 12, 2014

The Program Associate will work with the Corporate Program Officer on managing logistical and administrative aspects of approximately three programs per month. He/she will also assist in program execution, future program planning, research, program outreach activities, and interact with leaders and distinguished speakers in the academic and business community, as well as thousands of Corporate Members.

Essential duties and responsibilities include:

  • Handle program registrations, payments and refunds
  • Create program materials, such as guest lists, name badges, handouts, etc.
  • Greet and assist program participants
  • Facilitate travel and logistics for speakers, including hotel, audio/visuals, translations, books and handouts
  • Compose various departmental communications, including function forms, invitations and thank you and confirmation letters
  • Maintain and update constituent records in Raisers Edge
  • Organize files on programs and speakers, update biographical files, photographs and institutional information
  • Compile invoices and prepare VCRs.
  • Prepare detailed expense and statistical reports on programs
  • Train and coordinate non-staff volunteers and interns to assist at programs
  • Work with the Program Officer on promotion of programs via e-calendar, hardcopy calendar and website
  • Prepare and edit text for Annual Report and Chronology
  • Conduct detailed research on companies, individuals, industry sectors, and international affairs and report to Program Officer
  • Work with Program Officer to develop creative programming
  • Read and translate various Japanese documents as needed
  • Liaise with Special Events and Development departments as needed
  • Manage and grow the department’s social media presence
  • Assist in development of the Society’s Young Professionals Network and other private receptions

QUALIFICATIONS:

  • Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of two to three years related experience
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills
  • Good knowledge of Japanese language and customs
  • Knowledge of international business and politics
  • Proficiency in Microsoft office suite, online research, social media and database management
  • Superior organizational skills with ability to multi-task and work in a fast-paced environment
  • Strong interpersonal skills, ability to work independently and in a team
  • Availability to work overtime hours as needed
  • Familiarity with New York Metropolitan area cultural organizations and other non-profit institution

Full details on Idealist.org.

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Call for Papers: Workshop- Chinese and Japanese Encounters in Colonial Southeast Asia

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Paula

call for papers [150-2]Call for papers for the workshop Japanese and Chinese Encounters in Colonial Southeast Asia to be held at NIOD, Amsterdam, the Netherlands on November 12-13, 2014.

The workshop and the book resulting from it aim to explore the relation between Chinese and Japanese in colonial Southeast Asia that would (1) contextualize the Pacific War experience, (2) examine the limits of the “anti-Japanese patriotic Chinese” narrative, and (3) investigate the complexity of interaction and competition, friendship and hostility, partnership and collaboration between Japanese and Chinese from the late 19th century to the end of the Pacific War.  Our goal is to recover the ambiguities, uncertainties, and changes of concrete human relations, social conditions, and the political-economic context.

For those interested, please send an abstract (max. 300 words) to both organizers, Peter Post (NIOD) (peterpost67@gmail.com) and Timothy Tsu (Kwansei Gakuin University) (timothy.tsu@gmail.com), before June 31, 2014. If your proposal is accepted, then a final paper (8,000-10,000 words) should reach us by October 19, 2014.

NIOD will seek funding to cover three nights of lodging in Amsterdam, but each participant is responsible for all his/her other expenses.

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Book Announcement: The Challenge of Linear Time: Nationhood and the Politics of History in East Asia

Posted on May 18, 2014 by Paula

The Challenge of Linear TimeThe Challenge of Linear Time: Nationhood and the Politics of History in East Asia

Edited by: Viren Murthy, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Axel Schneider, University of Goettingen
(Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2013)
302 pp
ISBN13: 9789004260139
E-ISBN: 9789004260146

The papers collected in this volume congeal around a debate about the ways and extent of the dominance of linear time and progressive history and the concomitant delineation of the nation in Chinese and Japanese historiography. As China and Japan entered the global capitalist system of nation states, the Chinese and Japanese regimes implemented a number of reforms, which resulted in transformations that affected everyday experience. In the face of imperialism and the perceived threat of being split up, the Meiji and late Qing governments radically reoriented policies in order to become wealthy and powerful in the global arena. People not only began to experience time and space in new ways, but elites also were increasingly exposed to Western theories of history and concepts of nationhood, which became dominant. These changes contributed to the production of new types of historical consciousness and collective identity. The essays in this volume each provide a perspective on the complex ways in which imagining national and regional identity in East Asia were and continue to be enmeshed with visions of time and history. This book should be of interest to all those who are interested in nationalism, modernity in China and Japan, global capitalism and the politics of time.

Table of contents

Introduction
Viren Murthy, Axel Schneider
Time, History, and Moral Responsibility
1. Negativity and historicist time: facticity and intellectual history of the 1930s
Naoki Sakai
2. Ontological Optimism, Cosmological Confusion, and Unstable Evolution: Tan Sitong’s Renxue and Zhang Taiyan’s Response
Viren Murthy
3. Nation, history and ethics: the choices of post-imperial historiography in China
Axel Schneider
4. Reading Takeuchi Yoshimi and Reading History
Sun Ge
The Burden of the Past and the Hope for a Better Future
5. An Eschatological View of History: Yoshimi Takeuchi in the 1960s
Takahiro Nakajima
6. The Campaign to Criticize Lin Biao and Confucius and the Problem of ‘Restoration’ in Chinese Marxist Historiography
Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik
Recollection of the Past and the Popularization of History
7. Popular Readings and Wartime Historical Writings in Modern China
Long-hsin Liu
8. Figuring History and Horror in a Provincial Museum: The Water Dungeon, the Rent Collection Courtyard, and the Socialist Undead
Haiyan Lee
History and the Definition of Spatial, Cultural and Temporal Boundaries
9. Revolution as Restoration: Meanings of ‘National Essence’ and ‘National Learning’ in Guocui xuebao
Tze-ki Hon
10. Temporality of Knowledge and History Writing in Early Twentieth-Century China. Liu Yizheng and A History of Chinese Culture
Ya-pei Kuo

for further information:
http://www.brill.com/products/book/challenge-linear-time

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Fun Link Friday: All About Netsuke

Posted on May 16, 2014 by LM

For the kogei- and fashion lovers, Collectors Weekly interviewed Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) director Christine Drosse back in 2011 about netsuke. The link includes links to LACMA’s online collections of Edo- and Meiji Period netsuke as well as to the International Netsuke Society.

Image of netsuke decorated with a bird and lotus blossoms

“Ishikawa Rensai carved this ivory and inlaid piece depicting lotus blossoms and a bird in the mid-to-late 19th century.” Via Collectors Weekly

When men wore kimono in the 17th century, they had hanging containers and pouches called sagemono and stacked containers called inrō in which to carry small personal items. The containers hung by a cord that was attached to a small carving which was slipped underneath the kimono sash at the hip. This carving was called a netsuke and its mass would prevent the cord of the hanging container from slipping out from beneath the sash.

Initially, the container cords were tied to small readily available items such as pieces of wood, root, coral, or shell. Such were the origins of netsuke in Japan. Gradually these small functional toggles developed into what most of us know today as netsuke.

Check out the collections and the interview on “The Folklore and Fashion of Japanese Netsuke.”

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